Gingerbread Time

Our first family photo with all of us in it...I took 4 of them and that is the best we got :)

Note the look on Wes' face in the above photo...this photo is taken right after Asher decided to dump all the itty bitty candies on the table and half ended up on the floor.

Yes, we even forced Aidan to join in on the "fun" and put a few candies on. He thought he was too cool to decorate...why wouldn't a 10 year old boy love this????

Our finished product is in the photo above and you can find my post down below:

Last year I bought a "giant" gingerbread house to decorate with the kids. The kit sat in our garage for an entire year until today. I decided, since we were going to have a "home day" it would be fun? to decorate this house. The kids had already done some decorating on a house that Grandma Barb had built but that was over a month ago...so...off I went to mix the icing. About 10 minutes into the icing mixing and trying to get the house to stick together I was questioning "why am I doing this??" as there seemed to be icing EVERYWHERE(so much so that I was afraid to get the good camera out to even attempt a photo) and I am sure the little guys ate half of what was supposed to be our building glue. Anyways, after that dried and I had cleaned up a little and everyone had lunch we began to decorate. Wes took over the icing duties while I snapped away with the camera (one of my favorite places to be). After the decorating and vacuuming was done we decided we would keep the gingerbread tradition for Grandma Barbs house :)

Our Tree Tradition

In 1999 I started buying a Christmas ornament and putting a photo in it of the each child...well at that time there was only Aidan. I have done that every year since then and so you can imagine our tree is getting nice and full of "photo ornaments." What better ornaments could there be for someone who loves photos so much? Aidan is on his 10th ornament this year and Abigail is on her first. Each year when I take the ornaments out of the box I love seeing how the kids have changed over the year(s) and take much time and care to make sure they are wrapped carefully when it is time to put them away. I treasure these as my heart lies in each one holds memories of each of our children at a certain time in their lives.

Here are the ornaments for 2009:

Saying No to the enemy

Do you ever feel like you cannot do anything right? That you aren't good at anything you try to do? Feelings of failure have been plaguing me lately. I am lacking confidence in my abilites and seem to constantly be second-guessing what I once thought I was good at.

My most important roles are being challenged:

My most important role, that of a child of God. Have I been reading my bible? No. Have I been going to church? Not the last couple of weeks. Have I prayed and given praise to the Lord? Not nearly as much as I should be. Do I love and worship Him and realize He is the Light of this world?? Absolutely!!

My role as a wife to an amazing husband. Have I been supportive in this career change for him? Not really. Have I respected the job he does for us as a family? Not consistently. Have I shown him I love him and am so happy we share this life together? Not always. Do I love this man for the wonderful dad and husband he is and the huge support he is to me?? More then my words can say!!

My role as a mommy to 3 boys and our newest 6 week old baby girl. Have I shown then love, patience, kindness? Not consistently. Have I taken the time to dive into them and make each of them feel special? Not lately. Have questions like "how am I going to handle having 4 kids?" or "how is THIS fun?" ran through my head over the past couple of weeks? Unfortunately. Do I love each one of these little monkeys more then I can write about? YES...I am so thankful for each one of them and that God sees me fit to be a mom to them and raise them with my wonderful husband. But this thought is not the first thing that plays in my mind.

I have many other roles that are important too...the role of a daughter, sister, and friend. And my first question is "have I done well in those relationships? Have I held up my end of the relationship??" Not consistently once again.

I feel a whole lot of inconsistencies as we adapt to some big changes. A career change for Wes, our new blessing of a baby girl being born, and being a mom to 4 kids.

As I read a devotion that came across my email this morning (what divine timing) it states "in our times of trial, Satan comes to us bringing lies 'You are surrounded and you will never get out', 'You're a failure otherwise you wouldn't be going through this', 'There is something wrong with you and God is sorely displeased.' "

"Hezekiah had very nearly fallen for the enemy's trick. The fact is if we don't stand up to Satan's lies - if in our hour of crisis, we don't turn to faith and prayer, if we don't draw strength from God's promises of deliverance - the devil will zero in on our faith wavering faith and intensify his attacks." (The bible tells us that God supernaturally delivered Hezekiah and Judah.)

And so, today I am reminded that as believers we stand on a promise and the shed blood of Jesus Christ. We can have victory over every sin, temptation, and battle that we will ever face.

So today I cry out to the Lord: please deliver me from these thoughts from the enemy and instill the fruits of the spirit on me and in the many roles I play. Fill me with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Give me the energy to dive into your word everyday...to read and to understand and to know that my time with You is more important then any other time spent. I want You at the forefront of my thoughts, giving You the praise and the glory for the privledge to raise our children and I long to do that in a way that is pleasing to you. Fill me with joy to do the jobs You want me to do. I know you are such a mighty and loving God and I am so very thankful.