A Merry 'Mark Lowry' Christmas!

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Merry Christmas to you all! and may God bless your new year!

Home Depot/Dealing With an Atheist


Mary and Jesus


Mary Did You Know

A Merry, Ant-y Christmas! UGH!

Do y’all remember the Great Ant Invasion Saga, at this time last year? (here, here, here, and here)

Well, we had been pretty much free of them for several months, but the last month or so they have returned...especially since it’s been raining much of the last week and a half.

We had started seeing scouts again in mid-November, which is always a sign of gathering forces lurking and waiting to land on our beaches. We had plenty of our secret weapons of mass destruction handy – particularly that lovely air-borne biological weapon known as RAID. Their D-Day was Thanksgiving Day, and they tried several landings throughout the day, culminating with a mass invasion through a breach on the North Bathroom front in the evening (what they wanted there, I have no idea!). They were quickly discouraged through the use of the secret biological weapon, but we knew we had not seen the last of the enemy forces.

The rain last week made perfect conditions for another invasion. As the water poured down steadily nearly all day on Wednesday, we could sense the growing tension among their troops. Scouts were seen and killed in both the North and South Bathrooms (which are only a wall apart, but open off of completely different sections of the house). And then, Thursday morning, H-Hour came and they invaded, unnoticed until a few hours later. We were just about to leave to run an out-of-town errand when the attack was discovered. The front battalion occupied the outside door frame of the North Bathroom, and troops extended as far as the eye could see along the ceiling of the Hallway Sector, disappearing into the Linen Closet area. RAID and a chair (thankfully the Hallway Sector has a low ceiling!) were quickly brought to the invasion site and the troops wiped out within moments.

However, they were but the smoke revealing the fire – the majority of their numbers had already hunkered down under the carpet. You remember the whole Leak Saga, and how the carpet had to be pulled up and the padding removed from the water spill? It was under this still-loose carpet that they had established headquarters and centered their forces. The extermination of this extension of their invasion required several minutes and a lot of the secret biological weapon, but it was accomplished and they were routed from the scene. (As a side note, there are still dead troops littering the floor of the North Bathroom in an effort to discourage another such attempt.)

That was last week’s skirmish, but this week they tried a new tactic – one of the worst atrocities yet in this ongoing War. They invaded...(drumroll please).….…………… THE CHRISTMAS TREE!!!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it is true. Our unscrupled opponent has dared to commit this barbaric and horrific crime against the people.

Our Christmas Tree is decorated with lights and a variety of ornaments, ranging from beautiful to the ornate to the unique to the unusual to the homemade...you get the idea. Included among its festive decorations are several candy canes, which usually are not a problem. However, just last Friday my dad had brought home another candy cane from work...one which is less tightly wrapped... You guessed it. Their reconnaissance forces must have discovered this delicacy and led the main attack. They had swarmed down the wall and up the trunk of the tree, out one of the branches, and into the candy cane.

Which is all to explain why, 3 days before Christmas, my mother is at Home Depot purchasing more of the weapons of mass destruction!

Have a very merry ant-free Christmas!!

:)

PS – don’t forget to visit my blog on Wednesday (Christmas Eve) to see my special Christmas post!! :)

12 Days of Christmas

This absolutely one of my favorite Christmas songs of all time -- not because it's done the normal, traditional way (like pretty much all my other Christmas favorites), but because it's done in an amazingly funny, unique, and talented way. These guys are soooooo good at singing, it's not even funny...and when they add some comedy to it, it gets even better.

So ladies and gentlemen, let me present Straight No Chaser, singing The 12 Days of Christmas!!!



PS -- the best part starts at 1:12...don't miss it!!!

EDITED TO ADD: I had previously posted a different video, however, that one was removed from YouTube apparently due to copyright problems...so this is a slightly different version of the same song. Enjoy! :)

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? wrapping paper usually works best for me

2. Real or fake tree? We love the real trees...just doesn’t really seem like Christmas until you can smell the pine in the living room!

