2010 in Review

Since today is the last day of 2010, I thought I would share a few picture highlights of the year!

Flurry joins our home in early January!



Spring Break trip to Florida and Savannah, Georgia.




Olivia graduates from kindergarten.



Celebrating our anniversary in Mexico.



Waking up to cows in the yard.



Starting a new school year.


Cheering my husband on for his first marathon.


Anticipating what 2011 will bring!

Shining for HIM

Most days my blog talks about the home! One would find me talking about recipes, decorating, making a warm environment for your family, but today I'm changing gears slightly......

Today I have a unique opportunity! Shari Braendel, from Proverbs 31 ministry, featured me on her blog, as one of the before and after makeovers. No, I did not get to go to New York city and have a full makeover, but I did read her book, "Good Girls Don't Have to Dress Bad". It made a huge impact on me, especially being a Christian and looking at how we represent Christ. Plus, it was full of so many helpful, practical and every day tips for every woman. If you have any extra Christmas gift money I would highly suggest it.

cookies

I know Christmas is almost here and well, I've been busy. BUT, I did want to write a quick blog post and show you a couple of pics from my cookie exchange.



Every year I wonder if I should continue this tradition, because it is such a busy time. However, after being with these women I realize how important it is for us to hang out and enjoy each others company!



We were having so much fun, I almost forgot to take some pictures! (This is why there are only 3 pics to show!)

Home

This post could have been titled, "comment" or "encourage", but I chose to keep it home!

The comment is because of what my youngest daughter said. The encourage is for everyone out there, who feels like all they do is clean & pick up the house, and it doesn't last more than a day.....

You see last night we were driving home and having one of those family conversations, about being open to whatever God has in store for our family..... This led to the dialogue, that someday we might move. To all my friends and family out there - NO we have no plans on moving :). We just want to be open to what God wants for us.

So, with that said, my youngest daughter said, "I don't ever want to move away from our beautiful home!" It was the sweetest and sincere comment. Not that we have a huge, well kept, or even clean home, it has made an impact on our children. They do notice when we work on making a house a home!!! Be encouraged my friends!!

Christmas

Here it is. I'm finally getting around to posting the pictures of our home at Christmas time! Earlier this week I had a little "bug" on my computer, so I was out of commission for a few days.

I am getting so many great decorating ideas from all of you! There is so much inspiration in the blog world!

These are two of my crafts that I made. Both were simple. I have my magnets on the refrigerator and my PEACE blocks that I made with some of my girlfriends.




The mantel. This was hard. I kept changing my mind about what I wanted to do, but then I got my blue shutters back out of storage and I found a white berry wreathe and everything seemed to be better. This look will take me through all of winter!



Remember this little stand? It was a garage sale find, that I have gotten a lot of mileage out of! Will see what happens with it this Spring.

Inspiration

Have you been checking out all the inspiring Christmas decorating blogs? If you need some ideas for decorating check out the latest links!

Nester has a list of all the link up parties! I missed the mantel party sponsored by Layla, but I had so much fun gleaning ideas from others including so many of YOU!

Here are just a few of my kitchen decorations!