Christmastime

What a difference a year can make!  Last year about this time, I had pulled 1200 lights off of my prelit tree, and had been so angry (and sore from 8 hours of pulling attached lights off a tree) that I asked Wes to just throw the tree back in the box and put it away.  If it hadn't been for Shawna, I wouldn't have even had a tree last year.  (If you're interested, you can go back and read the whole story.)

So, this year I was ready.  I wasn't going to let the tree win this year and decided to go on the offensive.  Usually, I don't even think about Christmas decorating until after Thanksgiving.  But I've learned that if you wait that long to buy your decorations, many stores are already sold out of what you want.  November 13th, I was at Home Depot, buying 20 boxes of tree lights and 10 boxes of outdoor lights.  Yep, I was prepared.

The following week, Wes pulled out the tree for me and the tree lighting began.  I wound lights in and out on every branch of my tree.  The more I put on, the happier I got!  Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, the lights are purple.  Yes, I know that's not the traditional color for Christmas, but it's my favorite color and Wes and I both agree that it is the prettiest color tree we've ever had.

So, we're all decorated.  We've got a whole month to enjoy it!  It was such a pain to pull off all those lights last year....but it sure made it worth it this year!

Wish I could get a better picture....but I just can't get the purple to be purple enough.  I mean, my tree is PURPLE!  It is absolutely beautiful. 

We're all ready for Christmas here.  It is the most wonderful time of the year!

Blessed

I went to my brother and sister-in-law's house a couple of weekends ago.  She has this on her mantle and I immediately fell in love with it.  Fortunately for me, she is one of those gals who doesn't care if you have the same thing in your house that she has in hers. 

I immediately told her I needed one and we headed off to get it.  I thought I'd put it on my mantle too, but when I got home, I ended up putting it on my bar.  This is the first thing I see when I walk in the door and I probably walk by it a hundred times a day.  I love it because it constantly reminds me that we are blessed.  Yep, no matter how things are going....we are blessed.  Sure helps keep things in perspective!

Restoration Church

Something that I have never experienced before...watching your church building that you've been a part of for 22 years be demolished.  I've seen church buildings torn down before, but it was always because you were building a new part of the church on it.  I've never watched your church building ripped apart knowing that it was truly the end.

Restoration Church became no more in May of 2012 - and that is really a good thing.  We became CityLife Church and a new beginning was born.  So many people were sad to see the buildings go, but I'm not.  I'm thankful they are gone.  We spent so much money just trying to keep those old buildings from falling a part.  We also didn't have the money to rebuild or even get these buildings up to code.  Plus, we were in so much debt, that we couldn't even use what money we had to help others.....most of it went for the mortgage or repairs.  

So to me, watching the buildings come down was one way God showed His faithfulness to us.  We sold the property to the HEB school district.  They are going to build new administration buildings and a bus barn there.  God not only got us out of debt, but also gave us money so that we really could go into our community and serve our city.  It was also fun to see that "our land" would be used for the schools and not a shopping center or office building.  

Memories?  Oh my, YES!  More memories than I can count.  My boys grew up in these buildings.  They were baptized here, I watched them play guitars on the worship teams, Austin met his wife in those buildings, we've made lifelong friends, we watched many friends get married here and we even said goodbye to some, too.  But just because the buildings are gone doesn't mean that the friendships and the memories are too.  They linger today and will continue. I will cherish them all in my heart.  

So, this is just another part of our adventure.  What does God have in store for us?  Who knows?  But I'm glad that I get to be a part of it all.

The main wing's roof being torn off.

The west wing

Ah, SO MANY songs, VBS's, AWANA nights, and Superbooks happened in that room.  So many kids have walked through those doors.  What a treat to be a part of it all!

So thankful God provided this place for us.  Even more thankful that we're not responsible for it anymore.

Ronald McDonald House

Several ladies and I had the awesome opportunity to love on some families staying at the Fort Worth Ronald McDonald House.  We got to cook lunch for them!  First of all, I've never been in a RMH before, but have known friends who have been blessed by this wonderful organization. This one is located next to Cook Children's Hospital and it is incredible!  Their goal is to make every family feel like they are at home and try to provide everything they need so all the family needs to be concerned with is the sick child.  And they do a fabulous job!

Janie, me, Elaine, and Shawna.  Pat and Louise were taking a break when this photo op happened.

 Their kitchen is incredible!  They even have their own embroidered aprons!

 Louise browning the meat so we can make taco soup.

 Janie trying to figure out how much tea to make.  We were very thankful she was willing to do all that figurin'!

 Shawna and Pat making the fruit salad.

 Yep, read those directions because they are making brownies!!!

Everyone was so very grateful and thankful!  They even invited us back and asked us to cook the exact same thing.  So next week, it's taco soup, tortilla chips, fruit salad, and brownies again at the RMH! 

 I had the opportunity to talk to several sets of parents and a couple of patients of Cooks.  I was so touched by their courage....I loved hearing their stories.  And the good news was that everyone I talked to should be home by Thanksgiving.  Such a simple thing....to cook a meal with friends....but it can touch a soul.