My last gift

My sweetie has always given me good gifts.  Especially at Christmas.  Have I mentioned lately how blessed I am? 

But this Christmas I was slightly worried.  He gave me a box that I was supposed to open last.  As I picked it up it sounded like jewelry.  But, it was a little heavy for jewelry.  As I opened it I saw a folded paper and something tarnishy-gold colored.  As I glanced closer, I saw that the gold colored thing was bullets.  Did he buy me a gun??  I have taken gun safety and have a concealed carry permit, but a gun?  Not really what I wanted on Christmas.  But, how do I tell my husband that was looking at me hoping I would be thrilled with my gift?

Then, I opened the paper and saw that he had booked for me and him a 3 night getaway to Jekyll Island.  Just the two of us.  Alone.  I was so happy!! (The bullets were to confuse me in case I shook the gift.  Which I did. ;o)  

It was so nice to get away together.  Jekyll Island is so beautiful.  And this time of year it is the perfect place to get away and enjoy some quiet.

We enjoyed lots and lots of yummy food together!

And the room he booked for us had a back door that walked right out to the walkway of the beach.

I was able to get up in the morning, watch the sunrise and have devotions with the Lord.  It was so precious!  Sunrise is really starting to be my favorite time of the day.

We read books and played games.  We shared our hearts together and talked plenty.

We also walked on Driftwood Beach.  This beach is amazing!  Somehow, lots of driftwood ends up there.  It's all along the beach and so beautiful!

And then one of my favorite things we did is to rent bikes and bike around the island.  That was so fun!

We went to the historic district, looked in the some of the shops, and stopped for lunch.  We loved it!

 I'm so thankful for some time with my hubby.  Every couple needs time away together.  Every couple needs time to reconnect, stare in each others eyes, talk without interruption, share hopes and dreams and relax together.  Every couple!  I'm so glad we made this happen!

Figuring out our Goat plans...

Our little goat farm hasn't been going quite like we had planned. We've decided we wanted to go the Mini Nubian route.  I posted on our new billy named Sherlock.  He's doing great. :o)

We bred Jenna and Trixie to Mowgli one more time, then we sold him.  

But, then, Jenna and Trixie didn't show any signs of being bred.  Then, our kiko buckling died.  And then, our favorite, Kanga, died.  Then, one of her babies died.  It was a tough Fall for our little herd.

So we have our 4 does left.  And our billy goat, Sherlock.  We exposed all our does to Sherlock in hope for babies in April.

Then, we checked on Trixie last week.  She was acting strange.  Her stomach was HUGE!  But, I didn't feel any babies and she didn't have any milk.  She seemed to be bloated.  Poor girl.  So, I treated her for bloat and the next day she was back to normal.  

Then, a week later we woke up to....

...a little buckling that she delivered!  Isn't he so cute!?

We decided to name him Pablo.  He was born on Patrick's birthday and his favorite book as a kid was about Pablo the Penguin.  So, I guess you could say that we named him in Patrick's honor. ;o)

As usual, Trixie is an excellent Momma goat.  

So we have a little buckling to enjoy for the next couple of months before we find him a new home.  Our goal is to keep one male goat from now on.  But....

                                                                                                                                                                                                                     ...He's just so cute that I want to keep him!                                                                                                            

 

To Continue Blogging?

 A really neat thing (for me) happened last week.  When I went to post on Silas's birthday, I linked back to when I posted that we were expecting him.  I realized that that was quite a while ago!  I've been blogging for about 15 years. Wow!  A lot sure has happened in those 15 years!!

As I've been looking at my time and evaluating my priorities, I found myself asking, "Should I keep blogging?"  I realize that blogging isn't quite the thing it used to be.  Now, there is youtube, tiktok and instagram.  People keep up to date with one another in many different ways.  So, should I still keep up with it?

But, then, I read what I posted on my boy's birth and announcing how excited we were.  My intent in blogging was first to keep our supporting churches and my family up to date on our deputation trail and then missionary adventures.  When I became sick, it became a way to plead with people to pray.  And pray you all did!  I've met some friends along the way.  And, honestly, it's been fun!  But, I've found that my purpose in blogging is to keep track of our memories and daily happnenings.  I guess you could say it's my form of scrapbooking or journaling.  

So, I came to the conclusion.  Yes, I will keep blogging and sharing about my precious family.  I will keep sharing my heart of what God is working on.  My desire is to keep growing into a vessel for His use.  And if I can encourage someone along the way, then it's totally worth it!

