A Very Merry Christmas

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. 1 John 3:16-20 This is just one of many verses that God has been speaking to me and Eric over the past few months. We were so very blessed this year and wanted to extend some of those blessings. Eric and I, along with his parents and some of the extended Sharp family, decided to give to World Vision instead of exchanging gifts this year. It was such a blessing to be able to give to others in need. Eric and I are so blessed and have everything we need and even stuff we don't and the Lord was really impressing on us the charge to take care of 'the least of these'. And as usual, the kids were well taken care of with 3 sets of grandparents, 2 sets of great grandparents and 2 sets of aunts and uncles. Here are just a few pics of our day. How the day started....LOTS of presents under the tree.... And Mem-Mem sleeping over on Christmas Eve. Kaleigh's gift from Blake Parker kept putting the bows on his head...too cute! Yes, even our four legged-family members got gifts The kids worked very hard, with Memere, this year making blankets for everyone in the family. Eric doing a fine job with Christmas dinner as usual. On the menu this year...Prime Rib, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans with Almonds and rolls...MMMMMM! The sisters with their ipads Blake with his gift that was sent all the way from Pepere and Memere Constant is Florida. After dinner Parker performed some Christmas Carols for us all.

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' Matthew 25:34-40

Festive Fun

The Thursday before Christmas we had a few friends over for a Christmas party.
We played some games.....

Rudolph Race

Snowball Toss


Bingo



Did some crafts.....







The Mom's behind it all...Thanks ladies for all your help!

93

On December 6th my grandmother turned 93. The kids made her cards and a cake. We took her out to lunch at Friendly's and then went back to her apartment to eat the cake and give her her gifts and spend some fun time together. She has been there my entire life and is creating wonderful memories for my children. We are very lucky to have her.

Parker's First Game

On December 18th, Parker had his first basketball game. My boy is wearing number one.

GO TEAM!


THE TIP OFF


THE SCORE AFTER THE FIRST QUARTER..WE ARE HOME TEAM :(


DEFENSE!


SCORE AFTER SECOND QUARTER...WE TAKE THE LEAD...


WE ARE DOWN AGAIN AT THE END OF THE THIRD QUARTER...


COACHES TALK STRATEGY..


WE CAME BACK IN THE FOURTH QUARTER AND HAD THE LEAD WITH 30 SECONDS TO GO...THE OTHER TEAM SCORED AND WE LOST THE GAME BY ONE!


GOOD GAME!

Happy Birthday???

This past Tuesday was Eric's 33rd birthday but it sure didn't feel like it. He got up about 5am to head out in the freezing cold and sit in a tree all morning. Yes, he went hunting. I can't wrap my mind around it, because that is the LAST place I would want to be on my birthday, but hey to each his own, right?

After sitting in a tree and seeing nothing for several hours, he decided to head over to the church and start setting up for the dress rehersal for our Christmas Cantata. I called him around noon and asked him what his plans were for lunch. He didn't know because he was knee deep in wires and just wanted to get all the sound equipment squared away. We decided to make him a brown bag lunch and go eat with him at church.

Our friend, Dean, had his daughter make a cake for Eric and after lunch about ten of us had cake and continued setting up for the cantata. We left church about 2:30 and squeezed in some time for some bowling before Parker's 5pm basketball practice.






We headed to basketball and he headed back to church for the dress rehersal. I think he got home around 11pm. He wasn't home all day so we ended up saving his cake and presents for Wednesday night after he got home from work.


Happy Birthday baby! I love you more and more each day and Iam so very thankful for all you do!

Project 365- Week 51

Sunday December 12th
We had the Sharp Christmas. Here is Great Grammie with 6 out of her 9 great grandchildren.


Monday December 13th
The kids got busy adding to the Christmas decorations by making window clings.



Tuesday December 14th
We went bowling to celebrate Eric's birthday.



Wednesday December 15th
Tuesday was such a busy day for Eric with the cantata dress rehearsal that we never got to have the cake we got for him. So we had it on Wednesday night after he got home from work. Moose Tracks...mmmmmm!


Thursday December 16th
Our friends stopped over for a visit and ended up making window clings too!


Friday December 17th
One of my youth group students gave this to me for Christmas. Thank you Henry! I love it.


Saturday December 18th
We went Christmas Caroling at a local convalescent home. Parker played his guitar, while we sang.

Project 365- Week 50

Sunday December 5th
Our youth group has some incentives in place for kids to memorize and read scripture and do Christian service. If the kids meet the requirements by a certain date they are invited to a 'reward day'. This reward was Games and Grinders. We had four Wii's set up, an Playstation, and four dance pads along with TONS of board games. The kids had a blast. Here is Kaleigh with a few of her friends.


Monday December 6th
We spent the afternoon celebrating Mem's 93rd birthday!


Tuesday December 7th
Eric finally got around to putting the finishing touches on Kaleigh's wall!


Wednesday December 8th
Kaleigh's good friend, Andrea, made her some cat nip bags...and the cat was liking them!


Thursday December 9th
Parker was getting a snack, took the clip off the chip bag and...well this is how I found him... LOL!


Friday December 10th
We went to watch Eric basketball game. These photos are courtesy of Lisa Cour, who is one of the best photographers I know. Check out her website at www.dayspringphoto.com



Saturday December 11th
We were invited to go see the new Chronicles of Narnia movie. I tried to take a picture of the kids sitting there with their 3-D glasses on but all I had was my camera phone which does not have a flash so the pics didn't come out. Oh well A for effort, right?