The Honeymoon Package - Chonda Pierce

Three Little Pigs...a lesson

I found this YouTube video by Chonda Pierce. All of her comedy is funny but I really thought this one was great! You have to watch the other video titled "My Mother Scares Me" before watching the following one. You can find both of these videos by clicking on the following link. Good stuff, funny stuff! Hope it lifts your spirit!


http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6028448808111275872

Jaron's toothless smile!

If you read my last post then you know

that on Christmas Eve Jaron lost

his 2nd top front tooth.

Just wanted to share Jaron's toothless smile!

Do you remember your toothless smile?

A proud moment for him and a sign that

things are beginning to change...

T'was the day after Christmas

Twas the day after Christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring not even a mouse...(better not be). AHHH quiet....the last 3 days have been nonstop activity in the Kelly house! It started Christmas eve..actually a few weeks before but it got worse that night. The anticipation of Santa coming...yes we do Santa but our kids know that Christmas is about the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ.

The boys played games of all sorts that night while Sara crashed at 6:30 pm. I baked out birthday cake for Jesus while we enjoyed watching the Christmas Eve service at Venice A/G ( http://www.veniceassembly.com/ ). What a blessing it was to be able to worship from afar with cherished friends in Venice from here in Illinois via the internet! What a blessing the internet can be! When Sean finally got home from working we got the boys in bed and just as "Santa" began unpacking the gifts who should appear in the doorway...nope it wasn't 8 tiny reindeer...it was our Sara who thought she heard Santa come in the door.

Needless to say we finally convinced her to head back to bed and we finished playing Santa by 2:30 am. Sean in his pj's (t-shirt) and I in my gown had just settled down for a short winters nap when what do my tired ears hear....two little boys trying to sneak into the living room! Ahh mom has great ears...go back to bed boys...(4:00am) by 6 am the boys were back to sleep...mom so tired was finally able to get to that shorter winters nap.

At 7:30 I hear two little boys plea but, "The sun is up can we please!" I just chuckle and say go wake your dad and by 8 all 4 were ready to to see all that Santa had left under our tree. But before we do Daddy gets his Bible and we read the true Christmas story of Jesus' birth. Then the kids tear into the gifts. Smiles, laughter, screaming "look what I got!" was heard through the house...as mom and dad wished for our soft pillows and heavy quilt to take us back to that winter's nap.

The kids had a great time. The boys room has been officially "Transformed" with Transformer posters and bedding as well has many Transformer toys...thank you Granma Dede and MacMac. Sara now has a beautiful pink plaid comforter and lots of dollies, ponies and things to go with, oh and her Princess dress up clothes (thank you Dede & MacMac). They were showered with gifts from Florida and NY (thank you Nannie and Aunt Michele& Uncle Joe). They got everything they asked for and then some. Thankfully they all only really wanted one special gift.... Sara - a new baby, Eli - Yellowbee (Bumblebee Transformer), Kris - a orange robot, and Jaron - UB Funkeys game set. Made our Christmas shopping so much easier!

As for Sean and I, we didn't ask for gifts. Sean purchased us a nice camera and that was to be it. But naturally we gave each other a few small things. The kids and I gave Sean a large thermos for work...he needs his coffee when he does those overnight shifts, and a Work Hard Pray Harder t-shirt. Sean and the kids gave me some nice perfume and some much needed make up. Good job Honey! Sean and I will celebrate 11 yrs of marriage on Jan 4th. His wedding band has broken too many times and I have wanted to get him a new one.

Thanks to my Mom and Dad, I have been able to do that this Christmas as well. I planned to wait till our anniversary but I just couldn't hold out. My grandma had a boyfriend of over 25 years, he went to be with the Lord in 1998. He is the only "grandfather" I knew from my mom's side. Anyway, mom knew how much I wanted to get Sean a ring and she just happened to have Bob's father's ring. She graciously got it sized and sent it to me to give to Sean. Sean I know will cherish it. It looks so good on his hand. I know he will wear it with pride and honor just as he has the ring I placed on his hand so many years ago. Thank you Mom and Dad! We love you!

The rest of the day on Christmas was spent burning the wrapping and making the dinner. Oh and we were so blessed by the church. They took up a Christmas offering for us. It was enough to take our kids to the movies and spend time doing something different as a family.

We do not go to the movies that often. Just to go to a matinee as we did yesterday (saw "Waterhorse"-great movie!) cost us $35 and that was without including any concessions. Sure wish we had a $2 movie place like we did in Morehead, KY! The movie was worth the money we spent, definately worth it! It's not a cartoon either and the twins, Eli and Sara who are only 3 loved it! They all did fantastic, it made us proud to take them out and they behaved so well!

