Time For A Change...

of posts that is! My last post was, shall we say, a major downer. Sad, but true. We have all survived this plague of sicknesses so far, and I am truly grateful. December has been a long month, but it hasn't been without a multitude of blessings.

My most treasured earthly blessing is my family. One of the things that has kind of been nice about being sick is that we have been forced to just be us. Just our family. I have actually just gotten to hang out with my hubby and relax. You know, doctor's orders and all that...lots of rest and fluids. Dang pneumonia! My kids have been great. I just wish that they could all stay well! Needless to say, we have had lots of great family time because we've had to stay in so much.

Secondly, I have some pretty great friends. I have had friends (and family) drop (and offer to drop) everything to come to our rescue. Definitely a blessing. Rachel even drives all the way from Denton to see me. I love her. Some friendships just don't change over time. Such a comfort to me.

Christmas was such a blessing this year. Luke is old enough to actually get what Christmas is about. That's not to say that he doesn't love the gifts, but he also really gets who we are celebrating. At the beginning of this month we went to this amazing production called Journey to Bethlehem with the Blaggs. You actually walk the road to Bethlehem to be counted in the the census. There are tons of live animals, 3 magi, an angel proclaiming the coming birth of Christ, the shepherds, thieves, and finally the town of Bethlehem complete with a market, children playing in the streets, and the stable where Jesus was born. At the end of the journey when you are standing at the stable where the baby lays in a manger, one of the magi quotes the Bible and they sing "O Come Let Us Adore Him." It's amazing! Lori and I both got teary. It really helped my entire family wrap our minds around what Christmas is. It will be a family tradition from now on. Luke walked away knowing the Christmas story by heart. He really wanted to hold "Baby Jesus" too. So sweet. It really hit Faith too. When we put all our gifts under our tree about a week after JTB, Faith said (ver batim), "These shouldn't be our presents. They're Jesus's." Yet another teary moment for me. God is so good.

Well, time to go. I hope that you have all been as blessed this month as we have. Here are some pictures from the past few weeks...

Luke and Faith painting Christmas ornaments.

Faith's ornament.

Hannah crawling around while the kids paint.

Mimi and Hannah getting ready for Christmas Eve Candlelight Service.

Sweet Hannah.

Pretty Faith.

Luke. When did he get so big?

Luke and Faith in their Christmas jammies. Hannah kept crawling off when I tried to take a picture. Her jammies match Faith's.

Paw Paw tickling Faith's feet. She LOVES him.

Luke on Christmas morning. Santa brought a "big truck."

Hannah. Faith shared her candy from her stocking. This was Hannah's first taste of sugar. Do you think she liked it?

Faith playing with Hannah in Hannah's new house. They are so cute playing in it.

Worst Week EVER. Period.

This got kind of long...sorry.

It feels like I haven't blogged in a million years, but it's only been a week. I have all these fun things to blog about. We went to Journey to Bethlehem in Grapevine. It was amazing. It really brings the Christmas story to life. I highly recommend going next year...especially if you've never been. You can check it out HERE.

I also got invited to a Christmas party here in Farmersville this past Friday night. I seriously didn't know a single soul that would be attending. Anyone who knows me at all would understand that I was just about ready to vomit on my way to the party. Seriously. I was a nervous wreck. When I got there, I was welcomed with open arms. I met some really nice women and got to know a few of the other coach's wives. All in all, it was really fun until I got "the call."

My phone started ringing at about 8:15. I checked it just to make sure that it wasn't my babysitter. It was my husband. I figured that he was just calling to make sure that I didn't chicken out of the party and to give the update on the game. I called him back to tell him that I was okay and wasn't sitting in the corner of a strangers house rocking myself into a calm. When he actually answered the phone, I knew something was wrong. He was SICK. Really, really sick with a horrible stomach bug. Loving wife that I am, told the hostess of the party a quick thank you and told her that hubby was on his way home from tournament because he was sick. I needed to be with him in case he was on his death bed.

I got home at about 9:00. Got Tyron settled in and kids in bed. 10 minutes later I was also officially sick. The whole 9 yards. About an hour later Luke was throwing up, and another hour later Hannah was throwing up. Faith escaped this time because she had it earlier in the week.

