Merry Christmas to all of you!

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Just blogging

Wow, mother nature sure dropped the white stuff on us in the middle of the night. We woke up today to no school and around 9 or 10 inches of snow. My husband is still out working in this mess. I have no idea when he will be home but he has been gone since before 6 this morning. The dog got away today and Parker had to go and search for her. I don't think Maggie knows what to do with all this snow, well neither do we really. Michigan weather is very unprictable. This winter it has been super wierd but super cold. 

We took a little trip to Frankenmuth the other day to look at the lights and go out to eat. Kayla brought along her new boy "friend." His name is Kenny and he seems really nice. He is a Christian and that makes me happy. Kayla said that they are not "dating" but she went sledding with him on Sat, he came to movie night at church with her on Sunday, he went with us to Frankenmuth on Tues, back to church with us on Wed, I know that they are planning on hanging out again this weekend sometime and Monday she is going with him to his youth group's Christmas party, but they are not dating??? seems like they are to me, but whatever they want to call it, I call it dating. She seems to really like him too. They talk and text all the time, so I guess we will see where it all leads. But her dad and I like him so perhaps that may be his undoing as far as kayla is concerned. It is weird because she usually doesn't like it when we like her "friends" but this time I am staying out of her relationship. I learned my lesson the last time and I will not repeat my mistakes again.

Our Tree or should I say not a tree??

I still haven't gotten our Christmas tree up. Isn't that ridiculous? This is just a sad little fact. What is it like 6 days until Christmas and I still don't have the tree up? Well I was saying that to Jon about us not having our tree up yet and he said that he can't find the tree stand. Well what are we going to do now? I can't afford to go out and buy a new stand although this will be the last year for that pitiful tree of ours I'm sure. So maybe we just won't have a tree this year. Yeah, that will go over well with the kids. I also need to bake some cookies this year with them. I haven't done that in a long time. We usually make window cookies every year with our friends and their kids which is always fun but like Kayla pointed out, we don't eat those cookies so that is the plan on Monday, we are going to make cookies. I have to bring a finger food main dish on Wed night for Christmas Eve, I have no idea what to bring. I guess I will look up something on the internet. 

Trying to keep the Real Reason for the Season in the forefront

I have to be honest, this Christmas has been super stressful for us. Jon is laid off right now and unemployment has run out so he had to file an extension of his benefits. I haven't been able to do any Christmas shopping as of yet because we just didn't have any money. Well his umemployment check came yesterday so hopefully this weekend we will be able to get some shopping done, not much mind you, this Christmas is going to be slim pickings for sure. I am not worried about buying anybody else any presents except for my kids. They are my main priority. 

I am trying to get take the mindset that my kids understand what we are going through, after all they are old enough to but sometimes I don't think that they do. I think that they are tired of not having any money to do extra things like a lot of their friends get to. I am so sorry for that. I too wish that we were able to take more vacations and do more things as a family than we have been able to do. Perhaps this year will be different. Let's hope so.

I have no idea on what to buy them for Christmas. I know a few things that Kayla wants but Parker is another story. He said that he would like some new clothes which is a shocker there b/c he has never cared for those kinds of presents in the past. Perhaps he is growing up?? lol. I know that he still wants a couple toys so perhaps not too grown up yet. I am not ready for that yet. 

Jon has been working for a man at church for the past couple weeks. I am thankful for that bacause hopefully that money will help ease the burden that I am feeling during this stressful time. I just need to concentrate on the real reason for the season and that is our Lord Jesus Christ's birth. HE is the the real reason that we are even here. The fact that everything is so commercialized I am sure just saddens HIM. I need to keep this in mind when all the hustle and bustle of this season seems to take over. I need to just have some quiet time and reflect on this and the fact that I am so blessed beyond belief. I have a wonderful husband who loves me, 2 beautiful children whom I adore, a loving family and friends. These are the most important things in the world to me!

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a Wonderful, Blessed New Year. 

Winter

You know that Winter is here when the kid's get a snow day off from school. Monday was crazy with bad roads and slow traffic. I was hoping that college would have been closed as well but no such luck. It wasn't too bad but I was about an hour late getting to class b/c my alarm was shut off when the kids didn't have to go, (I thought that I would be able to get up on my own) I had taken Jon to work at about 4am. He drove there, I drove back home. Well he was only there for like 3 hours or so and ended up coming home. This has happened several times this past year. The economy in Michigan really stinks. Well it is official, He is laid off until whenever now. I told him that this was going to happen. I just knew it. So he has to sign up for an extension on his unemployment b/c it ran out, which is quite unfair b/c he was getting underemployment not unemployment but I guess they treat it the same way.

Well it never fails, every Christmas we are going through something that has to do with struggling financially. This time it was our van that we have had to sink money into and now Jon is laid off. Can things get any more stressful??

New President

Well  my guy didn't win and he didn't win by a lot. So...it is what it is. We have a new President. An Arab/African American president. I am taking the mindset that I hope the people that voted him in got it right, although I have a bad feeling about this one. I am going to be praying harder and more frequently than I ever have before for our country and it's leaders. Especially the leaders..have you seen who our new president is putting in his cabinet?? May God be with our country although I can't help but feel that we are slowly leaving him behind with all the decisions that we are making.  Heaven has to be behind us now.