At Love's Bidding - Book Review

At Love's Bidding was the first book that I have read by Regina Jennings and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I was pleasantly surprised that it kept me thinking and I wanted to sit down and see what would happen next.  Not all books make me wonder.  I do have to say, though, that at times I was a bit confused by certain things that characters said or did because I didn't think it stuck with that character's personality.  In other words, I would have liked to have seen more character development to bring more cohesiveness to the story.  On the other hand, the story was fast moving and not boring.  I really enjoyed the story line. I will definitely look into more books written by Regina Jennings.

I received a complimentary copy of At Love's Bidding by Regina Jennings from Bethany House Publishers.

The Yellow Box

This box is sitting under our tree this Christmas.  If you know me, I like things to look the way I think they should look.  So, under our tree, I want things to be wrapped nicely in reds, greens and whites with pretty bows.  As you can probably guess, when this appeared, I wanted to move it to the back of the tree under other gifts.  I'm thankful that I didn't, though.  Chris told me he thought it was fun.  Since then, it has served as a reminder that the young heart that put it there with every good intention will not always be in our home.  I'm thankful that they are here, that they want to give good gifts and they put so much time, effort and tape into the project.  Plus, it puts a smile on my face to know that the package is literally wrapped in yellow tape.  It will be fun to see Chris try to get it open...

Ho, Ho, Ho....It's Santa

 That was the title of the second grade Christmas program last night.  Andrew and half of the second graders (the other half performed earlier in the week) had a lot of fun performing traditional and more modern versions of the songs about the jolly ol' man.  Andrew had a great time!  Again, I think his teacher is a special lady to be able to keep those kids on task each and every day.  Unfortunately, I wasn't the biggest fan that every.single.song was about Santa, but Andrew knows he is just for fun and I did appreciate that he learned a couple of the classic songs.  I liked it that we added another fun Christmas activity to our list.

Andrew is in the second row from the top somewhat in the middle...

Gingerbread House Construction

Our invitation to be attend a gingerbread house decorating party was greatly anticipated in our house.  We love spending time with these friends and to do something fun and Christmasy at the same time was truly fun.  I know the night may not have gone as exactly as planned due to some structural issues, but my kids loved it.  Despite the fact that the roof wouldn't hold the weight of a half a package of snack size Kit-Kat bars, they made the most of it.  There was momentary frustration, but they worked together to get their final product.  Each child decorate one side of the yard.  Hannah liked it that it ended up not having a room so she could make a bed with a little marshmallow gingerbread boy sleeping.  However, I'm sure the part they liked the most was the eating of the candy - Kit-Kat, M&M, Sweet-tarts, marshmallows, icing, chocolate chips, Lifesavers, gumdrops - oh my!!

 Getting started!

 We had to think ahead so one Momma had a great and wonderful forethought to bring a small craft that entertained them for a while.  Plus, they were super cute when done.

 Luke loved using the piping bag and I must say he was pretty good at it!

 Yes, wearing the evidence of swiping some icing

 Hmmm, so the two oldest kids there were the only ones wearing icing on their faces!

 Just a token picture from my dear friend that I was indeed there

 The kids' final product.  They loved it!  They really did!

The final product for the Mommas!  For some reason it looked worse in person than it does in this picture....

Garden Glow 2015

 Robey Family in a "snow globe"

Earlier this past week, we took an evening and headed to our local botanical garden for their Christmas light display.  It was probably the coldest evening we've had so far this season, but it definitely felt more like Christmas.  In the end, it was bad at all, but we were bundled up for the event. 

This year, I wanted to be more intentional with our Christmas events.  So may years, it seems like Christmas is sneaks up on us and we've not really enjoyed the season or any of the special events.  I'm not saying that we've jam packed our calendar because that is not the case.  Instead, we've picked two things that we've not done before and are going to make sure it happens.  Both of them are family events.  Our trip to see the lights was one of them. 

We had a great evening and the garden had done a beautiful job of decorating and they had it set up to run smoothly and to lessen the crowds.  Plus, we went on a Wednesday evening to avoid the crowds (oh yes, also, pay less....).  They had several different types of lights.  Plus, they have older buildings on the property decorated for  the event.  They also had fire pits scattered around to warm by if needed.  My favorite part of the evening was just walking and wondering the grounds.  The kids enjoyed a ring toss onto reindeer antlers as well as metal snowmen that you could decorate with magnetic accessories. 

We had a good time.  I don't know if we'll do it again because there may be some other Christmas event that we need to check out.

 This was one of Chris's favorites.  The center was coordinated to music with different colored lights that were fun to watch.

 These three pictures are my favorites from the night

 Metal snowmen to decorate...so fun!

Always HOPE

Today marks the beginning of Advent in our home.  If you're not familiar with the concept of Advent it is the arrival of a notable person.  In my case, it is the arrival of Jesus Christ, whose birth we celebrate this Christmas.  There are several ways to celebrate from having a little calendar that give a tiny surprise each day as you countdown to Christmas to a short Bible lesson each evening to remember different aspects of Jesus's arrival here on earth.  There is quite the variety out there.  This year we are going with something simple, but new for us.  We're going to look at some of the different names for Jesus and place those names on our tree (thanks, Jill, for the idea!)  Last year we did something completely different and next year we might try something else, but this is what we begin tonight.

We also celebrate Advent as a church - each of the 4-5 Sundays preceding Christmas.  Ours this year focused on hope last Sunday.  I've really been struck by this word over the last year to year and a half.  Much of our world lives without hope.  It's hard for me to even begin to imagine what that looks like and how I would live my life day to day without the hope Jesus gives me.  As I've read various passages in the Bible, I'm always struck by the fact that there is always hope.  There are some horrible situations where the people during the Old Testament and early Christians found themselves in, yet there was always a way out.  It may not have always been obvious, but God always provided a way for them to follow Him no matter how terrible things looked.  That is true for us.  Our world has not had much if any good news in the last few months.  It makes me terribly sad.  Thankfully, there is hope.  Hope in the baby Jesus that came to Earth for you and me.  Hope in Jesus's death on the cross.  Hope in the fact that I will get to spend eternity with Him in heaven because He is my Savior.  Jesus is our only Hope in this world and for eternity. 

I had thought of writing this post for a couple of days.  Today, I heard this song by Go Fish called It's About the Cross.  I thought it tied in so well with what I was trying to say here.  Jesus is our only hope because of His perfection and His sacrifice for us on the cross.