Happy Birthday Jesus

It is so easy to get caught up in all the stress of the holidays. It seems like this is the most stressful time of the year. Sometimes we just need to stop and remember that we celebrate this holiday because of Christ. It seems trivial, I know. And we all know why we have Christmas, but sometimes we get so caught up in everything else the season brings that we don't literally stop and praise God for sending his son to us.

Tonight we had a birthday party for Jesus. I want to start this tradition every year with Nathan to help him remember the REAL REASON for the season. Reese came over and celebrated our Savior's birth with us. We had a great time.

Here is a picture of the candles....I thought they were so cute!

Now, the cookie cake!

A few decorations.......

Then Reese came over

Getting ready to sing "happy birthday Jesus"

Singing loud!

Blowing out the candles

Nathan really enjoyed the cookie!

So did Reese.....

They had a great time!

Nathan was trying to figure out how to get his noise maker to work.

What a great way to spend the night before Christmas Eve!

Luke 2:6- 15

"While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.  An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ[a] the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about." "

Prayers

If you read my blog, you may remember about a month and a half ago I asked for prayers for a very special couple to us, Rex and Judy. Rex has a biopsy tomorrow and I am asking for prayers again. There are no words to describe how special these two are, not only to me and my family, but to everyone they meet. They have impacted our community in more ways than they could ever imagine. Please pray for Rex's body to heal quickly, so he can enjoy Christmas with his kids and grandkids. Please pray for Judy that she will be all that she needs to for Rex.  He will start his treatments in January, which will be a 3-year process. They will continue to need our prayers. Please join me as I pray for this sweet couple.

Nathan loves playing with his buddy Rex!

The Christmas Story

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)
And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David)
To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them at the inn.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them; and they were sore afraid.

And the angel said unto them, Fear not; for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.

And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

 Glory to God in the higest, and on earth, peace, good will toward men!

Prayed Up

"The LORD has heard my cry for mercy; the LORD accepts my prayer." Psalm 6:9
"I call on you, O God, for you will answer me; give ear to me and hear my prayer." Psalm 17:6


Prayer is something so simple, yet we all take it for granted. We have a direct line of communication with God, but we sometimes forget about it. Maybe we don't forget about it, but for some reason we just seem to not truly trust in the fact that He does hear our prayers. Usually it takes something bad to happen in our lives to increase our prayer life. Why is this?
Have you ever woke up and felt like for some reason that you need lots of prayer today? It is a very strange feeling. For some reason, the last few days, I have felt like this. The question is why? Why do I feel like I need more prayer on some days than others? Is God trying to tell me to  increase my prayer life? Is something about to happen that I need to be "prayed up" for?
 
I can't help but ask myself.....Why am I not prayed up all the time? That way when something happens, I am ready and armed!
 
Let's not make something bad happen in our lives to make us be "prayed up" Let's be armed and ready for anything that comes our way on any given day!
 
"The LORD detests the sacrifice of the wicked, but the prayer of the upright pleases him." Proverbs 15:8
 
"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full" Matthew 6:5
 
MAKE SURE YOU ARE "PRAYED UP!"

Thanksgiving

We had such a great holiday. I know this post is a little late, but here we go. We started the holiday off at Matthew's grandparents house in Forney. This was Nathan's first official Turkey day!

He was so cute in his turkey shirt. We always take a few pictures before we stuff our faces!

The Skinner clan!

Our family

Nathan and his cousins...Holli and Colton....Aren't they so cute!!!

Nathan and his Mimi and PaPa and Holli and Colton

Aunt Jamie bought this stuffed turkey for Nathan....it was so sweet, thanks aunt jamie...he loved it!

Granny and PaPa telling us what they are thankful for....they are such sweet people.

The rest of the group at the table

Me and Kelly hanging out outside....it was such a beautiful day!

Nathan and Colton playing in the floor...they are only 3 months apart!

We ended the night with all the cousins taking a bath together. It was precious!

It was such a great day. As you can see, we all had SO much to be thankful for. Nathan stayed the night with his cousins because Matthew had to be at work early on Friday and I had to catch all the black Friday sales. Nathan had so much fun with them. He stayed in the room with aunt kelly and uncle danny. We know he was in good hands. He loves them.

Nathan and aunt Kelly

Thanks for taking such good care of our little man! He even got to go to the Christmas tree farm with Mimi and Papa. By the look on his face, you can tell he had fun!

What a great time he had with the entire Skinner clan! Thanks to all of you!

As I mentioned earlier, I went shopping on the Friday after Thanksgiving. I know, I know, its crazy. It is a family tradition the girls in the family do every year.....we LOVE it. Here we are eating lunch...at 10:30 LOL. We were up so early that we had to eat lunch early.

Stacy and I showed up wearing the exact same shirt....great minds think(or dress) alike! We shopped for fourteen hours, needless to say, we were exhausted.

Saturday, we spent the day with my mom and dad.The boys took chritmas pictures and made ginger bread houses.

Nathan and Reese in their matching PJs

Getting ready to decorate...Nathan was so excited!

He couldn't wait to dig in!

Once he tasted the icing...it was over

Gammy and her boys

Nathan's first gingerbread house!

Is he not a cute little boy?

Saturday night we had one more Thanksgiving meal with my dads parents, Meme and Paw. The food was delicious. Nathan chewed on the chicken bone!

We played games with Reese

And then we all played in the living room floor. It was a great way to end our Thanksgiving holiday.

Like I said earlier, w had so much to be thankful for this year. We have great families! We love you all! I can't help but think of the song "count your blessings, name them one by one, count your blessings see what God has done!"God has done some wonderful things in our lives. We are so blessed and so thankful for everyone in our lives and so thankful to God for them.