Why I love my church . . . leave your shoes at the door

I love going to my church, the community it fosters and the great friends we have made there. Many weeks there is a message that just cuts to your soul. This week's message on generosity was one of those. The story was a familiar one, one we have heard a millions times---the story of the Good Samaritan. Pete Wilson gave a great background on the Samaritan people and how they were treated during that time period. We are called to Love one another. To Love our neighbors. The question was Who is our Neighbor?  Did you know that there are 300 million people in this world with no shoes? Are they are neighbors?  We think so and Pete called upon us to Love our Neighbors by leaving our shoes at the door when we left as we partnered with Soles4souls. Yes, it was 30 degrees out, and yes, we answered the call. The girls didn't think twice about handing over their church shoes. (They actually thought it was quite fun and mischievous to be running around church with no shoes on and encouraged their friends to do the same.) I was so proud of them and it actually made me a bit teary.

We have so much and it is such a struggle to find ways to help our kids realize the many blessings they have in this world. Thanks Cross Point for providing the opportunity to teach our kids about giving.
The photographer who took these photos has more about the story and some great pictures at http://bohobellaphotography.blogspot.com/2010/12/barefoot-sunday.html.

Christmas program and house closing.

Katelyn had her Elementary Christmas Program on Thursday night. The first grade recited the Birth Story of Jesus from Luke Ch. 2. They were amazing in what they had memorized and I also loved their sweet voices. Notice her curls. You all will never see them in person because her hair holds curl for about 10 minutes, but she wanted it done nonetheless.

Friday we closed on our house. I can't believe I can walk out my back door and get myself to work and my kids to school. I am also in shock that we are actually moving. We went over to the house and started painting yesterday. Katelyn is dying to paint (a messy endeavor). I did let her peel wallpaper in her room--Green Bay Packers border--and her and Ellie helped paint their closet.

One of the funniest things was the living room. We were not planning to paint it right away, but when we got there, we discovered that the last time they painted, they did not remove the picture on the wall. The kids decided to make that area their art display area.

Snow Day!!!!

Today we had an unexpected Snow Day.  So after making sure each kid had on three layers, we finally made it out to the snow. It was Owen's first real snow and he wasn't too fond of it.

He preferred admiring it from afar from the comfort of his mama's arms.

He also got lots of love from my neighbor, Antionnette, aka Anty Nette.

So after our 30 minutes of bundling up, the girls decided after about 10 minutes that it was indeed too cold to be outside.  So instead of freezing our tails off, we went in and had hot cocoa and popcorn with a movie. I guess I don't win any Mom of the Year awards for that lunch.

It was also a day for putting up Christmas decorations. This picture is of Owen pre-tree on Sunday. I think he was ready to get started.

We finished up our indoor decorations today. With us being in the process of boxing the house up, I  didn't get everything out. We also decided to be lame and not do outdoor decorations this year. We'll kick it up next Christmas when we are settled in the new house.

Latke Dinner and Pre-School Performance

For those who do not know, Ellie and Owen go to a Jewish Daycare. Although we are raising them, Christian, they are loved on well at the JCC and are well-versed in the Jewish Holidays and the old testament. Last night was the annual Latke Dinner and Pre-School fundraiser. Each of the older classes does a song. For some musical yelling, check out the video of Ellie's class. You'll recognize the tune. You have to turn off the playlist on the right side in the green box to hear it.

Sending out the Christmas spirit

I don't know about you all, but I love seeing all the precious faces of the babes around Christmas on the photo cards we receive. You would think with the thousands of pictures we all take of our kids all year long that we could find just the right photo for our own cards, but yet it always seems to allude us until the end. So I am at that place again of searching through my thousands of pictures for just the right cuteness to send out to family and friends. But for now, I thought I'd enclose some of the pictures that did not make the cut.

So I am looking for the perfect Christmas card--yes it is 5 in the morning and I can't sleep, so I thought I'd show you some of my favorites from Shutterfly. If only I could get my kids to pose this cute.

So check these out at  holiday photo cards to http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery

·        Christmas photo cards to http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-cards

 Christmas cards to http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-cards  

You can also get 50 free cards from them right now for posting about Shutterfly on your own blog. I think it is well worth it. Check out http://bit.ly/sfly2010