Surprise Dates, Books Galore, Popping Excitement and Sweet Serenity...all in one weekend!

This weekend had been a crazy one. Jason was in a class all week and he needed to stay at school till about midnight all week. So it had been a long one. He was ready to come, we were ready to have him, but there was still more homework that needed to be done. So I told him to just stay there and get it finished. Amy, who lives down stairs, was planning on coming up later in the evening because her husband needed to stay down at Moody to get some work done. Starting the bills I thought I could at least get something else accomplished to.
The door from the basement started sounding as I was just about to get the main part of the bills done, but it would be nice to get the company. So I headed to open the door. As I opened the door the doorbell rang. Who could it be? I excused myself and went to get the door while motioning her into the living room. I felt akward as I realized that Jason was home, glad he was home, feeling bad because how do you graciously kick someone out? As he walked him there was an akward pause and then he looked at Amy and then to me and said, "This works out, do you want to go on a date?" At first I didn't realize that he had already talked to her and had arranged the whole thing. I thought he was being rude and was quite shocked. Then he started laughing realizing what I had just thought. He swept me off my feet and we had a wonderful time!

The next morning we woke up and headed to get our Popcorn from John's cub scout fundraiser nd then headed off downtown to Bookamania! If you have never gone and are in the city the weekend before Thanksgiving...this is the place to be! the kids had fun making crafts about different books and then if they went to 7 different stations then they got to get a free book! It is at the Harold Washington Library and it was so much fun the kids are asking to go back next year...oh and the best part...it is all FREE!

After the Bookamania! we headed down toward Michigan Ave. and we spotted a PotBelly's. We had lunch/dinner there (although it was nice because the kids actually wanted the snacks in my bag for lunch instead so we got away pretty cheap! Thanks kids!) and then we headed off to the parade. On the way we stopped at Macy's (formally Marshall Fields) and looked at their window display. It was fun and magical. Off the parade and we got to see Minnie and Mickey and Donald Duck (Karli's favorite) and of course we saw Santa! At the end we watched the magnificant fireworks display! It is simply breathtaking!

After church today we collected all of our boxes for Operation Christmas Child and headed out to the drop off location! The kids had fun loading all the boxes and anticipation and discussing where they might end up around the world! If you have never done a shoe box for kids around the world...please check out www.samaritanspurse.org and click Operation Christmas Child! It is a great way to help kids around the world get a little something at Christmas and teach your kids the amazing thing about giving!

Why I Love My Church!

Recently, I have been taken back as I look over the years that Jason and I have been at our church and just praise God for all He has done in our church and in our community! There have been so many changes and growth it is amazing what God is doing. We recently started something Jason called our 20/20 Vision as we are looking forward about the future (2020). Where do we want to be, where does God want us to be, are we doing what we need to to get there. And through this finding out more about how much our church is more a mission field than we ever realized! It has been a road for me, some ups and downs in this walk we are on, but each week God shows me more and more why we are there, why I am there, why the people who come are there. One of my favorite things about our church is that 10 percent of them are blind and half of those are on our worship team. What a blessing it is to see them reading their braillie and singing their praises to God! What a blessing it is to hear the thumping of one of the seeing eye dogs tails to the beat of the music! What a blessing to be able to hear people share what is on their hearts so we can pray for them! What a blessing to see the body of Christ work together to love everyone who is there! How amazing that people who might be outcast in other realms in our society have an open door and are freely welcomed with whatever they bring with them. I love my Church for the Love of God that just seeps out and overflows from the AMAZING love that God has for us! May it continue to grow, may others see God's love through us and may we make a HUGE difference to those in our community!
I am so blessed to be apart of my church!

Election '08 --- Ice Cream Election '08

So this year to teach the election process we held an Ice Cream Election with a bunch of families. To add in the electoral process we had each family be a state and then they took a vote, the majority got all of the votes! It was a lot of fun, a lot of families participated. The fun part was that vanilla won the popular vote and then chocolate won the electoral vote. Next presidental election we will add in toppings as vice president and then see if it is harder to decide who will win the election.

On election day a few of the families (the rest celebrated at home) joined us for the "unveiling" of the winner and to have an ice cream party with the winning candidate. Here are some pictures from the election meeting. It was a lot of fun and I believe the kids were able to understand the election process a little bit more! We can't wait for four more years to do it again!