Happy New Year 2008

As I write this, 2008 is 28 minutes old.  How exciting!  A new year in a new land as a newlywed!  My husband and I have high hopes for 2008.  Ha!  Hope seems to be the theme of 2008 for me.  The Lord keeps bringing that word up in my devotions.  Today in Romans these verses jumped out at me:

“For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.”  Romans 15:4

“Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.”  Romans 15:13

HAPPY NEW YEAR ABOUNDING IN HOPE!

Good Search

GoodSearch.com

Do you enjoy giving?  I do.  I have recently found a new way to give to my favorite charities.  It’s a new search engine called GoodSearch.com .  Have you heard of it?  I’ve been using it and am delighted with it.  It’s new.  It’s easy. It raises money for your favorite cause.  Here’s what others are saying:

“Here’s a new easy way to raise money for your favorite cause. Just start using GoodSearch.com as your search engine and online shopping mall. Every time you search the Internet or make an online purchase at one of their partner merchants, GoodSearch makes a donation to your favorite nonprofit or school and it’s powered by Yahoo! so you get great search results!”

Another great feature is that you can see how much money you have raised through your on-line shopping and searching.  It’s wonderful!  Give GoodSearch.com a try today!

“Fit”full Joy

Have you seen my new page?  Have a look in my side bar.  I’ve added “Fit”full Joy to my list of pages.  This new page is where I will keep track of my new goal of exercising 20 minutes daily.  I’d like to make this a lifestyle…not just a whim.  Accountability is a great motivator.  Encouragement is welcomed.  Perhaps, you have set a similar goal for yourself.  Well then, join me!  Comment on my “Fit”full Joy page and we will do this together. 

Looky Here!

Check it out!  I am the featured blog at Laced with Grace!  If you haven’t visited this website before, now’s a good time to do so.  They are having a New Year’s Giveaway.  It is a great place to find encouragement in devotional thought and discover other great blogs.  Take a look today!

Don’t Let Your Wife Become A Computer Widow

Aaron here.

Hope everyone reading had a Merry Christmas.  We had a great time…my Mum and Dad came over and we opened presents and ate a lot, and watched that old Christmas chestnut, White Christmas.

One of the presents we got was man’s best friend a new laptop.  It’s sleek and silver and has gigabytes of this and gigahertz of that and it does everything you could want it to do.  I think they use something similar to co-ordinate the space shuttle launch.

So right now I am keenly focussed on getting it set up.  All our programs, our music, that kind of thing.  I could throw myself into this and you wouldn’t see me for a day or ten.  This morning I was fiddling with something and Deborah was talking to me about my “interest” in the computer.  And she said she didn’t want to be a computer widow.  Didn’t want to not have a husband anymore because husband is now wedded to his new toy.  It was a fairly throwaway line but my goodhusband radar detected something in the vicinity.  Something important.  My goodhusband radar doesn’t always work but when it does it really goes off.

Look, if you’re a husband and you’re reading this, I hope you got great presents for Christmas.  All you could have wanted.  But don’t let your wife become a computer widow.  Or a video camera widow.  Or a Plasma widow.  Or an iPod widow, a Halo 3 widow, a new basketball hoop widow, a home-gym-that-will-be-discarded-in-two-months widow or any other kind of widow.  Just remember that Christmas is a once a year thing.  The other three hundred and sixty four days, if you treat her right, your wife will love you, care for you, feed you, heal you and support you.  But she needs some of it back.

So, whether you got a  new laptop that can send the space shuttle Discovery into space or a new Martha Stewart Home Classics waffle iron [if that's your thing], just realise the best present you could get is probably sitting five feet to your right, wondering when she’s going to get her husband back.

Don’t let her become a computer widow.

Now I’m off to give my wife a kiss and tell her I love her.

Holiday Hoopla

Mommie Daze tagged me with this:

1. List 12 random things about yourself that have to do with Christmas.

2. Please refer to it as a ‘hoopla’ and not the dreaded ‘m’-word.

3. You have to specifically tag people when you’re done. None of this “if you’re reading this, consider yourself tagged” stuff is allowed…then nobody ends up actually doing it. The number of people who you tag is really up to you — but the more, the merrier to get this ‘hoopla’ circulating through the blogosphere.

4. Please try and do it as quickly as possible. The Christmas season will be over before we know it.

As A Child:

1.  I’ll never forget the Christmas my sister got to be Mary in the Church Christmas Program and I played the donkey!

2.  Cookies and milk were always put out for Santa, and carrots for the reindeer.

3.  The Christmas Story from Luke 2 was always read before opening presents.

4.  Christmas Stockings were always opened first.

5.  I asked Santa for cookies and candy for Christmas.  Yet, dolls were always my favorite gift.

As A Teen:

6.  Christmas Eve was spent with aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents.  Christmas Morning was spent with Mom, Dad, brother, and sister.  Christmas Day was  spent with more aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents.  True all through growing up!  It is only now that the cousins have married and had families of their own (and moved away—I am in Australia!) that we no longer have these huge My-Big-Fat-Greek-Wedding-style Christmas’s.

7.  My sister and I, my best friend and her sister, would plan a big Christmas party…sometimes happening on New Year’s Eve…inviting all of our friends from Pine Ridge Bible Camp in Cedar Springs, MI.  So much fun!

8.  Still participating in Christmas Pageants…just not as the donkey.  That never happened again!

As An Adult:

9.  Teaching school planning Christmas parties for my students; Christmas caroling with my students; helping with the Gingerbread House workshop with my students; performing A Christmas Carol radio-show-style with my students.

10.  Writing and directing the church Christmas Program…no donkeys in my program.

11.  Experiencing Christmas in Brisbane, Australia.

12.   Celebrating my first Christmas married.  Lovely!

Tag!  It’s your turn!  Let’s here from you,  Katie, Heart of a Mommy, Sarah.

Two More Sleeps Till Christmas!

Christmas is only two sleeps away! Wow! I can hardly believe it. I’ll soon be celebrating my first Christmas as wife. My husband and I have spent much time discussing how we will celebrate our first Christmas together, bringing together two very different Christmas traditions. He grew up with a summer Christmas here in Queensland, Australia. I grew up with a winter Christmas in Michigan, America. I grew up celebrating Christmas with aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents spread over two days between my extended family. My husband was an only child with no extended family near enough to celebrate Christmas with. All the gifts under the tree were for him every Christmas. There are three children in my family…I can’t imagine all the gifts under the Christmas tree being for me! Not only are we combining America and Australia tradition…winter and summer…we are also combining Yorkshire England traditions - where my mother-in-law is from. This is going to be a great Christmas! Happy Christmas Everyone!

What the?! Contest

Looking Towards Heaven is hosting this super fabulous wonderful bit of fun.

Here’s how it works:

Every Tuesday a close up of a photo is posted.

Make a guess by leaving a comment on that post.

Guess as many times as you like.

For more information on how the winner is chosen and prizes, click here.

Enjoy!

My First Book Review

Blessed Assurance, by Lyn Cote

Visit Radiant Lit to read my review!

I Won! I Won!

I entered a contest at An Island LIfe and I won! Hooray! Happiness! I chose my prize…adorable Christmas cards from:

Take a look at this wonderful site!