Christmas Past...

I remember the first Christmas Hubs and I were married.  We got married in October so we were still very much in the getting use to each other stage in December.  I had been saving money so that I could buy my love special Christmas tokens.   I put the weight of showing love in areas it shouldn't be, and I felt that spending money and buying things was the key to showing my love. 

I had the excitement of a six year old as I wondered what my new husband would buy me.  In my naiveté I somehow thought all newly married brides could count how much their husbands loved them by the gift(s) he gave.  Of course you know how much fallacy is in that kind of thinking.  I now know different and to look back all those years ago makes me shudder at my behavior. 

Christmas approached closer and closer.  Still, I didn't see any presents appear for me under our tree.  My heart got heavy....  Did he not love me?  If he loved me he would certainly be putting a lot of thought and time into picking out a gift for me, right?  Didn't all new brides get earrings, bracelets, necklaces????  Well, didn't they?  So, I waited.  I cried to my mom...  Her wisdom told me to not worry and to trust my husband. 

On Christmas morning I awoke, like a small child, and wondered if "Santa" had brought me anything.  Surely during the night Hubs had hidden a gift.  He smilingly seen my search and remarked, "maybe you should check the stockings." I did.  It was nearly empty, but when tipped upside down two watches fell out into my lap.  Now, you might be thinking I should have been ecstatic...  I wasn't.  I was in tears.  My husband's face fell.  Right before my eyes his face crumbled with he sound of my sobs. 

The watches he gave me were his mothers.  He quietly explained to me that he had saved them to give to me.  He tried to hold me as he told me how he had new batteries put in at the jewelry store, had them cleaned, and lovingly thought of me wearing them.  He thought I would be pleased.  I wasn't.  I felt cheated.  I was stupid and juvenile.

I ruined our first Christmas together by putting the weight of our love for each other on things.  I was already feeling like I was living in the shadow of my MIL.  Hubs giving me her jewelry was the straw that broke the camels back.  But it was also the straw that brought about both of us making some changes and understanding even more about each other.

Looking back, I wonder how I could have been so idiotic and immature.  You can't gage the love someone has for you by what they will buy or give you. 

The ultimate gift has already been given to each of us, all we have to do is open it and have belief, faith, repentance, and then take on the covering of Christ through baptism.  All other gifts are just things that have no real meaning.  Most of the gifts we will receive under the tree this year will be forgotten, lost, or broken before next Christmas, but the gift God gave is everlasting throughout all the ages. 

Yes, all those years ago I didn't understand the gift God had given me.  I didn't understand that things amount to very little in this life.  What really matters has no price tag.  I understand it now.  The older I get the more I realize that the things I really want and need can't be bought.  

Merry Christmas!

Happy Thankgiving!

May you and yours be blessed this Thanksgiving. We are thankful for each of you.  I am also thankful for the family God has blessed me with, our home, and our health.  God has certainly blessed us through this year of change.

 

 

Giving Thanks

For the hay and the corn and the wheat that is reaped,

For the labor well done, and the barns that are heaped,

For the sun and the dew and the sweet honeycomb,

For the rose and the song and the harvest brought home --

Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving!

For the trade and the skill and the wealth in our land,

For the cunning and strength of the workingman's hand,
For the good that our artists and poets have taught,
For the friendship that hope and affection have brought --
Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving!


For the homes that with purest affection are blest,
For the season of plenty and well-deserved rest,
For our country extending from sea unto sea;
The land that is known as the "Land of the Free" --
Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving!

(Author Unknown)

 

 

 

 

Pumpkins Galore

Today I want to share a craft I first seen on a friend's Facebook page for her blog.  She is another Homeschool Mom of four kiddos.  You can see her Facebook page here...  I changed it just a bit from what she did, but only because I wanted to use what we had on hand.

HALLOWEEN PUMPKINS GALORE

 

You will need construction paper (we used black), drawing paper, a black crayon, chalk pastels, glue stick, scissors, tape, and a piece of tissue paper. 

