Bringing in the New Year Douglas Style
Owning my life means “living with deep intention, bold faith, and generous love,” according to Sally Clarkson.
She wrote this book Own Your Life to help moms develop a vision for living a life of purpose by finding out what God’s purpose is for their life, accepting whatever that purpose or calling is and carrying it out in a joyful, intentional, life-giving way.
This large family of mine is a big part of God’s purpose for my life. Being a wife and mother is a big role to fulfill. I can only do it well as I rely on God’s guidance and strength. Doing it well includes being joyful and loving and gentle as I carry out my responsibilities. That is where I need the most supernatural help.
Speaking of responsibilities – this son, Morgan Keith, will now be taking modeling and acting classes. We took him to an audition and he was called back because they saw potential in him. I will do my best to help him fulfill his dreams and purpose for which God made and equipped him.
This son, Patrick, just made his first sale. I have been doing the best I can to help him further his new career and develop the gifts that God has given him.
This son, Shawn, was just offered his first full-time job, which he accepted, and he loves!!! I am committed to supporting him in whatever way I can so that he can continue to do a great job in this place of employment and any other endeavors that he undertakes.
Another part of owning my life is creating a beautiful home for my family. The atmosphere is important. The sights and sounds and aromas of home will stay with my children forever. I will be intentional about creating a lovely place, with a peaceful, happy atmosphere so that my children will have fond memories and feel secure and content and have warm thoughts and feelings about home and family.
Part of creating memories is keeping traditions for the holidays. We like to have a beautiful Christmas tree, a beautiful mantel including our favorite manger scene and stockings that can be stuffed to overflowing!
The biggest part of our role as parents is to make sure that our children know about God and know Him for themselves. Gary is reading the Christmas story from the Bible (on his phone!) before we open stockings or presents or anything on Christmas morning.
We are teaching our children patience as they wait for their siblings to get up and wait to open presents. This is Emma waiting patiently. She was the first one up, and she had to wait for several hours before she got to open presents.
Good things come to those who wait!
We postponed our Christmas until Jan. 10. There were many reasons for this. One of them was that Shawn wanted time to get gifts for everybody this year. He really enjoyed buying gifts for all of us, and he said giving was his favorite part of Christmas this year. Here he is holding up his favorite gift, the One New Man Bible.
Abby liked the pink camo backpack that her big brother gave her.
And Morgan was happy with the grooming kit that he received from Shawn.
Kelsey is holding and wearing her gifts.
Kelsey USED her gifts to make the German Chocolate cake, the Confetti cake and the Strawberry cake.
Each of the FIVE birthday celebrants chose a different kind of cake, so we had FIVE different cakes!
Another part of making life fun and celebrating the gifts, talents, and uniqueness of each child is celebrating and encouraging their creativity. And Fiona is FULL of creativity. She made up a story about this little doggy, Boo. The story involves a Good Plan and an Evil Plan that Boo has to choose between. Fiona drew them on two pieces of paper. I found the papers and asked what they were about and then took pictures of it to encourage and validate Fiona’s creativity.
Without any prompting from me, the kids made birthday cards for each other. Here Garrett is making a card for Morgan.
Fiona made a card for each person whose birthday we were celebrating. This called for lots of drawing! She finds out each person’s favorite animal and draws it for them. She just turned 11 years old. On this day, Jan. 10th!
This was something I found in the play room one day right before Christmas, so I took a picture of it. When the kids see me take a picture of something they did, they know I think it’s very clever and special, and they feel encouraged to keep using their creativity.
Having five birthdays within the first two weeks of January is – – A LOT to celebrate. So I decided we should add Christmas to the mix and really have a BIG, BIG PARTY. So we did. We had Christmas in the morning and the BIG Birthday party that same evening.
Anna didn’t seem to want her picture taken.
Ha! Got her!
Emma had chosen a Confetti cake.
We sang Happy Birthday to her first and she blew out her candles.
Then we sang Happy Birthday to Garrett
And he blew out his candles. He had the German Chocolate cake.
Then we sang Happy Birthday to Fiona, and she blew out her candles. Fiona had our famous Hot Fudge Pudding cake.
Then we sang Happy Birthday to Morgan, and he blew out his candles. He had a lemon cake.
And last, but certainly not least, Shawn blew out the candles on his Strawberry cake.
And I did not bake nary a cake!
Kelsey baked three of them, Katie made one and Anna made one. I just relaxed and enjoyed the atmosphere, the fellowship, the love and the fruits of their labor.
Which I guess you might say is the fruits of my labor.
The fruits of “living with deep intention, bold faith and generous love”.
I linked this post at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers Weekly Wrap-Up
And at A Wise Woman Builds Her House Link-Up
Apparently I Took A Blogging Break
I didn’t really mean to take a break from blogging. It just sort of happened.
First this happened.
We got our family pictures taken at Honey Farm in Katy, Texas by Rovak Technologies, Michael Rovak, photographer.
Then Christmas season was upon us.
Kelsey and I began to decorate.
Then Abby lost a tooth, and I had to help the Tooth Fairy. I got a reward!
Our tree had some problems which took two days to solve. A twisted trunk causes a tree to lean or fall, depending on which way the wind blows. We had to take it back and get it cut more.
OK, now the tree’s straight.
This has been going on for 6 months. Teaching Anna how to drive. She’s good, but it was still nerve-wracking at first. She is taking an online driving course called Aceable, which she dearly loves. And they think she’s pretty awesome, too.
But anyway, back to Christmas doings.
We made Christmas cookies.
We weren’t ready for Christmas on Dec. 25th, so we are postponing Christmas until Jan. 10th. But to help the littles endure the wait, we let each of them open one present the day after Christmas.
The little girls were surprisingly good little mommies.
