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I can’t sleep so here’s a quick little post. How’d you guys meet your spouses and how long did it take to know that he/she was “the one”?        I’ll go first… Studly and I met online nearly 21 years ago in the era of Commodore computers and Q-Link. We logged hours of online chat time (and back then you had to pay by the minute or something!) and phone time.  I was 25, no kids, never been married.  He was 40, divorced and with custody of his 3 kids.  Our hearts connected.  Within 3 weeks I had left my fledgling career, said goodbye to my family and moved to Cleveland to begin what would be the scariest — and best — rollercoaster ride of my life!       So — what leaps of faith did you take for love?

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Nonbloggy: I might have forgotten to mention, for those of you who have been following along with Studly and the situation with his license to drive, that he is no longer licensed to drive in the state of Florida.  He made the decision to relinquish his right to drive based on a lot of factors, not the least of which was what the state was putting him through.  Even though it was his decision, he still struggles with it a bit.  That little bit of independence, not that you ever necessarily would drive but that you legally could.  He also worries about the burden it places on me because I so hate driving.  I worry that if anything happened to me (another TIA or stroke, legal issues, etc.) that my family would be left without a doer and goer.  We have both decided to just leave it up to God and trust that He will handle whatever comes along.

Bloggy changes: Playing with the theme again (what else is new, huh?).  I’m working on a new header/logo but haven’t yet come up with anything that speaks to me so just bear with the plainness for a while please.  I’ve moved the prayer warrior site over to this site from Blogger. This necessitates me opening up comments, including anonymous, because I don’t want anyone to be discouraged from leaving an anonymous request. So everybody play just as nice as you usually do, k?

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I’m not speaking of the pretty, wrapped kind though there were some of those, too, yesterday. I’m speaking of the intangibles, the gifts that touch your heart and change your life. Fair warning: This is a LONG post.

It was a busybusybusy weekend here at the world of Willow. We had our family get-together on Sunday. It was smaller this year, due to schedule conflicts, but included all four grandkids. The kids are always a hoot when they all 4 get together with the noise and activity level growing higher in proportion to the amount of food they’ve had. The grandkids are nearly 12, nearly 11, and the twins are about to turn 10. So it’s really fun to watch them come into the house all preteen-like and then watch those attitudes drop away as they just become 4 cousins horsing around… Gifts.

There were gifts. My grandtwins this year (the ones about to turn 10) saved their allowances and shopped at the dollar store to buy gifts. I had thought that my Christian reawakening had been sort of a quiet thing but I guess that my stepdaughter has caught on. The grandtwins did their own shopping and choosing with some gift ideas from their mom. I got a religious bracelet with various pictures of Jesus and other religious figures and a pretty beaded necklace with a cross alodn with an angel figurine and a ceramic cross for a table. My stepdaughter makes out-of-this-world peanut butter balls and I just love them so she brought me a tin full of them. This is the stepchild with whom I had the most contentious relationship through the late teens and early 20s… Gifts.

Had a fight spirited discussion with Studly yesterday morning. I said some things, he said some things and he ended up challenging my faith and some other areas of conduct in my life. Not in an ugly hateful way but more like asking me if I’m walking my talk. If I’m making assumptions about what God wants or is willing to accept. Asking if the things going on in my heart and my head, being projected out through my actions, are really what I want to be putting out there into my relationships and into the world. Genuine challenges. Stuff to think about and reflect on. I have to tell you that while this was very hard and I ended up crying (I cry over everything, happy, sad, whatever, I’m one of those people), it was a GOOD THING. I needed to be challenged by somebody who knows me as well as he does. Who cares enough to not let me slide on the big things. I really ended up thinking and clarifying what is important for me and to me… Gifts.

I went to Sunday School yesterday. My first time in Sunday School at this church. After much gentle (and not-so-gentle!) prodding from the pastor’s wife. It was unlike anything that I was accustomed to and I am so glad I went… Gifts.

