Thankful Thursday – Our Nation’s Independence

I know I’m a couple days behind but this really is something I am truly thankful for. I’ve mentioned in an earlier post about my trip to Africa and how thankful I was for the little things like Toilet paper. We have so much in this Nation that makes us “rich” in the eyes of those around us. Is our country perfect? No. I’m I 100% pleased with the direction our country is headed? No, but I can say that there is no other place I’d rather live! :)

Now for a brighter note :) here are some pictures of our 4th of July celebrations. We went to Watauga Lake with our Pastor and his family and Craig – now that I think about it, I don’t think I ever got a picture of Craig :S maybe next year.

I did get his picture! Well the back of his head… but its a picture! Brock and Kenny tried to be “Ninja” and stand up on the raft…

…It didn’t last long!

We also went to see fireworks but I didn’t take any pictures… Sorry :S I hope you all had a good 4th of July and that you remembered the reason we celebrate.

Snow!!!!!

I absolutely LOVE snow! I love seeing it fall, I love having it on the ground, and I love living in a part of NC that shuts down when it snows so I don’t have to go anywhere! This year I got to have snow for Christmas Day. It started falling mid-morning and just kept right on coming down all day long. Here are some pictures Mom and I took.

This is my Grandma’s house 

“Don’t knock the weather; nine-tenths of the people couldn’t start a conversation if it didn’t change once in a while.” ~ Kin Hubbard

  This is our house

“To be interested in the changing seasons is a happier state of mind than to be hopelessly in love with Spring.” ~ George Santayana

  Our backyard

“The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found?” ~ J.B. Priestly

  Out the Front door

“Snowmen fall from Heaven unassembled.”

Down the street

“There’s one good thing about snow, it makes your lawn look just as good as your neighbors.” ~ Clyde Moore

Random Information

I just wanted to pass along a random piece of useless information that I thought was pretty neat!

December 23 is called:

 Christmas Eve, eve -or- Christmas Adam...

because Adam was created before Eve!

HAHAHA!!!! :)

Merry Christmas everyone!

Thankful Thursdays – The Real Christmas Story

 

A lot of times you hear about families reading Luke 2 from the Bible for Christmas; the story of Christ’s birth. But the story doesn’t stop there! I am Thankful today that Christ came to earth to die for the sins of mankind, more specifically for me!

 

When I was 12 I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior. It was the best decision I ever made. God loved us so much that He sent his son, Jesus, to come to earth as a baby (Luke 2). He did this with the single purpose of dying on the cross of Calvary for our sins. This was a gift that Christ gave willingly to each one of us, all we need to do is accept it, just like a Christmas present.

I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas on this Thankful Thursday.

Accept Christ’s gift of salvation today and enjoy

“the real reason for the season!”

Did you know?

I was listening to WAGY, Forest City’s radio station this morning at work because they have an interesting talk radio. They’ll cover sports, poltics, happenings in Forest City, and Swap-n-shop. Well this mornings topic was:

What is a “White Christmas?”

Did you know there is an actual, meteorologist, definition of the term “White Christmas?” Well there is! This is what they said:

The official definition of a white Christmas is: "1 inch of snow on the ground during December 25th". The snow does not have to fall on December 25th.

This is the projected snow fall for Christmas weekend… Carolina is in the grey but that is still 20-50% chance!

Can I just say that “I’m dreaming of a White Christmas!”

Christmas Traditions

There were a lot of things I wanted to share about how my family celebrates Christmas but I kind of let it sneak up on me. So for my last “Christmas Traditions” post for this year I’m just going to give a summary of what we do on Christmas Eve.

My Grandpa was born on Christmas Eve so my Grandma tries very hard to keep his birthday special but separate from Christmas celebrations. So, Christmas Eve dinner(supper, depending on where your from) is his birthday part of the day.

 

Grandpa blows out his candle (its a grave stone that says, “Over the Hill, too OLD to count!”) and opens his birthday presents. After cake is done and the dishes washed, only then does Christmas begin.

My Dad always tells Grandpa that he is the only man he knows older than Jesus!

 

My Grandparents give each of the un-married, grandkids “Christmas Clothes Money” to pick out a new Sunday outfit for Christmas. So once dinner is cleaned up we all go change into our Christmas clothes and take way too many pictures.

We’ve been doing this for a long time! When we were little they only lined us up by age, now its done by age and then height to see how we’ve changed and grown over the years.

 

This picture (taken in 1988) from left to right:

Robbie Shahan, Missy Shahan-Hutchins, Ben Heffernan, Stephen Shahan, Abby Heffernan-Townsend, Becky Shahan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The picture on the left is all of us in 2008 (the last year everyone was at Grandma’s for Christmas) lined up by age and the one on the right is us lined up by height. :)

 

This is just my family Right to Left: Dad, Mom, Robbie, Jessica,(sis-in-law) Matt, (bro-in-law) Missy, Stephen, Christina,(sis-in-law) Me, Austin(the only grandchild at the time, Missy was expecting Jonathan!)

