Kelli | Page 79 | Minivans Are Hot

Top 10 ways to know you’ve watched too much Little House on the Prairie

January 8, 2010 by Kelli

10. When the kids are exasperating you, you burst out, “I declare,” in a huff.
9. Your six year old comes to you, clutching his stomach and says, “Mom, I don’t feel good. I think I’ve got the mountain fever.”
8. You have a sudden and bizarre urge to sew something…even though you don’t know how to sew.
7. You wish you owned a pair of snowshoes and a rifle.
6. You ring a bell to signal to the kids it’s time to eat.
5. You have a hankerin’ for a raspberry pie.
4. You use words like “hankerin'” in conversation.
3. You’re craving cornbread and honey.
2. You feel the need to read your Bible in the King James version.
1. Your kids are calling you Ma.

Day two of a snow day (this time due to frigid temps) means we’ve been bunkered down in front of the fire watching more of the adventures of the Ingalls family. We’ve seen Carrie fall down an old mine shaft and Laura survive the Spotted Mountain fever (although in reality she only had poison ivy). We’ve seen Pa swim through a creek and battle three armed men to get Doc Baker and we’ve learned that Mr. Edwards lost his first wife and child to the fever.

And we’re experiencing a little cabin fever of our own. We will have to go out later because there are a few necessities that we need, but otherwise, we’re in for the day. Here are a few shots from our snow fun yesterday. I did manage to get the kids to a park to sled, but the wind was whipping and it was so bitterly cold that we didn’t last long. In fact, Tia, Landon and I sat in the car and watched Sloan sled for most of the time.

Ah well – I tried. Happy snow day everyone!

Filed Under: Family, Kids

Battoning Down the Hatches…or something like that.

January 7, 2010 by Kelli

Well we didn’t get the eight inches of snow they were predicting yesterday (it looks more like 3-4 inches to me) but it’s still flurrying a bit out there so we’ll see what happens. The kids are enjoying their first ever snow day and right now are all piled up on the couch in their soggy pull ups and diapers watching Micky Mouse Clubhouse.

The weatherman says that the snowstorm is finished (but what does he know?) but our temperatures will be falling throughout the day. Falling from 17 with a windchill of 1. They’re saying by midday we should have wind chills hovering somewhere around -15 to -20. I told you the other day about my extreme hatred for cold weather. It makes me all flustered and cantakerous.

To compound things, Lee is currently at the airport waiting on a flight to take him to Phoenix for a work meeting. Phoenix…where it’s warm. (mutter, mutter, grumble, grumble)

So, like Ma Ingalls, the children and I shall power on. We will survive our manless estate during these record low temperatures. I will brave the weather so my kids can sled down the small hill in our front yard. I will throw salt on the driveway and shovel away some of the snow. I will churn the butter and bake corn bread from scratch…

Okay, I’ll probably just rip open a box of Mac and Cheese. I’m more of a modern day Ma.

And we will likely spend most of our day inside where I pray the children do not eat each other alive. If you try to call later and I don’t answer it’s because I’ve locked myself in my bedroom and curled up in the fetal position.

Hopefully all our together time looks like this:

Happy and Gettin’ Along:

We’ll drink hot cocoa and eat the oatmeal cookies that Landon and I made yesterday:

Yes, we will enjoy this snowy morning and we will gather before a roaring fire when the wind chills dip to dangerously low levels. We will read books and eat cookies and watch movies.

It may not be so bad after all.

Filed Under: Family, Kids, Life Tagged With: Winter snow storm

I’m married and dating a younger man!

January 5, 2010 by Kelli

Did you ever fear when you got married that you would miss dating? That you might long for the excitement of going out with someone new and different – the butterflies, the joy of a shared moment, smiles exchanged, hands held?

I will confess – I did worry about it. It wasn’t a worry that kept me up at night or made me question whether or not I should marry Lee, but I did think about it some in the months leading up to our marriage. I was barely 22 when we got married. I was very young and I knew that by marrying so young I was giving up a bit of “life.” In fact, when Lee proposed to me I was only eighteen months out of my teens.

In short, I was a baby.

Of course, I didn’t think that at the time. I felt more than grown up and I was mature enough to step into marriage. But looking back at it now, 22 seems so very young.

So yes – a couple of times during our engagement, I wondered if I would miss dating. I worried that maybe the thrill of the chase would be over and I would never get to experience that excitement again.