Fashions by Sara

Today I just want to share some of Sara's favorite fashion outfits.

Yes she would go shopping in them and to school.

Sara's favorite past times are:

changing her outfits no less than 8 times a day

(sounds like Aunt Jeanette when she was little),

shopping for clothes or shoes,

playing dollies,

aggravating her brothers

and her latest fascination is learning how to cook

or helping mommy cook.

Enjoy the pictures!

Christmas Break starts early!

Today was suppose to be "my" big day! My day to just relax, get some much needed quiet time for me, a day of gift wrapping, studying for my big "preaching" moment on Sunday with Sean and talking with someone from the National Office about my ideas for clubs type activities for smaller churches.

THAT IS NOT WHAT HAPPENED!!!!

No instead Sean and I were up at 3 am with Sara, she was burning up and crying her head & tummy hurts. Take her temp to find its at 102.1 UGH! Why does she have a fever?? She just finished her antibiotics of Zithromax??!! Not no more than 10 mins. later I find myself sitting in the bath room with the hot water on full steam ahead! Eli is up coughing uncontrollably. I immediately think croup and there
we sat for 15 minutes. I had to open a window and the door a few times. The moisture was just too much. But it helped, he stopped coughing and was able to breath better. After giving him some cough medicine so he could rest I was back to Sara. I ended up sleeping with her and Sean was with Eli in our bed.

Needless to say I barely got anything done. Thankfully they both slept in and Sara continued to run a low grade fever. Eli has not coughed all day well until tonight. No fever just a runny nose...he has gotten Sara's cold...just in time for Christmas! Sara on the other hand played all day like nothing was wrong but once again her temp went up tonight. I know enough that this must be viral cause she has some strong antibiotics in her system right now. We will see how she is and I may have to call the doctor tomorrow again.

I am proud to say I did get my part of the sermon for our Christmas Candle Light Service done!!! YEA! Or at least the rough draft. Now I can go back and fine tune it with the Holy Spirit's help! Maybe tomorrow I can get some wrapping done....yea right!

I was not able to talk with the Nat. Office person due to her illness. It has been rescheduled for tomorrow. Which is better for me, now I can spend the morning fine tuning what I want to share with them...hopefully.

This weekend will be busy for us. Not only has the kids Christmas break officially started tonight but so has the last minute Christmas rush events for church. Today our church assisted the school with their Christmas Basket give away. Sean made some great contacts with some needy families in our community. We hope that we can continue to minister to them this coming year! It is an honor that the school would allow us to help them with this endeavour. Friday we have our "Christmas Blessings Baskets" to assembly at church and then deliver on Sat. morning. We have as of right now 10 families we intend to bless but it seems like the list keeps growing. I believe we are prepared for at least 2 more families for a total of 12 this Christmas. Sunday is our main Christmas service. Both Sean and I will be preaching that morning. I am looking forward to it. I don't normally get to share in the main service and for Sean to allow me this honor is exciting and a bit nerve wracking. I believe I have a message from the Lord for our congregation, I only hope they receive what I bring forth with the Lord's help. Then of course we have any final preparations for our family Christmas. Sean has to work Sunday over night and then also Christmas eve. Thankfully he does get Christmas off so we will have fun that morning.

We so wanted to be in Florida for Christmas. We even were planning to surprise my family....surprise family!!! BUT with my impending knee surgery we decided it would be better to use Sean's paid vacation and sick days for that time. SORRY GUYS!

There are so many thoughts going through my head. So much has changed this past year. Last year was the first Christmas break we have spent with out my neice and nephew! It was so crazy last year, we were still unpacking and getting things moving around here that we didn't have time to really think about it. This year is different. Even Jaron asked me today what Kaelyn and Brock were doing for Christmas break. I always enjoyed having them with us. I will miss that a lot this year!

Then of course we have the New Year approaching. Can you believe its actually going to be 2008?! Man I remember when I was a teen and would think when its 2008 I will be turning ..... ok I am proud to say I will be turning 38 this next year. But where has time flown?? I mean honestly Sean I will celebrate 11 yrs of marriage Jan 4th. So much has happened since we got married. It's just mind boggling!


New Year's resolutions......another blog I think all in itself. If you have started thinking about yours...I hope at the top of your list is this:

1. Got to Church more
2. Make a real commitment to Christ
3. Draw closer to Him

As for me the third on this short list is my top priority as for the rest....I am still contemplating that. I'll get back to you on that!

It's beginning to look like Christmas...

