New Year's Eve

We celebrated New Year's Eve this year by spending the afternoon with friends.    We ate dinner, watched a couple of productions made up by the kids and headed out.   On the way home my daughter reminded us that we let her stay up until 11 pm and watch the ball drop in NYC last year.   We are planning that again this year, if they don't get sent to bed early for misbehavior.  They are currently playing with some mini remote control cars a friend gave them.  

I am doing a quick blog post and then I'm off to finish a suitcase fix I started.   Next, I am going to pack my daughter's clothes.  Our suitcase started to come apart at one of the zipper seams.   I pulled out my heavy duty thread and sewed it back closed by hand.  Next, I have to retack some fabric that covers it.   The suitcase was ususable, so it was nice to fix it instead of having to buy a new one.  

I downloaded my pictures from Christmas and I had to share a couple.   For Christmas breakfast my sister-in-law gave the kids "Happy Birthday Jesus" cupcakes.   We sang Happy Birthday to Jesus.   They loved it.   A new tradition is born!

I also took this picture of my nephew.   I really liked it and I bet his mama will too.

Happy New Year!

“This is what the LORD says— he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”       

Isaiah 43: 16, 18-19

Back From Christmas in Alabama

On Monday we drove back to Texas from Alabama.   It took us 13 hours.   We can usually do it in 12 1/2, but we had the misfortune of weather and stopped traffic to slow us down.   We left at 5:15 am from my in-laws's house.   I asked them to pray for us as it was pretty foggy.   We had no fog once we left their town.   We had no rain all the way to the Alabama/Mississippi line.   Then, it started raining, a lot!   A few times I couldn't hear the radio because the rain was coming down so hard!   We encountered an overturned chicken truck in Mississippi.   Unfortunately, it looked like most of the chickens were killed in the accident.   I've seen chicken trucks before and the chickens are packed very tightly.   These chickens were thrown around inside the cages and arranged in unnatural positions.   Moving right along...next, we narrowly missed being in a chain reaction accident.   I'm glad I decided I was not going to join the nutcases in the left lane tailgating each other in the rain.   I moseyed along in the right line.   The accident happened about 5 cars in front of me in the left lane while I was in the right lane.   God is good.   We got down to Louisiana and there were three accidents in the span of one mile.   It rained again in Louisiana so hard I could hardly see to drive.   We finally got to Texas in time to see the rain clear and the sun set.   We rolled into our driveway at 6:15 pm with two happy meals from McDonald's and some tacos from Jack in the Box.  We unloaded the truck and went to bed.  

Yesterday, I started unpacking and sorting through the mail.   I love reading all the Christmas cards we get each year.   I haven't done a Christmas card in several years out of shear lack of time.  Those of you who send them to us please know we enjoy them!  We also started homeschooling again yesterday.   Since we took two weeks off at Thanksgiving to drive home from L.A., I felt we needed to get started again.  

Today, my daughter and I had appointments for our flu shots.  My arm is pretty sore, but I am glad to have it over.   I also had coffee with my sweet Grandmother today.   Today, we also found out the shooting schedule for a movie my daughter booked recently.   I originally thought it was a SAG short film, but it turns out that it is a SAG full length film.   We have to be back in L.A. by Friday, Jan. 6th.   We are leaving Tuesday to head back out and plan to stay all of pilot season.  My unpacking has turned into repacking.  I have to take a variety of clothes for my daughter.   My son and I will take some clothes.  My husband will bring out clothes to change things up when he comes on weekends to visit.   I also need to take down my Christmas decorations.   I'd planned to leave them up most of January to enjoy them since I was gone most of December, but I need to take them down.  Otherwise they will be up until May!   I've also booked play dates with besties and doctor's appointments.    Things certainly got interesting quick!

Last fall, I didn't take any crafty type stuff to L.A. and it nearly drove me crazy.   I read A LOT of books.   I am trying to figure out how I can either get some of my scrapbooking stuff in the car or my sewing machine.   We were pretty tight on space in the Fall, but I have a better handle on what I do and do not need.   Our apartment is furnished, so that is a bonus.  The kids like to take some toys, so I am working on getting those into smaller containers.   I brought out a big tub of Legos out this Fall and the kids loved playing with them.   I found this in a junk store in Alabama.   It was also full of Legos, which I prompted cleaned. 

