Living Life One Cheerio at a Time

I love the traditions we have at Christmas.  I've tried out a few and they have fallen by the wayside, but some have stuck. Traditions I've not kept... Having the children buy gifts for one another....too many kids, to much hassle Opening a gift on Christmas Eve (this is one from my childhood) 4 gifts only (something to do, read, wear, and fun)...I try but I'm much better at sticking to a budget. Sorry some kids get 47 gifts and some get 1. It evens out in the end. BUT the teacher in me always gets them a book.... Traditions we've kept... Going to a Christmas Eve service Getting a new Christmas ornament each year for each kid that signifies something special from that year. Baking sugar cut out cookies from the recipe that my Jr. Church leader used to make when I was a kid. So this year, I decided we'd do something new. I'm really trying to instill a servant's heart in my kids. And t...

I've been wrestling. I do it each year at this time. Wrestling with Santa. Do I keep up the pretense or do I tell them that he's not real? Well, this year week, I was overcome with the fact that I needed to stop the charade. We had never done a big deal about Santa. Never did presents from him, or photos or hoopla. Usually, Santa was just they guy we left cookies for on Christmas Eve. Sometimes we left oatmeal or carrots. Whatever was convenient. I was a lazy Santa. We've never done Elf on the Shelf or what have you...again, I'm lazy. Child number one hasn't believed in a few years. She just kept up the pretense. She would say something "Santa related" and wink at me. My little boy is real sensitive to the Spirit. He began questioning. He would say things like: "So Santa and the Holy Spirit do they talk?" "Do the elves work for God, too?" "Is the story of Rudolph real like the story of Jesus?" ...

It has been awhile since I've posted a Ten on Ten. Today we were away so you of course get the traveling version...and maybe a little Traveling Jesus! An early morning selfie Only the best potato chips ever! I can only get them in NW Ohio, so when in Paulding County! Traveling Jesus mad it once again through the plains of NW Ohio It's Christmas time in Antwerp! Grandma Norma, the girls, the baby and Mimi Becky...what a full house! I couldn't decide between cherry or blueberry pie, so I chose both! The sister and sister in law helping with the kids craft Add caption Leaving my parent's home Grabbed dinner out

WOW! It sure has been a very long time since I've been here. So much has gone on...but that is for another day. We've been attending our church for well over 2 years. In such a large church it is sometimes hard to  connect with people. So Mark and I have been trying to connect, but each Sunday we sat by ourselves. Sometimes others were in our row, but no one we connected with. Until recently. Within the last year we've invited some teens to sit with us. Simple as that. Mark and I are not the cool kids. We have never pretended to be the cool kids. We put ourselves out there and began to invite more people to sit with us. Non-teen type people. Our row grew...sometimes we filled a row. Sometimes it was all teens and us, sometimes adults who had spouses serving in other areas, sometimes single grandmas, but always there a mix of ages and backgrounds. Our row was less lonely. It was filling up with people who need to be feel part of the body at 10 am. Not until recentl...

Has God ever asked you to do something out of your comfort zone? Have you ever said Yes to Him and that seemingly crazy idea?   Sometime in the late fall I was praying for my husband Mark. I was praying that the Holy Spirit would move in his type A personality. I was praying that God would shake his introverted self in a radical way. Around November 1 st our new pastor moved to town. After church that day I casually said “When his family moves up in January we should have them over.” Mark said how about just having Don over on Friday? I dreaded it. Friday’s are my big draining days. But I said ok. I FB messaged Don and invited him to dinner. He said yes to 2 strangers and 4 kids .Friday came and it was great. We had lots of things to talk about…until we came to ask him where he was staying. IT was the scary movie motel. This place is rough….gulp! He needed to stay there until he could move his wife and kids up after Christmas. He also needed to sell his house to be a...