Announcement

Hey everybody!  

First off, I wanted to say . . . MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Secondly, thanks for being patient with me as I skipped the last two Tuesdays of blogging.  (like I've said before: life happens!) :)

Thirdly, I've got an announcement to make concerning this blog:

Since last....let me see...was it March???  I've been trying to keep up with blogging once a week on Tuesdays which has been super good for me, but now with 2014 coming on, graduation coming up, and more school/work/life to do, I'm gunna have to say goodbye to 

Thanks to all of you faithful 'Keep Calm and Tuesday On' readers, and for all of your awesome comments!  

Loves to you all, and God bless!

I'll talk to ya again soon!

Hannah

My Christmas To Do list

(almost) 2 weeks until Christmas, and still no snow!  :(  

Oh well!  In the foothills, we kinda live in a pocket to where we can see the whiteness covers the mountains, but never (ever) get any ourselves...

Anyways.  

Here is my to do list for the rest of the season:

BAKE! BAKE! BAKE!

Lady Fingers, Cheese Pennies, Sausage Balls, Reese's Cups, cookies....yup.  I'm gunna be busy, and the house is going to smell goooooood!

SCHOOL

Ugh.  gotta finish it up by this Friday....(maybe...I can't find a testing center near me that administers Dantes tests!! HELP!)

DECORATE

Deck the halls with LOTS of boughs of holly (and evergreen :)

CHRISTMAS SHOP

We are doing a new thing this year:

Everyone draws a name from a hat (or cheap plastic cup) and whoever's name we get, we make or buy presents for.  I drew Ben's name this time, so I've gotta figure out what to get him.  I really like the idea of filling a big bag with boyish odds and ends, and what's nice is that stores generally carry a bunch of little doodads that an 11 year old would love ;)

BALLET

Guess what's coming up tomorrow evening in Asheville?!?!  THE MOSCOW BALLET is performing the NUTCRACKER!!!  I've never been to a real ballet before, so I'm super stoked about this thing!  

So much to do, and yet I still managed to get sick with a sore throat and fever yesterday :(

Oh well, I'm sure I'll be better by tomorrow night....I don't think anything could keep me away from the Nutcracker
;D

Gearing up for the Holidays

Being on Thanksgiving break has afforded me the opportunity to blog a bit earlier today...so nice :)  

**

I've got a question; what kind of feeling do you get when you see this picture?

I know for me, it brings a nostalgic feeling that reminds me of cinnamon, warmth, jingle bells, Christmas songs, red and green, hot chocolate, snow, sitting by the fire in my pajamas reading a book, and the smell of Christmas trees. 

I don't know what it is, but this year I just absolutely can not wait for the whole Christmas season to start.  

Actually, I take that back....I think I do know why.  Over the last 2 years or so, amidst all of the craziness, God became a reality for me, and you know what is crazy?  After thinking (and I mean really thinking) about whether I believed what I said I believed or not, I came to realize that for the longest time, I had been riding on my parent's beliefs and not making them my own.  Yes, I knew all of the right answers to the Shorter Catechism, and Bible stories, but I think that's all they were to me; just stories.  Ya know, that word, stories, can get to you after a while - you can almost start to think of truths as fables.  I did without even realizing it.  

Well, I had always heard that at some point in your walk with Christ, you would have this moment when you come to a crossroads that made you decide to either follow Him fully, or follow the world. 

I guess I was expecting a huge defining life crisis that would bring me to this point, but that's not what happened with me.  

It really has been a gradual process within the past 2 years that God has been super kind in taking me through.  It's a cool thing to be able to say:

"I am not the same person that I was even 2 months ago."

He continues to sanctify me daily (and let me clarify something.  None of this is because of anything that I've done....it's God waking up my dead heart!)

and so that is (the long version :) why I think that I am looking forward to Christmas this year more than ever before.  I believe that I am finally beginning to understand and be thankful for the this season of celebrating Christ's birth.  

