Dedicating Our Lives..Giving Gifts Back To The Giver

Today was a day that we have dreamed of for so long... 

The day we would dedicate our children.

As I sat on the pew waiting for our children's names to be called a song from our wedding  floated through my mind: The Prayer. 

I thought of all of the hopes and dreams that I have for our girls...most of all I want them to know God. I see how much their daddy loves them and wants to guide and protect them~ how much more does their Heavenly Father?!? 

~We placed our children before the Lord and asked Him to bless them and to keep them... 

~We dedicated ourselves as their parents to bring them up in the ways of the Lord to the best of our abilities...

 ~We gave our gifts back into the loving arms of the One that gave them to us...

Knowing that all good gifts come from Him...

  ~We thanked Him with our whole hearts...full of love.

For this child I prayed; and the LORD has given me my petition which I asked of Him.

I Samuel 1:27

My Little Book....Filled With Lot's Of Love

As I spend this day before thanksgiving in the kitchen I am reminded of those that I love as I reminisce on Holidays gone by...

I have been so blessed with wonderful family. I have also been blessed with good ol' Southern training especially in the kitchen! I can still hear my Aunts laughing as they prepared the food for special "get-togethers" and Holidays. I can still see my wonderful Memaw standing at the stove while teaching me some little life lesson...such wonderful memories! I can still see my mom almost at my eye level as I stand on a chair at her side while she reads the recipe and tries not to sigh as I always seem to slosh things over the side of the bowl.

When it comes to family I am have been extra blessed! I now also belong to another family...this one came as a wedding gift! Tomorrow I will sit around the table with them and laugh at their jokes, listen to family stories, and enjoy a wonderful meal.

Preparing for tomorrow's Thanksgiving Feast I once again reached for one of my greatest treasures....

~My little book~

It is a little cookbook my Aunts put together for me and gave to me on my wedding day. It is a treasury of all of the special family recipes, my favorite foods as a child, some little notes, and motherly wisdom since my mom had to view our wedding from the splendor Heaven. I like to think she smiled a little...

It is a little piece of home.

It is my passed and that in turn effects my future.

One day I hope to do the same if God blesses me with daughters, and maybe I'll stand by the stove and give a little life lesson or two...

'Tis The Season...Well Almost!

So we usually wait to decorate until after Thanksgiving, but this year I think I am going to need a little more time getting into the "spirit" of things. You see this year a few things are going to go a little differently...we are not going on our annual Disney trip for Thanksgiving, we are not going home for Christmas to see my family, and the hardest of all ~without a miracle it looks like we may not be getting placement in time for Christmas. .

We held so many hopes and dreams for this Christmas...

In all of this there is still the joy of Christmas. We celebrate that Our Savior came in the world, and as a part of that we decorate our homes, our rooftops, and okay and pretty much everything that will sit still!!! So this is where I started getting ready; with one simple decoration~

I love this little candle warmer with the little snowflakes, the warm glow, and the wonderful scent it reminds me so much of the Holidays...like the little things that makes life so special, love that warms our hearts, and the smell of warm goodies from the oven shared with family & friends.

So when were do you begin...what fills your home and heart this time of year?