Thursday, December 25, 2014

CHRISTmas

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.

(And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)

And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)

To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.

16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.

17 And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.

18 And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.

19 But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.

20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

21 And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called Jesus, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb.


I'm so grateful for the greatest gift ever given, the gift of salvation to everyone in the world, including little, un-important me.  That sounds like good tidings of great joy to me!  I have been thinking about how blessed and thankful I am that I am under grace...I have been given the greatest gift ever.  A gift of life, a life with God's peace, joy, love, and a hope that the unsaved don't have. I am so thankful for the hope I have in Jesus, I don't know what I would do without the knowledge that I am held in His hand and loved unconditionally. It is truly amazing to think about...God's grace is incredible, and I am SO undeserving.  Soli Deo gloria! 



Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!!!  Have a wonderful day celebrating Jesus' birth! 



Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Seeing... My lovely Christmas tree and my room that is finally clean. I was deep-cleaning/de-junking it last week (something I try to do regularly) so it looked like a war zone for a while.  

Hearing... Quiet. Everyone is sleeping. 

Smelling... My favorite candle. 

Tasting...  I'm about to be tasting a bunch of nasty stuff like fire water, (apple cider vinegar, cayenne pepper, and garlic) echinacea, and garlic, because...

Fighting... A head cold/sore throat.  I woke up with a sore throat yesterday morning. I immediately took some fire water because I don't have time to be sick. And by the way, try starting off your day with a dose of fire water at 6am. It has a bit of a kick. I'M AWAKE NOW. Anyways, the stuff worked. I'm not kidding, by the time we finished Bible study (45 mins) my sore throat was gone. But I can tell it's still there waiting to come back so I'm trying to stay on top of things, since I'm having other fun symptoms like headaches and swollen glands.  Aren't you glad I told you about all that?  I thought so. 

Thinking... About life. It's a lot to think about. Also thinking about the lovely visit I had with my three good friends today. We all met up for coffee and had an awesome time. One of these friends is the one who is gettin' hitched, so it was so fun to talk to her, and laugh at how head-over-heels she is. It's adorable. <3  Oh yeah, and against my better judgment, I bought a sugary, frou-frou mocha. With whipped cream.  My sore throat was loving me, I'm telling you. I knew I shouldn't, but I did. Because, ...coffee. And chocolate. Who in their right mind wouldn't?  Exactly! 

Buying... Christmas gifts!  I looooove this part of Christmas! 

Going... to Bible study tomorrow. Which is why I need to kick this cold because I will throw a Grade A tantrum if I'm sick and can't go!  

Trying... to get all the things on my mental list done. So many things I need to do! 

Believing... that God will work all things together for good, in His timing. 

Feeling... Kinda crummy. But hopefully that will change soon. ;)

Wearing... Jeans and a sweatshirt...standard garb these days. Classy, I know. :P

Practicing... My recital song still. Due to being so busy all the time, I haven't practiced it enough and am now experiencing the wonderful before-recital-practice-for-hours-crunch. Also practicing a new song on guitar.  Lauren Daigle's "How Can It Be". It's absolutely beautiful. I'd post the video in here, but I'm using a new blogger app on my phone and haven't figured out how to do that yet. But look it up on YouTube. 

Hurting... My finger hurts from playing piano so much. I'm not kidding. One more glissando, and I think it will fall off. 

Emailing... My friend a scripture prayer. 

Googling... Wedding songs for my engaged friend. 

Ordering... My bridesmaid dress!

Dreaming... This one is too broad. I'm always dreaming about all sorts of things. Right now I'm dreaming about the future. Scary. :P

Looking... For my phone charger. I lost it. It is not a good thing to lose your phone charger. 

Loving... My friends. I have the best friends. And it's so crazy to think that one of them is going to be a "Mrs." in just a few months. Watching her fall in love has been so sweet. So happy for her!  I played my favorite love songs for her today, and it gave me the giggles. She's so. in. love. :D

Working... On finishing up a writing project. 

Reading... This week's chapter for Bible Study. 

Worrying... About the recital on Saturday. Butterflies in my stomach, go away. 

Enjoying... Reading all the Christmas letters we are getting in the mail. So fun! 