Oh!  Haha.  Why am I talking about Christmas, when Thanksgiving hasn't even come yet!?!  (some of my family members would shoot me....NO Christmas until after Thanksgiving type of thing....)

SO, I want to end this post with Thanksgiving.  I've got a huge list of things that I'm thankful for, 10 of which I'll list here:

1. Salvation

2. My family 

3. That group of guys from our Church who came over this past weekend to help us work on our basement

4. Christmas

5. My new iPhone that I got for 99¢ (whoohoo!)

6. All of the family that will be coming over for Thanksgiving (can't wait guys!)

7. Cozy, icy, gray weather like this

8. Friends

9. The chance to relax and think about plans for the future

10. The fact that I have never been in any REAL need of anything.  

In America, we are blessed more than I think we'll ever know or truly realize.  

What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving?

Things I've been enjoying since we talked last...

Wow!  I haven't blogged in almost 2 months!  It seems just like yesterday that I was signing on here to tell you guys that I would see you next year...well, it's almost a whole month into 2013, and so much has happened in that time!  I really did mean to write way before now, but I've been super sick with cold sores all over my mouth (can't even open my mouth right now) and haven't felt up to doing just about anything for a while....you know how that goes...

~

Well, first off, {and probably the thing that made our Christmas so special} Cally had 6 puppies.....6!!!  How so many pups could fit inside that tiny dog; I'll never know...}

We still have yet to find out what kind of mix they are, but most of them are super fluffy.  

Now they are 6 weeks old, and keep me awake all night :)

We decided to keep this guy - Toby  :)  such a chunk!

~

For Christmas, most of the cousins and relatives on Mom's side joined us at our house - 21 people and 10 dogs (including the pups)  -a houseful, but big crowds of family are always awesome.

~Sisters~

~Laughter~

~

Dancing to Feliz Navidad before exchanging gifts on Christmas morn - made a great memory

~

Listening to my Grandfather read about Christ's birth - a long standing tradition on both Mom and Dad's side of the family

~

Getting awesome gifts like.....M&Ms and snugly blankets!!!

So beautiful  :D

CRAZY cousins

~
Oh, and of course all the boys had to wrestle it out on the trampoline later on...

~
Christmas time is always a whirlwind here, but I love it how Christ is at the center of everything that goes on throughout the day.

~

After Christmas, a couple of Caelen's friends came to spend the week with us.... definitely a highlight :D

...{why can't we ever seem to do "normal friendish" things...}

~

Last but not least, I've asked for another little sister for Christmas next year.  Whatcha think?  I personally think she would fit in just swimmingly  :D

Love to you all, and hopefully I'll talk to ya sooooon!

~Hannah

What I'm enjoying this Christmas

I'm sorry to say it, but this is probably going to be the last post that I do in 2012.  ...Gonna catch up on some quality family time for the rest of the month, if you know what I mean :)

BUT!  I do intend to leave the year with a longer-than-usual blog post.  

~

Let me just start out by saying how much I have thoroughly enjoyed listening to Christmas music on Pandora  

There is nothing quite like Bing Crosby singing 'Winter Wonder Land', or Nat King Cole with 'The Christmas Song'.  

I've enjoyed the cozy fires down in the cold basement while watching Christmas movies with the fam (favorites being Polar Express, Rudolph, Narnia, It's a Wonderful Life, and all of the other awesome Christmas movie classics)

It was a total blast Christmas Caroling with some of the kids in our church...you could tell that it really touched a lot of the people who we sang to.

...

Aaakkk!  I can't concentrate on what I'm writing because of the 'Mr. Grinch' song that is playing in the background! ...oh well, I love the song ...hang on a sec, I'm going to finish listening really quickly... :D

~

Ok, I'm back.  Speaking of more music, listening to Michael Bublé's Christmas CD early this morning on my way up to Boone was so nice.  
{Although ...while his Christmas CD is super, I can't speak for the rest of his albums :) }

I had to take a test up at Appalachian State this morning...not the most fun way to spend a Friday in December, but hey!  At least it's over now...and I passed!!!  Yeah!!

