O Holy Night!

I had intended on doing a few more posts about my favorite Christmas Carols, but the time just got away from me. I Love most Christmas songs, but their are a few that are my favorites. It is probably a tie between Silent Night and O Holy Night as my absolute favorites. It is so touching to my Heart to think of that night so long ago when our Savior was born. It truly was a Holy Night!

O Holy Night! The stars are brightly shining,

 It is the night of the dear Saviour's birth.

 Long lay the world in sin and error pining.

 Till He appeared and the Spirit felt its worth.

 A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

 Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!

 O night divine, the night when Christ was born;

O night, O Holy Night , O night divine!

 O night, O Holy Night , O night divine!

Truly He taught us to love one another,

His law is love and His gospel is peace.

Chains he shall break, for the slave is our brother.

And in his name all oppression shall cease.

Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,

With all our hearts we praise His holy name.

Christ is the Lord! Then ever, ever praise we,

His power and glory ever more proclaim!

His power and glory ever more proclaim!

I pray you have a very Merry Christmas as we celebrate the Birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus!

 

Wordless Wednesday

 

Christmas Parade

On Friday night Hubby and I ventured out with our five youngest children to the local Christmas Parade. We have lived here almost six years and have never been to the Parade. I actually did not even know that they had a Christmas Parade. Hubby just happen to read something about it and suggested we go.

I do not know when was the last time we have been to a parade. Back when we lived in Indiana, we used to go to the 4th of July Parade every year.  Our youngest five do not remember that. Well, two of them were not even born when we lived there.

Anyway, Friday we left about six and the parade started at seven. It was only about a ten minute drive, but we were not sure how hard it would be to get a parking space. It ends up, we probably did not need to be that early.

It was an incredibly cold night for us here in Kentucky. We bundled up really well. When we first got there we were right in front of the Court House. 

Anna and Micah and Luke

Matthew, Luke, and Samuel

Micah

Anna

See that tree behind Anna's head in the picture above? Well, it just so happens that this was the night that they were going to light that tree. We had no idea until about a minute before.

We heard singing and talking, but we did not pay a whole lot of attention to it. We were just trying to get a good spot for the Parade.There was a crowd gathered around back in that area. Well, the longer we were standing there I was trying to hear what they were saying. I finally realized they were getting ready to light the tree.

Samuel, Micah, and Matthew laying on the very cold ground!

The tree before being lit

The tree just after being lit

Matthew, Luke, Samuel, Micah, and Anna

Soon after the tree was lit, Hubby went walking down the street a little bit to see if it was less crowded. He came back and we decided to move.. As we were walking, we were able to get some hot chocolate. A local church was passing out free hot chocolate, and boy was it yummy!

Micah with a hot chocolate mustache!

Samuel with his Hot Chocolate

Anna with her Hot Chocolate

Here are a few pictures from the Parade. Sorry the quality of the pictures is not too great! I need to learn to use my camera better, especially at night. Most of the rest of my pictures were just too blurry.

My kids were really excited to see this one, Herbie, The Love Bug!

Herbie!

 

The one thing I found a bit strange was they allowed people to park along the street of the Parade Route. There is normally Street Parking, but to me it would make more sense to not allow that during the Parade. We had to go to the other side of the cars to watch the parade.  The up side to parking along the street is if you get one of those spots, you can sit in your car during the parade and stay warm. Hmm, maybe next year we could do that, and whoever wants to get out can, and whoever wants to stay in the car (me) can do that!

We had a good time, and survived the cold, but it did take us a while to warm up afterwards!  I am glad we went, because the children enjoyed themselves. I would generally just want to stay home and stay nice and snug in the warmth of my home, but I enjoyed the children having fun.

 

Remembering At Christmas 2010

  

If you are missing someone you love this Christmas, someone of ANY age who is spending Christmas with Jesus this year, I hope you will join us on this very special Walking With You. We are sharing our Christmas memories and the ways that we remember our loved ones who have gone home to heaven at Christmas time.

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As Christmastime is coming upon us, I am finding I am missing Faith even more. I think about her being a two year old running around and wanting to pull ornaments off the tree.It would drive me crazy and I would love every minute of it!

She would love the lights and all the decorations and you could see the joy and delight in her eyes!

