Christmas Highlights 2009

I already have every stitch of Christmas packed up and in the attic. I love Christmas, but once it is over, I am ready for it ALL to be over. We have had a nice season of visiting Christmas concerts, programs, watching movies, baking cookies and of course unwrapping presents. We kept it simple and we even stayed on budget!

Here are a few highlights:



Don't you see the victory on his face? A WAY cool Lego set!

This was the year of the knife and the gun.... andWarHammer...... Keith finally got the GPS he has been wanting and I got a luxurious wool scarf and glove set. I think everyone was please and I am just thrilled we are all healthy and blessed with a job that pays the bills. I hope you are feeling blessed this holiday season, and the new year to follow!

Who knew?

The ultimate snuggler!

So, Michael finds this precious lost kitten under our barn, and plops her on the island. Oh, no! We are not adopting another cat. The last several adoptions we have made have been complete failures. Cats these days are just lousy. There are none that can hold a candle to our beloved Chloe, who blessed our lives for nearly 17 years. She made the car trip to Louisiana, survived the addition of four boys and then came with us to Georgia, where she received loving, elder care from all of us. Every single stinkin' cat we've tried to add to our family since then, has been a total loser. Two of them received hundreds of dollars of vet care and then left in the middle of the night. One of them has been banished to permanent outdoor life because she was pooping in the beds and wailing all night long, while pacing the hall outside our bedroom door. No, thank you!

One was given to us, and he thought it was a good idea to pee in our bed at 2am. I literally tossed him out the front door. Within a couple weeks, he was taken to the shelter for attempted murder on Mittens. Good-bye, Sammy. (I did get a call from the shelter saying he got adopted.) Then came Lucy, who is not too bad, but does not like you to pick her up. Her evil growl is very intimidating.....

Anyway, so our luck with cats has been terrible and I have sworn I would not get any more cats unless they were Chloe clones.

You would have kept her, too!

Until 2 weeks ago, when that cute little puff of orange was placed in our life. Daisy is a wonderful cat! She is loving, playful and SO CUTE! Even Lucy the grouch likes her. I would have never guessed Lucy would take to another cat, but it is obvious that she loves Daisy! I always thought older cats had a secret pact to never accept another cat into the family, but I was WRONG! Who knew?

Lucy & Daisy

Let there be snow!

I LOVE snow! Love it, love it, love it! Being in the south, we rarely get snow, so when we do get some snow, we enjoy it to death cause it will be gone within a few hours. Here are some snow pictures to enjoy!

I want to be a One Minute Friend

How long do you have to be a friend to someone before you share the Gospel with them? One minute? One day? One week? One month? One year? I saw this on my favorite show the other night (Wretched) and it really spoke to me. I want to be a one minute friend! But how? I think it is somewhat easier if you have a church home to invite them along with you, but we are without a church home right now. How do you share the gospel with strangers? Please give me some suggestions - I am ready to be a one minute friend.

Can I brag just a minute?

I simply can not shout this loud enough how proud I am of my sons! They are such wonderful boys, but much more than that, they have a heart for God! Over the last 20 weeks (so sad it is over!) we have attended a class with some friends. It was on financial freedom, but not Dave Ramsey's approach, but a more spiritual approach. Anyway, it has been the best 20 weeks of spiritual devotion I have ever invested. I think you could find out about it at Institute in Basic Life Principles.

So, the leader is my boss (I work for him part-time doing accounting work) and he is very gentle, but with very high expectations. It's all good. We were given a challenging memory verse each week, for 20 weeks. He challenged us to meditate on the verses every day, and commit them to our heart. Then he challenged us to recite all 20 of them (KJV mind you) at the final night for a little competition.

Of course his daughter took first place - she learned them so easily! Such a SWEET girl!!! You would love her! Guess who took second? Yes, of course it was Chris. Third??? Any guesses? Of course it was Andrew! How about fourth? Who would take fourth? ME!!! The Braud hat trick! Gotta love that, and ALL for His GLORY!!!

I may go into a depression now that we are not meeting for the next 2 months....

Thanks for letting me brag a bit, which, if you know me, is something I rarely do.

A Tale of Two Cows

A person has two cows, and depending on what type of government he lives under, these are his options:

SOCIALISM: He must give one of his cows to his neighbor who has none.

COMMUNISM: The government takes them both and then gives him the amount of milk they think he needs.

