Twsas the month before Christmas...

 

 

 

 

 

 

*Twas the month before Christmas*

*When all through our land,*

*Not a Christian was praying*

*Nor taking a stand.*

*The "politically correct police" had taken away,*

*The reason for Christmas - no one could say.*

*The children were told by their schools not to sing,*

*About Shepherds and Wise Men and Angels and things.*

*It might hurt people's feelings, the teachers would

  say*

*December 25th is just a "Holiday".*

 

*Yet the shoppers were ready with cash, checks and

  credit*

*Pushing folks down to the floor just to get it!*

*CDs from Madonna, an X BOX, an I-pod*

*Something was changing, something quite odd! *

*Retailers promoted Ramadan and Kwanzaa*

*In hopes to sell books by Franken & Fonda.*

*As Targets were hanging their trees upside down*

*At Lowe's the word Christmas - was no where to be

  found.*

*At K-Mart and Staples and Penny's and Sears*

*You won't hear the word Christmas; it won't touch

  your ears.*

 

*Inclusive, sensitive, Di-ver-si-ty*

*Are words that were used to intimidate me.*

*Now Daschle, Now Darden, Now Sharpton, Wolf Blitzen*

*On Boxer, on Rather, on Kerry, on Clinton!*

*At the top of the Senate, there arose such a clatter*

*To eliminate Jesus, in all public matter.*

*And we spoke not a word, as they took away our faith*

; * Forbidden to speak of salvation and grace*

 

*The true Gift of Christmas was exchanged and

  discarded*

*The reason for the season, stopped before it

  started.*

*So as you celebrate "Winter Break" under your "Dream

Tree"*

*Sipping your Starbucks, listen to me.*

*Choose your words carefully, choose what you say*

 

*Shout

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS! 

------------Not----Happy Holiday!*

 

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A "short" little Meme

 

 

 

I got this from little Miss Kelly's Green Olives & Pickle Juice (she's private)....and saw it on myspace this morning too...

1. If your doctor told you TODAY that you were pregnant, what would you say?
Wow, it's soon after Emma but ok bring this baby on!

2. Do you trust all of your friends?
Completely not all of them, but I know I can trust all of them to an extent. I completely trust 3 people besides Christ.

3. Would you move to another state or country to be with the one you love?
Well lets see, I'm a Kansas girl, married to a soldier living in Germany....what do YOU think? LOL

4. Do you believe that everything happens for a reason?
 I can't STAND this question! I believe that everything happens with God's permission, but often they happen because of ours or others actions and we deal with the consequences and if we're SMART we turn to GOD to help us with every situation!

5. Can you make a dollar in change right now?
No...lol
6. Which one of your friends do you think would make the best doctor?
Easy...Kendra
7. Are you afraid of falling in love?
uhhh no....

9. Is there someone who pops into your mind at random times?
Of course

10. Whats your most favorite scar?
My c-section scars and my gall bladder scars! I got 4 beautiful children via them and got that horrible, painful, gb out! Now I do have a cool butterfly scar on my knee from a bike wreck when I was I think 5 or 6! Seriously it looks like a butterfly (it's pretty faded now though)

11. When was the last time you flew in a plane?
July 2005 when we flew over here to Germany

12. What did the last text message you sent say?
don't text

14. Fill in the blank. I love:
Jesus and my family

17. How many kids do you want to have?
As many as God wants to give us!

18. Would you make a good parent?
I am a good parent :)

19. On your Myspace, where was your default picture taken?
In my living room

20. Whats your middle name?
Lynn

21. Honestly, whats on your mind right now?
I wish Chad would turn off the tv

22. If you could go back in time and change something, what would it be? Yes...keep Jordyn away from second hand smoke from utero on...maybe just maybe she wouldn't have ended up with cancer (yes 2nd hand smoke IS a cause for the type of leukemia Jordyn had)

 
23. Who was or will be the maid of honor/ best man in your wedding? Kendra

24. What are you wearing right now?
pj's

25. Righty or Lefty?
Righty

26. Best place to eat?
The Stables

27. Favorite jeans?
Levi's
28. Favorite animal?
horses

29. Favorite juice?
cranberry juice

30. Have you had the chicken pox?
Yes

31. Have you had a sore throat?
lol who hasn't?

32. Ever had a bar fight?
Not been in one, but had 2 guys fighting because of me! ROFL (A loooong time ago!) Good times people, good times!