Well, she is not here, so I can only imagine these things. I miss her and wish I could just hold her. I think about her all the time and will always hold her in my heart. Those of you that have lost a child know exactly what I mean. It is like a piece of you is missing and always will.

I must admit, that I have found it hard to get into the spirit of the Season since losing Faith. I have always loved Christmas and all the sights and smells associated with it. I love the joy that the Children display with the different things we do at Christmastime. So, I try really hard for the kids, to participate and keep traditions alive.

It has taken most of the week, but we have our tree up with lights on and finally the ornaments.

Last night as we were putting on the ornaments, it was fun to see the kids remembering each one and showing such delight!  Of course, when Faith's ornaments came out everyone wanted to be the one to hang them on the tree. She is special to them also, and we hold on to whatever we can to remember her.

I find that I am missing my Dad and my Brother Doug a lot more at Christmas too.  I think Christmas was my Dad's favorite time of year. The wonderful thing was, is that he never expected anything.

In so many ways he was a simple man, and just about anything made him happy.  Just having the family around made him happy. He did not need anything else! By that, I mean, that by the world's standards, he was not a rich man. God did however, supply all his needs. But, his family meant more to him than anything money could buy, and oh, how he loved his grandchildren! I believe most of us could learn to be more like that!

I remember as a kid I would go with him up to the local Fire Department and pick out a tree. We would then bring it home and get the lights on and finally we could decorate. He had his favorite twinkle lights that he put in the window of the living room. As time marched on, he and my mom bought an artificial tree, but the twinkle lights were still in the window!  When he became too frail to do these things himself, others have pitched in to keep the lights burning and now a-days that is usually my niece Corrie and other helpers that she can recruit.

This is me with my new Swingy Doll. That is my Dad in the chair. He usually always wore a red sweater or vest on Christmas! That is my cousin Sandy standing nearby, who I absolutely adored!

 My brother Doug also enjoyed the Christmas Season. He usually helped my parents decorate their home. He was very efficient and very helpful.

Doug also enjoyed wonderful music. He could play the piano beautifully and he also appreciated listening to great music. He would often say, Karen, you have to hear this. Of course I enjoyed it too. I love music, but what I miss most, is Doug sharing a new song with me. Now sometimes when I hear a new song, I will think, Wow, Doug would love this! ( I know I have a picture of Doug playing the piano somewhere, but I cannot find it! For the sake of time, I will leave it out. : (    )

This year, there is another who we will all  miss at Christmas. My sister-in-law, Debbie passed away in August. She was another person who was just grateful for the simple things in life. She enjoyed her family, and her kids were the world to her. I know that they will feel this loss greatly, as well as my brother Rick. Please keep them in your prayers as they go through their first Christmas without her.

Christmas 1986 at my parents house. I am holding our oldest son Jeremy who was 4 months old. It is hard to believe that there were only 8 grandchildren at the time. There are now 24 grandchildren and 6 great grand children and 1 great grand child on the way!

One other person I am remembering is my grandmother, My Mom's Mom.

I have a large extended family and my Mom's side of the family all gathered at my Grandmother's house for Christmas. Just a few days ago my sister was asking little trivia questions on facebook about Christmas at Grandmother's house.  She asked where did Grandmother sit when we were passing out the presents? I was the first to respond and I got it right! She always sat on the piano bench.  In the picture below you can see me sitting with her on the piano bench.

We lived next door to her and she was a major part of my life growing up. She loved the Lord with all her heart and that was her biggest desire for all of the rest of us. She was known for praying for each of us, and I know that those prayers have carried our family through so much. She taught piano lessons and I took lessons for many years( but please so not ask me to play for you!)  It is such a Blessing to have such a wonderful heritage!

My Grandmother, Me with Jeremy, and my Mom

There are so many other loved ones that come to mind as I write this post. I am thankful to have the memories etched in my mind and will forever hold them in my heart! So as we are remembering those that have gone on before us, let us first remember the one who died for us, Jesus!

( I wrote this post before I went back and read last years post. There are a lot of similarities, so I guess it is quite obvious who I am missing more this time of year!)

You can read my post from last year here.

 

Joy to the World!

Joy to the World, The Lord Has Come!

