Christmas Traditions

As I am sure many other families do we have our own family Christmas traditions, which I think I love as much as my children. We start ours on Christmas eve after dinner kids get showers and ready for bed, then we all campout in the living room yes even mom and dad. Christmas morning Jeremy makes breakfast after breakfast kids get cleaned up while mommy cleans kitchen. After things are washed we sit around and listen to daddy read the Christmas Story, we talk about it, pray, and then the gifts are opened. Once all the gifts are opened kids get dressed for the day and can play with their toys with daddy, if they got any, while mommy starts baking and preparing for Christmas dinner. Another one we do as part of dessert time after dinner is we make a red velvet cake, put candles in it and sing Happy Birthday to Jesus, my kids love everything about Christmas and so do I. Merry Christmas I pray yours is as wonderful as ours.

A few pics of our home

These our of our living room area, entry, and dining room. I love this house I am thankful and very grateful for it. I feel blessed beyond measure, do much I could never put into words.

FINALLY........

We are finally in our house in time for Christmas I am so excited, really I am although if you just looked at me you wouldn't guess as my husband and McKenzie tease me for but I really am I will post pics later as soon as we are settled.

Busy Holiday Days

Yesterday was a very busy day for me and others I am sure, I had multiple things going on. Signs of LIFE Praise had a bake sale it went awesome thanks to a wonderful supportive church love them. It was my turn to hostess yesterday. Then after bake sale was over we had to rush home change clothes, grab coats, stop by somewhere quick and grab kids food so they were a little more enjoyable ;) and go to Journey to Bethlehem. Journey to Bethlehem is really neat it's like an interactive play, nativity scene, it's really neat and I will def go back next year, my kids had us all laughing the entire time, Jacob was with Sis Sanders the whole time and she was getting him into it, his facial expressions had us cracking up, Kaleigh wanted to hide her face except to look at the animals, Judah was the funniest as usual he said things like I wanna go back in dat oter church, I not wike dat, I no wan to go out der,
and at the end the funniest are we gonna die now, lol, it was so funny we laughed about for a little bit. It was a great day, evening and fun.

Thanking for .....

Wanting to thank my Grandma and Mother in law for teaching me how to cook a fantastic Thanksgiving meal we had 4 families with us and they loved everything I made everything except the Turkey and they loved it all I have very few leftovers thank goodness lol Thank You Grandma G, Grandma O, and Pam.

Giving Thanks

First Happy Thanksgiving, I love Thanksgiving it is a holiday that reminds us to be thankful but we shouldn't just be thankful during this holiday we need to be thankful all year round, everyday, every moment. Things I am thankful for all the time are
1. God he loves me more than anyone else and I love him, he is my very first love
2. My husband, he works his booty off, he is a GREAT daddy, he is my best friend and the greatest man alive
3. My children, don't worry there are days I go loco, kookoo, but they are the light of my life and I cannot imagine life without any of them
4. My mom and dad
5. My brother, sister, niece's, and nephew I love them all and miss them
6. All my other family
7. All of my friends, I have got the greatest friends on the planet
8. My church family they are the greatest most wonderful people I know
9. My grandparents
10. This wonderful life of mine I am living that I wouldn't trade for anything I thank God everyday for one more breath to breathe and one more day to live
Happy Thanksgiving what are you thankful for?

