What a WONDERFUL weekend!!!

We had an amazingly fun weekend and we did things that NONE of us had ever done before! That is always exciting! It all started back on Wednesday when we had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner at our church. It was so packed that it was wall to wall people! Jay said that there were over 600 people there...and that was just those with reservations. There were more than that who showed up with guests...like us!

I invited my neighbor Stephanie and her son Antonio to come and they accepted! I had just met her recently because they just moved in about a month ago. It was awesome to have them come to our church and to spend the evening getting to know them both. It was great! And I found these cute little Native America crafts for the girls to do at the table...since I knew we would have guests that night. They sat for an hour and worked so hard on these. They were perfect and understood that this was an outreach event. What amazing gifts these girls are to us!On Thursday, we had a great night with our friends the Longs coming over for dinner with their kiddos Thursday night. We made our own gourmet pizzas...which we love to do with friends who have kids. It was super yummy and fun too! I love to do things that involve the kids when they come over.

They we made our favorite fall dessert! We rolled out dough and used fall cookie cutters to make little pockets for our yummy chocolate. It was super fun and anything full of chocolate is a winner at our house. Then, the kids made a leaf for our Tree of Thanks. It was so sweet to read the things that they wrote and it was special not only to have the things we are thankful for...but those around us too!

Then, we had a weekend FULL of surprises for the girls! My friend Cacee called me this week to chat and she was on her was on her way to take her son Asher to ride the Pink Pig. I had heard of that...but never knew exactly what it was. Well, she explained that it was an Atlanta tradition that started in the 1950's at the Lennox Rich's (now Macy's) store. I got off the phone and looked it up on the internet...and knew that we had to go! I am such a sucker for a tradition...and we have lived in the Atlanta area for 7 years now and hadn't ever ridden the Ping Pig!

So, Friday morning we headed to Lennox Mall and rode the Pink Pig! It was so cute and the girls LOVED it! It wasn't crowded, but very cold! We all got our pink on (except Jay...he doesn't own much pink) and enjoyed our ride on the Pink Pig!

It was in a HUGE tent on the top floor of the Macy's parking deck. Talk about lots of PINK! Virginia was in heaven! Priscilla is the name of the pig...and the ride is a train that goes through a huge storybook, a little pink tunnel, and is super cute!

We were first in line, so we got to ride in the very front...which thrilled the girls.

As we got off the ride, we got huge "I rode the Pink Pig" stickers. You can see the array of pink pig gifts too. Luckily, neither girls were interested in any of them...whew! It was such a fun thing to have done...and it is a MUST if you live in Atlanta. Don't expect it to be more than a fun way to celebrate an Atlanta tradition. The train used to be hung from the ceiling and go around the toy store. Thankfully, now it is just a short little ride!

Then, we headed into the mall to enjoy shopping and eating lunch. It was decorated for Christmas and we just enjoyed walking around. I don't do my Christmas shopping in mall...just online...so I could enjoy just walking around!

That night, we cooked our own Thanksgiving meal and it was super yummy! We do Thanksgiving with just our family of 4 every year before celebrating with the rest of our families. Jay loves my dressing and I want the girls to remember our own tradition too. I love being with our extended family, but it's really important to Jay and I to have our own with just the 4 of us too. So, we had a very special night full of good food and sweet time of prayer and thankfulness to our Heavenly Father for all things in our lives.

Then, on Saturday we really got crazy! Both of our girls wanted a Cabbage Patch Kid for Christmas and I was thrilled because I can remember getting my first Cabbage Patch at Anli's age for Christmas. So, since we have never done the Santa thing at our house we decided to make it a fun trip to Babyland to actually get the dolls there...where they are BORN!