Thankfully Caelen was up there taking one at the same time as me (...she passed as well)

Soo happy  :)

The trip up is always a treat just because you get to pass about 10 different Christmas tree farms on the way.   

{getting a decent looking picture out of the window of a fast moving car is kinda difficult..}

It's been so fun seeing Calcium Bicarbonate (our dog...with the ultimate dog name) grow great with pup ;)  Any day now she's gonna have little Christmas puppies!!!

I tried out this cool DIY Christmas decoration project to put on my dresser - so cute!! 

*Just glue miniature Christmas trees to the lid of a clear mason jar (you can the mini trees at craft stores...I stole mine from our miniature Christmas village :)

*Then sprinkle large salt crystals or sugar onto the lid, and screw it onto the jar

Cute, huh?

Cracking up at this Christmas song . . . Nate and I sung it at a talent show one year...very memorable talent show...  :P

Alright, alright . . . I better go now.  Time to finish decorating the Christmas tree... {I just secretly put the first red ball up...it's always a contest between us kids to see who will put the first ornament on the tree :P }

{I won}

Merry Christmas everybody!  I'll see ya next year!

Insight on the World Today . . . A letter

A friend shared this letter with me this morning, and I thought that it was very insightful ... and very true.  Just thought I would return the favor and share it with all of you guys:

Take a second to read this:

Apparently the White House referred to Christmas Trees as “Holiday Trees” for the first time this year which prompted CBS presenter, Ben Stein, to present this piece which I would like to share with you. I think it applies just as much to many countries as it does to America . . .

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary.

My confession:

I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejewelled trees, Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are, Christmas trees.

It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, “Merry Christmas” to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a crib, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from, that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren't allowed to worship God? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.

Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her: “How could God let something like this happen?” (regarding Hurricane Katrina). Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said: “I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?”

In light of recent events... terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbour as yourself. And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave, because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said okay.

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.'

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing yet?

When I clicked "log in" to blogger, I had absolutely no idea what to write about, but I just knew that I had to write something....well, I still don't know what I'm going to write about, but I'm sure there are plenty of topics to choose from....say...Oh!  Did you know they are already playing Christmas music on the radio???  (I personally think that it is still too early...but, whatever) Just going into Walmart gives me a wave of nostalgia, but I keep pounding into my head, "wait until after Thanksgiving".... it's not working...

~

Ok...this picture might give some people nightmares for 6 months, but I've found that if you don't put at least one picture in your blog post, most people just skip over the whole post entirely, so...I thought this pict was enough to make people at least somewhat curious about clicking it  :D

{Don't worry, this isn't a real picture}

~

The other day, I was talking with a friend about her many speeches that she had to perform the next day, and she couldn't think of another word for "a whole bunch of something", so I interjected, "A retina of speeches?"...she just looked at me kind of weirdly and then started to laugh .....
Later that night (after much puzzling over), I sat up in bed and laughed at myself..."Plethora!" ....  I had meant to say, "you had a whole plethora of speeches", but instead I said, "you have a whole retina..." ...anyways... I tend to do that a lot more than I used to for some reason...

{ :D  } 

~

Out with the old and in with the new ... year! Happy 2012!!

It is a brand new, exciting year that I just can't wait to dive into!!!  It'v been thinking about doing a {somewhat} brief overview of the life I lived in 2011 and of all of the things that God taught me throughout the year....It has taken me forever to write it all out and post it so I hope that it turns out the way I want it to sound :)

Let me see, I started out the year of 2011 by toasting 12:00 am with a small glass of Welsh's sparkling grape juice (which is THE BEST), just like I did this year.  I'm pretty sure that I made some goals for the year, I just can't find them now :)

On February 23, I turned 15, and for my birthday, Mom and Dad took me up into Banner Elk NC to a sweet little condo to spend the weekend in ...                                                                            
{Picture from google}

In the spring, Dad took us girls to the Father Daughter Retreat for the first time, and Caelen and I traveled to  Pueblo, CO to visit our cousins and attend some of their graduations.  The Havers, Woods and Cookes are always super fun.