 

 

This is my Mom’s sisters family Right to Left: Dale, Jody, Ben, Elizabeth,(Ben’s wife) Candace, Abby, Marcus

 

 

After all the pictures we have what my Grandma calls a candle light service. Christmas is so commercial and this is a good way to get your focus off of the presents and on thanking the Lord for what he’s done in our lives through the year. We always start with my grandpa (since he’s the oldest) and everyone shares what they are thankful for in the past year. This picture is of Austin, he was still pretty young when this was taken, but he said he was thankful for Mommy and Daddy :)

One year Grandma decided not to do our candle-light service anymore, she said she thought that none of the grandkids would miss it (and I’m sure it made a mess). The next year my oldest brother, Robbie, I think he was 16 at the time, came to her and said, “we’re doing a candle-light service aren’t we?” She immediately started breaking out the candles! I don’t think we’ve missed doing it since. Its always been my favorite part of Christmas.

Well that’s pretty much it for the Christmas Traditions I hope you’ve enjoyed a peek into our family and maybe you’ll use some of these idea’s with your own families.

Merry Christmas!

Colorado Trip Pictures

You didn’t really think the pictures on my last post were the only ones I took did you? This post is mainly just some pictures that were taken on our trip out west.

I didn’t see how it happened but Mr. Godby came off his snow mobile :) He made the comment that that was not how to ride!

 

 

 

 

 

I think this one is Wesley stuck on the hill.

 

Here’s Kenny.

 

 

 

 

 

Wes and I got the 2 seater stuck :S

 

 

 

 

 

 

What do you get when you add me wanting a picture with Kenny and Him not wanting to remove his helmet?

Two alien looking people hugging in the snow! :)

This one is defiantly Kenny stuck on the side of the mountain with Matt and Mr. Godby trying to dig him out.

 

 

 

 

 

I finally got my picture with Kenny! :)

 

Do you see Wesley’s pink cleats?

 

 

 

 

 

I thought it was really neat/special that they prayed together after the game.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we all got into the house, after the initial surprise, Mr. Godby wanted to know where Andrea and Elaine were :S  I wish they could have been there it would have just added a bonus to an already perfect week.

 

Mr. Godby is trying to talk Alethea’s little girl into sticking her finger in the icing… She did!

 

 

 

 

 

Aunt Joe, Uncle Scott, and Grandpa Paul

Wesley in the living room with all the kids… He fits in well don’t you think?

 

 

 

 

This is what Colorado looks like from the air. I thought it was pretty neat. :)

As you can probably tell we had a good time and can’t wait to go back.

Colorado Trip 2010

Well I meant to blog while in CO… oops :) I guess we were just having too much fun for me to stop and tell you about it. So, I guess I’ll give you the high-lights now.

Monday: Motorcycle Ride!!!!! Kenny and I went out Monday morning for a quick ride and then went again in the afternoon with Mr. Godby for a mountain tour. While we were riding in the mountains we saw some Mule Deer. Kenny walked right up to this fella’ and took his picture, it was almost as if the buck was posing for him!

 

 

 

 

 

Colorado is so beautiful isn’t it?

Tuesday: Kenny and I spent the afternoon Christmas shopping before going out for Supper at The Buckhorn. Its a wild game restaurant, I ate Quail, Yak and Ostrich! Oh and for an appetizer we had Rocky Mountain Oysters (If you don’t know what that is look it up on Google).  After supper Kenny and Wesley suited up for a 3 on 3 indoor soccer game. (Sorry I forgot to take my camera :S)

Wednesday: We went and picked up the Falcon from the shop and then went to Grandpa and Grandma Paul’s to pick up Aunt Joe for the day. Most of the day was spent relaxing and playing games at the house before Taco Pie (which I still need the recipe’ for… hint, hint) and church.

Thursday: 5:30 am leave to go snow mobiling in the mountains. I forgot to get a group picture :S but our group consisted of  Mr. Godby, Matt, Dewy, Wesley, Kenny and I.   

 Friday: We spent the day at the house relaxing and helping out here and there to get things ready for Mr. Godby’s surprise birthday party that night. We got him out of the house by taking him to a soccer game Kenny and Wesley were playing in that night.

When Mr. Godby walked into the house he was greeted with a loud “SURPRISE!” and 3 cans of silly string! There was a good turn out for the party and we all had a great time.

Saturday: Kenny and I spent the morning finishing up our packing and getting ready for to fly home at 12 pm. I got to spend some time picking out some of Kenny’s baby pictures I wanted to use for the wedding. (You’ll just have to come to the wedding to see them! They’re really cute.) Then we said our goodbyes and headed for home.

I had a wonderful time in Colorado and I can’t wait to go back!

Thanks so much Dad and Mom Godby for bringing us out there.

