Frisco Lights :)

Last night we decided to get out and enjoy the sights and sounds of downtown Frisco at Christmas time. The whole downtown is lit up with lights that are synchronized to music. There's just something about Christmas lights and Christmas music that make you feel like a kid all over again.

Here are some of the things we saw last night...

Ashby, Alex and Jude

This was one of the houses in DeerField

 Ashby was getting really tired

If I can figure out how to post a video I will be posting it soon.

Until next time...

Peanut Butter Balls :)

Mixing the peanut butter...

Rolling the peanut butter...

She was trying to make a square...

 The finished product! She was so proud of herself!

Christmas Baking!

I'm finished with school for the semester, Ashby's done with MDO and the kitchen was calling my name today. I've never really been much of a baker, but since Ashby loves it so much I thought we would spend the whole day baking cookies and making goodies for our family. We started off making peanut butter balls. Ashby rolled out about 30! Then we moved on to chocolate chip cookies and sugar cookies. I really don't think I've ever done this much baking at my house since me and Josh have been married, but it was a lot of fun and I'm so glad we did it! The recipe I used for my sugar cookies is my Grandma Brown's and every time I eat them it brings back great memories of her house. I hope that when Ashby gets older and makes these cookies at her house it will bring back great memories of these fun baking days!
Until next time...
(I will try to post pics of the baking soon)

Christmas Time!

This is going to be a busy week! Ashby and I are hanging out today and getting our house ready for our staff Christmas party tonight! I am so thankful that God is allowing us to minister with such a great group of people. This Sunday marks our 4 year anniversary on staff at South Union, but it feels like we have been here forever! I know that it is very easy to get so busy at this time of year that you fly through the season and never really think on why we celebrate Christmas. Not that we've forgotten or don't know, but Satan does what he does best and makes us too busy to concentrate on what really matters. When I was growing up we always had a stocking for Jesus on our mantel. On Christmas morning we would write a note to Jesus and tell him things that we hoped to do better in the coming year. This year we will be rereading all of those notes and I wonder what kind of job I have done on actually doing what I said I would do. I'm thankful for the way my parents raised me and I hope that Ashby will always be able to look back on Christmas traditions that brought her closer to God instead of what "stuff" she got. 

I hope that you can all take some time this week to thank God for sending his son as a baby to sacrifice his life for us so we could have an eternity with him!

Until next time...

At Night Bird...

I just wanted to add a little bit to one of my previous posts. I told you about "heavenly peas," but I forgot to mention "at night bird." Every time she sings the song she ends it with "at night bird." It took us quite a while to decipher this phrase as it is not as easy as "heavenly peas." We were in our pastors office a couple of days ago and she was singing Silent Night to him and it hit me! She's saying "at thy birth!" This little girl has definitely been exactly what we needed. She is hilarious and sweet and stubborn and loving all at the same time and I know God is forming her to be something special!
Until next time...

Heavenly Peas

Ashby sang in her 3rd MDO program Sunday night at First Baptist and she did a marvelous job! The two songs that they sang were Holly Jolly Christmas and Silent Night. She practiced so hard on both of her songs and she knows most of the words. The first time we were practicing it at home she did a great job, but I noticed something towards the end of the song that I thought was funny. At the end of Silent Night she sang, "sleep in heavenly peas" instead of "heavenly peace." Before I started laughing (to myself of course), I asked her what heavenly peas were and she said, "They're the kind of peas you eat in Heaven." I love her so much and I am so thankful that God gave us such a sweet and cute little girl!

End of Semester!

Well, another semester has come and gone! I only have one more final and I will be finished until January! Now it's on to my last semester...EVER!!!!!! Josh and I talked a few weeks ago and decided that I will not go to work immediately following graduation. We are planning on having another baby (sometime) and I would really like to be able to stay home with the baby. For those of you that know me well, you know that I'm very excited about this! 

Everything at church is going great! We are in the process of doing dirt work for our new children's ministry building and I know that God is going to bless in this new endeavor. Once it is all complete I will share some pictures with everyone. Youth ministry is also going great! We went to a Casting Crowns/The Afters/Sanctus Real concert last weekend and it was AWESOME! I don't know about you, but I love Casting Crowns. I think it's because we can relate to them because they are all youth workers.

As far as Christmas goes...I am really missing Boomer (as always), but God has blessed us in so many ways that I could not possibly feel sorry for myself! Every year presents new and different challenges, but for this year we are doing good. I hope that all of you are enjoying a wonderful Christmas season together. Remember to enjoy the time that you have with your loved ones because you never know how much time you have with each of them.

Until next time...