33. Who knows you the best?
Chad, Tami, and Emily

34. Shoe size?
9-10 depends on the shoe 

35. Do you wear contact lenses or glasses?
both
36. Ever been in a fight with your pet?
uhhh no ....had a few standoffs...lol (ditto)
37. Been to Mexico?
nope
38. Did you buy something today?
no

39. Did you get sick today?
NOPE

40. Do you miss someone today?
every single day

41. Did you get in a fight with someone today?
No

42. When is the last time you had a massage?
before Emma was born

43. Last person to lay in your bed?
Emma...she's there now

44. Last person to see you cry?
Jacob

45. Who made you cry?
no one

46. What was the last TV show you watched?
Army Wives (I'm sooo not happy that I like that stupid show! ROFL)

47. What are your plans for the weekend?
Friday we're going to the Hospitality House, Saturday Chad, Emma, and I are going to Nurnburg to the Christmas Market, Saturday evening we're putting up the tree and decorating!! Sunday Church and Awana!

48. Who do you think will play along?
I think Kelly will...because if she doesn't I'm going to bug her! LOL

49. Who was the last person you hung out with?
My family

50. If your "significant other" asked you to marry them TODAY what would you say? ABSOLUTELY, YES!

 

 

 

 

Tags: Meme

 

 

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Updated

Ok first things first...I updated my sidebar! :) In case you didn't notice..I LOVE Snowmen! I do, I do! Also in case you missed it, I added the picture entry of our weekend, so go down one and see those pictures! Also we had a family picture taken for our Christmas card today at church! A friend of mine took it. It'll be in the pictures here along with some of Emma! :) Emma is almost 4 months old now. She's rolling over officially. She goes from her back to her tummy in about 3 seconds flat. She's made it from her tummy to her back a couple times, but that takes a lot more effort and normally she ends up fussing and we just roll her over! I'm in no hurry for her to be doing any of this, but she thinks she needs to! LOL She's just the sweetest girl and I just love her so much I can't stand it sometimes! The boys are great. I wish I could even find the words...they're just sweet boys who are also ornery little guys! LOL I wouldn't change them if I could!

Oh and it's winter here! I don't care if it's official or not...we've had quite a few snow falls, nothing of any true significance in our area although Garmisch a couple weeks ago got over 5 FEET of snow...so snow season has begun there! We woke up this morning to snow on the ground!

 

Pictures

Here's pictures from our weekend. There's one picture of Emma on Thanksgiving. It was the only one that turned out that day on my camera. Bobbie and Tim haven't had a chance to email me the pictures they took. Chad did get my camera fixed! It was relatively simple and took him about oh 5 seconds! So yeah!!!! Most of these pictures were taken on Friday and Saturday while we were in Rothenburg odT. Our room had a balcony and from it you could see one of the Towers and part of the wall that surrounds the old city! There's a couple pictures of our family and of the boys on the balcony with the wall and tower in the background! There's pictures inside the wall too..of the wall and towers (there's many towers throughout the city) and of buildings that I thought were pretty, etc! I LOVE the timbered buildings, they're my favorite here in Germany! The architecture is so amazing. To think that it was built by the hands and backs of people vs machinery of today is part of what makes it more beautiful to me! Oh we ate at a resturant before coming home yesterday and I took pictures of some of it's decor! :)

 

Also just for some good FYI...Rothenburg is pronounced Wrote-en_ burg (there is NOT a "Th" sound in the name!)

Tags: Rothenburg odT, Germany

Thanksgiving and Day after

 

 

                           

 

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We are truly blessed by God. He's given us a precious family and precious friends and for that I'm so thankful for. Being in the military you come across so many people...some you adore some you don't. Bobbie is one I do like! She's my best friend here in Germany and I am so glad God brought her here! They lived in Italy for 3 yrs and then got stationed here and I'm so glad they did! Her husband and Chad get along great. The problem is so often when you do find a couple/family you really like where everyone gets along well (including the kids) it seems one spouse has to go and be deployed and right now it's Tim's turn. By the time he returns, it'll be Chad's turn. It's honestly quite frustrating...but it's our life!

 

 

                           

 

We had a wonderful dinner. Tim and Bobbie made a wonderful, delicious, and beautiful turkey. I made my mom's stuffing, homemade noodles, homemade bread, greenbean casserole, and 2 choc. pies. I also made gravy over at Bobbie's. Bobbie also made Mashed Potatoes, corn, 2 pumpkin pies, and sweet potatoe casserole. I didn't eat the last thing...but can say everything else was GREAT!!!! We were all stuffed to the max when it was done and over with. The kids went and played for a while, then I put Jack down for a nap which was not all that easy, but extremely necessary. Then we started playing Spade's. We did it guys vs girls. They won but it was just so much fun no one really cared! After that we played Sequence...which is my favorite game! That one we did couples vs couples...Chad and I won 3 out of 4 games, again no one cared we just had a great time! We left about 9 pm after helping clean up everything.