Laughing... At hilarious texts from friends. :D

Learning... To rest in Him.  Matthew 11:28-30 "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." 

Thanking... God that Sasha didn't get hurt when another dog attached her. *insert heart attack* I didn't realize I could still pick up that crazy, 50 or 60 pound girl and run with her. :P  That dog is as good at getting herself into trouble as I am.  

Apologizing... To you because I have no pictures to post. Unless you want to see pictures of coffee?  Or *more* puppies?  Or my brother playing harmonica with his nose?  Ok, that's a good one, but I don't think I dare post it....said brother would never forgive me. :P  Or I could post a picture of the HUGE SCARY HAIRY SPIDER that came THIS CLOSE to sending me to an early grave. I almost passed out. I was scrubbing out dog dishes in the garage and reached for the towel and almost grabbed the spider. Why do these things happen to me?  I screamed very loudly. The blood curdling type of scream that spiders drag out of me. And my little brother proved how amazing he is. He must have seen I was about to have an emotional breakdown (IT WAS A SPIDER. THIS IS SERIOUS STUFF.) and he came over, hugged me, and said "it's ok Em". Then he killed the spider. I HAVE THE BEST BROTHER IN THE WORLD. I love you, Jonny!  I know I'm a farm girl, and I will HAPPILY  gut chickens, scoop manure, pull stuck lambs out during lambing, and shoot deer, but spiders?  Mice?  Any bug?   I will scream so loud I will have a sore throat and run as fast as I can.  I promise you I can't help it. It's my instinct and it happens without me trying. Anyways. How did I get from pictures to spiders?  I'm telling you, get me going and I will go. ;)  ANYWAYS. 

Ending... This post. Thanks for readings my ramblings. 


Sunday, December 7, 2014

Warning: this is a very (very) long post

I'm going to resist the urge to start out with what is probably the #1 thing said on a blog.  (Or anyways, any blog I've ever done, ha!)  "Sorry I haven't posted in forever...life has been really busy!"  Blogging simply isn't at the top of my list of priorities, so if you are one of the faithful few who follows this blog, I'm sure you'll get used to my sporadic posting, so I won't apologize.  :)  There is so much life to live and I would rather spend the majority of my time living it than writing about it. Anywho.

Life has been bursting full and good.  Here's what I've been up to:


--- Thanksgiving!  Thanksgiving was awesome.  It was so great to have my big brother Brandon home for Thanksgiving, and have my grandparents here.





So much to be thankful for this year, as always. A few things I'm thankful for...

~Having Bran home for Thanksgiving
~Everything God's done in my life this year.  It's been the hardest, but best, year of my life.  A whole lot of tears, and lots of laughs.  Looking back I can see God's goodness all over everything.  He's. So. Good.
~My amazing family.  I love them all so much.  So much!  In fact, the other day when they were late to come home  (we're talking an hour and a half late)  and not answering my many phone calls, I got myself worried enough that I decided to go looking for them.  In the ranger, because I couldn't find the car keys.  I know, so smart!  Our road is pretty icy and I've done some slipping and sliding on it, so I was imaging them all unconscious in the ditch.  I was telling myself everything was fine and I was just being overly-dramatic (I do do that sometimes, believe it or not) but I had to at least drive down our road and check.  They pulled in as I was just starting down the driveway.  I felt really retarded, and then I burst into tears and was like "I was worried you went in the ditch and I was coming to search for you...in the Ranger....and I'm so glad you're alive and I'm not an orphan."  Thankfully my family is used to me and they were sweet and let me cry on them, and then explained that they stopped to do some shopping, and the phone was on vibrate.  It was really all so ridiculous, and I knew it was, but when they pulled up the driveway I was reminded how much they all mean to me.  Forget everything, the relationships are what matters, right!?  Anyways, where was I???
 ~Coffee.  It is my BFF.
~The Bible.
~My puppy Sasha who brings much joy and slobber to me :P
~All my amazing friends...
~My dear friend who just got engaged to an awesome guy...so happy for them!  She sent me a picture of her ring and I was laughing and crying and screaming all at once.  She asked me to be one of her bridesmaids, and I'm so honored and blessed!  Looking forward to her wedding this winter!
~Another awesome friend who has been my life saver this year.  The kind of friend that I can text a complete I'm-freaking-out-HELP text to and she texts me back, "Take a deep breath.  Now let it out real slowly.  Everything is going to be OK" and then goes on to encourage me that everything really is going to be OK.  Love you, Ena. :)
So many more but I've probably said enough.  :)