Two days after Christmas, we finally got to go to see the Christmas lights that I saw when I was out with Patrick helping him sell ADT security systems, his new job.
The lights were fabulous! The kids loved them.
Of course, Charlie Brown is standing there all by himself.
Katie made more Christmas cookies. No more girly angels for her. She made one with a sword!
She made a really big cookie, and I asked her what that was going to be. She said she saw it as a blank canvas. Look what she painted on her blank canvas with icing and her imagination and a toothpick!
So, as you can see, I have not been lying around watching TV, eating bonbons. On the contrary, I have been extremely busy trying to keep up with everyone’s needs and wants and the demands of the holiday season. It has been fun. It has been busy. And I feel so very blessed.
I hope your season has been blessed and full of the joy of Christmas.
Here is our family’s greeting to all of you:
Own Your Life
This is a brand new book by Sally Clarkson! In this book, she shares stories of how God has helped her to live the life that God gave her to live. She tells about her life and the lessons she has learned and how we can live well and leave a legacy that God will be proud of.
Learn from one who has been there! And she is still mothering and nurturing her grown children. Her heart is to help those of us who are coming along behind her to live “that blessed, intentional and full life that God designed for you to have.”
Go to Sally’s blog to pre-order this book.
I know that you will be blessed by reading this book. I’ve read the first chapter, and I was majorly touched by it.
Fun and Educational Thanksgiving Books Plus Bonus Printables, Videos and Other Activities
I found this neat Thanksgiving printable that I really love.
I printed it out and can’t wait to use it this Thursday for our Thanksgiving table. It would be good to laminate it, but my laminator is still in a box.
The place cards have a conversation starting question or task for them to do, such as “What is your favorite Thanksgiving memory?” or “What are you thankful for?”.
We are getting pretty excited about Thanksgiving around here.
We have read “‘Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving”.
‘Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving
It was really funny. We all enjoyed it.
We also read “Thanksgiving at the Tappletons”.
Thanksgiving at the Tappletons
It was also really funny.
Some other good books to read in the days leading up to Thanksgiving:
Thanksgiving Day at Our House Kelsey’s favorite! She reads this to the younger kids every Thanksgiving.
Thelonius Turkey Lives Kelsey likes this story and the recipe at the end for Sweet Potato Casserole. There’s another recipe in it, too, for Thelonius’ Feather Cookies.
The Thanksgiving Story by Alice Dalgliesh – enough information to be interesting, story about the Hopkins family, but easy enough for younger readers to read. This is a chapter book and covers the main topics of the Pilgrims, Indians and the First Thanksgiving.
Pete the Cat and the First Thanksgiving This is a lift-the-flap book. I haven’t actually read it yet, but I like Pete the Cat’s other books, so I assume I will like this one, too.
The Story of the Pilgrims Introduction to the story for younger children.
If You Sailed on the Mayflower in 1620 Informative, makes kids think about what it must have been like to be a Pilgrim.
Thanksgiving is for Giving Thanks Helps younger children understand why celebrate Thanksgiving – so we can give thanks! To God, for those of us who believe in Him. And to have a thankful attitude, in general.
The Pilgrims’ First Thanksgiving Good for ages 4-8, tells what it was like for Pilgrims in terms children can relate to, but describes hardships in a way they can handle.
Squanto’s Journey – lots of information about the details of Squanto’s life.
Sarah Morton’s Day: A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Girl – uses actual photographs of a 10 year old girl in period dress who reenacts Pilgrim life at reconstructed Plimoth Plantation.
Samuel Eaton’s Day: A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Boy Same format as Sarah Morton’s Day, but for boys!
Squanto and the Miracle of Thanksgiving by Eric Metaxas – well-researched, historically accurate.
Another fun book to read is A Cranberry Thanksgiving by Wende and Harry Devlin. The price for this at Amazon is ridiculous. I would get it at the library if it’s available. There are no copies available in our library system here. It is a very popular book. Here’s a summary of the story:
“Every year Grandmother invited a guest for Thanksgiving dinner and allowed Maggie to do the same. “Ask someone poor or lonely,” she always said. Thanksgiving was Grandmother’s favorite day of the year. The cooking was done and her famous cranberry bread was cooling on a wooden board. But she wasn’t happy to find out Maggie had invited the unsavory Mr. Whiskers to dinner. Would her secret cranberry bread recipe be safe with him in the house? After a long absence this delightful 1971 classic is back. So is Grandmother’s secret recipe!” The recipe is included at the end of the book.
Here is a fun way to learn more about Thanksgiving. A project pack from Hands of a Child for only $7.99. I recommend the lapbook ebook download or the Note Pack, which is like a lapbook but made to just put in a notebook instead of cutting little booklets. Students write information which is provided in the research guide.
Thanksgiving Curriculum from Hands of a Child
And no Thanksgiving celebration would be complete without A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bgIh-juSwE&list=PLZn_xw1XiMNYtb6stLaLHG2Hzd4fMB0Q1
This cupcake idea would be fun to do to go along with the movie. This idea is on my Pinterest page and comes from here.
And here’s the story of the First Thanksgiving told by the Peanuts gang. Click on the YouTube button so it will go automatically from one clip to the next.
http://youtu.be/8xlY4B0y_Pg?list=PLbmsjgfVXtPQRB8kgTkQeMUV3c8BXfiqS
"Oh that God would give every mother a vision of the glory and splendor of the work that is given to her when a babe is placed in her bosom to be nursed and trained! Could she have but one glimpse in to the future of that life as it reaches on into eternity; could she look into its soul to see its possibilities; could she be made to understand her own personal responsibility for the training of this child, for the development of its life, and for its destiny,--she would see that in all God's world there is no other work so noble and so worthy of her best powers, and she would commit to no other's hands the sacred and holy trust given to her." -JR Miller