 

 

                  

 

Friday we headed over to Rothenburg odT. The chapel paid for us to stay in a nice hotel, dinner, and breakfast. Chad and I lucked out. I seriously think we had the nicest room, and definately the best view! You could see the Wall and one of the towers that surrounds the old city. We were literally just outside of the old city. Our room was absolutely huge and after downloading all my pictures I realize I didn't take a picture of our room! Go figure! We got all checked in and then our family and Bobbie and Tim's headed out to go tour, a little shopping, and a lot of window shopping/browsing! We had such a great time. For me Friday was more about getting idea's than buying, since we'd decided we'd come back on Saturday and do more shopping and browsing. We had dinner as a group (everyone who came from the chapel) Dinner was great. The kids had schnitzel and pomme fritz (fries) and us adults had chicken cordon blue, fries, and steamed veggies....we all had ice cream for dessert. It tasted so good! We all shared lots of laughter, and just a nice evening. After that B & T's son came back to our room and after an hour or so they came in and joined us and we just hung out and talked. Chad tried to find cards (we didn't think to bring any) he went to the basement where there was a bar and they had some...come to find out German cards are different than Americans! So we couldn't do anything with them, but the kids played with them and had a lot of fun! LOL Saturday we got up about 8, met up at 8:45 and off to breakfast we all went. I think most of  everyone in our group thought aprox 9 am was a good time to eat! After that we checked out of our room and our group again went shopping (B&T's family and ours). We shopped until about 1:30 then went and had lunch. I have to say I made a poor choice got brats and saur kraut which is normally good...the sausages were gross. I don't know if it was the types or the way they were cooked, but really nasty. Chad shared his chicken and salad with me though, which was sweet and Jack gave me a few of his fries! I was good!

 

 

                               

 

On the way home Jacob road with B&T...Jack and Emma fell asleep quickly and Chad and I just talked! It was honestly a wonderful drive home. Aprox an hour drive and it was nice to just have uninterrupted conversation with my husband. That doesn't happen very often! When we got back on post, we came home quickly and then off to a bon fire we went. That was great! We roasted hot dogs and brats (good ones!), had hot choc., apple cider, and smores! We sang praise Songs and a few Christmas songs, and just hung out and enjoyed the company of wonderful friends!

                      

 

 

 

I do have quite a few pictures. My camera is acting up...it doesn't want to focus half the time. Not sure what's going on with it. Going to call Canon and see if they can walk me through trying to fix it and if not probably will have to send it in. It needs to be fixed asap..Christmas is right around the corner and I want good pictures! I have all the pictures downloaded. I will resize them tomorrow and add some up tomorrow!

 

 

I'm off to bed!

 

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Thanksgiving

 

                         

Well Chad's home!! Major blessing, because I know that he won't be home for every holiday. We've had a Thanksgiving with him in Iraq and well it stinks to not be together so I am counting my blessings this year that he's home safe and sound and not in a war torn country, eating at a chow hall (if he's lucky enough to not be out on a mission). I'm also thankful that our friends husband gets home tomorrow morning for R&R and we'll  be joining them for Thanksgiving, per his request! What a blessing to have such wonderful friends. She's my best friend here in Germany and to know that our husband's get along and enjoy each other's company is so awesome. You really don't understand what a blessing that is! So often and I know this extends beyond the military...but so often one is friends with someone and the spouse doesn't like that one's spouse. Chad actually has a friend and I really just don't care much for his friends spouse. I guess I know enough to know when some people are not good for us to be around. I don't enjoy being around people who fight all the time, who scream and cuss at each other. Hey an argument here and there, being annoyed with your spouse here and there is one thing. When you're constantly parnoid that your spouse is doing something he shouldn't be doing constantly...well I simply don't want that kind of drama in my life! So I do distance myself and I know...I should be showing her the love of Christ and I do try when I see her. I try to always smile and make polite conversation....but going to her home isn't something I'm comfortable with and really don't want my children exposed to that. So anyways...I'm so thankful that we DO have a couple who love each other, who are fun, joyful, precious people/friends.

                      

Bobbie and I will be splitting up the menu. She's making the big turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoe casserole (amusingly none of us like sweet potatoes, but agreed to step out of our box and try it! LOL), corn, 2 pumpkin pies. I'm making a small 5 lb turkey so I can have the broth to make my bread stuffing and home made noodles. I'm making homemade bread, greenbean casserole, and 2 choc. pies.

                             

We're planning on eating by 1 and then we'll have left overs for dinner if we're hungry! I'm going to bring cards over so we can play cards and my game sequence too. I'm sure Bobbie has some games as well. The kids all love each other so that will work out perfectly. Their son and Jacob are best friends.

                                   

Friday we're going to Rothenburg OdT. The Chapel is hosting a special thank you for us who volunteer so much (you know the 20% who does oh everything!!) The Chapel is paying for our hotel, dinner, and breakfast. Rothenburg is one of our favorite cities here in Germany! The old city is surrounded by the old protective wall, so it's just stunning! They asked that we be there by 2 to check into our rooms, then we are free to shop, explore, etc then have dinner together as a group at 6. After dinner our chaplain thought it'd be nice for us all to hang out together and play games, talk, etc. We'll get up in the morning and have breakfast together and then check out and do our own thing. Saturday evening we then will probably all pretty well plus more get together and have a bon fire! It's on post, but another section of post. They have a fire pit there already so we'll roast hot dogs, marshmellows (have smores!!!), sing songs, and just fellowship! I'm really looking forward to these days!

   

 

                      

 

I ask that each of you pray for the soldiers who are downrange seperated from their families this year. Who will at best be eating in a chow hall with other soldiers. Who will get turkey, but it won't be the same. Who will most likely not get something that is traditional to his/her family dinner and will probably feel full from the meal, but feel that it's just not complete.

 

                        

 

I ask that you pray for the families who are left behind. The wives who miss their husband's, the husband's who miss their wives. The children who miss their Daddy or Mommy. The parents who miss their child. Remember to light a candle for all who has a place missing at their table this year. Count your blessings for the fact that most of you don't have a loved one that you have to worry about, because for most of you, you don't have a loved one off in the desert of Iraq or the mountains of Afganistan, etc. For even those of you who are seperated from someone most if not all of you can simply pick up the phone and talk to them. So remember our soldiers and their families.

 

 

I ask that you remember the parents who've had a child die. Remember in your prayers this year my precious Emily. Who had a hard enough time with Halloween and now is looking Thanksgiving square in the eye. As she praises Jesu through this storm, her heart and arms still ache for Miller Grace. So for each of you whose never lost a child, thank GOD for the blessing of being spared this heartache. I speak only for myself when I say it's the WORST pain imaginable...actually it's unimaginable. Even when your child is driving you crazy...be blessed that they're alive to do so. Remember that tomorrow is simply not promised for a single one of us and that DOES include our children.

 

Count your blessings that you ARE an American. We may have issue's in our country, but we're a FREE country. We can express our feelings, our thoughts. We can say stupid things if we want, we can say horrible, even disgusting things about our President and no fear being thrown into prison. Be thankful that even if you don't like him...we have a Prayerful President who loves and knows Jesus Christ (he HAS professed this and since none of us can know another's heart we simply have to believe he's speaking the truth and I do believe he is a Christian). Be thankful that you have the CHOICE to join the military or not. You're not forced to join and your children are not when they turn 18. So many countries all these blessings that most of us don't think twice about are not a choice.

 

 

Tonight I'm thankful for the blessings I have in my life. My God first and foremost. If it were not for Christ I would not have a tomorrow, here or in Heaven! I'm thankful for Chad next. If it were not for him I wouldn't know what true love is supposed to feel like. I am thankful for Jordyn, Jacob, Jackson, and Emma. My children have made me who I am today in so many ways. I'm thankful that I can stay at home and raise them the way I and Chad see proper vs a stranger. I'm thankful that as an American Citizen I can homeschool my children without the fear that the government will come and take my children away and place them in a school that I may not see fit to teach my children (in Germany...German citizens can not homeschool their children..many other European countries are like this as well..but because we're American's and are in the military we can!Truly hear my hearts cry when I say...PRAISE JESUS!!!).

 

 

                          

Tags: Thanksgiving, Thankful, Military, Homeschool, Mom's, Wife

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Sharing

I want to share a friend's website with you. I've known Tiffany since I was pg with Jackson and she was pg with her son. Tiffany is VERY creative and over all one of the most talented people I've ever come across. With Christmas coming I want to share her talents with all of you. She makes everything from jewelry to photo montages (which Chad's getting me for Christmas!!)!!

 

Anyways...go check her out. tiffanyallemand.com

 

I have bought quite a few things from her and love them! Ok so that's my little plug!