Thankful for my heritage/roots

Last night at youth we had a quick lesson about being thankful. It was good. With that one thankful holiday coming up and all everywhere I look (blogs, Facebook, emails, etc) people are writing what they are thankful for, and last night we all had to say something we are thankful for most people said my family, one said God's presence, one the church proud of who said that one:-), and a couple other different ones. Well it got down to be my turn I was trying to hide but thanks to Sis LEE lol she won't like that, love you, got pointed out and ended being last better than first. I couldn't think of any one thing I hate that I said jokingly I am thankful for being me which I am thankful for that I am ME no matter who I am with or around but then serious thankful I said I am thankful for my heritage and my roots. I don't know about most people but I am proud of where I came from, I can say I am not ashamed of any of it. I may not like all of it but it is what makes me, me. I as well as my husband have an incredible heritage, my husband's is a little more impressive. So here I my life story and a little heritage :-) On February 2nd 1985 my mommy had me ( I was born out of wedlock although I would not know this for many years later) I was born in Coos Bay, OR my mom had been pretty much raised in church, my daddy was there for her the whole time even though he didn't have to be he chose to be ( he wasn't my biological but chose me:-) and he was raised in church and they both have a Christian heritage 8 months after I was born my parents got married on 10/5/1985 in Roseburg church called Christian Life Center the Pastor who married them was Pastor Knight this is the church I would grow up in. When I was 21 months old my mom had a baby boy my brother born on 11/06/1986 Joshua David Levi, we were very close to the Knight's sometimes I still miss some of the memories. When I was 46 months on 12/29/1988 my sister Emilee Joi was born, around the time I was 4/5 the Knight's would leave Roseburg and go back to Stockton :-( shortly after moving back down there Pastor Knight would die in a plane Crash. Pastor Knight passed the church to one of the Greatest man and family I know and I miss them all the time to this day Pastor Don Richardson, he was my Pastor for 8 years roughly maybe more, when they were leaving I was upset I bawled, I was 13 when they left, Sis Richardson was my school teacher from kindergarten, she could do no wrong, they took me to my first Youth Convention and many other Firsts, I am very grateful God placed this family in my life and I miss them still after 13 years :-). Ok back tracking when I was I think 10-11 I found out the story of how I came to be I found out I had another side of family. My mom told me because my Grandpa was very sick and they didn't know how long he would be alive, my grandpa was a minister he was a wonderful man, I loved listening to him talk. From the time I found out I was over there a lot, they lived 2 hrs max away so every chance I got I was there. I got close to my grandmother and love this woman dearly. Ok after Richardson's left at age 13 a man by the name of
Pastor Carl Brown was my pastor, this was an era of trial for him I am sure , and the church :-) at this time my parents started struggling in church, they ended up not going to church while us kids kept going, we would walk to church, my mom would drop us off, or my grandparents would pick us up, this is a time in my life I would not trade for anything this is what made me. At the age of 16 I went and stayed with my grandparents for 5 months on a horse ranch this was another great time of my life. After that I moved to Coos Bay to live with my aunt and finish school my grandmother also lived here. If I had a rebellious time it was my 16th summer :-). I started going back to church with my grandmother after 5 months of being isolated from anything. This is where I would meet the loves of my life God and my husband Jeremy. I met Jeremy and less than a month after meeting we started courting, this was an interesting time and I loved it all, we had trials before we got married but a month after we started courting we knew we were gonna get married. I knew this was the man I was going to marry. So 4 months after our first "date" we were engaged, we talked all the time and about everything, he was and is my BEST FRIEND. 5 months after getting engaged we got married on 10/12/2002 best day :-) oh I was 17 :-/ lol. I got done with school early :-) 9 months after we were married I found out I was pregnant yikes, six months later I had a 3 month early baby boy weighing 1 lb 12 oz and 14 inches long, he was my miracle and still is, his name is Jacob Michael and he lives up to his name, he was in the hospital for a little over 2 months. I had him a week before my 19th birthday. When he was 6 months old we moved to Portland metro area and attended Pastor Gary Gleason church OCUPC 3 years after moving there we had another son Judah Milo born on 8/14/2007 he was 5 weeks early weighing 4 lbs 8 oz he was in the hospital for a week 3 days longer than I so not to bad, a year later I found out I was pregnant again I balked and cried I didn't want another baby yet on 05/15/2009 Kaleigh Louise was born she is a MESS, right after her 1st birthday we moved to Washington our Pastor Tim King, I am excited and thankful to be here extending my roots and heritage to my children.