 

Step 1:  On your drawing paper draw a pumpkin with your black crayon.  You are just doing the outlining, not coloring of the pumpkin. I added leaves to mine, but Bear left them off of her pumpkin. 

 

Step 2:  This is where the creative juices can really flow.  I let Bear use a whole rainbow of colors.  Smudging occasionally as we went along.  My pumpkin ended up blended more so than Bears.  But they both looked just fine!

 

Step 3 & 4:  Next you carefully cut out your pumpkin.  When you have done that you can then glue your brightly colored squash onto your colored construction paper (we used black) with your glue sticks, not too much glue now, just enough to make it stick.  This is when I also glued the leaves onto my project as well. 

 

Feel free, after you have done this, to decorate the background a bit with chalks as well (as seen in step 5).

 

 

And here you have the completed project.  Use the tape to place it on a window in your home. 

 

 

 

What kinds of fun things do you do in October for crafts?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Birthday America!

On this day we celebrate our nations claim to independence. It was the day that an idea born in the hearts of men, took wings and was given flight.

This, then, is the state of the union:  free and restless, growing and full of hope.  So it was in the beginning.  So it shall always be, while God is willing, and we are strong enough to keep the faith. ~Lyndon B. Johnson

I found this time line of American Independence here.

1774

Sept 5-Oct 26 1774: First Continental Congress meets in Philadelphia.  There were 56 delegates representing each colony except Georgia.

1775

Feb 1:  In Cambridge, MA John Hancock and Joseph Warren begin to prepare for war. 

Feb. 9:  English Parliament declares MA in a state of rebellion.

March 23:  Patrick Henry delivers his famous speech where he states, "Give me liberty or give me death."  "It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, “Peace! Peace!”—but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!"
March 30:  King George again oversteps and the New England Restraining Act is born. 

April:  MA appointed Kings Governor Gage is ordered to suppress open rebellion by colonist using whatever force was necessary. 

April 18:  Gage orders 700 British soldiers to Concord to destroy any weapons the colonist may have in a depot there.  This is the night of the now famous midnight ride of Paul Revere and William Dawes. 

Dawn April 19:  About 70 armed MA militiamen stand on the village green and thus begins the revolutionary war with the "shot heard around the world" and so it was...

April 23:  Provincial Congress in MA orders almost 14,000 American troops mobilized.

May 10:  Fort Ticonderoga in New York captured for the colonist.  On this day the second continental Congress also convenes, John Hancock was elected president. 

May 15:  Congress places the colonies in a state of defense.

June 15:  George Washington appointed general and commander-in-chief of the newly formed Continental Army.

June 17:  The Battle of Bunker Hill.

June 5:  Congress adopts the Olive Branch Petition.  This was later refused by King George III. 

July 6:  Continental Congress issues a declaration on the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms and states the Americans are "resolved to die free men rather than live as slaves."

1776

Jan. 5:  New Hampshire state Assembly adopts the first American state constitution.

March 4-17:  British evacuate Boston and sail for Halifax.  Washington goes to New York. 

May 2:  King Louis XVI of France offers support in the tune of 1 million dollars.  Spain steps in as well. 

June 7:  Richard Henry Lee of VA presents a formal resolution calling for America to declare her independence. 

June 11: Congress appoints a committee to draft a declaration.  The drafters are Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Livingston, and Roger Sherman. 

July 4:Congress formally endorses the declaration. Actual signing occurred on August 2.

And so it goes.....  you can read about the many battles and hardships faced from this moment forward as men and women (of all colors) fought for independence.  A dream borne by men enslaved by a tyrannical government gave birth to a nation.  In our hearts that same blood flows.  While we may celebrate with hot dogs, apple pie, and homemade ice-cream today, we also remember all those that had a dream long ago and what that dream meant and still means today. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA