Make it. Keep it.

I have never been a fan of New Year's resolutions. Here's my thinking: if you know you need to change something, don't wait for an excuse like January 1st to do it. If something needs to change, change it now. Besides that, I hate how it starts out so adament, and a few weeks in, people all over the country are caving. Why do we keep doing it? It's never proven to be very successful. In fact, when we come up with our resolutions, we do so expecting them to not last.

I just finished writing a Christmas letter to sweet Neema. We have photos of her up on our walls. We sit in wonder as her drawings to us show how she is growing before our very eyes. I cry when I read of her prayers for me. She prays for me more often, and no doubt more fiercely, than even I or most of my friends and family do. God has used her to change the way I see things. She is ten years old and lives in Tanzania. I have known Neema since she was six, when Andy and I became her sponsors.

You can make a New Year's resolution this year and keep it. You can sponsor a child from Compassion. Writing letters to your child is worth its time in gold, for your child's heart, but even more for yours. Compassion makes it easy. You can go to their website, type out your letter, upload some photos and click send. They'll do the translating and mailing for you. This New Year's resolution comes with an eternal impact. And just in case you feel failure lurking in the shadows of February, sign up for automatic payments. You'll never miss your $38... we never do.

With this one act you can:

- love a stranger in the name of Jesus
- begin a new relationship
- change a person's future
- break the cycle of poverty
- help spread the gospel to the ends of the earth

Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ Matthew 25; 34 - 40

Resolve to make a resolution you can keep. Sponsor a child today!

Thanksgiving in December!

So yes...Christmas is this week. But I never got around to posting about Thanksgiving. There's no better time than now to do what should be done. ;) Here's just a few photos from our great Thanksgiving with Grammy and Bumpa:

as close to a group picture as we could get...

Sophia is lovely, but what I like most about this picture is the background ;)

Berkley and Sophie are not the most willing or obedient posers

I love this dress. I got it last year at the JBF sale for $8. I bought it specifically for Thanksgiving, but also got to sneak it on for my cousin's baby shower.

Precious girl- I love every inch of her!

just like her mama..."No shoes, no grass!"

these were the cute little bloomers that went with the dress. Once inside, we let her take off the dress and put on her cheetah cardi...I thought it was adorable. Clearly she's much more interested in eating Christmas decorations...

2011 Ornaments

When I left home I left with an ornament collection. Since I was born, my aunt made me (and all my other cousins, which became quite the feat each year) an ornament for the Christmas tree. My first Christmas with Andy could have left us with a bare tree, but because of my special collection of personalized ornaments, our tree held colorful decorations and memories of Christmases past.

Our collection has grown wonderfully over the last five years, but that original collection still remains close to my heart. I wanted to continue the tradition by making Sophia an ornament each year, so that when she leaves home (hypothetically speaking...that day is frightening and much too far away to think on now) she will have a personalized collection of her own.

However, last year slipped by me. I had only intentions. This year, I knew the same would happen unless I got serious about it. So, I joined Pinterest! I found several ideas for ornaments that I loved. Because the budget is super tight this year, I picked the cheapest one to make, and headed to Hobby Lobby. I was so pleased with how it turned out, I've been back to Hobby Lobby twice for more supplies so I could fashion a few more as gifts.

Here is the one I made Sophia:

Sophia's name means wisdom. I want her ornaments to be something more than pretty decorations. So I bought a simple mini photo album. Each year when I make her ornament, I'm putting a picture of it along with a note explaining its meaning or a prayer for her that year. This year, our prayer is that Sophia would be filled with the wisdom of God, through his loving Word to us.

One of my favorite things about this ornament is that you can make it so many different ways. Here are a few I made for some of Sophie's sweet friends:

Merry Christmas!

Joining Pinterest

I kept hearing about Pinterest from friends. Everyone not only was on it, but was loving being on it! I was curious, but thought I don't have time for that stuff. I was right, by the way. ;)

I had this plan to make Sophia a homemade ornament from me each year. As I started searching online for some inspiration (Let's be honest, I was going to straight up steal an idea. My creativity tank is constantly on empty) I found myself wishing for a more organized way of searching; something where similar ideas were all clumped together, rather than having to go to 30 different blogs to find one item at each.

Enter Pinterest. I asked for an invite, then waited a few weeks before I finally received one. But since then, it's been happy pinning! (in moderation, of course) I've created a Christmas board with ideas for ornaments, recipes, advent calendars, decor, and gift ideas. I'm so glad to have my favorite things recorded. Next year, I'll be able to go straight here to pick an ornament to make, no searching required.

I'm not a techie. I tried to take a snapshot of my board to show you some things on it. But after 20 minutes of failing over and over again, I decided to install a "Follow me on Pinterest" button. It's a little premature, since my Christmas board is the only one that's filled. But if you're on Pinterest, check out my board by clicking the link on the sidebar. If you're not on Pinterest and want to be, let me know. I'll send you an invite. :)

P.S. I did get around to making Sophia's ornament and I'm so excited that the tradition has officially begun! It's at the bottom of my Christmas board, by Brown Paper Packages.