Now that I’m so old (eyeroll), though, I have a little perspective. First of all, I’m happy to say that I still get excited to go out on a date with my husband. How naive I was to think that marriage would squeeze an ever tightening noose around the neck of excitement. If anything, I get more excited to be alone with my husband now than I did back in those early days when I took for granted the endless alone time we had. My husband can still make me giggle and he still gives me goosebumps when he comes out all dressed to the nines and dapper. That didn’t die when we said “I do.”

But, I also now have the opportunity to date someone else. And going out with this young man gives me a new and different kind of excitement. When he smiles at me, my stomach flutters and my heart skips a beat when he holds my hand in public. And he’s only six years old. I never imagined it could be so fun to date my child. Seeing his eyes light up at the prospect of having alone time with me is better than any new romance I ever experienced in college.

I also get to date my daughter. Tonight she and I went swimming at the gym. Just the two of us. We giggled and laughed. We talked directly to one another without interruption. We played and splashed and hugged and kissed. And I had the time of my life. And soon Landon will be old enough to date – although I have to say that the alone moments he and I get when the older two are at school are priceless and precious.

So gone are the feelings and fears that life will somehow be monotonous with the same person day in and day out. I experience a lot of feelings on a day to day basis and I can guarantee you, monotony is not one of them. I am dating more now than I ever did before and while Lee and I don’t do the best job of carving out alone time with one another, the fact is we don’t really have to. I’m perfectly content sitting right here with him as he plays LEGO Star Wars on the Wii and I type away on Lucy. I don’t need the fancy dates that I needed back when I was but a whipper snapper.

I just need my husband by my side and my children close by and all is well.

Although a glass of wine would be nice too…

Excuse me.

Filed Under: Family, Life, Marriage, Sloan, Tia Tagged With: Dating after marriage

In which I ramble on about nothing

January 5, 2010 by Kelli

It’s cold outside. Not brrrrrrrrrrrrr chilly. It’s freeze your face off cold. It’s single digits with wind chills below zero cold.

My husband is checking out real estate in Florida and in the Bahamas. He typically starts this process every October and it tapers off around mid-March. It’s like clock work.

I loathe cold weather. I despise it. I’m not a cussing kinda gal, but if I were this weather would lead me to make sailors blush.

Just to remind you – it wasn’t that long ago that I was here:

I know – that picture makes you want to cry doesn’t it? So ya know – I’m allowed to gripe about the weather. Gripe, gripe, gripe…

Coffee gives me a stomach ache. But I’ve stayed up way too late the last two nights so coffee has been a necessity. It’s either a stomach ache or mommy the zombie.

I drink coffee so rarely that I don’t even know how to make a pot of it. I think I’ve made all of three or four pots of coffee in my life. Good thing Lee got this coffee maker for his birthday. It’s going to make addicts of us yet. And grown ups. Because there’s nothing that makes me feel more like a grown up than a cup of coffee in the morning.

Seriously, I tried to clean Lee’s windshield while driving the other day and the water froze as it sprayed out leaving streaks of ice up and down his windshield. That’s how cold it is. I almost cussed. But I’m not a cussing kinda gal. See above.

It’s Day 5 of the new year and I’ve already slacked on one of my resolutions. My goal is to be more productive with my time. One of the ways I’m hoping to do that is by getting up earlier in the morning and getting my writing done before the kids get up. I’d also like to be dressed before they wake up so that the mornings run more smoothly. I did great yesterday and I was super productive.

But Lee and I stayed up too late the last two nights. Did I mention that already? We’re busy watching Season 5 of The Office. We got it for Christmas. We only planned on watching one episode, but the show is so doggone funny that we couldn’t stop.

In order to accomplish the aforementioned resolution, I think I need to add to it that I get in bed at a decent hour.

My hands are cold right now as I type this. I got new gloves at Target the other day. They have no fingers so I can wear them while I type. They look kind of like this – only not as cute…

And I’m wearing them right now. My hands are warm…but my fingers are still cold. Not totally sure what the purpose is, but I’m going to wear them anyway.

My husband is a bit of a nerd. He keeps yammering on about Facebook and how ridiculous he thinks it is. He’s leaving nonsensical status updates. Right now I do believe he is claiming to be a Greek god on his Facebook page. As nerdy as it is, it’s making me laugh.

