God is Good even when Bad things are Happening!

God is really teaching me this concept. There are days that I absolutely think I am losing my mind...and it is in those moments...or maybe a few moments later...that He reminds me that He is working on me THROUGH these situations. Everytime another instance comes my way, I seem to forget that it is Him, and I end up remember about halfway through, and then I have to ask for forgiveness once again, and start again...this time doing things His way!

Ok...now that that is off my mind...on to lighter issues!

Christmas Time! The kids had an absolute BlaSt!! Shall I just do a photo blog, since a picture is way quicker than me typing a thousand words!

Olivia at her first piano recital. Luke Terry is her instructor and (L to R) Kelsie, Trevor, and Faith also are taking lessons.

Olivia performed "Ode to Joy"...such a beginner classic...and unbiasedly stated, she did a FaBuLouS job!!! Look...her feet are not even touching the floor :) How Cute!

Me and my baby...she's getting so big...~sniff~sniff~~

Elijah and Elissa went to Stephanie's and got haircuts. It was Elissa's FIRST haircut December 22, 2008. Elijah's on the other hand...just CrAzY and in desparate need of trimming!

Thanks, Ms. Stephanie...for removing the mullet and giving me a big o peppermint...so Elissa would stop crying !

Happy Birthday, Sophia! It was all about Chuck E. Cheese and Strawberry Shortcake...interesting combo!

Ride 'em, Cowgirl Sophia!!

Sophia and Tonya...her best buddy, Preston's, Mom!Yummy cake!! Side note of frustration...We ordered 3 pizzas and tons of tokens. We desired our kids to drink water, but they told us we had to buy bottled waters or sodas...they would not give us cups for tap water!! Ridiculous...knowing darn well we more than paid for those paper cups with all we had already purchased!! Anyway...that's over!

Strawberry Shortcake for the "Little Sniffer" girl. She loves smelly things...so here...smell this!

Jude drug out all these empty diaper boxes and created "Robot Man" with a special robotic arm.These are all the Buchanan cousins' kids at our Christmas Eve meal!

This is Christmas at Grandmother Noles' house.

Elissa was the cutest thing to watch open gifts...she was so excited once she figured out what it was!This was the suit Jude got from Keith's parents...he loved it and didn't ever want to take it off!

Christmas at my Dad's house. The kids were all decorating cakes that were cut into shapes that told the Christmas story...it was really a cute idea!

We got the kids a Wii!! I don't think they really understood what they had until we played it! NOW...they L-O-V-E it!

As stressful as it is to get everybody ready and there on time...for the most part...it is worth it!

I just pray that every Christmas only gets better and less stressful!

Happy Birthday, Jesus!