It holds a ton of Legos and is much smaller.   I think I am going to fill plastic shoe boxes with the other items the kids want and save some space.   I am debating taking my crock pot.   Sometimes days are so crazy with auditions that I don't have time to cook.   On those days, I can just throw the stuff in the crock pot and have dinner when I get home.   It will save us money on running to pick something up because it is 7:30 at night and we are starving!   I am in packing mode and trying to think of everything.  

I did come home from Alabama with another fun storage container.  I've had my father-in-law looking for library card catalogues in the various junk stores he visits.   He found four of these:

They are wood and have Lillian Veron stamped on the back.  He stacked them and connected them together. 

Introducing my new storage for Legos:

Sorted by color

Yes, it is an organization loving chick's dream.  
He also got some card catalogue drawers from the library in town that is renovating.   I'll post a picture of those in May when I have time to do something with them!

The blog may be quiet for a few days while I try to build Rome in a day.   I have a friend who blogs over here and I love that she ends every post with a scripture.   I'm stealing her idea.  

"There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens"

Ecclesiastes 3:1

All I Want For Christmas...

My daughter is now the toothless wonder.   She lost her first top tooth right before Thanksgiving.   Last night she woke up at FOUR A.M!   She wiggled it with her tongue and when she closed her mouth it was not there.   She found it inside her cheek.   Of course, she woke my husband and I up to tell us.  She wasn't able to go back to sleep until 6:00.   She is so excited to loose both front teeth before Christmas.   She has been dying to sing, "All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth."   She sang it for us today several times.   Tonight is an exciting night she gets a visit from the Tooth Fairy and Santa.   Do you think they will carpool?  

Truly, my husband and I are those crazy families that don't do Santa.   The gifts come from Mama and Daddy.   We try to keep the focus on Jesus.   We give our kids three gifts, it was good enough for Jesus, good enough for us.   Honestly, our families enjoy gift giving, so our kids want for nothing.  My daughter also knows we are the tooth fairy, but she wants the money.   She is always saving for something she wants.  Pretending there is a tooth fairy another way to raise capital.  After her bottom teeth fell out, she asked for the tooth back six months later to look at it.  I grinned and told her the tooth fairy took it.   That elicited quite a look!

On this Christmas Eve the kids are in bed snoozing.   We enjoyed a beautiful Christmas Eve service earlier this afternoon.   We had dinner, made sugar cookies, had a bonfire, put on Christmas jammies and went to bed.   Of course before bed we had to have a picture of the cousins.

I love the Christmas story.   I will leave you with my favorite part.  This is the NIV version from www.biblegateway.com

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
¹³ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
¹⁵ 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.”
¹⁶ So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. ¹⁷ When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, ¹⁸ and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. ¹⁹ But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰ The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Book Review: Not By Might

Not By Might by Al Lacy jumps into the story without much introduction.  It is a novel of historical fiction set in the Old West circa 1860’s.   It was a little hard to get into this book.  After the first 50 pages, I found the story very engaging.   The author takes the opportunity to explain faith in Jesus twice.   There is also scripture used as encouragement to the characters in the story.   The romance in this book is sometimes almost sugary sweet, but always chaste.   I was surprised the author was a man.  This book is the 8^th in a series, but can easily stand alone.  

The reader could feel one of too ways about this book.   There is a lot of prosthelytizing in the book.   I did not mind it.   Depending on the reader’s faith they could be either encouraged or turned off by it.   The doctrine put forth in the book is biblically accurate.   While I typically don’t read western novels, I would read another book by this author. 

I received this book for the purposes of review from Multnomah Waterbrook Publishers.   All opinions expressed are my own.

Blog Been a bit Sparse Huh?

This Fall I spent in Southern California with the kids.   My daughter is a pretty good actress, so we are giving her the opportunity to pursue it and see what happens.  In the three months she was in L.A., I felt she accomplished a lot.   She did 14 different projects.   Will you see her on TV in the next few months?   The answer is, maybe, if one of the Doritos commercials she was in wins the Superbowl contest.  She is just getting started so she worked on a lot of student films or short films.  

