A Great Day!

Today was the last day of our fall Bible study ~ and it was a wonderful one! The ladies all contributed to a grand brunch...we had fun laughing together...we watched an awesome Beth Moore video...and we had a very close personal time of sharing in small group. WOW!

This all started one day at the park when I asked my friend Tiffiny to lead a study with me. She said "yes" and before we knew it we had 50 women signed up for our study. It was such a wonderful experience that we have committed to facilitating another study in January. The new Beth Moore study on the Psalms. And the icing on the cake is that 36 of the ladies have already signed up to do it again. Yeah!!!

I feel different today. Like at the end of this study I have realized some of the work God has been doing in my life. I feel more patient. Unhurried. I feel cheerful and hopeful. I feel loved and in love. I feel excited yet calm. I feel God's favor ~ and that my friends is a glorious feeling.

Jesus' Birthday

We decorated for Christmas last weekend and Emma has said every day since "I'm so thankful for Jesus' birthday!"

Here she is picking the first Christmas CD of the season.


Every year I take a picture of Tim and Emma laying under the tree. This is their special tradition and they usually read Christmas books.



Here they are decorating Emma's little trees. She has this advent book filled with tiny ornament books. You read one each day of December and it takes you through the Biblical account of the Christmas story. Each night after we read a book, she hangs the book ornament on one of her little trees. This is a really fun and special tradition that we started when she was one. Don't ask where I got the advent book. It is out of print. I searched high and low to find one and finally scored a used one (with a hefty price) on Amazon.com. It was well worth it though.



I am happy to say that I have all my Christmas shopping done! Now I can focus on special Christmas projects with Emma. Most of them come from my all time favorite Christmas book The ADVENTure of Christmas. If you don't have it, it's a must buy! It guides you through teaching your kids about Christ in every Christmas tradition from Santa Clause to lights on the tree to sending Christmas cards. I've bought it for more friends than I can count.

*Click on the "shopping" link when you go to the website for the book.*

Turkey left overs

We had a fun Thanksgiving day with my in-laws and lots of extended family. Emma drug out all kinds of stuff right in the middle of kitchen.


Halee and I were helping Liam do a puzzle but he got bored so we finished it up.

This is Tim's Grandma Byerly. I love getting multiple-generation pictures.

I always take family pics at holiday gatherings because it's fun to look back and see how everyone has changed.

Emma talked her two boy cousins into playing Barbies with her.

The next day we drove an hour to my parent's house for Thanksgiving dinner with my family. My brother Tomy was home from college and the girls had so much fun with him.





We did set up our Christmas tree and get all the decorations out this weekend, but that will be for tomorrow's post.

A wish for you

Because I know the next couple of days will be hectic and I don't know how much computer time I will get, I am passing this holiday wish on early.

For all my bloggity friends ~ Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you find more things to be grateful for than you can imagine.

Here are my top 10:
1. My God ~ who made beauty from ashes out of my life
2. Tim ~ a godly husband who makes me want to be the best wife I can be
3. Emma ~ a healthy little girl who makes me laugh every single day
4. My neighborhood ~ a daily reminder of God's beautiful creation and His blessing on my life
5. Old friends (like Diane) ~ who always have a listening ear and pray for me often
6. New friends (like Tiffiny) ~ who are ready for new adventures and share laughs with me
7. Being a stay-at-home mom ~ what a blessing to raise my daughter and teach her about Jesus every day
8. My family ~ we have so much fun together and I can't wait to play games with on Thanksgiving
9. Hot showers ~ my favorite place to rejuvenate and pray
10. Stamping ~ brings joy to my heart and allows me to use my creativity and hospitality

A Dream Come True

At the beginning of this year we did something that was a dream come true for us ~ and we are now sharing our excitement with family and friends. We bought some lake front property at our favorite Colorado lake: Blue Mesa! One day we hope to build a cabin on it, but for now it's enough to know we own this beautiful piece of land with an amazing view.





Can't you just feel God's power by looking at these pictures of His beautiful Creation?!

The reason I created this post is because I was needing to be reminded of God's great love and that He does care about our dreams and He does answer prayers. I hope you take the same reminder to heart today...God delights in blessing us with dreams come true!

Miss me????

We got back late last night from our Texas road trip. And, yes, we had a great time! It started Friday night with my cousin's football game. It was their last regular season game to see who would go to the play offs. They led most of the game, but things went horribly wrong and they were down by 14 points with 2 minutes left. We thought the game was over and their hopes of a play off season gone. BUT....they made an incredible comeback and won the game by one point! It was SO exciting! It's my cousin's senior year so that made it even better.