In the beginning of Summer, the annual Apologia picnic rolled around and although my teammate and I didn't win the Cornhole tournament, (we didn't even come close to winning for that matter) we still had a blast!  Virtually the next day after the picnic, it was off to Richmond VA for my very first Apologia Home school conference with mom, Savannah Anne, and her mom, Mrs. Rachel Carman.  It was such a successful trip, and I learned sooo much about manning the booths, working the cash register, and got so many awesome opportunities to talk to people and answer their questions.  I ended up working at one more conference in Atlanta Georgia by the end of the summer.

In August, our family visited Danville, VA (our old dwelling place .... and no, contrary to what some people might think, we do not  have heavy southern accents. :D  )  and had a grand reunion with some of our friends who we left behind when we moved back in 2006.

We also took our annual beach trip with Dad's family.  Unfortunately, hurricane Irene blew us out of our vacation a few days early which was kind of disappointing, but we still managed to have loads of fun while it lasted :)

Sometime this past Fall, we joined Burke Community Bible Church, and I can honestly say that I have grown spiritually in many different ways since we joined.  Our church has been a HUGE blessing to me and my fam over these past few months.  

Thanksgiving came, then flew right by, and December was thrown on us unexpectedly!  I enjoyed taking 'Cookies in a Jar' to all of the neighbors, watching our favorite old Christmas movies, baking holiday goodies, visiting the coffee shop, going to Grovepark Inn to look at gingerbread houses two days in a row :), then admiring the gigantic Christmas tree (that I sadly couldn't take pictures of) in the Biltmore house with tickets that my Granddaddy won!!!!!
Christmas day was a blast, but it flew by too fast!

To say the least, 2011 was an awesome year, brimful of things that I have never tried before and of old traditions that were just as exciting as when we first started them ... ok ....that sounded strangely eloquent.  :P

God has taught me (and is still working with me on it) to give everything to him; namely my disappointments.  ever since I can remember, disappointment = a slight meltdown.  In other words, dealing with disappointment of any kind was not a strong point for me.  This past year, the Lord has been patiently working through this with me, and I have been more at peace and able to be more joyful because of it.  Also, after a good (long) talk with my precious mother :D , I realized just how much I was  a 'people-pleaser' . . . . to the point where my desire to make sure that everyone was happy and satisfied almost ruled my life.  Being able to let the Lord handle everyone else's problems instead of me trying to fix everything, gave me a freedom that I hadn't felt in a VERY long time.

Looking back over all I've accomplished and at everything that the Lord has accomplished in me, makes me very thankful and excited about 2012.  Happy New Year Everyone!!!!

Psssst....Oh!  And by the way .... One of our family's biggest accomplishments was  . . . *dramatic pause* . . . the discovery of the best Mexican restaurant in the world!  'LA SALSAS'!!!!

. . . Of course I'm only joking, but hey!  It is the best ever!  ;) 

Christmas is finally here!!!!

Merry Christmas everyone!  I hope you enjoy this beautiful Sunday and fill it with as many wonderful memories as you can!  :)

Luke 2:10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.

Luke 2:11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

Luke 2:14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” 

Luke 2:15-16 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. 

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

My hectic day!

Christmas is just around the corner!  Only 10 days, 5 hours, and 27 minutes!!!  

It was quite a busy day for me, that's for sure! 