Another Holiday Favorite

So around the holidays my family wants Pumpkin Rolls I have already made 3 and making more this week. I normally don't like pumpkin anything but pumpkin roll is something I do enjoy, I don't like it around my waist :-) but hey it's the holidays right it only comes around once a year and then you spend the rest of the year trying to get it off :-)

Emotional Whirlwind

Have you ever been so frustrated you wanted to scream, cry, and throw a fit like when you were 2 years old. I DO, LOL. My life this last year and half has been very trying mostly emotionally but still frustrating. There has been even more ups than downs but its like my Pastor says it will take a 100 rights to correct 1 wrong, or something to that effect :). There are days where you feel like you are all alone and then there are days you feel like you have world. There are days where you can't tell anyone what, how, why you are feeling something and days you can tell anyone everything. There are days you don't know how to express what you are feeling and then there are days you are an open book. There are days when it feels like the world is falling apart around you and then there are days when it feels like everything is right in the world. There are days when you wish you could be a child again innocent, pure and then there are days where you wouldn't trade where you are now for anything. There are days you look back and wonder what you could have done different with a situation or something and then there are days you feel you did everything right. Everyday there are emotions, struggles, and things your unsure of but there is one thing I am sure of I know I am in the greatest place on earth, and I have been a lot of places well in US and Canada :), I have the greatest Pastor and family, I have the greatest most wonderful church family who is my family, I have some of the greatest friends I have ever had, and that no matter what is going on with me emotionally I have my HUSBAND and my 3 MONKEYS or CHILDREN depending on the day :), and that is MY FAMILY my husband and my children matter more to me than anything else in this world. I want to please them after God, I want to be strong for them, so it doesn't matter where I am emotionally on a day with GOD and MY FAMILY I know I will be OK. Don't take this as a negative for it is not meant to be I am just putting in words what I know we all go through, but not all of us have help for or Emotional Whirlwind storms I do I have GOD who I put all my trust and emotions in and he gives me the strength, and I have MY FAMILY who loves me, cares for me, and makes me happy when no one else can.

Born for This

I LOVE THIS SONG
it doesn't matter what anyone else is going to do, its what am gonna do. Am I going to be the Radical change I wanna see, I can't expect someone else to do it for me, I need to stand and not wait but do it myself, be it myself. I WILL BE THE RADICAL CHANGE WILL YOU.

Anoint ME

There is a song called Anoint Me Lord, I love the words of this song all of them but especially the chorus, here is the chorus.

Anoint me Lord this day
As I go along my way
Let my life send forth a glow
Let the oil around me flow
Anoint me Lord
This day I pray
Amen

I think this needs to be included in our prayer everyday, we can tell people all day about God all day, his grace, his love, his mercy, his sacrifice, that he is coming back again soon, but if they don't see and feel God in us how can we expect them to hear our words believe them. I have always said ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS. Don't get me wrong my words need to be Christ like but if my actions are not more than my words how can I expect my words to affect anyone. Well there I go getting side tracked.:) Outside my home and even in my home with my children because they are watching, but no matter where I am who I am with I want them to see GOD, his anointing, his love, his mercy, his compassion, his sincerity, his grace, every aspect of him I want them to see it in me. I want them to long for, desire, want what I have because what I have is the greatest gift of all. So Lord as I go along my way today let my life send forth a glow let the oil around me flow anoint me LORD I pray.

Here is the song

I'm Running to The Mercy Seat

I love this song, I am so thankful for God's mercy. He doesn't have to give it to me or anyone but he chooses to and wants too. I don't know what I would do without God first in my life he has carried me through and been merciful throughout my life and the greatest life I live is for him, and I am trying to teach my children that.

He said that I could come into
His presence without fear
Into the holy place where
His mercy hovers near

I'm runnin' I'm runnin'
I'm runnin' to the mercy seat
Where Jesus is callin' he said
His grace would cover me
His blood will flow freely
It will provide the healin'
Come runnin' to the mercy seat
I'm runnin; to the mercy seat.

