Stringer Mama: Holidays

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My Thankfulness List

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I am thankful for . . .

My God and Savior, Jesus Christ
The Bible
My wonderful husband of six years
My sweet children, Aimee, Cody and Emily
My sweet little girl, Dorema now resting in Jesus' arms
All of my extended family
My new church family
My ability to be a stay-at-home mom
My friends both nearby and far away
My husband's job as a Pastor and at his part-time job
How God has provided for us
Our house in Iowa that is waiting on God's timing to sell
Our debt that is waiting on God's timing to be paid
The thrift store that allows us to buy plenty of wonderful clothing for a fraction of the price
The grocery store nearby who is phenomenal at helping us save money
My three bathrooms
The food in our home that somehow continues to be replenished
How God continues to teach me and grow me closer to Him
Pandora
Blogging
My Stringer Mama readers and friends
The encouragement of my husband to continue my blogging
The children's museum membership
Books
Chai Latte
The many things that I should be thanking God for but because He blesses me with them, I forget how thankful I am for them.

Happy Thanksgiving

In HIS Grip,

Life In Our Fishbowl: Halloween and Link-Up Party!

I am not a fan of October personally - except for my son's birthday I would skip the month altogether. I don't like the promotion of evil like witches and ghosts and goblins. Whether you think they are fun or not, I'm sorry but in all of the fairy stories, they are still the bad guys!

I'm not a fan of the gaudy decorating and crafting that have seems to take over blogs, websites, and clothing which once was beautiful. Then there are the stores. Fortunately they also decorate for Christmas starting around this time so we avoid the "Orange" section and look at the pretty Christmas trees.

But this month is also a time where I remember that it is still a battle out there. A spiritual battle so we give out candy on trick or treat night!

Huh? You thought we were one of "those"people right?

Well, no. Halloween is part of our culture and regardless of how much I like it or don't like it we still take part in it just in different ways.

For our family, Halloween is an opportunity! We turn on our light and greet the kids and their parents as they come to the door asking "Trick or Treat!" This is just what we do - I know there are many families who do it differently and I'm not here to make a stand for what you should or shouldn't do, this is what God has laid on our hearts to do and we ENJOY it!

As I already mentioned, we see this as an opportunity! It's a chance to reach out to our community and share our love and the love of Christ. We buy candy - the GOOD stuff - the stuff that the kids don't roll their eyes at when they see what we have in our candy bucket! Then we attach a tract to the candy. The mini candy bars are perfect for this! In the over 500 tracts that we as a family have given out, no one has refused. These tracts are not just plain ol' tracts either! (Trust me, there are some BORING ones out there!) We get fun Halloween tracts that will catch kids' eye (which often will catch parent's eyes too!). We also put our name and address on the tracts - you may want to just put your church's name on them - but for us, everyone in our community knows that we are the new Pastor's family and where we live so the gig is up!

My kids LOVE to give out the candy to everyone who comes to the door - they think it's a BLAST! And Halloween so far has not been something that they feel as though they are missing out on either. They are right there in the thick of it! It's FUN! So regardless of your stand for or against Halloween consider doing something that will truly bring Jesus praise on a night where so many are giving praise to . . . you fill in the blank! :0)

UPDATE: Click on the images of tracts above to purchase some for yourself and your community! But hurry! Halloween will be here soon!

Thanks for linking up last week! I'm LOVING getting to know other ministry wife bloggers out there and seeing what you are up to! Link-up today for a chance to be featured on Thursday on Stringer Mama.

If you are a Ministry wife: Pastor's wife, youth Pastor's wife, evangelist's wife, or a Missionary wife, LINK-UP a recent post - ANY TOPIC - from your own blog so we can blog hop and meet one another! Oh, and be a sweetheart and include this button so other Ministry wives can get in on the fun too and so you will qualify to be featured!

In HIS Grip,

DIY 0.99 Cent Pack of LOVE!

Hannah and Ann!

My wonderfully wonderful friend Hannah has been laid up after having surgery and what does she do? She writes a guest post for my blog! I love that girl! Just so you could get a crystal clear picture of what kind of friend Hannah and I are - here we are. Jumping on a bed. In a hotel. It. was. HILARIOUS! So now that we have THAT established! Here is what she did for her sweetheart while all laid up!

I did something AWESOME today for my hubby - and it only cost me 99 cents! Since my husband travels A LOT and is usually REALLY tired, he chews gum to keep him awake. I noticed when we were driving the other day he chewed his last piece of gum. I decided to do something to show my husband that I love him, and am praying for him when he is away. And of course, to show that you can do something significant for your spouse without spending a lot of money - in this case 99 cents for a pack of gum!

