What type of "tip" do you leave????

Following the news this morning the 700 Club came on... now seldom do I watch this, but as I was checking FB, E-mail, etc... I just left it on... and all of a sudden a phrase caught my attention....

"I was leaving God a tip each Sunday".... WHAT?????

They were having a segment on tithing, and the husband and wife they were filming were talking about the moment when they decided to tithe. The husband said that "they had always given at church.... " a little bit here... a little bit there... always leaving God a small tip.... and I couldn't help but think that for many people, they probably give more to a server following a meal than they give to God.

Honestly, my heart aches for those who have not embraced tithing.... is it always easy... no, it isn't. It can be difficult to place money in an offering plate that could provide food for a dinner plate. I've been there, done that. But in all the years that we have given a tithe, God has never failed to provide for our needs. NOW... hear me on this.... I believe that God would provide for our needs even if we DID'T tithe.... but I can tell you that he has always provided ABUNDANTLY.... and we know in our hearts that he is pleased that we continue to give so that his word can be spread!!!!

I know that the next time we go out to eat, I'll think about our tithe when we leave our tip. I hope that it will always serve as a reminder to me that God's gift is worth so much more than a tip could ever repay!

Cookie Baking Day

Today was cooking baking day! Unfortunately, Chandra, Kailyn and Camden couldn't make it down this year, but Emma and Michael, along with Carly and Rachel... did a good job getting Santa's cookies ready! I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves! Enjoy!!

Merry Christmas!!!!

A little more Christmas!

Over the years I've accumulated several Christmas houses... this picture shows a few of them... I have 5 more that I have on a shelf above a window that I leave out all year long. I began getting these home in the late 80's when I directed the choir at the church I attended at the time. Each year, following the Christmas Cantata, they group presented e with a different church....

Later on, my family got in on the act... the picture below was the addition that Carly gave me last year. I love the fact that you can actually see a lady inside the kitchen cooking! And Mickey gave me the "newspaper guy" when I still had The Good News Monthly. I've also got a school house, a Fire/Police Station, a long cabin and an Antique store. Carly is the main giver of houses now... I love getting them.... and someday I'm going to have to expand the display area!!!

And I LOVE putting up our christmas tree... we make a point of buying ornaments on EVERY vacation that we take. So as we are putting up the tree, we have fun talking about where we got the ornament, and the memories we made on that trip. We have a Micky and Minnie from our Disney trip... we have Panda from our recent DC Trip... where we went to the National Zoo to see their Panda exhibit. We have ornaments from our Gatlinburg trip, our Myrtle Beach trip, a Hershey Kiss from our Pennsylvania trip... you get the picture....

But I also have some ornaments that have been on the tree for YEARS!!! Like the ones below... My mom got me these handpainted angels when the girls were little. One to represent each girl.... they have had a place at the top of the tree ever since.....

When Michael came along we had to one one for him.... so since his FAVORITE character is the Gingerbread Man from the Shrek movies, we purchased this ornament just for him. He LOVES to put it up each year..... and the little angel beside it... that is Carly's as she played the Sax for several years....

While we were in China getting Michael, we purchased this angel....

And we ornaments for each of the grands.... plus ornaments that we have purchased with the addition of each one... there is an ornament for our exchange student, Sara... which we still place on the tree each year.... and the ornament below we purchased as a reminder of Kishsnider, the young boy we sponsor through World Vision. We have faithfully sponsored him for years now.... it has always been so much fun to receive updates and pictures.....

We have ornaments that were gifts, ornaments that wqere "created" by our children, and I have an entire bag of ornments that we no longer use that I will be keeping because of the memories that they hold. As I look at our tree I am reminded of so many memories... each of which are a part of our holiday season.... and it makes me smile.

If you get the chance to share a little about your holiday memories or traditions, let me know... I'd love to read what you have to share.

Have a blessed Christmas season!

Gotta love the smile!

This past Thursday it was Michael's turn to take in snacks for his class. While at Walmart I bought the Pillsbury cookies that have the designs on top and brought them home for us to bake. Michael got to place the cookies on the cookie sheet and then we took a seat in front of the oven to watch them bake. He just wasn't sure that those little round cookies would "grow" big enough for his friends.

So we watched at they baked... and ....

... we watched as they flattened.....

And as you can see he was pretty happy about the whole thing!

We bagged one of each design in individual bags for his friends and he was SO excited. When he came home he said, "All my friends LOVED the cookies". Yep... that smileis what it is all about.