Making Laundry Detergent

So I have heard about making your own laundry soap before but never did it. Recently my Pastor's wife did and said she loves it. So I decided to try it last night went and purchased everything I needed which I found all of the ingredients at Walmart supercenter, first you take a 1/3 of your Fels-Naptha bar and grate it, boil 4 cups of water, once water is boiling add the grated bar and whisk until completely melted, then add 4 more cups if hot water, add 1/2 cup of Borax, and 1/2 cup of Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda and whisk until melted, be careful cause it can get bubbly quick, once melted take off burner. If you would like it to have a little bit of a smell you can use about 40 drops of your favorite essential oil fragrance or get a small thing of your favorite smell of detergent and substitute a cup full of it for the water, I just use essential oil because I already have it from massages. Now this recipe makes 2 gallons there is a 5 gallon recipe which I can get for you but I don't have an easy to use 5 gallon bucket laying around or the room for it, I used a large ( like Costco liquid) size laundry detergent container I already had or you can use 2 milk jugs. If you use one container put 22 cups of water in it, if you use 2 put 11 cups in each container. Then add your hot laundry mixture 1 container it will be all of it 2 containers will be about 4 cups each container. Shake and let sit for 24 hours, occasionally mix because I guess the solids can sometimes separate from the liquid, I didn't have this problem but just be aware of it. I haven't tried mine yet but will be Thursday ( laundry day) and let you know if I like it for the past 2-3 years I have been stuck on this all natural detergent called Eccos so I am a little weary. This recipe is very cheap to make costing between $1-$1.50 a gallon to make so for the 2 gallons it cost about $2.50 to make that is CHEAP

A little taste of heaven on earth

This stuff is so good, yum yum yum. As the Holiday season nears my family always has a craving for hot cocoa, we drink it almost every night. We all have our favorites the kids get no sugar added they are just happy it's chocolate :-), my husband likes any of it also but really likes the dark chocolate and my favorite is candy cane hot cocoa and the dark chocolate. You can make candy cane hot cocoa yourself I actually do, but it is still to early to buy Candy Canes, so I found this till Candy Canes do come in season. It so YUMMY but I like mint and chocolate together :-)

All by Myself, 

So tomorrow at church we are having a fundraiser for "Signs of LIFE Praise", we are having a dinner. My Pastors wife who usually leads the decorating was going to be gone so I had to decorate solo, I love decorating but when it is for someone or something my nerves get to me. So I followed my gut feeling and first instinct. I had great help and opinions from one of my dear friends and one of the young ladies who is part of our sign team, I am very excited and nervous to see what people think.

Making Points

My husband often surprises me with things, leaves me notes, sweet text messages etc, and I do the same as well. He has been very busy the last couple weeks and I have hardly seen him, I have missed him :-). Well this week he made big points, he was on a job in Portland painting, painted this before painting the wall all the way and sent it to me :-)

Home Sweet Home

Sitting here in the hotel and all I can think about is going home. Home is definitely where my heart is.

Norman Richard Owens

On Sept 15th at 8:13pm Norman Richard Owens took his last breath :-( I feel blessed to have known him, he was a very loving and generous man. He wasn't married and didn't have kids, no I take that back he did have kids, he had all of us his nieces, nephews, great nieces, great nephews, we were his kids. I remember when I was getting married he was one person I really wanted to be there and he was :-) as happy as can be. I remember him giving me a big hug after the wedding, telling me I was the most gorgeous bride he ever laid eyes on, kissing my cheek and slipping something in my hand, then he said bye. I didn't look to see what was in my hand till later, shame on me, but inside my hand sat $500, I was in shock and started crying. At the time I didn't think about it but that could have been $500 that he didn't have, but that was uncle Norman he would give whatever he could to help someone even if it meant him taking a punch and suffering a little. He loved people and helping people become better, in many different ways. He loved his family he was always near or with his siblings, or some family member. Uncle Norman knew many people and was loved by all. I love you Uncle Norman.

NEW.....