Supplies: Pack of gum (I used Trident), scissors, an exacto knife or box cutter, markers, card stock, a pen or pencil to trace, and glue or double stick tape.

Step 1: Take the paper packaging off the foil of the gum. Trace this onto your card stock. Be sure to also trace and cut out the lip that the flap goes into to "close" the gum.

Step 2: Line up the paper packaging from the gum with your cut out card stock and fold together where the packaging folds. Make sure to crease your card stock.

Step 3: Decorate your card stock (make sure that you write the correct way! The first time I did this, my words were upside down when I put it on the gum. :)

Step 4: Glue or tape your card stock onto the foil of the gum package.

Voila! A personalized package of gum! You can also do this for party favors, or a women's event at church. One other thought I had was instead of Trident do Trinity - Cleans and Protects the Heart.

Thanks Hannah for your creativity! AND your very special friendship! I wouldn't know what to do without our occasional insane moments!
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I'm linked up with these AMAZING ladies at:

Valentine's Day Wreath Craft Project

I've been trying to expand my holiday decorations and I saw several ideas but I didn't have any of the materials for them. So I came up with my own idea after seeing how other people were creating theirs! I actually made this with my Mother-in-law in mind because she LOVES to decorate for the different holidays and her birthday is today so I made it and sent it to her yesterday. It probably only took me about an hour and a half to make it - maybe less, I was interrupted a LOT!

First I cut out a heart shape form using newspaper as a pattern to follow - I drew it on the fold so the two sides of the heart would be the same. I just eyed it - it's probably 12 inches by 15 inches or so. Then I cut it out of a cardboard box and glued them together to make a firm base.

Then I cut strips of pink fabric and hot glued it around the base to make a background for my hearts. I made the nicest looking side the back.

Then I used the large conversation hearts and went to town just gluing and gluing wherever and however.

I used a pink ribbon and made a cheater bow. I looped the larger circle inside the small circle then hot-glued them so they would stay.

Then I hot glued 3 ribbons on the back that held 3 individual hearts to hang down on the inside. I hot glued a hanging ribbon and used a thumbtack to secure it better. I tried a stapler but it wasn't working very well. Then I was done! This would be good for hanging on an outside door that is protected by a screen door or something. I wouldn't recommend letting it get wet. :0)

I sent this one to my MIL but I'll definitely be making another one for myself. Especially since I bought 3 big bags of hearts and I only used 1! Let me know if you use my idea to make one for yourself!

UPDATE - As you can see, I hung mine on my front door and the sun faded it TERRIBLY! It is now a very very pastel colored and no longer the bright happy colors. It still looks pretty but you will want to hang this in a place where the sun does not shine!

It's COMING!!! Valentine's Day!

Yup, I'm already thinking about it. You see, Valentine's Day is always really special to us. Sam is my true love. God created him for me. God created me for him. It's so very obvious to us that we CANNOT and WILL not allow Valentine's Day to go by without celebrating that. We never do the typical, we go for more from the heart "I Love You." And usually it's not the amount of money that you spend that you will remember it's the good memories surrounding the gift and the going out to eat. Every year, it takes me FOREVER to figure out what I'm going to do for my hubbie. So because I've had such trouble figuring out what to do, I thought I would share what I have done on Valentine's Days past, and maybe help you out! And if you have anything YOU'VE done! PUH-LEASE post it in my comments and help me out! :0)

I'll never forget our first Valentine's Day. My hubbie came home from work to a path of fake rose petals leading him through our little apartment and leading him to little gifts and notes along the way, by the time he got to me (of course I was at the end!) he had completely forgotten the cares of the day and was ready for a fun and blessed time with his wife.

Our second Valentine's Day my husband came home to a house full of balloons! Inside each balloon was a little slip of paper with one thing that I loved about my husband. So he popped them and we read them together. And I got him a gift - Nacho Libre. With a note on it that explained that even though I DESPISE that movie and he loves it, that I loved him enough that I would not only give it to him but I would watch it with him. Sacrifice let me tell you! :0)

Our third Valentine's Day in 2008 I took a TON of post-it notes and wrote a ton of things like "You and me go together like peanut butter and jelly" and stuck it to the peanut butter. Or I put a note in the oven that said "You're HOT!" or on the toothpaste that said "I can't get over your smile." But my favorite one was "I love how you always put the seat down!" and I stuck it to the inside of the toilet seat. I tried to find the most random spots to stick them and then come up with a little something that I liked about him. I put one in his Bible, on his hot sauce, in MY bag of chocolates because he snitched my chocolate! :0) There were SOOO many notes, he was still finding them 3 days later and laughing.