I had never been to this place, but it looked like such a blast that Jay and I were convinced this was the way to go! We loaded up and didn't let the girls know what we were doing...they just knew it was part of their Christmas...just a little early! When they saw the sign with the HUGE Cabbage Patch Kid on the way there they were hysterical with joy. OK, this place is amazing! It was really cute and I have never seen so many different babies in my life (they don't let you call them dolls!). They are in the process of building this amazingly gorgeous hospital opening in 2009 around March. We will have to visit then too. It was just so cute!We were able to witness 2 cabbage patch births...and I tell you it was precious. We got to see twins and then a little girl. There are not enough words to tell you how fun this was for all of us! The admission is free, but we were there to adopt our own little ones. Both girls found newborns that were so cute. I'll post their pictures tomorrow! The girls have been enjoying them nonstop. They were just thrilled to have their very own original Cabbage Patch newborn that they adopted at the Babyland Hospital.The girls under that Cabbage Patch tree where all the babies are born. It was also the Appalacian Christmas day, so there were lots of fun things to see and do. It was pretty cold, so we only stayed a little while. But, long enough...long enough to pet some really cute bunnies! I thought we might have to come home with one of these too. But, the new babies diverted them...for a while anyway!My cute kids!Cleveland where Babyland is located is only about 11 miles from Helen, GA. Jay had never been there before, so we decided to stop off and enjoy the afternoon there. It was decorated for Christmas, so it was really nice to walk around.Jay got to eat Bratwurst which thrilled him. The girls got to enjoy some street music and get some yummy candy from the homemade candy shop. We all got some amazing chocolate treats. Jay got a chocolate covered Ritz cracker...it's really good! I got a dark chocolate raspberry truffle...mmmmThe girls loved the HUGE carriage horses. They are so pretty! You can see Anli's baby Carlos in her arms. He hasn't left her arms except for church today. We had more fun tonight...but that's enough posting for now. It has been a wonderful weekend and we are so thankful to God for a family that loves to be together nonstop. We are so blessed in so many ways. We have been thanking God all month for each thing He has given each of us.

American Girls...

Last night the girls and I headed over to our local library for the long awaited American Girl Doll Tea Party! I registered for this event at the beginning of the month...the very day it allowed you to register because I knew it would be filled quickly. From that point on, the girls have literally counted down the days until we went. I went in that morning to get them up, and they were both up and getting their dolls ready for the tea party.

This tea party was actually showcasing Anli's doll Felicity. It was all about her and that time period. I think they will be doing teas for the other dolls also. But, no matter what doll the girls had...it was a great night. The girls both got their dolls from their Grammy 3 years ago and they have truly loved them. Thanks Grammy! We ate quick dinner with Jay and then headed over to the library early because they had a waiting list and if you were not there on time they would give your spot to another girl...no way! We were there early and this is what we found...

There were girls everywhere! It was packed and it was so neat to see all the dolls and their clothes. It was just the sweetest thing ever! The girls were talking and sharing about their dolls. So precious!

They opened the doors...and I had no idea what to imagine. It was absolutely gorgeous! The tables had real white table cloths, centerpieces, chairs for the girls AND their dolls. There was music playing, decorations all over the room, dimmed lights, and ladies dressed in period clothing. My jaw dropped at how beautiful this room was and how much time these ladies had put into making a magical night for our girls. It was priceless...and did I mention FREE?

The girls had met a few friends in the lobby, so they all sat together and seemed to get along just great. Here you can see the harvest centerpiece with candles burning.

The girls sat at the same table and had two other cute friends along with them. To the right you can just see on of the librarians dressed up in period clothing. It was amazing!

They had decorated the entire room with American Girl Doll accessories, dolls, tea sets, quilts, and more.

Each girl was greeted with this precious little card and tea set. They enjoyed yummy spiced tea along with gingerbread muffins and grapes. They tried to keep everything accurate to the time period.

Here is just one side of the room. Aren't they just precious? They were all dressed up so pretty and feeling very grown up. After seeing all the clothing out for girls now...it was so sweet to see them in pretty dresses...enjoying dolls. Isn't that what 8 year olds should be doing?