The last thing, the biggest thing, was the Christmas cantata at church last night. I had asked my kids if they would like to attend with me and they had both said yes. So we hurried up after the family gathering and got ready to go. I was nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs. It was BK’s first time in a church. Ever. And I so wanted him to feel comfortable and to like it. We did the obligatory hand-shaking and all that during the welcome and, true to form, both of the kids hated that. Not surprising as they’re both kind of shy. But they did it. Then the music began. It was all about praise. It was magnificent. But beyond the music, I was singing a different song of praise in my heart. I was sitting in a church with my 2 boys for the first time ever. I felt some guilt and some sorrow because it was the first time ever as we weren’t churchgoers when they were young and now they’re old enough to not be forced to go. It breaks my heart that one of my sons isn’t saved. But I gave that up to the Lord and asked that my both of my boys take away something from that time in church that would stay with them and quietly work in the backgrounds of their heart And then God gave me peace and I could almost hear Him tell me to relax and enjoy the music and this time in church with my two boys… Gifts.

It was truly a day of blessings and showing me the abundance of gifts I have in my life. I am so grateful to God that He gave me this truly busy, packed from morning to night with activities, day to show me the love of my husband and family, the joy in having family together, the magnificence of a choir full of voices raised to praise Him, and the most precious gift of the Son of God who came to earth as a baby, endured all of the hardships of human life from infancy through adulthood, and then knowingly, willingly died on a cross for me. And you. So that we could have eternal life with Him.

An abundance of gifts.

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From Melanie over at The Fruits of the Spirit:

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
Maybe one cup of egg nog, mostly hot chocolate

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
He wraps — the kids always loved tearing into the packaging and I loved watching them. Tape is the parent’s fun — lots and lots of tape. Bwahahaha

3. Colored light on house/tree or white?
Colored lights on tree; none on house.

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
No.

5. When do you put your decorations up?
Usually Thanksgiving Day; this year we were late and just did it two weeks ahead of Christmas

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
Lasagna

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child?
The times we spent in Atlanta with my grandmother, aunt, cousin, etc. I hated it back then, leaving my friends and toys at Christmas but, looking back, I really cherish those Christmases.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
My BRATTY little sister found out and told me by showing me where all the loot was. I’m sorry; it isn’t nice to say so but she WAS a brat then.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
The kids open their gifts to each other on Christmas Eve and SOMETIMES we let them open one from us. Usually, though, the stuff from Mom and Dad is for Christmas morning. And EVERY SINGLE YEAR we have to have negotiations about what is an appropriate time to get everybody up! They’re like little kids still!

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?
Stuff the kids have made mostly with some personalized ornaments and a few new things thrown in. The kids have the say in what goes where on the tree.

11. Snow. Love it or dread it?
In Florida, it’s a nonissue so I would LOVE to have snow one Christmas. It would be such a treat!

12. Can you ice skate?
No, I have never tried but my balance — well, let’s just say I missed the line when balance was being handed out!

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
An anniversary clock from Studly in 1990. I had noticed it at the store and I didn’t even know he was paying attention. He was.

14. What is the most important thing about the holidays for you?
It has always been about being with family but this year the focus is on Jesus from his birth through his exemplary life and death for us — the ultimate gift.

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert?
Anything except pecan pie or fruit cake.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
Our traditions have been in a state of flux over the last few years as the older kids have gotten married or moved away or had kids so it’s hard to say. I guess I’m hoping to make the Christmas cantata at church with my kids a tradition — this will be our first year.

17. What tops your Christmas tree?
An angel. I’d like to do a star but this is the one issue that Studly is adamant about.

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving?
Giving! Though I’ll be honest and say receiving is nice too

19. What is your favorite Christmas song?
O Holy Night

20. Candy Canes. Yum or Yuck?
Yuck

21. What do you want for Christmas?
My 18-year-old son’s salvation. That’s the main thing… everything else is pretty far behind after that.