2009 Valentine's Day I went to his office and surprised him before his lunch hour and brought him balloons and a gift basket then we went out for lunch together. So that time I beat him to expecting something right after work!

Last Valentine's Day I created coupons for my hubbie. Coupons that he could use AS MANY TIMES AS HE WISHED. They never expired and were ALWAYS redeemable. My intention for that was that he would know that if he ever needed something from me that I would do it for him. You know, be the really good loving wife. Yea, well it kinda backfired a little bit. One of the coupons was for a back rub. He TOTALLY ABUSED that coupon because that is his ALL-TIME favorite thing I do for him. My arms can only rub for so long! I ended up hiding it from him so he wouldn't be reminded! hee hee - now I'm probably in trouble because he'll read this and it will all come back to him! But seriously, most of the coupons worked really well. Things like a kiss, a hug, some listening time, a date night, cooking his favorite food, all things that I love to do for him and if I simply know when he's wanting something, I can do it!

As you can see, these things take a little creativity and some careful planning ahead of time. And I'm really NOT all that creative, it takes TIME for me to come up with those ideas! And doing an internet search to help give me ideas works too. To be honest, I'm not really sure WHAT to do this year. But even if I did, I wouldn't tell you! Not yet anyway! So now is the time to start thinking about it! After all Valentine's Day is only 27 days away. Yikes!

Our Christmas Traditions!

Holiday traditions are what make Christmas so much fun! We have several traditions that take place every year but most of them are focused on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. For a few more traditions that we do check out my post about our Advent calendar.

We travel to Peoria, IL to celebrate Christmas with Sam's family. We have present opening time with Sam's parents and then we all go to Grandma Betty's house for another Christmas present opening. We have yummy things to eat and then sometimes we drive through the Christmas light display that they have - which is amazing and so much fun!

We try to be back home for Christmas and Christmas Eve so we can go to the Christmas Eve service at our church. Then we go back home and read the Christmas story from Luke 2. The kids go to bed as soon as possible and then Sam and I have fun setting up all of the Christmas presents and toys and filled to the brim stockings. We don't put them out before it's time because fingers are tooooooo tempted to OPEN them! This year I have our spare bedroom nicknamed as our Christmas room so we can hide everything away from peeking eyes! It's working great!

Christmas morning Sam and I are usually the ones to wake up all excited so we go in and wake up the kids! Hee hee - I'm sure this will change someday to the kids waking US up but for now, it's fun! After mommy gets the Christmas lights and the camera all ready we all go running into the living room to see what Mommy and Daddy have given the kids. Sorry - no Santa in our house - it's just a fun story to us! We exchange gifts and then eat a breakfast casserole that was made the night before and was popped into the oven just before gifts. After we're done playing with our toys and ready for more gifts we bundle up and head "over the railroad tracks" to Grammy and Papa's house for another Christmas party! We ooh and ahh at the gifts they gave to each other and then we open more gifts between the two families. Usually we have to wait for Grandma and Grandpa Yarrington to arrive - which is ALWAYS SOOOO HARD!!! :0) But the anticipation is amazing! We read the Christmas story from Luke 2 again with them before presents and then dig in! We enjoy a yummy turkey dinner at their house and then it's off back home to crash in our little beds.

We love Christmas time, especially spending Christmas with family and focusing on the real reason of our giving - the very first Christmas gift - Jesus Christ!

DECEMBER 1ST is HERE!!!

I've been waiting for this day for a while now! As a family, we are starting a new tradition for Christmas!

Dun da dah dun. . .

The ADVENT Envelopes!

Yes, I'm excited! Can you tell?

I spent probably 6 hours making these babies and I am SOOOO proud of them!

I used regular envelopes and scrapbooking stuff and created 24 envelopes that are OH SO CUTE!!! Don't you LOVE them??

They are currently hanging in my hallway prominently!

Inside each numbered envelope is a little card that has a Christmasey activity that we will do as a family to get ready for Christmas! YAY! How cool is that? Actually I have a pile of different cards that I can stick an appropriate card inside the envelope for the next morning that will match with the events of the day. So do you want to know what we're doing this Christmas season? These are not in any particular order just so you know! Here we go!