This morning, I woke up to Caelen trying to make Tyner (our dog) jump onto my bed to lick my face . . . not the most welcoming feeling to start the day on, but she made up for it by hopping into bed with me and giggling until 8:00.  Then we both had our devotions together and tramped upstairs for some cereal and family devotions with mom.  After that, us girls were sent off on errands to Tractor Supply, 'Do it Best' hardware store, and then to the Chiropractor for an adjustment (I'm sooo glad I wasn't the one on the table this time :) 

At Tractor Supply, Caelen got Dad his favorite candy, caramel creams, to put in his stocking . . . It took some major self control not to break into those things!!!

Downtown Marion is absolutely beautiful at Christmas time, so we drove on through and looked at all of the decorations that are probably ages old by now . . . but still in great shape!

When we got home, Mom was going into her "office" to teach her Apologia classes, so we had to be super quiet for a couple of hours (fine for us older kids, but for Ben . . . that's a different story)  

For lunch, I made a pot of plain pasta for everybody and then sneaked off to put milk, the last of the cheese and some butter in mine.  As soon as Caelen saw my mac 'n' cheese, she asked for a bite, then another one, and then Nate asked for two bites too!  Oh well, I guess it's what I get for taking the last bit of shredded cheese.  

When Mom got out of class, she (somehow) got us all into the car and flew to our grandparent's house 5 minutes away to help Grammy clean up her back room.  

While Caelen, Nate, and me were going through the toys in one of the closets, we found a big, black Frisbee!!!   We have been looking everywhere for one of those, but even our new Walmart doesn't have them anywhere!  Finally, we had the Frisbee of our dreams right in our grasps!  It flew perfectly until . . . I threw it too hard and it landed high up on the roof . . . ya, no fun!

Now we are back home and I am writing this post while Mom makes Chicken and Dumplings!  Yum!!!  I hope everybody else enjoys their supper as much as I am going to enjoy mine :)

Love,

Hannah.

Oh ya, I told Caelen that the next favorite Christmas movie I would post would be 'Its a Wonderful Life'.

{Picture from google}

Favorite Quote: "Ha, ha, ha, ha! My mouth's bleeding, Bert! My mouth's bleeding!" 

13 Days!!!

Yeah!  We started to sing Christmas songs in church today!!!  They had a great combination of 'Joy to the World' and 'Rise' -Big Daddy Weave, that was really good, but I must say that 'In Christ Alone' almost made me cry.  Already knowing the words to the song made it so much easier to look away from the lyrics screen and be able to think about who and what I am singing about.  I know that I can kind of get all caught up in the music and never even think about the meaningful lyrics to the song that I am singing . . . it is just too easy to do, but I think that going into worship with a foreknowledge of all the words just helps me to listen to what I am saying to my heavenly father.  To say the least, I had a very sweet time in worship this morning.
~
Yet another Christmas recipe that always appears during the month of December is Lady Finger Cookies.  Dad's Mom always makes them when we go over to her house for Christmas and they are usually gone within the first hour of our arrival . . . ok, that's questionable . . . but you get the point.  They are super good!!!  Here is the recipe for goodness!  Happy baking!

Nutty Fingers

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 5 Tablespoons of  powdered sugar
• 2 cups plain flour
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/2 – 1 cup chopped pecans

Mix all the ingredients together.  Shape into small balls or fingers.  Place on a cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until lightly browned.  Roll in powdered sugar.  After cooled roll in sugar again.

I can tell you these are not going to last very long on the cooling rack.  

{Picture from google}

When the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Chronicles of Narnia) came out in December, Mom and Dad took Caelen and I to see it on Christmas Eve.  From then on, it became one of our family Christmas movies.  NOT the BBC version you understand!  (though we do like watching that one just to make fun of it :)

VS

Hahaha :)

You've got to love it!!!
Favorite Quote: (*from the new one*) "It is finished." ~ and ~  "I'm cranky now!"
Favorite Quote: (*from the old BBC one*) Mrs. Beaver {who sits in her huge fluffy trash bag of a costume} : "I don't suppose the sewing machine is too heavy to take?"

*************
Only 13 days, 9 hours, and 15 minutes until Christmas!!!!