Pumpkin Pie

Lately, my oldest little guy has been asking us questions about Christmas.  As I tuck him into bed at night he will ask me if it will be Christmas when he wakes up, if we are going to "hang stockings on the chimney with care", and if he will get to go to Papa and Grandma's house.  Of course, his father is the spokeperson for this particular holiday, so his proudest moment will be when our kids grow elf ears, and start wearing green spandex, and pointy shoes that jingle.
One lazy Sunday evening, Daddy was helping Brayden put on his pajamas.  As he struggled to find the right spot in his shirt for his little arm to go, he turned to Brandonn.  An eager look on his face, Brayden asked if we could go get a Christmas tree now.  Brandonn explained that Christmas was still a few months away, and then continued with, ".....but when it gets colder we will go pick out a tree, bring it home, and decorate it.  You can count on it, buddy."  We then heard Brayden's soft, sweet voice, "...one, two, three, four, five!!  Daddy, I counted on it!!"  Kids.  So literal. 
I guess it's no surprise that our middle son (Gavin) now will occasionally exclaim with great anticipation, "YAY, Chwismas!!!" 
As for me, Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday.  It was always so special.  Mom would tell me to go outside and find some pinecones, and pretty fallen leaves to decorate the table with.  Or, when I was younger it was usually spent at my Grandparents house.  Mom and Granny would get up early, sip coffee and chat in the "white china" room.  Meanwhile, I would manage to roll out of the sleeper sofa in the office, and make my sleepy way toward to living room.  I would squish my little hind end right into the big, leather sofa and watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, usually crunching on some crushed ice that had a little Crystal Light Lemonade poured over the top of it.  Then, the women folk would join forces to create the yummiest Turkey Day feast!  Everybody's favorite made it to the table somehow, right on time, nice and hot.  We would sit down at the table, heads bowed in prayer, while my Grandpa squeezed my hand playfully to try to get me to laugh in the middle of it.  He's always had a great sense of humor.  The desserts that followed dinner were not in any way indicitive of a family stuffed with food.  There were usually at least two pies, one pumpkin, and one apple, or cherry.  My Dad had to practically use a shovel to eat his whipped cream......I mean pie.  While he was emptying the can, the rest of us would just crack up....except Granny who was busy taking a new can out of the refrigerator.   :-D  Later that evening, after the feast and yummy desserts had been devoured, and cleaned up, we would eventually make ourselves a cold turkey sandwhich.  I know what you're thinking, but amazingly we did become a tad  peckish towards the days end.  Of course, no day was complete without a trip to the barn to give the horses a Thanksgiving Day treat.  The day was usually topped off with a quick trip down the cold, wooden steps to the basement to check out my Granny's collection of handmade doll houses, and miniatures.  I would walk around each one of them as my feet froze on the brown, tiled floor, peer inside, and imagine each one of the dolls going about their daily routines, completely unaware that someone was watching them.  This is something I did often during our trips to their house.  There was always something new to see, and Granny would come down and help me make something for the doll house she made me that had been left at home. 
Eventually, we moved farther away and new Thanksgiving memories were made, and I will return to memory lane again and tell more about those later.  For night now, though, I sit here at my hubby's bear of a computer desk and am reminded of all the time spent in front of a Flight Simulator game at Grandpa's house on a desk just as big.  Don't ask me how my mind made that leap, it's a tangled up mess in there, and if you dare venture in, I promise you won't come out! 
As I ponder on the memories of the holidays, I want to remember that it doesn't matter what you do, what you eat, or what you get.  You can make any holiday special with the right spirit.  It's in the details, like going outside and gathering pinecones, and pretty leaves to decorate the table.  I want my kids to have as many wonderful memories of the holidays as I do. 
I must go for now, but soon I will be sharing with you the funny experience that I am bound to have teaching my little ones how to carve a pumpkin!

Smile!

Left out in the rain? Not really.