After the moms had taken all the pictures they wanted, the ladies kindly asked up to leave so that the girls could have their own party. So, I went into the library and worked on some writing and cards for my Life group. Jay had a meeting so he wasn't able to come.

An hour later the girls emerged beaming! They had a blast and even got to make rag dolls. They told me that in Felicity's day, they went to church for 10 hours on Sundays...so they would make these rag dolls to play with during the service. So, they each made one and have loved playing with them today.

What a wonderful night. These ladies (and a few others) really went above and beyond to make a special night for these girls. I am so grateful for the library for offering a free evening that honored history and girls. It was an amazing time! We hope there are more!!!

Leaves of Thanks...Bingo!

We have really been looking forward to Thanksgiving and enjoying doing some very fun and thankful activities. Yesterday, we enjoyed a game of Thanksgiving Bingo! I found a wonderful website where you can make your own Bingo sets and we had about 10 games yesterday. BINGO!
Here's a sample of our Bingo card. It had the Mayflower, some Pilgrims, yummy foods, etc. It was so fun to play...and each of us took turns calling. We all got Bingo too! The only problem was that EVERY time I wanted to call out a pilgrim...I would say penguin! We got so tickled we couldn't stop laughing. I wouldn't do it on purpose, but I would say "does anyone have a penguin with a turkey?" And then we would break out laughing. I didn't mean to...but it was funny.

We found some leaf markers and had a wonderful time together!

This year, we are doing a Tree of Thanks to focus the Thanksgiving season on thanking God for all the blessings He has given to each of us. So, every night during our family devotion time we have each cut out a leaf (I found the patterns online...they even come in colors) that we like and write something we are thankful to God for this year.

It has been such a precious thing to hear the girls talk about what they are thankful for in their lives. Here you see one of Virginia's leaves:

Don't you love Daddy's puffy sleeves? It is adorable! I love the way she spells momey...I wouldn't change it for the world!

Here is one of Anli's leaves. It's amazing how the have both been so thankful for our family. We are very close as a family and I am so grateful both of our girls are thankful for that. (Pay no attention to the dust on my fake tree...)
After we spend time reading Bible verses and praying through the Prayer Points by the International Mission Board for missionaries around the world, we turn our time to making these leaves..one each night. Then, the girls hang them on our little ficus tree! Anli even got a chair here to get to the very top!
I pray that you are taking special time to thank God for all He has done and who He is! I also pray that you will begin to redeem moments with your kids to focus your entire family on God's Word and prayer. There are so many resources out there for family devotions. The dinner table is a great place for us to talk, read scripture, pray, and sing hymns together.

My friend Ginger has some great ideas about what her family does for worship time together. We recently added Hymns to our time of family worship. Our girls LOVE it! We are learning "We Gather Together" and I simply print out the words and I had the song on instrumental music on my ipod already. But, there are lots of places where you can get the words and music (http://www.cyberhymnal.org/).

I am going to be looking for a book that shares the stories behind favorite hymns as we learn them. I LOVE contemporary praise music, but I don't want my children to forget the words and lives of those who have gone before us in praising God! I want their stories of faith to impact my children. Family worship is critical! It's the time to really connect spiritually with our family and focus on God. I love these times...and I love adding new things every now and again to make them extra special!

Have a great week...and enter His gates each day with thanksgiving in your heart and His courts with praise!

Awesome Anli!

Being a homeschool mom means that I get the amazing honor of seeing the growth and daily progress of both my girls. I have been homeschooling them for 3 years and truly count it an gift. Is it easy? Not all the time! Anli has a very severe form of dyslexia. She struggled daily for 2 years in the school system (though we had an awesome school with fabulous teachers). It was a steady decline and we were "loosing her" interest in learning all together.

When we stepped out of the school system to homeschool Janet, who had been our tutor for over a year, worked with us diligently for a year to get her up to grade level...as she was a certified Orton Gillingham tutor (for dyslexics). We are also blessed to have found a nearly perfect private school out of Pennsylvania that we attend via Internet. It offers DVDs for each subject, games for each subject, and audio text talk options for words they can't understand. It is completely suited and geared for children with different learning styles.