Christmas Traditions – Christmas Stories and Baking

(You can’t actually look inside, I borrowed this picture from Amazon.com)

Who doesn’t enjoy Christmas cookies and peanut brittle? Mom usually spends all of one day doing all of her Christmas baking – I tend to burn cookies so she graciously allows me to decorate the cookies, its kind of hard to mess up frosting and sugar! During our day together of baking and decorating we listen to Christmas stories.

Several years ago Mom found a set of tapes called “Christmas In My Heart.” (I think they were recommended by Charles Dobson on Focus on the Family.) It is a reading of the book written by Joe Wheeler containing true Christmas stories. Here is a blip I found on Amazon about the book:

“The anthology is an attempt to rediscover the family values inherent in this Christ-centered holy day. Preceded by saccharine and superfluous introductions, the 16 selections range from the ubiquitous "Gift of the Magi" through works by respected writers such as Pearl Buck, Taylor Caldwell, and Madeleine L'Engle to lesser-known and anonymous authors. The stories range from the poignancy of a mother's periodic "Jubilee" vacation away from her family through a teary-eyed twist on a Christmas pageant to the trauma of a homeless, pregnant teenager seeking refuge at holiday time. In its own way, each portrays God's intervention during the dark times.”

They are heart warming Christmas Stories that makes us laugh and a lot of times cry. My favorite one to listen to is called “Red Mittens.” I’m not going to tell you the story or plot line, I am going to tell you to find these tapes and listen to them! They are very well done and some of the stories really help you get your heart in line for Christmas.

Two years ago Mom gave me all four sets of tapes for Christmas so when I start my family I’ll have my own set, (I think it was more so I wouldn’t have to borrow hers!)

Christmas Cantata

Sunday was Emmanuel Baptist Church’s Christmas Cantata, Kenny had everything planned out. The Calvary Quartet would sing during the morning service after which the choir and Quartet would eat lunch on the grounds and have a Cantata practice during the afternoon and present the Christmas Cantata during the evening service at 6pm…. Well that was the plan. As anyone who has ever planned anything knows there are always bumps in the plan… Our “bump” came in the form of white fluffy precipitation that sticks to everything and makes driving interesting :)

Sunday morning Kenny called me “The roads are clear up here but leave your place early and be careful…” I made it up the mountain without any problems and so did the Quartet… in an 80 foot “tour” bus! Needless to say as the church members were calling to see if we were still having church the reply was if the Quartet made it, you can too!

Because of the snow we kind of skipped Sunday School and just had a time of testimonies with the people who bravely came in early. The morning service went very well, the Quartet sang several numbers and then Pastor gave a message.

During the afternoon the Quartet thought it would be safest if they left to get back home before it got too late and the roads froze over. So the decision was made to continue the Cantata without them. We had a wonderful time between the choir singing and Pastor’s reading of the Christmas Story. He started back before Christ’s birth and went all the way through his life up to his death and resurrection.

Kenny and I had a wonderful time but (I don’t know about him) I defiantly breathed a sign of relief that we were done. At the same time I can’t wait to see what we’re going to do next year!

Christmas Traditions

I’m going to have to say that Christmas is my favorite holiday. Don’t get me wrong I don’t listen to “Jingle Bells” year round, I defiantly like Christmas to come only after Thanksgiving is done. However, when the end of November comes I can not wait to decorate the house for Christmas.

Kenny and I have been talking about how our families celebrate Christmas so I decided to share a little about my family and the traditions we enjoy.

The first tradition I’d like to share is Decorating

 

Friday Evening: Kenny helped out by carrying our tree down from the attic and setting it up. The original tree stand broke a couple years ago and this is what my brother Stephen came up with as a new stand… Kenny thought it was red neck :S …you can’t see the stand once the tree skirt is around the bottom anyways.

 

Saturday: Mom and I spent just about all day cleaning and decorating the house for Christmas. Because this is my last Christmas living at home Mom told me that I could choose what I wanted to set out. Here are a few of my favorite Christmas items and why they’re my favorites.

 

Nothing puts me in the mood more for Christmas music than playing them under garland and lights. The manger scene next to the piano was made by my Grandpa for my mom when she was in high school.

 

 

 

 

 

I have always thought this set was cute :) its one of those things I loved putting out every year.

 

 These stockings started out as a joke from my Aunt to my Mom when her and Dad got married. The Big one on the right says “Hers” and the little striped one on the far left says “His.” You’ll notice that all the boys stockings are smaller than the girls too! I can't wait to get my own set started :)

 

 

Mom and I also put lights up outside in the front yard. Nothing too exciting but we had fun!

Sunday: Kenny and I invited the Pastors kids, Brock and Emily, to come over and help decorate his house for Christmas and play games.

 

 

 

 

 

Emily and I decorated the house and the tree while Kenny and Brock fixed lunch. I thought it was a fair trade :)

 

Cindy, the pastor’s wife, makes these pretty wreaths, I liked it so much Kenny bought one for me! So I put it up in his house. :)

 

 

 

 

Now don’t laugh! My parents let us borrow this Little Tree this year so I can buy one on sale after Christmas for next year.