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

We woke this morning to a beautiful

blanket of snow! Just over an inch an

most has already melted away.

Most Sunday mornings it takes us

forever to wake the kids and get them

ready for church. But this morning as

soon as we said "SNOW!" They were up and

getting dressed! They all enjoyed throwing

snow balls before heading to church.

For 4 Florida kids snow is better than an

ice cold popcicle on a hot day!

I took a few pictures before it started melting,

enjoy!

Ferret Fanatics

We have two wonderful little guys~even if they are theives!

Ferrets...

These two are so much fun!

Woody and Uno.

Woody is 2 years old and is the dark one and Uno is 1 yrs

old and is the white. They have completely different

personalities. Woody is a rambunctious adventurer who

isn't afraid of anything or anyone. He loves to play hide and

seek with anything he can steal as well as play chase

with the kids. Many times the kids will chase him

and as soon as they stop he turns and attacks chasing

them right back down the hall.

Uno, is the more loving and quiet type. He loves to be held

and loved on. He also loves to play and hide under covers

or in my cabinets or under anything he can squeeze

his fat little body under. He too likes to play chase

with the kids but would much rather lay in your arms.

The other night we let them run free in the house and we

had so much fun watching and laughing at them. I am a

animal lover. If I could I would have two of everything; cats,

dogs, turtles, ferrets, birds, rabbits, ect... But I have to say

besides my love for dogs & cats, ferrets are my absolute favorite!

I would love to have another one to add to our family if I

only had a cage big enough to keep them from getting hurt.

Laughter and fun

Today was our women's ministries luncheon. We had a blast! Last year the ladies kidnapped me and took me to lunch with them. We had just moved from Florida and had only been here in IL for 3 days but here I was climbing into a van as snowflurries whirled around my head and I was freezing because I had no coat! This year was much different. Oh, I was still climbing into a van, literally, my poor knee was screaming the whole time. But as I looked up into the van that had 12 other women waiting for me I realized, "Wow, It's been a year!" Someone who had gone last year made that same comment as I was thinking it. Or at least a comment close to it.

So off we went 13 ladies, me sitting in the middle of the van able to hear and try to be part of the conversations going on in the back and in the front. The funny thing being a pastor's wife is that the women often times get real quiet when talking about the previous pastor or if they plan to attend another churches Christmas programs. I did my best to reassure them that Sean and I support what other churches are doing and that they should not be afraid to say they plan to attend another church for this program or whatever. We know they are faithful to our church and more importantly faithful to God.
So off we went, driving east towards KY. Yes, these ladies drive 1 1/2 hrs away for food. But boy is the fellowship fun. I brought along a Christmas song game, "Thanks Mom- It was hit!" We laughed and they were really good at getting me to slip and give them the answers! All well we still had fun.

Our destination was Patty's Settlement in Grand Rivers, KY.

http://www.pattis-settlement.com/main.htm .

Each room is decorated in a different theme for Christmas. Beautiful!!!! I mean out of this world beautiful! I mean better than Disney at Christmas beautiful. Did I say it is beautiful?? Even better it is owned by a Christian family so there are lots of rooms centered around Christ! Plus the fun candy room, the Christmas fairy room and the Santa room. They have out of this world food and to die for desserts! They have this lemon merange pie (or lime, chocolate or cococut) and the merange stands 6 - 8 inches high! I am not kidding! You know the old Wendy's commerial, "Where's the Beef?" well with this pie you can say, "where's the custard?"

One of the women wanted to cut part of the topping off the pie and as she did it landed in her lap. Well if that wasn't funny enough, she then went to pick it up and it landed in/on her daughters purse! Oh we laughed so hard!!! We really had a good time talking and laughing at and with each other. As I sat with the ladies around this large oval shaped table I began to realize just how many of the m were related, whether by marriage or directly (mom/daughter, sisters, cousins) and I realized how much I wished my Mom or Sister could have been with us. Last year I felt like an outsider, I knew no one, had no idea what they expected of me as the PW and I was so full of emotions just from moving, the holiday season and honestly just plain tired. This year to be honest I still felt like an outsider. These women have either known each other all their lives, grown up together, went to school together or are family. Here I am the PW and I still don't feel like I click with these women as much as I wish I did. I am sure as time goes on that will change....or so I hope. Small towns like ours are tight knit and the women in those small town churches are even tighter. I do my best to be honest, open and giving. Maybe too much but that is who I am.
All in all we had a great time and everyone said they wished we had more time. The plan is to go out and do this more this coming year. I think the more we do it the more I might fit in...and if I don't that's ok too.