3. When do you put up a tree? Whatever weekend in December that we have time in all our schedules and get around to it! :)

4. When do you take it down? Sometime in early January

5. Do you like eggnog? Don’t think I’ve ever tried it

6. Favorite gift received as a child? I love everything I get

7. Hardest person (people) to buy for? My dad...whatever he wants, he buys, so there’s nothing to get him! LOL

8. Easiest person to buy for? Probably mom, because she likes anything

9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yep, it’s ceramic (I think) and it sits on a shelf in our china cabinet during the Christmas season

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Well, when we get around to sending them at all, it’s mail :)

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Can’t think of any

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? White Christmas

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? When I decide what I'm going to get!

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? You betcha

15. Favourite thing to eat at Christmas? All our special Christmas goodies – especially the chocolate-dipped marshmallows etc.!

16. Lights on the tree? Of course

17. Favourite Christmas song? Pretty much all carols and hymns, plus some secular songs

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Stay home – there’s not really anywhere to travel to

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Let’s see… You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen, but do you recall the most famous reindeer of all? Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer!

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Neither – a plaid bow

21. Open presents on Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas Eve

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? After Christmas, when all anyone wants to talk about is what all they got, and then ask you what you got – it’s not about what you get!!!

23. Favourite Ornament theme or color? Our tree is such a wonderful homey hodgepodge of lovely and cute and handmade and unique and beautiful and unusual...

24. Favourite for Christmas dinner? Either lasagna or manicotti!

25. Favourite Decorations? Christmas lights etc.

26. What do you want for Christmas this year? Whatever my parents etc want to give me...they know me and they know I’ll be happy with whatever

So I tag...

a birthday announcement

Hey --

Today is my friend Morgan's birthday!

Please stop by and wish her a very happy birthday!

:)

A Special Announcement AND Ariana’s First Birthday

Yes! Yes! Yes! Praise the Lord! :)

I’m going to start with the special announcement… drum roll please…

Ariana…

…is going to be a big sister!!!!!

Yes! It’s true! My sweet big sister and brother-in-law are expecting again!!

Here’s the new Piglet:

Isn’t he or she precious??!!!! I can’t wait to have another niece or nephew!


We were debating about that – boy or girl? It would be more convenient for them to have another girl, since they already have all the girl stuff. On the other hand, a boy would be nice too, being different and all. Whether it’s a boy or a girl, only the Lord knows yet, and isn’t it so wonderful to know that He knows all about this new little one, and has known since before He laid the foundations of the earth?! Every time I think about that it boggles my mind. He knows!

I made a post back on Ariana’s birthday in October, but I never posted the photos from her party. She’s ONE!!!

Quite a few people were able to make it, I didn’t get a picture of everybody, but this is some of them:

Her Grandma B (another adopted grandma, an older lady in our church) was able to be there:

And of course CG was there! (and Auntie Bekah too, although since I was taking most of the photos, I’m not in them!) :)

Here’s Ariana (after the party, incidentally) with her daddy, mommy, and auntie Charity:

She opened presents, although most of the time she was more interested in the wrapping! She received stuffed animals…

…outfits…


…a bath toy…

…and, from Auntie B, a pair of rattles (empty plastic spice bottles, one with rice, one with beans inside, both with the lids glued on!)…

…and a book! A book with googly-eyed animals!

We, the adoring fans, friends, and family (*wink*), got cupcakes, but SHE got a whole cake!

She wasn’t too sure about it, and mainly just played in the frosting…

She got that frosting all over herself! And I mean all over! All over the pretty pink dress, too!

So we (her mommy, auntie Charity, and auntie Bekah) had to take her into the bathroom, take off the pink dress, and give her a mini-bath. She re-entered the stage dressed in her diaper-cover and birthday hat.
Meanwhile we played a great game of…well, I don’t remember exactly what it was called! Pastor Daniel displayed (they have a ceiling-mounted projector) on the wall a combination of letters which, when said fast enough, would usually phonetically reveal a totally different word or words. Here’s nearly everybody, deep in thought…
Here’s one of the words/phrases. Can you figure it out? Leave me a comment if you know what it is! :)

And now for a word from the birthday girl herself:
"Mmmfff fthmf mmmmmth fffmmth."

Translation: either "Thanks for coming" or "This ring tastes good" – I can’t tell which! :)

Happy Birthday, Ariana! Auntie B loves you!