 I just wanted to take this opportunity to Wish Each of you a Merry Christmas! Jesus is God's Gift to us! I pray that each of you have accepted this Wonderful Gift! It really is the most ultimate Gift! There is nothing else that can compare in any way, shape or form! 

May He bring You great Joy as you focus on Him this Christmas Season!

Jesus Is The Reason for The Season!

Happy Birthday Jesus!

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 Saviour, 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.

Luke 2:10-14

Merry Christmas,
Karen

 

Busy, Oh So Busy!

First of all, let me say I am still here. I haven't felt much like blogging, but more than that I just haven't had the time.

Christmas is only 13 days away. I have done some of the shopping and have some more to do. For some of the children I haven't figured out what to buy them.

Each year we say that we are going to cut back on how much we spend for each of the children. This year we are finally following through with it. Finances are not great and truth be told, we do not need anymore toys at our house! The older children always want some expensive gadget, so we give money towards it and they have to put up the rest. Hubby is really good at finding some great deals on things so that helps a whole bunch!

Tim and Naomi's Wedding is in 3 weeks! I have been working on making sure everyone has something to wear. All of the kids are in the Wedding in some capacity.

Jeremy and Josh have to have Tuxes because they are a groomsman and usher. Rebekah is a Bridesmaid, so she has her dress. Victoria and Matthew are lighting the candles. I bought Victoria a pretty silver dress that was on clearance for a wonderful price. Matthew is wearing a suit. Samuel is the ring bearer, so he has to rent a tux. Anna is the flower girl, so her dress is bought and ready. Luke and Micah are like mini ushers. They both have a nice suit to wear.  Now I need to make sure they all have shoes to wear and the boys have a shirt and tie to wear with their suits.

An agonizing experience for me has been trying to find a dress to wear. I do not care for most of the styles out there. I also prefer for the dress to be tea length. I also like dark colors. It has been impossible to find a dress with these specifications. I found a teal colored dress that I do like, but not thrilled with the color.  I have an image of a dress etched in my mind and wonder if it exists somewhere.

On top of this agonizing experience, I have put on 10 pounds this year. I have battled with weight most of my life. I need to lose a lot of weight and now I have added 10 more pounds! I guess comfort foods have been too comforting!  I pray that this new year I can get my act together and lose this weight!

During all this hustle and bustle I would like to remember to keep my focus on the reason we are celebrating, Jesus!  Our children have been taught what Christmas is about. We are celebrating the birth of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ! Yes, they do receive presents, but I  would like the emphasis to be on giving instead of receiving. Jesus came to give His life for us and Oh how important it is for us to accept Him as our Savior. It really is a life or death decision.

So if you find yourself all caught up in the busyness of the season, I challenge you to stop and remember why we are celebrating . Let's remember what is really important. If you do not have all the decorations up that you wanted or didn't bake enough or didn't find just the most perfect present, just stop and think about the one who gave his life for you and give Him Thanks!

And if you think about it, pray for me to find the right dress for a great price and that I will not be totally stressed out. I really do want to enjoy this Season along with the first Wedding in our family!

 

Remembering At Christmas

Walking With You was created by Kelly at The Beauty of Sufficient Grace to help support those who have lost a child. Together we share our stories, helpful information, scriptures, encouraging words, prayer requests, and more.

If you are missing someone you love this Christmas, someone of ANY age who is spending Christmas with Jesus this year, I hope you will join us on this very special Walking With You. We are sharing our Christmas memories and the ways that we remember our loved ones who have gone home to heaven at Christmas time. To join Walking With You please visit Kelly's Blog.

This time last year our grief was so very raw. I believe we were in survivor mode. We just did not have the energy to want to do much. Hubby and I knew we needed to do something for the children. We did manage to get up the tree and eventually a few simple decorations outside.

We were incredibly blessed by the Hospital where Faith was born. One of the units there adopted our family and bought us some amazing presents. We were asked for a list of things that the children wanted for Christmas. I told the children to pick something that was $25 or less. Well, they each got what they asked for and whole lot more!

It was so much fun and the children had the times of their lives. The older children just asked for a gift certificate so they could buy clothes. They got a generous gift certificate to Kohls and a few other things. Mike and I also received gifts too. We were overly Blessed!

This year I have wanting to enjoy all the sight and sounds of Christmas! I love Christmas music, the lights and decorations, and pretty much anything else that has to do with Christmas.

