In Christ Alone

In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save
'Till on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again
And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life's first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
'Till He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand

Sunrise

The heavens proclaim his righteousness,
and all the peoples see his glory. Psalm 97:6

I love having this view in the morning as I sit and cuddle with my Lovebug while the rest of the house is still quiet.

Calling All Crafters!

Generally I am not a very crafty person, however, I do like to crochet. I've done a few blankets, hats, mittens, etc, but nothing too hard. Recently I came across a site called Craft Hope that does projects for crafters to donate to. Currently their project is crocheting or knitting scarves for foster teens. I figure that is easy enough and I can help out and donate a scarf or two.
They are also doing a project to help the people of Haiti and Doctors Without Borders. You can donate handmade items to be sold in their Etsy shop or purchase from the shop and all proceeds will go to Doctors Without Borders.
I think this is a great way to be able to help out a little and hope to contribute to more of their projects in the future. If any of you are crafters (not just crocheters), check out their site for all the details and see if there are any ways you can help out too!

Swimming Weather?

Someone forgot to tell the munchkins that just because it is sunny doesn't mean it is warm enough for swimming!

(Notice the boots kicked off and laying in the grass!)

Snowflakes!

I found this really cute snowflake project to do with the kids the other day and they had a lot of fun. You will need white liquid fabric paint in a squeeze bottle. I had a bunch of puffy paints that we used and if your kids are like mine, you might need more than just boring old white! You will also need a plain plastic stencil, but we were fresh out of those (I'm not even sure what they are!) so we just used waxed paper. The paper stuck a little to the snowflakes, so if you have a clear piece of plastic or even glass, that would be better, but the wax paper still worked fine for us. You will also need some snowflake patterns to trace.

First just lay the stencil (or wax paper, glass, or whatever you found to use) over the snowflake patterns. Then let the kids trace the pattern with the paints. Like I said, white is too boring for my kids, so we have very colorful snowflakes at our house. Putting the paint on a little thicker is also better, it will be easier to handle later.

Next, let them dry completely and then very carefully peel them off the stencil (wax paper, etc) and stick them on your windows! Presto! Instant winter wonderland that is easy to remove and even keep for later if you wish!

Prayer Request

I have a prayer request for you today. There is a 6 year old boy in our church who has been going through chemo the past few months for a tumor on his hip. This morning he went in for surgery and it is expected to last about 6 hours. Please pray for him, his family, and the doctors today as they all go through this. They are doing a partial, and possibly total, hip replacement and there is also the possiblity for nerve damage. Afterward, he will have to be in the hospital for about a week. Please pray for complete healing, but also for peace for the family for whatever outcome God has planned for them.


For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

Our Christmas and Happy New Year!

We had a great Christmas! The kids had so much fun going to visit our family for all the different parties we had. As usual, they managed to get a bunch of new toys and stuff, but we also tried to instill in them the real meaning and gift of Christmas, baby Jesus. We are so blessed to be able to have the freedom to celebrate the birth of our Saviour.

On Christmas eve, we gave our gifts to the kids and to each other at home.

On Christmas day, Hubby's family came over for snacks and our gift exchange.

The day after Christmas, we went to my parents house for dinner and gifts.

Princess shoes for our Princess

Lovebug loved trying to figure out his new shape sorter.

Sweetie LOVES baby A' and was so thrilled to be able to hold her for a few minutes.

We very happily rang in the new year sound asleep in our beds this year. Staying up late just isn't worth it when you have children who don't understand the concept of sleeping in quite yet! I hope all of you have a blessed new year and we can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for us in the coming year!

Happy New Year!