Go see a living nativity in Peoria, IL

Drive around and see Christmas lights

Make and decorate a birthday cake for Jesus

Watch "The Muppet Christmas Carol"

Christmas Eve Service at church

Christmas at Grandma Betty's

Drive thru Winter Wonderland Light display in Peoria, IL

Watch "Charlie Brown Christmas"

Boardgames by the fireplace

Make and hang paper snowflakes

Bake and decorate a gingerbread house

Watch "The Polar Express"

Bake Christmas Cookies

Deliver Christmas cookies to neighbors

Caroling at the nursing home in Knoxville, IA

See "Annie" play in Pella, IA

Watch "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"

Send Christmas cards

Sledding (if we get snow!)

Company over for get-together

Help kids make their Christmas presents for family

Read the Christmas story

Watch "It's a Wonderful Life"

Hang Candy Canes on the tree

There they are! I'm pretty excited about the whole thing and I know that because they are part of our advent, they will be accomplished and planned out ahead of time which is perfect for building family time and focusing on the real reason for the season! Let me know if you snatch this idea or if you already do something like this! What do you do in your Christmas season?

God is Good! ALL the time!

Thankfulness definitely needs to be the top thought of the day! Wouldn't you agree? I know God would!

There are 134 Bible (ESV) verses containing a form of the word "thanks."

There are 42 verses containing "thanksgiving."

There are 2 verses containing "thankfulness."

There is one verse containing "thankful."

One of my favorite thankful verses is

1 Chronicles 16:34

"Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!"

HE IS GOOD! ALL THE TIME!!

Many of my friends use that phrase a lot when something wonderful happens to them. They were saved in a car accident, their child learned how to go to the bathroom, their test at school went well. Their response? God is soooo good to me! It's true, God is good to them, but I have to bite my tongue from throwing it out there that if those good things had gone the other way, GOD WOULD STILL BE GOOD! Some of you may be wondering why I bite my tongue. The reason is that usually my heart is not in a position of humbleness or desiring the best for the person who said it. Usually when I think those thoughts it comes from a desire to be a bastion for truth! But today I want to thank God for the many blessings God has given me. The good AND the bad, the tough, and the not understood. I'm thankful because I know that God's plan has trials along my path and He has chosen me for my special journey. I'm thankful for that knowledge! It is sooo precious to me. So that's what I'm thankful for this Thanksgiving - everything because all things fit into God's plan! And He is much much more wise than I.

Have a very happy and thankful THANKSGIVING!!!

Christmas Lights - DONE!

It's official - I have decorated for Christmas BEFORE Thanksgiving! I know, I know, I know - it's breaking with my usual need to completely CELEBRATE THANKSGIVING! But the weather right now is much better to decorate in than the usual below freezing temps and the ever present problems of snow and ice. SOOO. . . My WONDERFUL hubbie helped me put up lights - much to his chagrin the weather was worse today than the day I REALLY wanted to hang them (Friday). But I just follow HIS lead! (Can't resist a little snicker here!). So here we are - pics of course!

and here are my most recent acquisitions to my Christmas decorations! I found this set of Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus for a total of $9.00 at a thrift shop!!! WOO HOO!! I was HAPPY! And they work perfectly! LOVE LOVE LOVE!

Obviously a little blurry but this was the best one to show you how bright they really are as opposed to the first picture!

Thanksgiving Decorations

So I've been a little bit swamped lately! Craziness I tell you! But here is a little something I've been working on that I'm extremely proud about! I know I'm a little behind on my fall decorating but this is more for Thanksgiving decorating so that's ok! So here it is!

Isn't it PURTY?? I love it! I just used my black photoframes and used scrapbooking paper for the background and printed off the letters and wahlah! Actually it took me stinkin forever but it was worth it!

Here is a close up of our thanksgiving tree - it has a ton of different things we are thankful for! LOVE IT!!!

The "4th" of July!

The third of July has never really meant anything to me. However, you say 4th of July and memories abound!! You see the 4th of July is my dad's birthday and we always go all out in celebrating with family reunions and get-togethers! It's awesome. Here are some pics of the day!

Oh yea, and my hubbie shaved his head - It's taking me a while but I think I kinda like it! But he's sexy to me no matter how much hair he has on his head! :-)

It's always fun when your Papa is in the parade! (My dad is driving this ambulance!)

The kids and their "loot"

My thoughts - This is a TON of corn syrup!

And we can't forget the celebration of my dad's birthday!

Not one of my favorites - mainly because I pulled it off start to finish in less than 2 hours but I think Dad liked it nonetheless!

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