`14, 31 and 48

January is a busy birthday month for our family.  We start with our Silas Boone's Birthday.  This year he turned 14!  Doesn't it seem like I was just announcing that we were expecting him and then announcing his birth!?

Silas is such an amazing kid.  I love spending time with him and talking with him.  He and I LOVE to discuss our goats and future goat plans.  He loves sports and you can often (at least 6 days a week and several times a day) find him out in the yard tossing the football.  We got him a goal to aim at for Christmas and he loves it.  He's very athletic and loves to be busy. He is becoming a fine preacher and I can't wait to hear him preach for Youth Night at the end of the month.  I also love hearing him play his trumpet and the piano.  

 His newest thing that he's talked about a ton is rabbits.  He wants to get into selling him.  He's been making his case and doing his research for about 3 weeks about why he should get some.  He's talked with people, and really knows his stuff.  Tonight was his night to present his full idea to his Dad.  He's so excited that Patrick is on board with the idea.  They have some pens to build, so it might still be awhile, but soon I will be posting photos of my boy with his new business.  Anybody want to buy a rabbit??

He wanted Strawberry Swirl Cheesecake for his birthday.  So yummy!

We had a great day out together.  First we went and played Frisbee golf.  We got him a set for his birthday and our town has a great course.  It was so much fun!!  Then, we went to KFC for lunch.  My boy loves his chicken sandwiches!

Happy 14th Silas!

A couple days after Silas, Marc has his birthday.  This year, Denise made a Puerto Rican style Turkey dinner for Patrick and Marc's birthday since their days are so close to each other.  It was amazing food and honestly I think it's my new favorite!

Happy 31st Marc!

Then, a few days after that, it was my sweetie's birthday.  He turned a very handsome 48.  I love his graying beard and temples and find it so attractive. :o)

Callie made him a coconut cake and we celebrated right after Patrick and I got back in town.  But, I guess I haven't posted about our trip away together yet!  I guess that will have to be for my next post.

Happy 48th to my sweetie!

 So we celebrated a 14th, a 31st and a 48th!  We're off to a great start and many more birthdays to come!

Vision Sunday 2023

I love Vision Sunday at VSIBC!! It's always a little nostalgic as we look back on the previous year.  Josh creates a video for us to see glimpses of what happened for our church.  Each year it just makes me teary eyed!  If you'd like to watch the service and see the year end video, you can find it here.

It's always exciting as the vision for the year is revealed.  This year our theme is Hold Fast taken from Hebrews 10:25, "Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering;  (for he is faithful that promised;)"

 I'm looking forward to an exciting year as we Hold Fast to our faith and not waver!

A New Plan

 I love this time of year!!  I love new beginnings, new projects and new goals.  Each year I re-evaluate many areas of my life, including my devotion time.  I want to make sure that I'm learning and growing and keeping my eyes on Jesus.  I'm excited about what the Lord is teaching me already!

I have many goals for my devotion time and there are a few things I will switch up.  But, first, let me tell you how my time typically goes.  This is the most precious time of my day where I get up early.  I make a nice, warm cup of coffee. (while it's brewing I fold a quick load of laundry from the dryer that I had put in the night before.  It's always my goal to fold the load by the time my coffee is done.) Then, I turn on my little lamp at my desk.  Some days I have other spots I go to such as my blue chair or our porch swing.  But, for the most part, I enjoy having my devotions at my desk where I know my Bible and prayer list are, as well as my pens and highlighters and notebooks.  Then, I turn on soft piano music.  It's still dark outside and I can hear the rooster crowing to start his day, too.  I love this time of the morning!

Usually, I first pull out my prayer journal.  On the first page I have Psalm 5:3  "My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD;  in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up."  I want to keep my eyes fixed on Jesus throughout my day, so it's important for me to be reminded of this, and to pray and ask the Lord to help me in my day.  I focus on the blessings God has given me.  Last year I tried to write down at least one blessing a week.  On New Years Eve I read those to my family.  It was so neat to look back on how good God had been to our family!  Then, it's time to make sure my heart is right before God.    I pray Psalm 139:23-24, Psalm 32:5 and Psalm 38:18.  When I ask God to search my heart, it's amazing what He reveals. My heart is desperately wicked.  I am so thankful for a heavenly Father that is so ready to forgive.  He's so merciful!  Confess and Forsake is a vital aspect of prayer time.

