Great Christmas Story

This is a email I got recently and thought it was worth posting. Whether you have children or not, this is a great story.

The Christmas Pageant

My husband and I had been happily married (most of the time) for five years
but hadn't been blessed with a baby.

I decided to do some serious praying and promised God
that if he would give us a child, I would be a perfect mother,
love it with all my heart and raise it with His word as my guide.

God answered my prayers and blessed us with a son.

The next year God blessed us with another son.

The following year, He blessed us with yet another son.

The year after that we were blessed with a daughter.

My husband thought we'd been blessed right into poverty.
We now had four children, and the oldest was only four years old.

I learned never to ask God for anything unless I meant it.
As a minister once told me, "If you pray for rain,
make sure you carry an umbrella."

I began reading a few verses of the Bible to the children
each day as they lay in their cribs.

I was off to a good start. God had entrusted me
with four children and I didn't want to disappoint Him.

I tried to be patient the daythe children smashed
two dozen eggs on the kitchen floor searching for baby chicks.

I tried to be understanding. .. when they started a hotel for
homeless frogs in the spare bedroom, although it took me nearly two hours
to catch all twenty-three frogs.

When my daughter poured ketchup all over herself and
rolled up in a blanket to see how it felt to be a hot dog,
I tried to see the humor rather than the mess.

In spite of changing over twenty-five thousand diapers,
never eating a hot meal and never sleeping for more
than thirty minutes at a time, I still thank God daily for my children.

While I couldn't keep my promise to be a perfect mother -

I didn't even come close...
I did keep my promise to raise them in the Word of God.

I knew I was missing the mark just a little when I told
my daughter we were going to church to worship God,
and she wanted to bring a bar of soap along to "wash up" Jesus, too.

Something was lost in the translation when I explained that
God gave us everlasting life, and my son thought it was
generous of God to give us his "last wife."

My proudest moment came during the children's Christmas pageant.

My daughter was playing Mary, two of my sons were shepherds
and my youngest son was a wise man.
This was their moment to shine.

My five-year-old shepherd had practiced his line,
"We found the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes."

But he was nervous and said,
"The baby was wrapped in wrinkled clothes."

My four-year-old "Mary" said,
"That's not 'wrinkled clothes,' silly. That's dirty, rotten clothes."

A wrestling match broke out between Mary and the shepherd
and was stopped by an angel, who bent her halo and lost her left wing.

I slouched a little lower in my seat when Mary
dropped the doll representing Baby Jesus, and it bounced
down the aisle crying, "Mama-mama."

Mary grabbed the doll, wrapped it back up
and held it tightly as the wise men arrived.

My other son stepped forward wearing a bathrobe
and a paper crown, knelt at the manger and announced,
"We are the three wise men, and we are bringing gifts
of gold, common sense and fur."

The congregation dissolved into laughter,

and the pageant got a standing ovation.

"I've never enjoyed a Christmas program as much as this one,"
laughed the pastor, wiping tears from his eyes.

"For the rest of my life, I'll never hear the Christmas story without thinking of
gold, common sense and fur."

"My children are my pride and my joy and my greatest
blessing," I said as I dug through my purse for an aspirin.

Jesus had no servants, yet they called Him Master.

Had no degree, yet they called Him Teacher.

Had no medicines, yet they called Him Healer.

Had no army, yet kings feared Him.

He won no military battles, yet He conquered the world.

He committed no crime, yet they crucified Him.

He was buried in a tomb, yet He lives today.

Feel honored to serve such a Leader who loves us.

GOD BLESS YOU
ALL!!!

Tiger Outfit - Christmas Gift for a Friend

I've been sewing some Christmas Gifts. The first outfit is for Ava - my second "adopted grandchild". Her older sister has an LSU Cheerleading outfit so I made this for Ava. It's lined in the bloomer fabric and I made it so it can be reversed for a different look. I had the yellow trim left over from the Christmas stockings I've been making so added that along the bottom.

Riley, my first "adopted grandchild" wanted LSU boxers so I made these with the same fabric as the lining and bloomers on her sisters. She wanted it lower on the waist and a drawstring rather than the elastic waist.

Winter Wonderland APIL Event Sat Dec 1st

SNOW IN ST. AMANT THIS SATURDAY

There will be an APIL event this Saturday, December 1st at 10AM. It's a Winter Wonderland event for children with a snow machine

Little Girl Dresses for a Needy Family

Today was quite a busy day. I left to go shopping around 7:30AM and got back at about 2PM. I went to Hobby Lobby, the Mall, Burlington Coat Factory, Tanger Outlet, KMart and the Flea Market. I managed to get quite alot of Christmas shopping done. We pulled names yesterday so I not only have to shop for myself, but also for my mom, half sister and son. After Thanksgiving, I get in a hurry to complete the Christmas shopping so I can concentrate on the meals.

After shopping and taking a short nap, I started sewing while watching the LSU game. (which was very disappointing when they lost to Arkansas in the 3rd overtime).

Every year the employees of our company adopt a family to help at Christmas. This year's family has a set of twins and a 4 year old. Since they are all girls, I decided to make them matching dresses. Here is the almost finished product. I still have the buttons and button holes down the back to complete. I found this embroidered corduoroy fabric at Hancock Fabric along with the hot pink twill lining.