I called my mom and asked her to come as soon as she could...which would not be until around 11:00 Saturday morning because she lives 5 hours away. Tyron called his sister who lives in Mesquite, who arrived promptly at our house around 12:15 am. Thank God. Seriously. She stayed up with my puking kids all night while Tyron and I begged for mercy. It was really terrifying. This is the first time Hannah has been sick with something other than an ear infection, and I couldn't even comfort her. Luke is a little panicky when he is sick to his stomach and I couldn't do anything for him either. It was horrible to have to let some one else take care of my kids; however, there is no one that I trust more with my kids than my mom or my sister in law. There aren't enough thank you's in the world for all that they did.

My mom is still here. I found out on Monday that not only did I have a stomach virus, but I also have a bad case of pneumonia. Nice, right? The doctor pretty much told me to get in bed and stay there. I went back to the doctor today, and the doctor threatened me with hospitalization. I talked her out of it, but I have to go back to the doctor on Tuesday. If I am not much better by then, she is going to put me in the hospital. Like I have time to be in the hospital.

So, add all this to the fact that I had the flu at the beginning of last week, and Faith had the stomach bug from Tuesday - Thursday and it was pretty much the worst week ever. God willing, we will all be well and stay well. I for one, can't take much more. Talk about a train wreck!

Thank you Kara and Mom for being so extremely helpful. I am not sure we would have all walked away completely in tact if it weren't for y'all. Love you both!

PS - If I talk to you and I seem a little weird, it's all the medicine I am on. One of my inhalers makes me nervous and jittery, so I apologize for acting like a junkie that is waiting to get my next score. Seriously. Tyron thinks it's kind of funny. :-)

My Kids Christmas Portraits

I finally got around to taking my kids Christmas portraits. It was cold and a little windy, but I think I got some pretty cute pictures. If you would like to see some of my favorites, check out my other blog.

Click:

Selah Portraits

Enjoy!

Merry Christmas!!!

I Am A N-E-R-D.

In the last 10 days I have read somewhere in the ball park of 2700 pages. I know, I know. Crazy. Reading is without a doubt my favorite solo hobby. I could read for days on end with time slipping past while I am completely unaware. So, without further ado, I would like to put a book series out there on recommendation:

"The Twilight Saga" by Stephenie Meyer.

These books have a lot of supernatural aspects to them, so if you are an anti-Harry Potter person, just disregard this post. Seriously. I have always enjoyed books, movies, and TV shows that have a supernatural emphasis, so I knew I would like these books. I also have no problems with reconciling these kinds of books with my belief in God like some other people do. Fiction books don't diminish the non-fictional Bible to me, but that is another rant/post altogether. So, anyways...I digress.

This saga is about vampires and werewolves and their relationships with the human world. Believe it or not, there is nothing at all frightening about the books. It's pretty much all about relationships. There are things about vampires and werewolves, but mostly it's just a characteristic trait to help you further identify with with each character. Really, it's brilliant.

So, if you are a fan of reading, I highly recommend this book series. It's awesome. Now, I just want to go see the movie. I know the movie won't be as good as the book. They never are, but I still want to see it.

**Note: No children were neglected or involved in the time I spent reading. :-)

You HAVE to be kidding...or else I might cry.

Today just happened to be "one of those days." You know the one that I'm talking about. The day where every one is in a crummy mood for no good reason and nothing totally catastrophic happens, but we all want to cry despite the lack of reason for crying. Everything in the world got on my nerves today. I swear. I think our dog came within an inch of losing her life at least 10 times today. Faith pulled all the stuffing out of a car pillow for the 3rd time today, and Luke was totally whiny about every imaginable thing. On top of that, I tried to make a simple run to the bank (in McKinney) to find that there were NO envelopes in the night drop so I could make a deposit. I visited 5 banks to try to deposit money with no success. Can't a girl catch a break? All of this combined with my crummy mood did not make for a delightful day in the Lee home. Seriously. I think I prayed about 100 times today for patience, a better mood, an end to the screaming, etc. Ugh. No nominations for the Mother of the Year Award for me. Honestly, I could have put all my kids to bed at like 6:00 just to get a break. Wow. I'm a great mom...just in case you didn't hear the sarcasm, I'll say it again: I'm a great mom.

So, what did this splendiferous day teach me? This: This is the day! This is the day that the LORD has made, that the LORD has made! I will rejoice! I will rejoice and be glad in it, and be glad in it! This is the day that the LORD has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it. This is the day! This is the day that the LORD has made.

A song that I sing to my kids every day when we get up.

Thank you Holy Spirit. Really.