Why am I sharing all this? Well, I wanted to celebrate some AWESOME progress on Anli's part this year. She works twice as hard and long as most students. She never can cram for a test...it's a slow journey of learning. She never complains...and is the most diligent worker I have ever seen. But, it's always hard for her. But, this year a "light" has truly switched on as far as writing is concerned. Dyslexics are many times known by there terrible handwriting...but not this year for Anli. Check it out!!

This was some of her work at the end of last year:

This was her spelling test today! Not only is the writing gorgeous...EVERY word was spelled correctly the FIRST time! Do you notice one word is Native American...wow! It was a challenge word and she got it right! They even bring in review words from last week's spelling list...and yep, she got those too. I am bursting with joy!We are working on cursive this years...and just look at the beautiful work. She loves cursive and is doing AMAZING work.

Dyslexia has changed my life...for good. No, I'm not dyslexic...but homeschooling a child with learning differences changes you in a powerful way. In our home success in school is not about a numerical grade...it's about progress, effort, diligence, and fun! It's about learning...not cramming like I did all through school. It has changed my philosophy on education...and I didn't even know I had one!

Learning is something that spans a lifetime...not a grade. School is simply another way for us to bring glory to God. Learning differences are a gift! They slow you down and make you look at your reasons for learning and redefines the word "success." It shifts the focus from letters and numbers...to finding joy in God through learning about all the things He has created!

Anli and I spend most of our time googling pictures of "compound eyes" on dragonflies...to see just how those crazy things work(did that today...and I learned so much!). We use our hands to mold volcanoes, do fun projects, and make the words on that page come alive! Because on the page...those words are just a mess in her mind:)

I thank God for dyslexia. I thank Him that it makes life more interesting at our home. It makes us take another look at life. It makes us kneel moment by moment at the Throne of the Father who created us.

I thank Him today for Anli being able to show me just a glimpse of what is in that beautiful mind of hers on paper...what a gift!

Central Asia Summit

On Thursday and Friday of this week, some friends and I headed to the Central Asia Summit offerend at Eastside Baptist Church. It was AWESOME! We had an amazing time of learning, interacting, sharing...and more learning! We each were challenged in many ways and encouraged to continue to reach out to those around us with the love of Christ.

This was a representation of a mosque. It has lots of facts about Islam. It was very informative. We had the opportunity to go to a session by an Iranian man who was a Muslim. He is not a believer and he came to share his story and all about Islam. It was great to hear from someone who was raised in that religion and who still ministers to those in Central Asia. It was a powerful time.They had several "snapshots"of Central Asia all over the buildingwhere we could learn all about life in the countires found there. This is a yurt and I decided that I could SO live in a yurt! I could so dig the nomadic lifestyle.This was a room that impacted me the most. We entered this room and there were walls filled with black squares. On those squares where people groups all over Central Asia. They told the population and the number of believers. Most of the had populations of around 1 million with 0 believers. It made me cry as I walked to each square and prayed over them.

This was in the center of the room. It symbolized the thousands of people...with only one light glowing. The rest of the candles are waiting to be lit. It was a powerful symbol to me. That night Paula, Rhonda and I went to a Muslim tea. It was for all the women to attend and it allowed us to learn about Muslim women and how we can love them. We each got to have a scarf to cover our heads as we entered. We took off our shoes and found a table (on the floor) where we sat and met with a woman who lives in Central Asia. Our hostess ministered to the Afghan people. She shared tea and life with us.

This was an amazing event and I can't wait to have one of my own very soon! I love tea and it reminded me that as I share tea...I can share LIFE with ladies. I am praying that God will show me those in my apartment complex and neighborhood and community that I can share LIFE!

It was a great Summit and I am challenged again to reach out daily with the love of Christ. Right now I am memorizing and trying to apply Mark 10:43-45:

"If any among you would be first, (s)he must be a servant. If any among you would be great, she must be a slave to all. For the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and give His life as a ransom for many."