22. Do you attend an annual Christmas party?
We usually host one for all the kids and their boyfriend/girlfriends/spouses/kids…

23. Do you dress up for Christmas Eve or wear PJ’s?
Jammies!

24. Do you own a Santa hat?
No.

25. Who do you normally spend Christmas with?
Family.

Tag, you’re it! I’d love to read what any of you post if you use this meme. So leave me a comment and I’ll come see what the holidays are like for you!

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As many of you know, I am in the Tampa Bay, FL area.  I have often commented on the blog and in life that Florida is a terrible state for kids, particularly at-risk kids.

With the reports today of the likely discovery of the body of Caylee Anthony, a 3-year-old girl who has been missing from the Orlando area since June, I just ache.  This gruesome discovery is probably that precious girl according to local news reports.  Even if it isn’t her, someone killed and threw out like so much trash a beautiful baby, a literal child of God.  Found in a plastic bag thrown in an area of heavy brush near a retention pond approximately a mile and a half from Caylee’s home. I don’t understand, I can’t comprehend that evil.

Sounds a lot like the way the adorable Jessica Lunsford was buried.

Or the way 5-month old Sabrina Aisenberg disappeared from my neighborhood 11 years ago.

This hurts so much, that this evil can exist in our world, particularly directed to innocent children, that I barely know how to pray.  During my super-quiet time, the only time I can be certain I’m not interrupted except for a genuine emergency, I figured it out.  I know all the murdered babies are in Heaven at peace and safe with the Father.  I do pray that they didn’t suffer.  I pray that the missing babies are safe somewhere, being loved.  I pray that the families of all of these kids find some kind of peace somehow (I know how, through the Father.)   And this is the hard one, but I think as Christians we have to find it in us to do it, I pray that the people who are able to commit these horrific and heinous acts find salvation through Jesus Christ.

This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. 1 Timothy 1:15

And, as my heart aches over all the hurt and pain and evil being worked in the world, I try to find it in me to remember that all over this nation and even the world, there seems to be an awakening, a knowledge that something is missing  and that something is Christ. And I praise God for that even as my heart begins a quiet little prayer: Come, Jesus.

So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation. Hebrews 9:28

Sabrina Aisenberg

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Today’s Thankful Thursday post will be my last at the A Journey In Faith URL. Please note that if you read A Journey In Faith through a reader, you need to grab the feed here at Apron Strings and Angst.  If you are bookmarked through ajourneyinfaith.com, please change it to Apron Strings and Angst as in your browser bar. I apologize for the inconvenience.

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It’s a new day and I feel lighter of heart and more rested in body.  Enough so that I am going to — !! gasp !! — clean my house!  Dusting, vacuuming, going through, throwing out, the whole shebang!  Now, I don’t have the energy to do the whole house but I’m gonna make a start — and I’m thrilled to pieces!!  After I do the family room, I’ll feel like we can put up our tree this evening.  I believe the Christmas tree deserves a clean place to be for the next few weeks!!  We have a local radio station that plays nothing but Christmas songs so I’ll tune that in to help make the time roll along.  If my family is very lucky, I won’t sing.

The Not-So-Big-Kid is going to be at a friend’s house this afternoon so that’s one less set of spying eyes to worry about while I try to wrap some Christmas pressies.  Those boys of mine are stealthy when they want to be!

I bought some new cookie cutters so we’re all set to do our Christmas baking once the kids get out of school.  I love to do that with them.  We pretty much skipped all of the celebration stuff last year and I so missed it.  We aren’t good cookie decorators, nothing like Sara at Be The Cake, but they sure taste good!

Oh, and my boys are both going to go with me to my church’s Christmas cantata next week! Woo hoo!

So, all in all, it is shaping up to be a family- and home-oriented Saturday which is the very best kind IMO.  Hope you are all going to have equally happy days!

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You have got to be kidding me. It’s Thursday already?  Really?  And only 3 weeks until Christmas?!?  I wanna know who stole Monday through Wednesday and I want them back.  No questions will be asked.  I need them!

My Thankful Thursday post is over at A Journey In Faith.  Word-Filled Wednesday completely got away from me!

