Christmas ~ the most wonderful, magical time of the year ~ is over once again. How quickly the holiday months fly by! I always suffer from such a melancholy state of being after Christmas and leading up to New Years. Not wanting to get back to real life, and not wanting to put away the decorations or Christmas music just yet, I'll simply continue to bask in the joyful glow of Christmas and all that it brings.

.......'till next week anyway. Then its back to real life and school and work and chores and early mornings and studying un-enjoyable subjects like math and microeconomics and no more long hours pouring over books and crafts...and putting away the Christmas explosion that happened in our house... *sigh*

Merry Christmas!

As with gladness, men of old
Did the guiding star behold
As with joy they hailed its light
Leading onward, beaming bright
So, most glorious Lord, may we
Evermore be led to Thee.

As with joyful steps they sped
To that lowly manger bed
There to bend the knee before
Him Whom Heaven and earth adore;
So may we with willing feet
Ever seek Thy mercy seat.

As they offered gifts most rare
At that manger rude and bare;
So may we with holy joy,
Pure and free from sin’s alloy,
All our costliest treasures bring,
Christ, to Thee, our heavenly King.

Holy Jesus, every day
Keep us in the narrow way;
And, when earthly things are past,
Bring our ransomed souls at last
Where they need no star to guide,
Where no clouds Thy glory hide.

In the heavenly country bright,
Need they no created light;
Thou its Light, its Joy, its Crown,
Thou its Sun which goes not down;
There forever may we sing
Alleluias to our King!

while i am totally loving all the songs on Dave Barnes new Christmas album, this one is my favorite. Ok, its in the top three since i can never have just one favorite...other two coming...enjoy!

another favorite...

last but not least....

Checklist for a lovely pre-christmas night:

• Dave Barnes Christmas album blaring with favorites on repeat: check!
• Cookies made and being eaten by the handful: check!
• 27 different craft projects going on...at once: check!
• Hot Cocoa steaming hot: check!
• A/C cranked down: .....grrrr.....c.h.e.c.k.
• Wonderful siblings walking around singing 6 different songs: check!
• Feeling soo blessed: CHECK!

there are five days left till christmas and for some ridiculous reason, it was 72* today! i could have worn shorts! it should be cold and white! ugh...someday i want a white christmas. of course, knowing texas like i do, it very well could produce a blizzard on christmas and a hurricane on new years....

life is much too short to not stop and smile at the little things.
slow down.
wait up.
walk.
laugh.
create.
praise.
cry.
play.
sing.
read.
pray.

enjoy every breathe He gives you. life is much too short to not.

random musings..

prayer and study of His Word. i don't know why i forget to feed my spirit with the nourishment that comes in those forms, but i do. i don't know how i can forget the peace and clarity that fills my soul even when life is so confusing and messy, but i do. thank you God for constant reminders. in little moments that i see You, in the words of a Christmas song, in a sunny day, in the messy smile of a child, in the beautiful poetry of Psalms, in the tears that come with change and growth. Lord, thank you for running after my heart.

my heart longs to be lost in You forever.

Glorious Day

We sang this song in Church today and I just love the powerful story it tells. I am so blessed to have such a Savior and so undeserving to be loved by such a man as He. I praise Him for his goodness and cannot wait for His return. I pray that I will be found faithfully waiting, with great anticipation on that Glorious Day!

One day when Heaven was filled with His praises
One day when sin was as black as could be
Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin
Dwelt among men, my example is He
Word became flesh and the light shined among us
His glory revealed

Living, He loved me
Dying, He saved me
Buried, He carried my sins far away
Rising, He justified freely forever
One day He’s coming
Oh glorious day, oh glorious day

One day they led Him up Calvary’s mountain
One day they nailed Him to die on a tree
Suffering anguish, despised and rejected
Bearing our sins, my Redeemer is He
Hands that healed nations, stretched out on a tree
And took the nails for me

One day the grave could conceal Him no longer
One day the stone rolled away from the door
Then He arose, over death He had conquered
Now He’s ascended, my Lord evermore
Death could not hold Him, the grave could not keep Him
From rising again

One day the trumpet will sound for His coming
One day the skies with His glories will shine
Wonderful day, my Beloved One, bringing
My Savior, Jesus, is mine

A Woman's Question
Before I trust my fate to thee,
Or place my hand in thine;
Before I let thy future give
Color and form to mine;
Before I peril all for thee,
Question thy soul to-night for me.

I break all slighter bonds, nor feel
A shadow of regret;
Is there one link within the past
That holds thy spirit yet?
Or is thy faith as clear and free
As that which I can pledge to thee?