I think that means I’m also a nerd.

Okay, I think it’s time for me to close this out. I need to make a second cup of coffee. And I need to put on another shirt because I’m freezing my arse off. It’s not cussing if you write it with a Scottish accent is it?

I also need to start the car. If I let it run for the next 20 minutes it should be warm when we have to leave to take Tia to school. Did I mention it was cold outside? If any of you hear of a job opening in the medical device field in Florida or the Bahamas, let us know…

Okay, seriously – I need to go. This not a productive use of my time. I’m failing abismally at my new year goal.

Stay warm everyone!

Filed Under: Holidays, Life, New Years, Random

2009 – A “Wordy” Review

January 3, 2010 by Kelli

I got this idea from C-Jane’s blog. I’m not quite as spunky a writer as she is, but I liked looking through my 2009 posts and remembering the fun and crazy words that composed and marked the past year.

January:

– The Inauguration: Thoughts From a Conservative: This was one of my few ventures into politics on my blog. I don’t do it often, but sometimes the urge to comment on the political temperature of our country gets the best of me. Political posts always lead to interesting comments. I also ended up on the news during this particular event.

– Boredom Leads to Strange Things: An Epic Battle: In which Sloan and I developed an entire story using his Star Wars figurines and a doll house.

Feburary:

Hoops and Tears: This was one of my more poignant and introspective posts of the year. I don’t often venture into the recesses of my heart on my blog, but this was a decisive moment in my year and it’s a prayer that my heart still whispers for my child.

The Master Cleanse: A Reflection: Perhaps one of the funnier moments of our year. This was the description of mine and Lee’s abismal attempt at the Master Cleanse diet.

March:

Minivans are HOT!: I got my new site up and running with this post.

Memo to My Husband: My kind (and fecicious) way of asking my husband not to screw the lids of the kids’ sippy cups on so tight.

April:

Sick and Twisted or Just Plain Funny?: If my children ever end up needing professional counseling, this post may contain some explanation as to why.

Easter Blunder: My husband made a man blunder on Easter Sunday of all days. It made for a great memory…and gave me a reason to laugh at him – good naturedly of course.

May:

Can I Just Go Back To Bed?: The Infamous haircut heard ’round the world. It was Sloan’s lone foray into hair maintenance – he was fired, effective immediately and lasting for all of eternity.

The Art of Taking Tea: A friend and I threw a kick-butt tea party.

June:

The Lotus in a Field of Mud: I love yoga – I just don’t understand it…

Why I’m in Turks and Caicos: I got to take the trip of a lifetime with my mom as we travelled to her childhood home in South Caicos. It was amazing.

July: This was a big posting month for me…

Six Years: My baby turned six. *sob*

Then and Now: I took these comparitive shots of Landon on our favorite stretch of beach.

Heavy and Light: In which I go all introspective again.

I’m sorry but it’s all I’ve got today…: My pitiful, yet painfully honest, admition that I would gladly allow Zac Efron to make a Cougar out of me (though since I’ve written this post I’ve been informed that a woman in her thirties is actually referred to as a Puma).

August:

On Immunizations: I ventured into another hot topic and posted our decision to alter and withhold some immunizations for our children.

Missions Week: I hosted my first Missions Week in which I featured missions organizations and missionaries that are near and dear to my heart. You can read all of the posts by clicking on the link at the top of my page.

September:

The President’s Address to Our Children: I got political again and in doing so stepped in a big pile of *&%! This particular post ended in me getting an email from Fox and Friends to be interviewed on their morning program. Unfortunately I was out of town when they needed me and was unable to do the interview.

A Party in the Heavenlies: My son asked Jesus to be his Savior. A momentous day for sure.

October:

Don’t let the door hit you in the –: The one where I admit that sometimes my mothering skills are reduced to clapping my hands.

Pumpkins and Funnel Cakes – A Lovely Combo: I worked on taking and posting better photographs with this post.

November:

I Blame it all on Them: This post found me lamenting my dying brain cells – a phenomena I blame entirely on the children.

Mature Woman my BLEEP: My dermatologist had a severe case of verbal diarrhea.

December:

The Three Wise Men, The Construction Worker and the Lady Down the Street: This one is pretty self-explanatory.

The One Where My Mom Claws Come Out: I almost had to take a girl out at the mall. Don’t make mama bear angry!