  I then go through and pray for me, my family, my church family, for our needs, and for our desires.  I have a prayer list where I date when I ask God for something.  Then, when He answers, I date it and highlight it.  It's amazing how much pink, yellow, green and blue highlights there are in my journal!! He's a prayer answering God!

After my prayer time, I get to open God's Word.  What a treasure!!  There are christians throughout the ages that gave their lives for just one page.  I have the whole Bible, and many copies of them!  I don't want to take that for granted.

A few months ago I prayed  and asked God how He wanted me to read His Word in 2023.  Last year I did a great plan where I read my Bible through topically.  I loved that plan! As I was praying, Patrick began preaching a message from Psalm 119 on "What good is the Word of God"  and "How to study God's Word."  Wow!  It has been so good!! You can find those messages here:   So I decided to implement something new into my Bible time for 2023.  One of the things I am doing is a book study.  I want to take each book of the Bible and study it out and create a reference for myself on the overview of each book of the Bible.  Each book will have one page where I write down who the author is, when it was written and to whom.  I will write down the theme and the prophecies of the coming Christ in the book.  Then, I will write down my favorite verses and stories in that book. I also decided to write down everytime Christ appears.  It's amazing to see our Preincarnate Christ show up on the very first page and continue throughout.  As I've written down everytime Jesus (LORD) is there, it's amazing!  It's amazing what HE created, what HE said, what hope HE offered.....and I'm only in Genesis!!

I am so excited for this year.  My plan is to draw closer to Christ and fall more and more in love with Him.  What is your plan?

A Blur

A Blur....at the moment that's what Christmas seems to be!  It passed so quickly, yet so wonderful were the memories our family shared.  I thought I would give a quick highlight of our days together celebrating Christ's Birth.  First, we started with a super cold snap.  Us Floridians were very excited!  We had several nights in the 20s with windchills in the teens.  The kids woke up to ice covering the water for our animals.  That made Christmas even more special for all of us as we bundled up and lit the fireplace.

It was the first Christmas's for our two grandsons.  I love seeing the tree lights reflect in babies' eyes.  They loved it!

We had all of our family together for Christmas Eve Brunch.  I am loving this tradition!  It's so nice having everyone all together.  

And having 5 grandbabies is amazing!

We ate a ton of yummy brunch together! Liberty was super excited for hashbrowns!

Then, we exchanged gifts.  My kids really are thoughtful gift givers.  Everyone got so much!

It was sweet to see what Liberty, Freedom and Victory picked out for their gifts.  It had us laughing at times, it was adorable.  

It was a really great Christmas Eve!

Then, Sunday dawned bright and early for Christmas.  It was such a wonderful day!  We were excited to celebrate Christ on a Sunday.  Didn't it make it that much more special? 

We decided to do our family traditions a little different.  We let the kids open a together gift before church.  (A milk frother/steamer.  They have been loving making lattes.)  

We had a beautiful Christmas service!

Then, we had a big Christmas turkey lunch.  It was delicious!  It was nice to fill our table with loved ones that were a little misplaced this Christmas.  They brought our table laughter and joy and we loved our Christmas lunch! After lunch we let our kiddos open another gift.  It was a game called Mysterious Empire.  We had fun learning a new game and trying to win.  It had a few quirks to it that we had to figure out the rules, but it was lots of fun. 

That evening we went back to church for a beautiful candlelight service.  It was so pretty!  There is just something about the lights being dim and candles lit that causes you to reflect more and be more grateful.  God sure has been good to us!

After church we came back home and enjoyed cheese fondue together.  Seasons in my life sure have changed.  It was just us six.  But it's amazing the contentment and joy God is giving me right here where I am with what I have.  It just keeps getting better and better!

Monday, December 26th was our Christmas morning.  We got up super early and divided all the gifts from under the tree.  There was a bunch!

We opened and opened and played and played.  It was a great day!!

That night we went to Denise's house for our annual Christmas family dinner.  Marc had bought prime rib roasts that Denise prepared.  Wow! That was an amazing meal!

We finished off singing Happy Birthday to Jesus.  We had a figgy pudding cake.  I love this tradition and the family I get to spend it with!

And just like that it was over and time to take the tree out, And.....

get the flu.  Ew.

Patrick came home a few days after Christmas feeling achey and cold and hot....and that started it all.  Our family spent New Years at home.  Same with Josh's family.  We all had fevers and lots of nasty symptoms.  I'm so thankful that God has brought Godly men to our church that will preach and fill in while all of us were down.

We are now on the road to recovery and getting back to normal.  We just started school again and we are looking forward to a wonderful 2023!!