For the past 2 weeks, I have asked God to make this true in my life EVERY day. Moment by moment He is putting this question in my mind:

"How can I serve ____ today?"

This is asked about my husband, my children, my family, my church, my friends, and those I come into contact with each day. It is a HUGE challenge! I am finding how much I desire to be served each day. But, God's Word is refining that part of my life day by day. I have been on that verse for 2 weeks and I am still working on making it an active part of my life. I love the Word of God!!!

Thanks Shannon, Paula, and Rhonda for sharing this awesome weekend! It wouldn't have been the same without you guys. What a blessing you are to me!

Surprising family night!

On Tuesday, I had been at the Georgia Baptist Convention Luncheon all day and didn't get home until around 4:30pm. It was our family night and I hadn't made a big meal as I usually do...and I didn't have any ideas as to what we would be doing that night for family night.

Now, you may know by now that we are very diligent and absolutely look forward to family nights all week, so I was a little panicked not having a plan. I was thinking that I would have been home around 2:30 and would have plenty of time to cook and plan. Well, I was out of ideas and time!

So, we decided to pack up in the car and head to Chick-fil-A for dinner at the Dwarf House side where we could sit down and enjoy a meal together. And then, we would discuss there what we would do for family night. Well, my Heavenly Father had already planned our very special family night for us!

We walked in the door and saw that it was FAMILY NIGHT!!! That meant the kids ate for FREE...and Lowe's had set up a kids building craft on one whole side of the restaurant! I just smiled at how God loves family night too...and wanted to show us that He is the ultimate Father!After eating our meal (quickly I might add) we went over and look at all the projects they could build. There were lots of choices so it took us a little while to find just the right thing! Anli picked a goofy golf windmill and golf club. Virginia picked a race car hauler truck. Since we are making our present this year for family and friends instead of buying them...she knew Julian her cousin would love that! Isn't she thoughtful and creative!They got their very own apron, goggles and project to wear there...and take home! The girls were thrilled to take it all home with us! We found an empty booth and began to hammer away on our projects. We have never done one of these things before and the girls loved getting to hammer nails, sandpaper rough edges and build their very own things. Here Anli shows offer her completed goofy golf fun package! It took us about 30-45 minutes to complete these and get them just the way we wanted. It was sooo much fun!

Here is Virginia with her race car hauler...the little race car in inside the truck!

They both received a certificate of completion and a patch for their aprons. They gave us a schedule for all the upcoming events at Lowe's where they can earn more patches too! We have them on our calendar because this was so much fun! Girls like to build things too. Today we are working on painting them and adding special touches...well, we are still girls and can't miss a chance to decorate something:)

And it was FREE! It just showed me that God cares about the little things. I know this, but He had planned a family night that we will remember for a long time. When I am weak, He is strong! He constantly amazes me with His kindness. What a blessed family night we had...because it was planned by our Heavenly Father!

Central Asia Summit

Today I am headed with 3 other ladies to the Central Asia Summit. This is going to be a wonderful time of focused time learning about the Muslim influences in that area. We will have the opportunity to meet many people in that region and also attend several Equipping Tracks. We choose 4 tracks that will help us to learn about the roles of women in that region and ways we can become Kingdom Women.

I am thrilled to be going with some wonderful friends and hearing from Paula Hemphill as she and her daughter are a big part of the women's track they are offering. They also have an amazing Muslim Women's Tea experience tonight! This is a way that we can focus our prayers on the Muslim world as we pray for Jesus Christ to become a treasure to them. We ask that the veil of unbelief be lifted from their lives as we focus on ways to interact and share with Muslim women. We want to "Share Tea & Share Life" with them!

Please keep us in your prayers as we attend this summit. We desire that God speaks personally to each of us. We know that God's heart is for the nations and we want to be a part of that heart this weekend...and every day!