---Vacation!  We went on vacation to Breezy Point the weekend after Thanksgiving and it was awesome!  So blessed to have friends who will take care of the many critters while we're gone, it's no small task!  It was also fantastic to have my Grama along.  We have too much fun with her!  We laugh until we cry, and dance down the sidewalks because we don't know anyone around there anyways!  Here's a few (ha) pictures.


Carmel Latte.  'Nuff said.  


These two beauties are my mom and Grama.  <3




This is Mom's favorite store in the history of ever.  Sometimes we are there for a long time.



That's my "I'm-so-tired-but-now-I-have-coffee-so-I-think-I'm-going-to-survive-face-selfie.  :P



We went to the game room where I used every quarter I could dig out of my purse, and I may or may not have turned a few dollars into quarters too.... we played air hockey until I was literally dripping in sweat.  That stuff is intense!  :}



Another Breezy Point tradition, one night we all go out to eat at a fancy restaurant.  I love it. We get all dressed up (I wore my one and only dress, ok?!) and it's probably the one time every year when I wear lipstick.  Because I hate lipstick.  That is, I hate the feeling of it because I feel like I'm eating lipstick.  But this is the night I eat lipstick, just because.  And above was my dinner.  It was chicken something or other...tortellini?  That might have been it.  It was delish, but there was no way I could finish it - it was a huge serving!  



My adorable parents.


Grama, Jonny, me, and Ben.


Black Friday shopping!  


I saw Grama kissing Santa Claus! =0  =)


We went on a sleigh ride in a wagon.  It was super fun, even though it was freezing!



Ben and Jonny got to sit up front with the driver.




Getting pizza for dinner.


Please don't ask me why we were eating ice cream when it was freezing, literally freezing, outside.


And we wrapped up Black Friday with watching fireworks.


Went swimming every morning.  A blast!  


The boys and Dad.



I know what you are thinking.  "Why is she plugging her nose?!"   Because my nose doesn't keep out water, that's why.  Trust me, I have tried to learn to swim underwater without plugging my nose and all I do is drowned my brain.  And I forgot my nose plug.  Yes, I have a nose plug.  I bought it, so apparently there are other special people out there who have holes in their noses too.  That nose plug is the best. thing. ever.  And I forgot it.  So, I'm plugging my nose.  Everyone got it?  :D



At the coffee shop.  



Sitting around drinking coffee.  <3  It was an awesome vacation! 

 ---PUPPIES!  So. many. puppies!  We have a litter of eleven pups right now that are around five weeks old and so adorable it hurts.  We gave them all baths the other day and I took pictures of each one.  Puppy photo shoots are a blast, but by the time we got to number eleven, I was ready to call it a day.  Every once in a while I'd get a really photogenic pup, but most of the time it was sifting through fifty photos to find five that aren't blurry.  =}  Here are a few of the good ones...








"LOOK AT THE CAMERA AND SMILE."  ;-)


~Christmas!  It's the most wonderful time of the year, folks!  I love this season!  We've been decorating for Christmas and last week we rocked around the Christmas tree, which means we decorated it, while drinking eggnog and listening to good music.


The boys and I have little Christmas trees in our rooms, and I've been wanting to get a new one the last few years because mine just wasn't big enough for my growing stash of ornaments.  This year I majorly splurged and finally bought a bigger one.  And once I got it home and out of the box I realized it was a lot bigger than I thought...but it's perfect!  Love it. :D 



This is an ornament a little guy I babysit made for me. PRECIOUS!  :)

I'm going to stop while I'm ahead, because I'm probably not anymore, and there's simply too much to catch up on for one post.

If you made it to the end without a) falling asleep, b) giving up, c) un-following, or d) all of the above, congratulations.  You are amazing.

More coming soon, or not.  Thanks for reading!  :)