So we have a lot of good and new changes going on in our church and lives I am very excited. One thing is I am our sign team leader, I LOVE SIGNING, I am not a very expressive praiser those who have seen me in church :-/ but for some reason when I am signing I get into it, the girls crack up at me (in a good way ;-). We have a new name "Signs of LIFE Praise" I don't know about anyone else but I love our name, we are working on getting choir robes which I cannot wait for, no making sure I have a black outfit every month :). We do a Special every month seems like a lot but we don't do a new song every month, that would be exhausting, our last new song was "For Every Mountain" by Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir, we did really good and we were anointed which is the whole purpose. As soon as I figure out how to get the video to upload I will. The newest song we are learning is "Holy Thou Art God" the IBC version, I am very excited about it and praying it turns out good. Here are some videos of other church sign teams signing this song, when we do ours I will post the video.

http://www.holyghostdrama.com/ (this one you will have to copy and paste the link it is a little over half way down)

Ten years ago today.........

Ten Years ago today devastation struck our nation and our hearts, I was at my aunts house with my Grandma and my aunts husband came storming up the stairs yelling about planes hitting New York, and turning on the TV, we watched everything after the first plane hit. I remember my heart sinking and not sure what to think. I think for many Americans it woke them up, realizing this nation is not indestructible. Last October my husband and I went to NYC and visited ground zero, being there is indescribable, there is a very sad, heavy feeling seeing how big everything is/was, seeing the memorials, seeing the church that stood and still stands next to ground zero (also being the same exact church that President George Washington went to everyday to pray), seeing the new FREEDOM tower. FREEDOM tower, that is another subject, I know that they are building for a Memorial/replacement, but I think for most people they are looking at it for some kind of freedom from the devastation of 9/11, war, and what was lost. Which to me is even more sad than 9/11, these people are putting their faith and freedom in objects, objects won't give you freedom. If you want true FREEDOM only GOD can give it to you. 9/11 will always be a day of remembrance but it also reminds me and should all of us that that my ETERNAL FREEDOM is in JESUS CHRIST not in people or objects.

These are a couple videos of 9/11 tribute, enjoy.

Where Should I start........

Well I am going to be using my blog a little more often, not sure if anyone actually reads these but, not going to use Facebook, not deleting it though just because I have many family members on there but not using it for posting etc. I am very tired of people using it for gossip/taking things out of context/etc. I usually don't let the grapevine bother me but just getting fed up. People talk (most of it probably lies) because the definition of Gossip is idle talk or rumor, IDLE TALK-- idle or foolish and irrelevant talk, RUMOR---A piece of unverified information of uncertain origin usually spread by word of mouth /Unverified information received from another; hearsay. See my point, Gossiping is like lying there may be some facts in there but for the most part it is a lie. The Bible also talks about gossiping 1 Timothy 5:13 KJV And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not. Leviticus 19:16 KJV Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people: neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbour: I am the LORD. Even God dislikes gossip, personally I consider it a SIN because one of the 10 commandments is THOU SHALT NOT LIE and Gossip is for the most part a lie. Anyways that is my thought for today :)

Your Self Value

If you are not being treated with love and respect, check your price tag. Perhaps you have marked yourself down. It's YOU who tells people what you are worth by what you accept. Get off the clearance rack and get behind the glass where the valuables are kept! Learn to value yourself more! If you don't no one else will! ~~


WOW how true is that, many times we play the blame game and blame others that they are not being kind, fair, respectful, loving, caring, etc when really we are the ones ourselves that have done it to ourselves. I was always taught and still am under leadership that to get respect you have to give it, and give it without expecting it in return, same goes for love, fairness, etc. We live in a very selfish world these days it is all about what satisfies me and only me no one else ME, it is very sad. When we respect ourselves, love ourselves, care for ourselves, etc it shows through our words and our actions. If we do not do these for our self how can you expect someone to have love and respect for you. I love myself and respect myself, I may not always like things I CHOOSE to do, but I love myself, I am a very loving person, and the same goes for others I may not always like the things you CHOOSE but I will STILL LOVE YOU. Luke 10:27 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. Even the bible talks about loving others as thyself so if you don't love yourself how do you expect to truly love others. It also talks about Respect James 2:9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.