Whew – It’s been a fun ride, this blogging thing. I’m so glad I have these stories documented and I’m so grateful to have you guys journey with us. I know I’m not the most talented writer out there and I don’t always spin the most fascinating stories, but this blog has been a fun release for me and I enjoy your company!

I’m hoping to improve my writing skills in this coming year, while also providing a fun and witty journal for my children to look back at one day. This is the literary road map of their childhoods. I just pray that I do them justice.

Happy 2010.

Which, can you believe it’s 2010? I really thought we’d have flying cars by now…and Hoverboards.

Blast those Hollywood movie makers…

Filed Under: blast from the past, Blogging, Family, funny stuff that happens, Kids, Kids do the darndest things, Life, Missions Weeks, Random

Good Friends, Good Fun, Good Year

January 1, 2010 by Kelli

We ended the decade last night with our neighbors, eating, drinking and dancing. Adults and children all joined in on the fun as we played the Wii game, Just Dance. If you don’t have this game, I recommend you get it – we will be after playing last night.

This has been a good decade. Exactly ten years ago, I was engaged to the man of my dreams. Lee and I went to downtown St. Louis to ring in Y2K, watching the fireworks and waiting for the world to end. I’m so glad it didn’t because our first ten years together have been filled with more blessings than I ever though possible. We began our family with just the two of us in 2000 and we have now expanded to five. We’ve made dear friends along the way and are more than excited to see what the next decade has in store. If it matches this first decade of our marriage, then we are in for another good ride.

Happy New Year everyone!

Chocolate dipped marshmellows on a stick? Oh yes, 2010 will indeed be a good year.

FAME! I'm Gonna Live Forever...

It's 10:00 and Landon is beginning to wind down.

He had one last dance in him though...

We ended up the night at home, in our jammies, where we counted down to midnight then shared New Year’s kisses all around.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

The One Where My Mom Claws Come Out

December 30, 2009 by Kelli

*update* I returned to the mall today to file a formal complaint and noticed that there was a phone number on the sign in front of the trampolines (where the same girl was working again today, I might add). I called the number and spoke with the man who owns the trampolines. He was very kind and extremely apologetic for her behavior. He told me that this was the second complaint in two weeks he’d gotten on this girl…and she only works two days/week. Yikes. Anyway, he apologized profusely and told me he would be calling me in the next couple of days to set up a time for me to bring the kids in and let them bounce for free. So I just wanted to put that out there – it was the employee, not the establishment and I’m very pleased with the outcome. Happy New Year everyone!

Tonight I had the privilege of taking Sloan on a date to the movies. We are not movie folk. Lee and I don’t love going to the movies (it’s more that we don’t love paying for the movies) and so we rarely go, which means I can count on one hand the number of times we’ve taken Sloan to the theater.

Needless to say, going to see a movie is a HUGE treat. So huge, in fact, that as we walked through the mall, Sloan grabbed my hand and put it on his cheek and said, “Thanks for taking me to the movie mom. This is the bestest night of my whole life…AND of my whole year!”

Glad I could finish out 2009 with a bang for you little man.

We saw Alvin and the Chipmunks. Sloan thought is was HI-LAR-I-OUS. He slapped his knee, he bent over and gripped his sides, he cackled and I think I even heard a guffaw. Even I thought it was a funny movie, though I had considerably more fun watching him clutch his sides in hysterics than I did watching the screen. (The two scenes that had him laughing until I thought he might have an accident? When Alvin gave the football jocks a wedgie and when Theodore got trapped beneath the sheets after Toby passed gas. Ugh – is he all boy or what?)

After the movie, Sloan wanted to walk around the mall for a bit and since it was date night, I decided to give in and let him pick one more special thing to do. He chose to jump on the inflated trampolines in the center of the mall. Lucky for me, I still had Tia’s wallet in my purse from a trip to the store the other day and I was able to borrow the cash needed from her to allow him to do that.

Remind me to replace that before she starts looking for her wallet!

We approached the gates of the trampoline area and Sloan asked if he could jump. The girl in charge looked up from her soup in a bread bowl long enough to roll her eyes then slid off her chair and stomped over to us and flung the gate open.

“Take off your shoes,” she barked at Sloan.

“What?”

