Quick, Easy Decorating Ideas

Working full time + has really been challenging getting ready for Christmas. I'm so humbled by how God never fails to provide! This year, the kids have really gotten in to buying for others! And they are so eager to help! They've helped me get an early start on wrapping. I also been all into quick and easy ideas for decorating. So I thought I'd share them! We can all use a little tips when it comes to celebrating...
Here's a fun and easy idea we used that was quick and easy and looks great!




My Uncle Jack gave us some balls from his tree that he no longer uses. No one really needed them to decorate and we were just going to toss them until we saw this great idea.


This wreath was sooo easy to make--You just bend the hanger in the shape of a circle and string the balls through--and wa-lah! A homemade beautiful Christmas wreath! He'll be glad they were used for something!



Enjoy!

SMELLS like Christmas

Mistletoe, Christmas trees, cookies, pretzles, pies, yummy, yummy.
Christmas Favorite: Home-made Choclate-dipped Pretzels


My mom and I had fun dipping pretzels together at her house this past weekend. All the good smells of Christmas brought back some good memories.

While we were baking pretzels, the kids played "cowboys and indians" for hours--making more good memories.

Neighbors

Thanksgiving weekend we had a great time spending it with our "extended family." Juli came over and had Thanksgiving leftovers with us and the girls came over for the three-day long weekend. In reflecting on things that we are thankful for, I've noticed how God wants us to be a part of the work he is doing. He could have just as easily chosen to not use us to accomplish his purpose spreading the gospel. How thankful I am that he allows us to take part in his work, simply by being a light in this dark world. And how he grows us in the process! Taking opportunities that we are given can be scary at first, but eventually they become a part of who we are and our identity in Christ.

"For just as God made the light shine out of darkness, He also made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ"
2 Corinthians 4:6

This blog has been so inspiring as how to share God's love with these girls in a real way. The time we spend with them has now become a natural part of how we spend our weekends. Sometimes they call us to pick them up from a party where there are people drinking and they don't feel comfortable. Sometimes they share struggles they face at school and we pray about them. While we can never replace the love of their parents, we want them to know the love of God, and the family of God.

We have had challenges through this process, but many many blessings.  And for this, I am thankful.

These are pictures from a trip (they earned) we took them on to Chuck E Cheese's and spent the night in a hotel. The next day we all filed into a new church with all 5 well-behaved kids! Doing fun things like this is something we enjoy doing with our family anyway. How easy it was for us to include them in the process and give them an experience they won't forget.

Toy Story 3 on Ice

While I was in my job transition, we had a fun surprise planned for the kids. This was totally worth the look on their face!

Half way through the show, they did "The Hoedown". This was one of our favorite parts!

(if you ever do something like this, be prepared: These souvenirs cost almost as much as a ticket!)