Why is it that we feel sometimes as though we have been left out in the rain, hung out to dry, and just simply forgotten about?  Why is it at times God seems so far away?  Is He really?? Does he leave us, or forget about us? I think we all know the answer to that question.  I think what really happens is that we forget about Him.  I do not think, however, that's it's just a simple case of forgetfulness.  I think that it is more likely to be that we forget about His Omnipresence.  I know that for myself, I tend to me a bit of a control freak, I come by it naturally mind you, but I like feeling that I am in control of my life.  I like to think that I make my own choices, and that my life has evolved into the wonderful way it flows now because of ME.  When I really look hard at my life though, I can see that all the puzzle peices that have fit together so wonderfully were placed by God, not by me.  I wonder sometimes about why we cannot seem to find a good church to become a part of, why we work so hard for so little financially, and a thousand other questions.  I feel at times as though God picked us up, dropped us in Jacksonville, Florida, and went away to take care of more pressing matters. 
    Now, just recently, my wonderful hubby gave me the perfect little gift for my birthday.  It's is a called, "A Woman's Walk with God: Growing in the Fruit of the Spirit" by Elizabeth George.  In her book she says, "You and I can enjoy a closer walk with God and bear much fruit as we surrender our lives to him."  Now, if you look up the word surrender in the dictionary, it says that to surrender is "to give up completely or agree to forego especially in favor of another", "to give up oneself into the power of another".  I also found in John 15:4,11 "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me."  "These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full."  So apparently, God wants us to give ourselves over to Him completely; to abide in him.  He tells us that we cannot bear fruit unless we abide in Him.  Elizabeth George explains that, "Such 'abiding' has been defined as 'continued fellowship with the Lord', 'dwelling in Hid fellowship and being submissive to His will', and keeping 'constant with Jesus...a constant contact."  Constant contact.....I suppose that means that I have to 'forget' about me being in control, because if I am abiding in Him, and surrendering myself to Him, then I am giving up control over my own life to Him.  In verse 11 He says, "These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full."  Amazingly, he wants us to obey this command not only for His glorification but also so that we may have joy!  He's not just saying, "I want you to be happy", he says that we He wants our joy to be FULL!  I realized as I studied this how frequently we are not only lacking full enjoyment in Him, but we are downright miserable!  Can you image being full of joy?
   So, to sum up my devotional experience this morning I realized two things; 1) That when I feel left out in the rain, it is because I have struggled with God to take the reins, and He temporarily allowed me to have them so that I might see where that path leads, in short; unpleasant places.  2) That while following the command to "abide" in Him, I am to be full of joy.  The Christian life is not to be a constant drudgery of strict adherence to 'outdated' rules, but a complete surrendering of oneself to God, and a full enjoyment of Him. 
    It will not be easy, but you know what they say, practice makes perfect! Enjoy your day!

The End of a Long Day

After writing about my very long day, I wanted to share how it ended.  Some days just keep going on, and on, and you feel like you're living the "Never Ending Story", but this day took a surprising, and welcoming twist. 
So, after my previously mentioned "day out" I brought the kids home and scrounged up some dinner.  I never realized until now how unappealing that word is when used in reference to food....scrounged....hmm.  Anyway, they ate dutifully and I got them ready for bed.  Now usually, Brandonn doesn't get home from school until around 10:30 pm, but on this night, he called me at 7 to announce that he was picking up stuff from the store and would be home shortly.  I screached, and jumped up and down, and threw a tantrum of a different color.  I love going through the whole bedtime routine with him; reading stories to the kids, singing bedtime songs, praying together, covering them up, and kissing them goodnight.  There's nothing like it.  So after he came home we put the two younger ones to bed (they share a room), and took our oldest into his room to put him to bed, and then continued with our evening.  Our oldest little guy has just recently moved to a toddler bed, and we have trouble keeping him in it, and out of the toys, blinds, light switch, etc.  So, periodically, we have to go back in and lay him down again.  I knew he wasn't very tired yet, so we allowed him to play quietly in his room for about an hour, at which point the banging on the walls had begun and must to be stopped.  As I walked in, I noticed the handle to his little vacuum was on the floor instead of being attatched to the toy.  I scolded him gently for "breaking" his vacuum, and told him he must be careful with his toys.  He looked up at me and so innocently exclaimed, "I didn't breaked it.  I just took it off.  I NEVER breaked it!".  He said this with so much conviction of innocence that Brandonn and I had no choice but to laugh.  It's things that like that, that turn a bad day into a great one.  That's what made me want to be a parent, and now that I am one, it's what keeps me sane through the rough days we all experience.  Dory comes to mind occasionally with her, "just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming, what do we do we swim, swim, swim, ha, ha, ha ha ha haaaaaaaaaa!" attitude. :-D