Four Christmases

So you know the movie Four Christmases? Well that is real life for us. Both mine and coach's parents are divorced so for the holidays we make four rounds. It gets a little crazy but I am not complaining because there are so many people that have no one to spend the holidays with...so I think too many people to have to visit is a blessing. I know this post is a little late but I still wanted to share a bit of our holiday season with you. We started the rounds on the 23rd at my Father in Laws house. It was so much fun, breakfast dinner, family, and presents! Unfortunately I did not get any pictures from that night because I hadn't yet received my wonderful new camera! Anyways I think someone got some pictures and hopefully at some point I can get my hands on them. After that is was off to the Mother in Laws house on the 24th. We had a blast hanging out with the nephews all day and opening presents. Then off to the grand in laws were there is always an amazing feast which includes shrimp cocktail, Chick-Fil-A nugget tray, fruit trays, and sooo much more. I don't think I actually sat down and ate I mainly just shoved all the appetizers in my mouth and then went in to a food coma only to wake up for more presents.
After that we headed back to our house to wait for Santa to make the rounds. Christmas morning I got Coach all to myself...well I did have to share with the pups, but it was a wonderful morning none the less. After our lazy Christmas morning we made our way to my Mom's and low and behold it started SNOWING! What? I know! A white Christmas in Georgia, can you believe it?
Well ok you can't really tell in this picture but I promise it is snowing!

Uh...these three men steal my heart! Especially the one on the right!

See I told you it was snowing!
Then last but not least my Dad's for Christmas dinner.
Where we had a delicious meal compliments of Mr. Blackwelder. We were also very entertained by the XBox Kinect, watching the snow fall, and hours of the now-to-be-made-annual dance party...so fun!
Don't let the brother in laws face fool you, when the cameras were down the boys hammed it up, they just didn't want to get blackmailed I guess!

So there it is, our tale of Four Christmases. I hope your Christmas was just as wonderful as ours! We are so blessed to have such wonderful family members to spend it with!

Christmas Craft

I love crafts and projects, really I do! I feel so accomplished after they are done and my favorite is seeing something at a store and emulating it for 70% less than you would have paid for it in the store! My sister says the word craft makes her throw up in her mouth a little so I guess not everyone is like this, but if you like crafts you should try this one for Christmas. My friend told me about it and she tried it first- nice to have guinea pig friends, just kidding! Anyways hers turned out so good I had to do it for myself! Basically how you start is with a styrofoam cone (any size) I think mine was 10" tall maybe. One pack of coffee filters, I bought the non-bleached natural color because the neutral color matched most of our other existing Christmas decor, but, my friend did the white and it looks amazing too. You can also soak the white filters in water that has any color food coloring in it to dye them a different color. The last few items you will need before starting is a glue gun and some scissors.

Then you just start filter by filter. I folded the filters into 4ths- I would fold once into a half moon shape and then again into pie slice shape then fold the tip add a little and a dab of glue then onto the styrofoam. You just continue around the base like this and eventually...

you will end up with this:
a coffee filter Christmas tree! So fun and such an inexpensive Christmas decoration. It took about 1 1/2 hours but I had my coffee in hand and a cheesy Lifetime Christmas movie on T.V. so it was time well spent for me!
I had a few more Christmas projects that I wanted to do this year as well, but it's a little late in the season now so they might just have to wait until next year. I am looking forward to having some time off and doing some DIY projects around the house-of course I will update the blog if I end up getting around to them.

Christmas music yay or nay?

Let me just tell you how much I love Christmas music...a lot! I don't know if it is because of the actual music, the fact that I only get to hear it one month out of the year, or the fact that it drives coach crazy by the time the first week of December is over, but I sure do love it! Makes me wanna bake some cookies and string popcorn- did your family do the popcorn garland thing? Mine didn't and I have to tell you, I am not sure I really get it! Putting popcorn on a string and then hanging it on your Christmas tree? Weird, right? If someone knows how or why this became a Christmas tradition please enlighten me!
Happy Christmas music listening! Mariah Carey's Christmas album will always be #1 in my heart!

June 29th...That's not good!

So I am finally back on my blog for the first time in forever, June 29th to be exact...that's not very good blogging huh? In my defense...the Mr. and I have been so busy we are just trying to keep our heads above water right now. All positive things but a lot of positive things at one time doesn't leave very much of that...time! Anyways I am going to start getting back on the blogging train today with a little family update cliff notes style!
Mr. and I both got new wonderful jobs, we have moved to a house in Cumming, we are part of an amazing small group, Mr. got a position coaching high school basketball which he loves (and from now on I will refer to him as coach-which he doesn't love this so much, but I do so the name stays!) oh and now it's back to Christmas time again, anyone know when that happened?

There is the cliff notes version of our life since my last post! Stay tuned for just a few of the 345,654,980 random thoughts that fill my mind daily... I know you will be waiting on pins and needles for the next post!

The Name Game

Ok so I know I am not the only one who has been out some where, heard a mom call her son or daughter and think really? You named your kid that? Well let me tell you about the name that I heard at the park today. A cute little girl was named....Oralee! Really? Really? Who does that! Now, don't get me wrong for those of you who know me well you know that a) I LOVE different and a bit unique names and b) I am a southern girl born and raised so naturally I am a huge fan of slapping a -lee -ann -kate or -beth on the end of almost anything, except Ora! I mean can you just imagine this with MY last name? Ha! Anyways, just thought I would share...and I would love to hear some of the "really?" names that you have heard lately!

Night of Worship

Mr. and I, along with our entire small group went to a night of worship and communion last night at our church, North Point. It was so amazing. The music was great, the fellowship was even better, and the overall experience was so neat. Just to see that many people with hands in the air worshipping our Lord will give anyone goosebumps. Not to mention there were two little girls (prob. around the age of 8 or 9) standing next to us in the aisle of the church singing their little (off key and out of tune) hearts out to Jesus....talk about a tear-jerker! I can't help but to imagine that the Lord was just smiling down on that place the entire night. It was a night that was very much needed and I can't wait for the next one!

Favorite song of the night:

He is jealous for me,

Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,

Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.

When all of a sudden,

I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,

And I realize just how beautiful you are,

And how great your affections are for me.

And oh, how He loves us so,

Oh how He loves us,

How He loves us all

Yeah, He loves us,

Oh! how He loves us,

Oh! how He loves us,

Oh! how He loves.

We are His portion and He is our prize,

Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,

If grace is an ocean, we are all sinking.

And Heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss,

And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,

I don't have time to maintain these regrets,

When I think about, the way

He loves us,

Oh! How He loves us!

"He COULDN'T love us MORE, and He WON'T love us LESS." -Andy Stanley

What does it mean to seek the Lord?

Just read an article by John Piper about seeking the Lord and it really got me thinking about myself and if I am truly seeking the Lord so, thought I would share:

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/TasteAndSee/ByDate/2009/4163_What_Does_It_Mean_to_Seek_the_Lord/