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A Visit With Friends

Written by Joy
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A Visit With Friends

My best friend and her husband came to visit while they were spending Christmas in the mountains. We had the honor of taking them for a drive up to Newfound Gap in the Great Smoky Mountains 2 days before Christmas. Their 3 kids had never seen snow before and wanted to sled. We had a blast and the memories will last forever. It was so fun to capture the joy of the kids faces as they came down the hill on the sled. I know this is one Christmas they will never forget. They were snowed in at their cabin for 4 days before they had to leave to head back to FL. Rhonda, I love you and your family so much and was so glad we got to spend that short amount of time together. Can’t wait for our families to get together again!

 
 
 
 

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2010

Resolutions? Goals? 3 in 30!

Written by Joy
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Resolutions? Goals? 3 in 30!

This past week, I have seen a lot of people sharing their goals or resolutions for the new year of 2011. So, I thought I would join in and post mine. However, as I have sat here thinking about what I would like to accomplish for the new year of 2011, I wondered about what the definitions of resolution and goal were.

resolution- a decision to do something or to behave in a certain manner

goal- is an observable and measurable end result having one or more objectives to be achieved within a more or less fixed time frame

Resolution and goal are very similar. They both require a decision to be made to change a habit or to try something new in a timely manner. So, when making up my mind on what I would like to accomplish and not fail, I need to make sure that every choice I make is realistic.

With saying that, I am going to join in with Meghan and Ashley and the 3 in 30, Making Goals Realty, 3 At A Time.

I am only going to list 3 goals at this time. So each month, there will be a list of 3 different goals. They may all stay the same, or they could all be different. By the end of the year though, I am praying that I will have accomplished 36 different goals in the year of 2011. Yes, that is 3 goals per month, times 12 months!

So, let’s begin with January 2011:

1. I want to be more grounded in my faith and what I believe, so when asked, I can share my love of Jesus without wavering. So that means daily prayer and studying the word of God.

2. I want to get back into making cards. My goal is to make at least 1 card a week, whether it be for birthdays, anniversaries or just for words of encouragement.

3. To get back to a healthier lifestyle. This means, to track what I eat daily, drink more water/less caffeine, and to exercise at least 30 minutes 3 times a week.

I know they say only 3, but I wanted to add one more that I think will be very doable. So here it goes bucking the system! 😉

4. To blog more about what I believe in and to share what I love the most. That would be my love for Jesus, homeschooling my children, taking pictures of our life and sharing recipes that have been handed down from parents and grandparents.

I have so many more I could list, but these were at the top and ones I feel like could benefit myself and my family the most at the beginning of the year.

These aren’t just resolutions and goals, but the start of a journey. A journey to better myself so that I can live the life God has planned for me.

I hope you will come along on this journey with me.

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2010, 3 in 30, resolutions

Christmas Snow

Written by Joy
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Christmas Snow

We woke up to it snowing on Christmas day. It continued to snow until we had around 9-10 inches of the fluffy white stuff on the ground.  While I stayed inside (since I was sick), my hubby donned his warm clothing and went outside with the kids.  He took some awesome pictures of them playing in the snow, as well as the area around our house.
As you can tell, it was still snowing while Sammy tried to sled down the hill.  It wasn’t working out all that great,. but it didn’t stop him from rolling around in it!  He had an awesome time!

This is the view of the front of our house.  I love how Buddy was able to capture some of the snowflakes with the camera.  It just looks so peaceful to me.

The kids were determined to sled and kept trying to pack down the snow.  They eventually won that battle and enjoyed every minute of sledding down the hill.

This is a picture of the view from my back yard.  Just beautiful.  We are truly blessed to live where we do.

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2010, snow

Christmas Day

Written by Joy
Christmas Day

This Christmas was a little different for us. For the first time in the past several years, we had Christmas in our own home. It was just myself, my hubby and the 4 kids. Normally, we would travel to Florida to spend Christmas with them since we live in NC. Ours plans for this year was to stay here for Christmas and then travel to Florida the day after. Well to our surprise and a dream of mine, we woke up to snow. And did it ever snow! It kept snowing for well over 24 hours. We ended up with about 9-10 inches of snow. Not only was I excited, but the kids were as well!  The picture below was just the beginning of it.  I will post more pictures of the fun and snow later.  The only bad news about the snow is that it has delayed our trip to Florida. (well, also I have been sick and just couldn’t make the trip)

Once we all ooohed and ahhhed over the snow, the kids wanted to get on to business. (We let them go ahead and open their stockings while we were slowly getting out of bed, so we didn’t get pictures of that). I was handing out gifts while dad manned the camera this year.  One of the main gifts that the younger kids wanted was a Nintendo DS.  Well thanks to a grandparent, that wish came true!  They were so excited!

For gifts this year, I wanted to focus on things that the kids enjoy and that we could perhaps all use together.  So of course board games and cards games were a biggie!  As you can see, little one here loves her Candyland game.  Samuel (in the back) is checking out a game he got for the DS).

Samuel is really into guns and nerf, so we combined the 2 and were able to get him a nerf gun.  He has played with that thing nonstop!  Sarah was opening her Scrabble card game.  Michael was checking out the tools we got him.

We truly did have an awesome Christmas at home.  It made my heart smile when all of my children said this was the best Christmas ever.

A big shout out to my awesome hubby.  I had gotten sick the day before and was really sick during Christmas day.  In fact, I spent most of the day in bed.  My awesome hubby took care of everything, from cleaning up the mess that was made unwrapping the gifts, to cooking Christmas dinner, to taking care of everything else that was needed.  Yesterday, was the first day that I finally felt human enough to be around him and the kids.  So thank you Buddy.  I love you with all my heart.  You are an awesome husband and father!

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2010