Tuesday, December 23, 2008

All I want for Christmas is my.....

TWO FRONT TEETH!!!



Mady's tooth has been dangling for several weeks. Last night, it came out. She looks so cute. :)


Monday, December 22, 2008

Favorite Christmas Movies

I must confess that I've never seen "It's a wonderful life!" So, for everyone who will say that it must be in my Christmas movie list, I'm sorry. I just have never seen it.

#5 - Miracle on 34th Street
#4 - Christmas in Conneticut - This movie is a holiday tradition at Sasha's families. We watch it every Christmas Eve.
#3 - The Santa Clause I and II - Tim Allen is hilarious as Santa Clause. I need to see III, but haven't yet.
#2 - Elf - Smiling's my favorite
#1 - A Christmas Story - This classic movie has been a favorite of mine for a long time. It's not a christmas season without this great movie

What are you favorite Christmas movies?

Sunday, December 21, 2008

What a day!

1. This morning, we had a great time of worship singing the Christmas songs. The chorus of "O come all ye faithful" was especially meaningful to me. I love that song. Great job worship team!

2. I enjoyed communicating the message this morning! Looking at the Christmas story, there were two questions that I think Mary might have had. Why do we have to go to Bethelehem now? How inconvenient! Yet that inconvenience was a part of God's plan! See Micah 5:2. The other question would be "Is this the best we can do for the Messiah?" They wrapped Jesus in strips of cloth and placed him in a horse trough. Wow! We go through a lot of preparations for our babies and I have to think that Mary might have felt a little sadness that they were having to place Jesus in a manger. I then posed the question to our church. "Are we doing the best we can for the Messiah?" Here's a video clip that we showed to conclude the message!




3. Huge thanks to Pastor John for filling in tonight! Our family attended a graduation celebration in Chandler. Lolly graduated from Baylor. We're proud of her. She completed her 4 year degree in 3 and a half years. Way to go, Lolly!

4. It was great to see so many of our former students at the celebration! Lolly, Drew, Neil, Jerid, Emily, Lauren, Pokey and James, we are proud of you and excited to see what is happening in your life!

5. It's not a trip back to Chandler unless we eat at my favorite restaurant, San Pedro's. Since it was a quick trip, we weren't able to call all of our friend or my cousin that lives there. Well, I get up to go visit the men's room and walk to the rear of the restaurant and there is a whole table full of my family. My cousin, J.C., and his family were there eating and a special suprise was to see my cousin, Clay, and his family too. Clay and Karen live in Houston and were up visiting his brother. We usually only see Clay and Karen at Family Reunion.

After 4 hours on the road, a graduation celebration and a mini family reunion, we are back home.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Top 5 Christmas Songs - #5

Over the next few days, I'm going to countdown my top 5 favorite Christmas songs!

#5 - The Christmas Song


What's your top 5 Christmas songs?

Monday, December 15, 2008

Monday Afternoon Blog

1. We had a great time at Cornerstone last night. The Northside Church Choir was with us in concert and they did a fantastic job. :) We also had a great time of food and fellowship after the concert.

2. Yesterday, we had 3 people rededicate their lives to Christ. What an awesome day!

3. Thank you to everyone who helped set up, prepare food and clean up for last night's fellowship. You guys did awesome!

4. It's cold....really cold. Last night, I had on short sleeves and it felt great. Today, something is blowing through and it is freezing. Looks like we may actually get some ice. Personally, I prefer the powdery white stuff.

5. How 'bout them Cowboys! They control their own destiny now. :)

Friday, December 12, 2008

Update

First, let me apologize for not blogging in a while. I needed a break. The creative juices were needed in other areas and blogging got put on the back shelf. However, I'm working on something for the next week and we'll do my best to update every weekday starting on Monday. So, for now, let me catch you up to what's been happening this week.

1. Mady lost her top front tooth last Saturday Night. She has one more to go before we can sing "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth." She looks cute.

2. Last Saturday, Sasha hosted the Ladies Christmas Tea at the church. With her helpers, Tammy and Rachel, they put on a great tea.

3. Last Saturday, we also had a float in the Atlanta Christmas Parade. The theme was "Toyland." So, we built a big Jack in the Box, had Bob and Larry from the Veggie Tales, a teen dressed in a big dog costume, our resident clowns, Doug and Sherry, and kids throwing out candy. It was lots of fun.

4. I enjoyed the SAU Chi Alpha team that came over last Sunday night. They led worship and their director spoke. We have two of our Cornerstone students who have gotten involved in the Chi Alpha worship band.

5. We had our annual Advisor's Christmas gathering. It was a great night of food and fellowship. :)

6. Last night was simply amazing. Pastor John, Rachel and I went down to Bossier City to see the "Winter Wonderslam Tour" with Toby Mac, Relient K, Family Force 5 and B. Reith. We met up with my cousin, J.C., at Moe's. Then, it was off to the show. The show was incredible. Unlike last week's Casting Crowns show, the majority of the music was not Christmas music. They did a few Christmas songs, but it was mostly their normal stuff. I have watched TobyMac in concert now since he was in DC Talk (I first saw them in Waco about 18 years ago.) Vocally, he has come a LOOOONG way. The band was awesome. His message was challenging. The production was incredible. If you like that style of music, you need to see Toby live in concert. Simply amazing.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

What's been happening...

1. We had a great service on Sunday morning. I loved the prayer time in the altar praying for needs and for peace in situations. We also started our new series "Mary." We are looking at some of the event surrounding Christ's birth from the perspective of Mary.

2. Sunday Night, we had our Fifth Sunday Night Fellowship. The theme was chili and soups. We also played games. We had a great time playing Trivial Pursuit: Totally 80s Edition. Sasha and I jumped out to a quick lead and then got stuck. Bobby and Tammy Caraway came out of nowhere and got on a roll for the win. Funniest moment came at the beginning of the game....Tammy Calhoun said that the only thing she knew about 80s stuff was Jimmy Swaggart because that's the music, T.V. etc that they were allowed to watch or listen to. One of the answers to one of the first questions was Jimmy Swaggart.

3. Monday Night, there was a group of us that went to Bossier City for Casting Crowns Christmas Celebration. We stopped and ate at Moe's. Fantastic!!! The highlights of the concert for me were Michael English singing "Go Tell it on the mountain" and "Mary Did You Know," Denver and the Mile High Orchestra's rendition of "Little Drummer Boy," the guys from Casting Crowns singing "You're a mean one Mr. Grinch," and Natalie Grant singing "O Holy Night." Denver and the Mile High Orchestra along with a full string section backed up everyone. Avalon also did an exceptional job. I loved their song "Joy to the World." They provided background vocals for several of the groups. Casting Crowns was sensational as usual.

4. Last night, we worked on the Christmas float. It has been since the 70s since I participated in a float. I remember going to someone's house and running around as a little kid while the adults worked on the float. It is coming together nicely. We have a few finishing touchups. I really appreciate the help that came last night to help us get it ready and for the Grandersons letting us use their trailer.