Does there within thy dimmest dreams
A possible future shine,
Wherein thy life could henceforth breathe,
Untouched, unshared by mine?
If so, at any pain or cost,
Oh, tell me before all is lost.

Look deeper still. If thou canst feel
Within thy inmost soul
That thou hast kept a portion back,
While I have staked the whole,
Let no false pity spare the blow,
But in true mercy tell me so.

Is there within thy heart a need
That mine cannot fulfill?
One chord that any other hand
Could better wake or still?
Speak now—lest at some future day
My whole life wither and decay.

Lives there within thy nature bid
The demon-spirit Change,
Shedding a passing glory still
On all things new and strange?—
It may not be thy fault alone—
But shield my heart against thine own.

Couldst thou withdraw thy hand one day
And answer to my claim
That Fate, and that today’s mistake—
Not thou—had been to blame?
Some soothe their conscience thus; but thou
Wilt surely warn and save me now.

~by "Miss Procter"

a beautiful poem by a sweet friend.

 Hannah had such a beautiful way of saying some of the very same thoughts that go through my mind and i just had to share. 


Poem of a Hopeful Romantic
Before my pen aside I lay
I’ll put it to this page to say
I hope and pray for you each day
That God may guide your steps my way

Oh how I long for you to know
That I already love you so
I cannot wait till it may show
That day, Dear, when you’ll feel its flow

I’ll keep it, Darling, just for you
This love so strong and ever true
I hope the days till then are few
When we’ll be one, no longer two

But if the waiting days be years
I ask you pray for me, my dear
That in the waiting I’ll not fear
But trust in God above will cheer

Farewell for now, my future knight
Though yearning soon to see your sight
May you and I to God cling tight
As dreams of “someday” bring delight 
-Hannah M. 

Do you know you have asked for the costliest thing
Ever made by the Hand above?
A woman's heart, and a woman's life---
And a woman's wonderful love.

Do you know you have asked for this priceless thing
As a child might ask for a toy?
Demanding what others have died to win,
With a reckless dash of boy.

You have written my lesson of duty out,
Manlike, you have questioned me.
Now stand at the bars of my woman's soul
Until I shall question thee.

You require your mutton shall always be hot,
Your socks and your shirt be whole;
I require your heart be true as God's stars
And as pure as His heaven your soul.

You require a cook for your mutton and beef,
I require a far greater thing;
A seamstress you're wanting for socks and shirts---
I look for a man and a king.

A king for the beautiful realm called Home,
And a man that his Maker, God,
Shall look upon as He did on the first
And say: "It is very good."

I am fair and young, but the rose may fade
From this soft young cheek one day;
Will you love me then 'mid the falling leaves,
As you did 'mong the blossoms of May?

Is your heart an ocean so strong and true,
I may launch my all on its tide?
A loving woman finds heaven or hell
On the day she is made a bride.

I require all things that are grand and true,
All things that a man should be;
If you give this all, I would stake my life
To be all you demand of me.

If you cannot be this, a laundress and cook
You can hire and little to pay;
But a woman's heart and a woman's life
Are not to be won that way.
-Lana Lathrop

i wanted to blog tonight, and then decided i didn't feel like it. then i started typing this and well, this is blogging. how crazy is that? hehehe. life has been a little hectic the last few days, and week. prayers would be greatly appreciated.

you know that feeling of remembering first thing in the morning the list of ideas you have thought about while you were sleeping? and then by the time you get up and brush your teeth you forget everything? yeah, well that's what happened to my blog post ideas..

this is my 100th post. can you believe it? i can't...i just wish i would have put more here...there are so many stories yet to tell.

well, goodnight world...sleep well.

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas...

bright and early tomorrow morning, we are heading for Galveston Island for Dickens on the Strand! i adore going, the sights and people, and singing, and oh! It just feels like Christmas. 

From the Dickens website: Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Be it decreed that all lords, ladies and children shall come and celebrate the 37th Annual Dickens on The Strand, a holiday festival, where bobbies, Beefeaters and the Queen herself will be on hand to recreate the Victorian London of Charles Dickens. Characters from Dickens novels walk the street. Food and entertainment fill the area with sights and smells that take you back to another era.

be on the lookout for some wonderful pictures! my whole family is dressing up and going. (with the exception of dad. poor pop)

lip job

i have a huge fever blister on my top lip....

"its makes you look like you got a really bad lip job" -Sky

thanks sis...

what can i say? once an army brat, always an army brat.

"Somewhere out there, there is a man just waiting to get fat" - My dad on the topic of my cooking and being single...Thanks poppa..:-D