So how did this happen?   Her Houston acting coach mentioned to us several times that we should take her to L.A. for a couple of months and see how it went with her.   My husband and I dismissed the idea as one for crazy people.   My daughter took a class in Houston this summer with an L.A. coach.  She also said that my daughter was good enough to try episodic season in L.A., get an agent...and the like.    We prayed about this for two weeks and then took the leap.   The kids and I left the last week in August for L.A. and stayed until Thanksgiving.   My husband came out every other weekend and Skyped daily.    In the first month, we found an agent and manager.   I homeschooled the kids.  I also to know all the ways to avoid some of the L.A. traffic, while shuttling my daughter to various auditions, callbacks, and bookings.   I managed our time, my husband managed the job submissions for our daughter.  

The kids and I plan to go back in February for pilot season.   I am taking each season as it comes.   It is my earnest goal in all of this to stay grounded.   We are doing it because she enjoys it and is good at it.   Once it is no longer fun, we will no longer do it.  I am not tying any of me to this because it is not about me, it is about her.   For example, I don't post on my Facebook page what she is doing.   It is her life, not mine.   I am just trying to support her.    My husband manages a Twitter account for her as a professional courtesy to agent and manager.  

My craftiness ground to a halt at the end of August because the sewing machine just wouldn't fit in the car!   This is the first Christmas I was mostly done with shopping before December 1st, because I did it all in L.A.  I nurtured my crafty side by pinning my hearts content on Pinterest.   This week, I am working on two more sock monkeys I am giving as Christmas gifts.   I am also finishing some letters to go above the kids art wall at home.   After Christmas, I hope to complete some projects before we return to L.A.

 I discovered the Fashion District in L.A.   Oh my goodness....for my Houston friends it is blocks and blocks of Harwin, plus more than just knock off merchandise.   There are several blocks of fabric sellers.   I bought minky fabric to make into something for the kids.   They think they want blankets, I am thinking giant floor pillows.   Yellow ruffled fabric found its way into my possession to make a dress for my daughter and to make some ruffled scarves.   My curly hair has been screaming for a silk pillow case, so I found some beautiful purple/gray silk.  I also got some great fabric for a pencil skirt I've been dreaming to make.   I love going to the fabric market and have to restrain myself.  Another find was the FIDM scholarship store.   It is a fun place to go that is hit or miss.   I enjoyed shopping their fabric stacks.   I got some cute knits for $2 a yard from a 60" bolt.   Deal!   They had cute organic cotton t-shirts for $5 that I could not pass up.

People keep asking me if I want to move to L.A.   The answer is, not really.   The 24/7 traffic can get really old, really quick.   While the weather is gorgeous, we have family in Texas.    Real estate here is just as crazy as NYC.  I would rather not give up my house for a postage stamp sized apartment.  I found a church here that is great, but I still love my church home in Houston more.  

So starting in February if the blog becomes sparse again, you can bet I am sitting in traffic somewhere in Hollywood or on the 405 coming back from Santa Monica.   Until then, I'll try to keep you entertained with my random blog posts.    

Book Review: His Mighty Warrior by Sheri Rose Shepherd

This book is a gift type book that includes a “letter” from God, a scripture and a prayer.  His Might Warrior by Sheri Rose Shepherd is written for boys using a pirate theme.   The cover and illustrations are very cute.   I expected a picture book that tells a story.   Each set of pages is an individual letter that encourages a boy in biblical character trait.   At first, I was not sure what to do with the book.  As I read it, I realized that this would make a very nice devotional book for boys age 5-8.   I could see myself reading a letter each day with my son.   It could be a springboard for talking about a particular character trait.   The scripture could be used for scripture memorization or to enhance the devotional thought. There is a prayer that can be read as well.   

Truly, I would love to see fathers and sons read this book together.   It would give great discussion about biblical manhood.   I would recommend this as great devotion for parents and sons.  

I received this book for the purposes of review from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers.   All opinions expressed are my own.