Our tree is up and finally decorated! We have put up lights out front. I have a few other things I would like to do, but not sure that I will get to it. We have hardly gotten any shopping done yet. I guess we need to get busy!

The TBQ group from our Church gave us this beautiful ornament last year in Memory of Faith.

The children were so thrilled to see it when we pulled it out this year. They each have their own ornament and they were glad that Faith had one too! I love how they seem to like to remember her.

The past couple of weeks I have been missing Faith a bit more. She should be here to celebrate with us. She would be 14 months old and probably wanting to pull the ornaments off of the tree. Wrapping paper would have kept her entertained and might have become a little snack too. I will miss the sparkle that would have been in her eyes looking at the Christmas lights!

Yes, I miss her and wish that she were here with us, but I am thrilled that she is with the One whom we are celebrating! What better place could anyone be?

I have many people who I will miss this Christmas, and I have two that I want to share with you.

My brother Doug died in 1993. He enjoyed Christmas and he always helped my parents decorate. Doug played the piano very well. He would play for our listening pleasure or we would sing along. If he wasn't playing the piano he usually had some other music playing. Doug always made sure that we listened to Handel's Messiah every year.

Doug was good at giving fun and unique presents. It was always fun to see what he selected for each person. He seemed to know how to pick out just the right gift for each one. Whether the gift was to meet a need in a person's life or a gift that was for enjoyment, he always seemed to get it right!

My Dad passed away in 2004. Dad loved Christmas! He was so thankful for every present. He was a person that never expected much but was thrilled with each gift. He always wore his red sweater on Christmas.

My Dad collected penguins. We always tried to find him a new one each year. Now we are a bit partial to penguins. Whenever we see a penguin we are always reminded of my Dad.

Dad loved his family, so Christmastime was always special to him because that meant family would gather together. Nothing in this World would have made my Dad any happier than having my Mom by his side and the rest of his family there also.

Since I have been married, I haven't always been there with my family for Christmas. Those times that I didn't make it there, my Dad always called me on Christmas and then passed the phone around to everyone else. I miss my Dad and how he truly enjoyed the simple things in life. It did not take much to make him happy.

As we celebrate the Birth of Our Savior, I will draw close to Him to bring me "Comfort and Joy!" I need for Him to Comfort me as I am missing Faith and I want to be full of Joy as I celebrate His Birth!

I love this old Christmas Carol as it brings Good Tidings of Great Joy as it shares about the Birth of our Savior and that He came to save us!

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

God rest ye merry, gentlemen

Let nothing you dismay

Remember, Christ, our Saviour

Was born on Christmas day

To save us all from Satan's power

When we were gone astray

O tidings of comfort and joy,

Comfort and joy

O tidings of comfort and joy

In Bethlehem, in Israel,

This blessed Babe was born

And laid within a manger

Upon this blessed morn

The which His Mother Mary

Did nothing take in scorn

O tidings of comfort and joy,

Comfort and joy

O tidings of comfort and joy

From God our Heavenly Father

A blessed Angel came;

And unto certain Shepherds

Brought tidings of the same:

How that in Bethlehem was born

The Son of God by Name.

O tidings of comfort and joy,

Comfort and joy

O tidings of comfort and joy

"Fear not then," said the Angel,

"Let nothing you affright,

This day is born a Saviour

Of a pure Virgin bright,

To free all those who trust in Him

From Satan's power and might."

O tidings of comfort and joy,

Comfort and joy

O tidings of comfort and joy

The shepherds at those tidings

Rejoiced much in mind,

And left their flocks a-feeding

In tempest, storm and wind:

And went to Bethlehem straightway

The Son of God to find.

O tidings of comfort and joy,

Comfort and joy

O tidings of comfort and joy

And when they came to Bethlehem

Where our dear Saviour lay,

They found Him in a manger,

Where oxen feed on hay;

His Mother Mary kneeling down,

Unto the Lord did pray.

O tidings of comfort and joy,

Comfort and joy

O tidings of comfort and joy

Now to the Lord sing praises,

All you within this place,

And with true love and brotherhood

Each other now embrace;

This holy tide of Christmas

All other doth deface.

O tidings of comfort and joy,

Comfort and joy

O tidings of comfort and joy

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

Luke 2:10