*eyeroll* “Take. off. your. shoes,” she said all slow and snotty like. At this point my blood reached a simmering point. I took a deep breath and told myself that maybe, just maybe, she had low blood sugar and our interuppting her dinner was causing an adverse reaction in her body. Benefit of the doubt. I was working hard on it.

Once Sloan had his shoes and jacket off, he climbed up on the trampoline all giggly and smily – oblivious to the snotty girl yanking the belt around his waist. She jerked the straps up then gave him a little shove backwards to the center of the tramp. And my blood reached boiling point. I literally had to grip the sides of the gate to keep myself from lunging over.

At this point, another family walked up and their daughter headed in to the other trampoline, receiving the same rude and rough treatment. The other mom and I made eye contact. I could see that her blood was at the same temperature mine was. Her knuckles were white too.

Our kids commensed to jumping. Sloan wooped and hollered and had the time of his life. I tried to enjoy his glee, but I was too busy watching the girl, making sure that she was doing her job and keeping an eye on the jumpers. She wasn’t. She was busy pouring her soup into her bread bowl and taking a bite.

After a few minutes, she lowered the kids down and without a word motioned for Sloan to step forward so she could remove his harness. He wasn’t looking at her so he didn’t see her. She motioned again. He still didn’t see. So she kicked at the tramp with her knee to get his attention and when he looked at her she motioned vigorously and rudely for him to step forward…still not talking and asking him politely. Then she yanked – and I mean literally yanked – his harness off and stomped over to the other tramp.

When she came to me for the money, I was taking very deep breaths. My face was so hot I feared it might spontaneously combust into a flaming inferno. I leaned way forward and put my nose about an inch from her and began speaking through clenched teeth.

I said, “I understand that it’s late and you’ve probably had a long day, and I see that you are trying to eat some dinner so I’m assuming you’re hungry, but the way that you just treated my son is unacceptable. You’ve been nothing but a snot from the moment we stepped up here and I want you to know that I was watching you and I don’t appreciate it.”

At this point, she rolled her eyes at me. She ROLLED HER EYES AT ME. Perhaps I misjudged her earlier. She didn’t have low blood suger, she had a freaking death wish.

To my credit, I kept my cool and never raised my voice, although my hands began shaking with fury.

“Nobody pushes my kid around, do you understand? That’s my kid right there and he deserves your respect and you will respect him. I don’t care if you like your job or not – you have no right to push my kid around and think you can get away with it.”

I then handed her the money and said, “I will pay you this money, but I want you to know that I am going to the Information desk where I will be filling out a complaint and recommending that you be removed from a job that requires you working with children since you clearly don’t want to be around them. And I sincerely hope that you shape up your attitude and treat the children standing in line behind me better than you’ve treated my son.”

She stared at me and did not respond. Not even a nod. Oh my Lord, you guys, it is by the grace of God I was able to step away I was so furious.

I grabbed Sloan’s hand and as calmly as I could walked away. As I stopped to put his shoes on him, the dad of the other little girl that was jumping with Sloan walked by and gave me two thumbs up. I also noticed a mom who had been standing in line behind me leave the line.

Good.

When I got to the Information desk, they told me they were out of complaint forms (!) but I could come back tomorrow and fill one out in the main mall office. And you better believe I’ll be doing that. That girl has no business working that job.

As we left, Sloan asked me why I told that girl to change her attitude – I decided to use it as a teaching moment and explained to him that that girl was rude and disrespectful not only to me, but more so to him.

“We’re a family, kiddo, and if someone isn’t treating your family right, you need to defend your family.”

He nodded and I think he got the message. He’s a perceptive kid and he knew that she wasn’t acting kind. (Kind! She wasn’t acting human…she was a little monster.) For my part, I’m actually pretty proud of how I handled the situation. I have a tendency to, ahem, fly off the handle and when she rolled her eyes at me I had to fight H-A-R-D not to raise my voice and use a few choice words. Seriously – just thinking about it right now I’m biting my lip with such force that I may pierce it.

But I knew little eyes were watching and I kept my cool. And I think she got the message. I don’t think she cared, but she got the message.

Yay me! *deep breath*

Now I’m off to go release on the punching bag in the basement…

Filed Under: Family, Kids, Life, Motherhood, Sloan Tagged With: Alvin and the Chipmunks - The Squeakqual

The One Where He Sings Dradle, Dradle, Dradle

December 29, 2009 by Kelli

This year, our church opened up the Christmas Eve services to anyone who wanted to join and help lead the service. Since I am so involved with our music department, I decided to take Sloan and have him stand up front with me. Much to his dismay, I might add.