For the last couple of years, we have also adopted a military unit that we collect items for and send out at the beginning of December. This year we are sending items to a unit in Afghanistan. My heart goes out to the troops that will be spending Christmas so far away from home and to their families who won't have their loved ones with them during the holidays.

Christmas is a time of giving so consider donating items for the military or a needy family. There are so many opportunities available to help someone, whether it be a co-worker, family, neighbor, the troops or someone you don't know. The benefits can be as good for the giver as the reciever.

Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing everyone a very joyful and blessed day.

Track Team Honored at Southeastern University Football Game

Yesterday I attended the last home game for the Southeastern University Lions. My daughter, Betsey, and some of her track teammates were honored at halftime for their accomplishments. Some because they qualified to compete in the Regional Track and Field Meet and Betsey and her teammate, Curtis, who were the only two on the track team to compete at the NCAA National Championships is Sacramento, CA. In addition to the halftime honors, we got a chance to watch Brian Babin play the last home game for the season. We have been knowing Brian's family for many years and I really enjoyed the chance to see him play. To top it all off, it was my first time attending a college football game, someone I worked with gave us great tickets on the 40 yard line and allowed us to park at his house which was less than a block from the football field, the weather was pleasantly cool and I got to spend time with my daughter, Betsey, her friend, Sunny, and some of Betsey's teammates. All in all, it turned out to be a very enjoyable day.

Southeastern Track and Field Regional and National Qualifiers

Brian Babin #10, Quarterback - Southeastern Lions

Christmas Gift Idea/Cookbook and Memories

My twin sister and I always enjoyed cooking and had our favorite recipes we made over and over. Like many who have a collection of recipes, ours were in books, on pieces of paper, on index cards, etc. A couple of years ago, I decided to make a simple recipe book that would put our favorite recipes in one location. Anyway, that is how it started. Since my twin sister had passed away 8 years before and her husband 5 years later, this would also be a special gift for their two daughters. The idea began to grow and I decided to include pictures and stories. I searched through boxes of old pictures, picking my favorites and scanning them to my computer. I began gathering the recipes and jotting down stories. The process of putting it all together was very time consuming and brought out many emotions, some happy and some sad. I got our children and my parents involved to help with the stories and to help me decide what to include. I enjoyed the project tremendously and was very pleased with the result. I ended up printing about 25 copies and gave them as Christmas gifts to each of my children, my parents, close friends and family of my sister and brother in law and a few others who requested a copy. Everyone loved the idea and enjoyed making the journey through the book. I have my copy displayed in my kitchen and use the recipes from it often.

Here is a sample of some of the pages.

This is the cover with one of my favorite pictures of two of us. These dresses were made for us by my grandmother. On the collar is a pin with the first initial of our names that we wore throughout most of our school years. It was the only way the teachers could tell us apart. The next few pictures are samples of some of the pages. I put a picture and story on the left side of each page and a recipe on the right.Trying to figure out how to arrange it so that I could print on both sides of the paper was a bit of a challenge. Also, I wanted to start with us as infants and progress through the ages.

I also included an introduction, table of contents and a few personal messages at the end - to their girls, my children and my mom. I also added a couple of blank pages and a couple of lined pages with lines to add other recipes.

For anyone who has lost a loved one, this is a great way to document some of the stories, share favorite pictures and remember them in a special way.

Christmas Stocking - Zebra Print

This is the latest Christmas Stocking I've made. It's made of a velvety zebra print fabric. The cuff is fleece and I lined it in red broadcloth with a black chenille loop for hanging.

APIL Event This Saturday - November 10th

We have another APIL event this weekend from 10 - 11:30AM at St. Amant Park. It will involve hockey and crafts. Ascension Parish Inclusive League is a non-competitive, all inclusive sports program for children between the ages of 4 and 13 of ALL abilities. If you are interested or know someone interested in more information, call the Ascension Parish Recreation Department at (225) 621-9661. Volunteers are also needed. The volunteers have as much fun as the children and leave with such a great feeling.

Here are pictures from our last event.

Christmas Stocking and Scarf Ebooks on YCMT

My two new ebooks are now available on YouCanMakeThis.com. This has been so much fun, making the ebooks, making the stockings and starting the Etsy shop. I am an Accounting Manager during the day so doing these projects has helped to fulfill my creative side. An added benefit has been learning more on the computer side - changing files to pdf, changing the size of pictures, uploading, downloading, setting up accounts, etc.

I am hoping to continue to add new and interesting things to both websites and really give my best effort to make this business grow. Maybe even be on Oprah one day!!!!

So everyone, go to YouCanMakeThis.com and Etsy.com and buy all my stuff!!!!!

All joking aside, leave me a comment on what you think.

Halloween Ninja Costume

These are some pictures of my "adopted" grandchild in the Ninja costume I made for her. I used a robe pattern for the top and a simple elastic waist pants pattern for the bottoms. With some of the extra fabric I cut rectangle strip for the headband.

As you can see, she really got into the character for the pictures.