The next day I spent time with my Grandma Hall who is in a nursing home, and then we all enjoyed a wonderful 60th anniversary party for my other grandparents. Here are some pics from the day.

Grandma & Grandpa Cummins ~ 60 years of wedded bliss!

All the grandkids that were able to be there.

The kids, grandkids and great grandkids with Grandma and Grandpa.

Me & Grandma Hall.

One of my cousins made this family tree quilt. It has all the names of the kids, grandkids and great grandkids. She did an awesome job!

Our block is on the upper right.

The next day we went to church where my Grandpa was honored for being a veteran. Then we headed to my aunt & uncle's house for a BBQ.

Four generations ~ me, Emma, my mom and my grandma.

Emma, my nieces Kalie and Samantha and baby Jacey (my cousin's little girl).

My aunt and cousin from Chicago with my grandma.

Sadly we had to say goodbye and head back to CO after lunch. Even though it was short, it was lots of fun and worth every minute in the car.

Favorite Children's Books

My friend Brooke asked her blog readers to post their favorite children's books, so here are mine.

Emma is very into princesses and we talk a lot about what it means to be a "princess of the True King." So our favorite books involve princesses. I love the Christian ones that address this theme.

We have two current favorites: The Princess and the Kiss and A Parable About the King.



The first is about purity and how God gives us a special gift when we are born ~ our first kiss. This is a wonderful book about keeping ourselves pure. We've had many wonderful conversations after reading this one. The second one is about how we are loved by the King and cannot do anything to make Him stop loving us. It also deals with obedience. Another great book that spurs wonderful dialogue. This book is by Beth Moore (love her!) and it has been renamed My Child, My Princess.

Because Emma and I love these books so much, I have bought her several more princess books for Christmas. I cannot give a review of them since I have not read them in their entirity, but I researched the authors and know they are solid Christians with solid Biblical teaching. I know these will be just as good.

~ God's Wisdom for Little Girls


~ A Little Girl After God's Own Heart



~ I'd Be Your Princess


~ The True Princess

For those moms of little boys, I've noticed there are little boy versions for many of these books. Please comment if you know of other good "princess" books or other Christian children's books with good Biblical teaching. And I'd love to read about your favorite children's books, so let me know if you create a book post.

Mt. Princeton

Of course we had an awesome weekend! We swam everyday in the hot springs, hiked to a waterfall, fished (and caught some!), visited Frontier Ranch (a Young Life camp ~ and we ran into some friends), had picnics by the river, and ate some great food at the restaurant.

This was Emma's first fish! She was so excited. I even overheard her say to herself, "I'm so proud!"

The hot springs had two large pools to swim in and then about 20 pools in the river. The one of us standing in the river was one morning when it was about 20 degrees outside but the water in the river pool was about 100 degrees. Very cool!

Here is a photo tour of our weekend.

Fish sticks

We are heading on a fun weekend get away to Mount Princeton Hot Springs. YEAH! We plan to swim in the hot springs, do some fishing, go hiking (we all have new hiking shoes), and just hang out.

I don't know where she got this, but Emma has been talking about fish sticks lately. As far as I know, she's never had them. I don't like fish so I don't buy it. Last night we realized she had a different "fish sticks" in mind. She said, "We will take the toothpicks and put our fish on them and eat our fish sticks!" How cute is that?! I love her innocent mind.

On a side note, my cousin-in-law Halee went to L.A. last weekend for a wedding, and she met lots of famous people! Her friend married the Hollywood producer of the show Bones, so there were lots of stars at her wedding. Including Patrick Dempsey! Granted he was the only one I really knew, but he was also in one of my all-time favorite chick flicks Can't Buy Me Love. I'm not one to be star struck, but I thought it was so cool Halee met and got a picture with Patrick.

*If the above link for Halee's blog doesn't work, try this one. It's a slide show from her trip with the rich and famous.

More Halloween Pictures

Me & Emma at Young Life

My brother-in-law Byrne and his son Samuel. You have to click on this picture to see their costumes up close. They were hilarious. ~ a monkey trainer.

My sister-in-law Bonnie and her new son Ewan ~ the princess and the pea.

Emma and Grandpa playing games.

Emma and her cousin Jesse.


Unfortunately, Tim had to work so he missed all the excitement. But we went to his office and Emma did her cheers for all the doctors and staff. They loved it!