FEUDALISM: You have two cows. Your lord takes some of the milk.

BUREAUCRATIC SOCIALISM: You have two cows. The government takes them and put them in a barn with everyone else's cows. They are cared for by ex-chicken farmers. You have to take care of the chickens the government took from the chicken farmers. The government gives you as much milk and eggs as the regulations say you need.

FASCISM: You have two cows. The government takes both, hires you to take care of them and sells you the milk.

RUSSIAN COMMUNISM: You have two cows. You have to take care of them, but the government takes all the milk.

DICTATORSHIP: You have two cows. The government takes both and drafts you.

PURE DEMOCRACY: You have two cows. Your neighbors decide who gets the milk.

REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY: You have two cows. Your neighbors pick someone to tell you who gets the milk.

BUREAUCRACY: You have two cows. At first the government regulates what you can feed them and when you can milk them. Then it pays you not to milk them. Then it takes both, shoots one, milks the other and pours the milk down the drain. Then it requires you to fill out forms accounting for the missing cows.

PURE ANARCHY: You have two cows. Either you sell the milk at a fair price or your neighbors try to take the cows and kill you.

CAPITALISM: You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull.

**portions of this should be credited to http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/2007/01/07/politics-explained-with-two-cow-analogy/

nothing exciting, just an update

It seems like we have been so busy lately, I haven't had time to blog. I think Facebook seems to take the place of the blog, I guess. This was supposed to be the weekend we went camping with our friends, but alas, they have swine flu. It looks like they like us enough to drive all the way up here next month. YIPPEE with lots and lots of exclamation points!!!!!

The boys have been having airsoft gun battles with their friends, attending birthday and Halloween parties, and just doing school. The weather has been beautiful the last week, especially since the rain has given us a break. Falls colors are still vibrant, but fading quickly as the leaves fall to the ground, almost looking like colored snow. You really have to get up here next fall and stay a while. Between the apple festivals and such, we could have a great time!

Chris now has his learners permit. These will be some scary and exciting times for us. He is doing pretty well in school and is not really ready to decide where he wants to go after school. I think the Air Force is a possibility, but the local colleges are a great option, too. He will be 16 next month!

Andrew is moving up the ranks in Civil Air Patrol - he is now a technical sergeant! He is still playing piano, but he won't play loud enough for us to hear him. I am hopeful he will overcome this soon, as I miss hearing him play.

Michael and James are best buddies and keep each other occupied. Sometimes they are having fun and sometimes they are annoying each other, you just never know what you will get each day.

The other day we went to town to help raise the American flags for Veteran's Day. Several hundred were raised and we played a small part of it. It felt very patriotic and I plan to make it something we do regularly, for each Holiday that they are raised. If you want your children to love their country, it involves action, not just preaching. Same goes with anything you want your children to take with them into their adulthood - you have to do it, not just say it.

We are unfortunately church shopping - again. I don't think I have ever been so frustrated in all of my life. For now, we are having church at home with Keith leading. The kids have said they are learning more from homechurch than they have from other church, but I am feeling the loss of fellowship that we once knew, but it seems will never happen again. I am sure it will happen again, but right now, I just feel like we are looking for a church that does not exist. Really, people, homeschoolers are no different from you, we just learn at home. We do not live in a cave, we do have lots of other homeschool friends and our blood is red. Really.

I was able to split 7 new bushes off of my black raspberry bushes! I am so thrilled so now I have nine bushes! Next year, I am certain I will be able to can some jam. I also have a plan to make another huge flower garden in the back. I have several plants I can transplant and then add some seeds for a bountiful butterfly and hummingbird garden. I have been collecting seeds all year so it won't cost me much at all and will have loads of color! The vision I have in my head is incredible, now if I can only make it happen......

I have been doing a new exercise routine and it has been so wonderful, I have to share it with you! It is called T-Tapp, and it is named after its creator, Theresa Tapp. I have had so many benefits from the last 6 weeks of doing it, I plan on making it a part of my life. I am being patient about having inches lost, but the other benefits I am having are enough to keep me tapping. Please check it out and give me a call if you want firsthand testimony of what it is doing for me!

Well, this was not the most exciting blog entry I have made, but at least it is something. Let me know if you get any of the T-Tapp videos and what kind of results you get.

Until the next exciting update....