My sweet six year old will walk up to anyone in the world and strike up a conversation. He entertains us tirelessly at home and he’s got the sweetest singing voice – but when he gets in front of a group of people that he perceives to be “staring” at him, he clams up completely and turns into someone I don’t know. So he was not thrilled when I told him he was going to stand up front and sing in big Church.

Once I assured him that he would not have to sing alone into the microphone, though, he was much relieved, though still not thrilled.

Who’s kid is he anyway?!

So, we headed to practice last Wednesday night. Because there were a lot of people to organize and several songs to go through, the rehearsal was longer than I had expected it to be. This led the six year old to behave like a, well…six year old.

There was the wallowing on the floor, and the third time I dragged him gently lifted him to his feet, I told him that he was going to make it and he needed to stand up, to which he replied, “This is the awfullest day of my whole life! Why did you make me do this?”

And somewhere, a group of crickets began singing a mournful tune. (eyeroll)

Then there was the issue of him having been placed directly in front of the microphone, which, despite his phobia of singing into one proved to be far too great a temptation for his six year old self. He commenced making gun sounds into the microphone, which required him to jump up and down so that his mouth was closer to the mic as it was set up fairly high. On occasion, he jumped up and barked out “Hello!” then grinned from ear to ear when he landed back on the floor.

And finally, the icing on the cake…

Many of the songs were very traditional Christmas carols, which I am ashamed to say he doesn’t know. He can sing Frosty the Snowman, but O Little Town of Bethlehem is an unknown tune. That will change next year. So while we rehearsed and practiced the songs, he really had to just stand there because he didn’t know the words and he can’t read well enough to follow the screens. This resulted in him repeatedly ramming his head backward into my gut, leaving me with bruises.

And I began to seriously question my bringing him along.

Then I heard him singing softly in his sweet little tenor. So I leaned forward to give him encouragement. And this is what I heard…

“Dradle, Dradle, Dradle, I made it out of clay…”

That made me laugh. Only my kid would think to start singing the Dradle song while at church rehearsing for the Christmas Eve service. So I did what any self respecting parent would do. I leaned down and taught him how to mouth the word Watermelon to the beat of the song. He thought this was all the hilarious and embraced it whole heartily.

I am pleased to report that during the actual service he did very well. He sang when he knew the words. He didn’t once make a gun noise into the mic, he stayed on his feet and he mouthed Watermelon with pride. The only hiccup came during a particularly powerful moment in the service when Lee, who was sitting about four rows in front of us, raised his hands in praise as he sang. This caused Sloan a great deal of consternation and he began motioning vigorously to his dad to put his hands down, the whole time stage whispering, “Dad. No! Dad! Get your hands down now, Dad! NOW DAD!”

Hilarious.

Despite it being the “awfullest” night of his whole life, he did very well and even admitted at the end that he had fun.

Score one for Mommy.

Filed Under: Christmas, funny stuff that happens, Holidays, Kids do the darndest things, Sloan

Christmas Is

December 28, 2009 by Kelli

Christmas is the excitment on little faces at a sea of gifts filled with unknown treasure.

Christmas is little boys grinning from ear to ear.

Christmas is Santa Clause coming to town.

Christmas is the thrill of a surprise.

Christmas is family.

Christmas is being together, celebrating the birth of our Savior and relishing the blessings that have been bestowed upon us. Christmas is my favorite time of year.

Filed Under: Christmas, Family, Holidays

It’s a Merry Christmas Day!

December 25, 2009 by Kelli

I hope and pray that you all had a blessed Christmas day. Ours was nice. I, unfortunately, was up all night with a violent case of the stomach flu. Seriously – it was ugly. I ended up just sleeping on the bathroom floor kind of ugly.

But alas, Christmas morning came and the worst of it seemed to be over and we managed to get through gifts without me hurling every which way. It was a bit of a bummer to miss Christmas dinner, because my mom makes a mean Christmas dinner, but she sent us home with loads of leftovers which I hope to dig into as soon as my stomach quits repelling food and liquids.

May you all enjoy the weekend with your loved ones!

He came that we might have life and have it abundantly!

Merry Christmas.

Filed Under: Christmas, Holidays