So. I had to go to the post office on Tuesday to ship a book that Studly sold on eBay.  My own fault.  If I had had my ducks in a row — like knowing what day of the week it was, for crying out loud — I could have arranged for pick-up here at home.  Will I make that mistake again?  Yeah, probably! ;-)  The post office 3 weeks before Christmas?  Not a fun place.  Especially not fun when the lady about 10 people ahead of you gets into an argument with the postal clerk (he’s a really nice oldish man) and lets loose with a string of profanity that made even me blush (and I’ve heard it all and said most of it).  It was particularly awful because there were little children in the post office that day.  I felt bad that we had to hear it, as adults, but those kids?  Give me a break.  When one of the next people in line commented about it afterward, the postal clerk gave the swear-word lady a break and excused her saying she was obviously just having a really bad day.  Isn’t that the kind of attitude I wish I had all the time?  She behaved rudely and crudely toward him but he didn’t get angry or judge her.  Just hoped that she ended up having her day improve.  Dude!  That man seriously embodies the Christmas spirit!

Yesterday was the day to run some serious errands and knock out the Christmas shopping.  It’s going to be very light this year but light or not it still had to be done, yes?  So since my guys mostly want games, I went online to Best Buy, ordered their games and a couple of other things for other folks, and patiently waited for my confirmation that they were ready to be picked up at the store.  Confirmation came, I drove to BB (I hate BB) expecting to pick up the stuff and boogie on to the next errand.  Simple?  Not so much. When I got there, only 1/4 of the items I had actually ordered were there and ready for pickup.  FORTY-FIVE MINUTES later I was still waiting, whispering desperately under my breath (be grateful you can do Christmas at all, be grateful you can do Christmas at all) and trying to remember the graciousness of the post office guy the day before!

For those of you who, like me, are doing a homemade Christmas to some extent, visit Dana at The Homesteading Housewife.  She has a recipe for a bulk homemade cocoa mix AND homemade marshmallows!  And for your Christmas gatherings, check out Corner Cooking’s (Deanna) recipe for mock eggnog!  I usually try to stay away from the cooking blogs because they make me hungry but this time of year?  I need all the help I can get!   And I mentioned this link a while back but it bears repeating:  Gifts In A Jar.  I have done many of these and all of the ones I have done have been great!  But hurry up and buy your jars because they get hard to find at this time of year!

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And, no, I don’t mean the “barely there” footwear that Florida teens insist is a necessity of life. It’s cold here, people! This 50-degree stuff is freezing me!

My head is weird. Not physically, okay, maybe that too, but the inside. I can’t make up my mind what to do. I love doing the devotional blog but I’ve missed doing this one. And, frankly, I feel out of my depth with the devotional blog. My Christian walk still resembles a kid on his first go-round on a two-wheeler! So I don’t know how it’s going to play out. Maybe I’ll keep them separate, maybe I’ll recombine them…. I just want you to know that I appreciate you hanging in with me!

So, in the nature of catching up, my Big Kid (the 18-year-old) had a tooth extracted yesterday; the very back molar. It cracked a week or so ago while he was asleep. We never found the piece that he lost so I guess he swallowed it. Yuck. From the swallowing all the way through the … um … final disposition, just yuck! The oral surgery went well. He has had virtually no pain or swelling, woo hoo! He must have a pretty high pain threshold like me. Which is good. Because, while Studly is a super guy and many great things, he does not have a high pain threshold!

We got him all set for college other than purchasing textbooks, which we need to do pretty soon because the college bookstore will be closed for the holidays and won’t reopen until the first day of school.

The Not-So-Big Kid just turned 15 on Sunday!!! He is counting the days until he gets his learner’s permit.  I, well, let’s just say that I am not!  He came home with the news the other day that he plans to graduate from high school at 17 probably.  Same thing I did, skipping my junior year.  I advised him that, while that sounds great, if he doesn’t have a solid plan of what he wants to do as far as college he should wait the extra year.  This is the definite voice of experience.

More to tell but I’m short on time….  Catch ya later!

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