It Worked...

Today is my birthday.  31 for any of those who are wondering...I'm good with that...not too old, not too young...still plenty of room for improvement :)

You might remember that the other day I mentioned Ben doing a guest post for me.  After your peer pressure encouragement you totally helped me convince him.  I will, from now on, be bringing you all to my side when I need to persuade anyone.  Well done bloggy friends, well done.

Without further ado...my husband's first guest post:

Happy Birthday to the beautiful pastor's wife!

Wow!  Where should I start?  Sarah doesn't know what she has done in letting me do a guest post for her birthday.  I think the best way to honor her today is with a bullet point list.  

Sarah, I love you because...

• Living in the parsonage is a lot more cozy with you at my side.  
• You are a great multi-tasker, able to keep so many things going, clean, happy, etc.
• Generosity springs from your heart, one of the many things that attracted me to you.
• You love God more than you love me.  
• You love Me more than our boys.  (at least that's how I feel)
• As a mother you are caring, protective, responsive rather than reactive, positive and hopeful.  
• Of the encouragement you offer to those who need it.  
• Yes, you do have a sense of style that complements your personality and warms up a room when you enter.
• You have such a big heart for the people of tiny town and bloggy land as well.

 I could go on and on.  Maybe in another post.  For all of my wife's friends, thank you for always encouraging Sarah with your words, prayers, and actions.  

Happy Birthday, Sarah

From your hubs and pastor

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Tour de Parsonage

The Parsonage: 100 years old, white 2-story, 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, mudroom, kitchen, dining/living room, and the office...which I love to call the office...if only Dwight sat next to me...my blog posts would be so much more interesting...but I am off subject. Again.

Our home is what I like to call cozy. You can't lose anyone it it...even when you might want to. The space issue has helped me to simplify the decorating process. Only stuff that I really love was given the option of living here.

Let the party begin.

The retro white tree actually has presents under it this year. Usually they're hidden upstairs in the closet until Christmas Day...but this year I decided that since I have direct view of the tree from the office I should keep the presents in view...safer that way.

Stockings hung on the mantle shelf with care...

These trees sit on top of my fridge...I think they're adorable.

This tree sits in Noah & Eli's room. It is filled with the felt ornaments that Ben's grandma made for him each year growing up.

And the real reason for all of it...and I'm not just talking about Christmas.

And last but not least, the Christmas card...minus our last name *wink*

For more homes to tour or to join in on the fun, visit Boo Mama's ginormous blog.

Merry Christmas from Life in the Parsonage!

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Some Visuals.

Life...in the parsonage.


Man it drives me nuts when half the string of lights goes out...why can't the whole thing just stop working?!? (Ben re-strung it for me, he's the best)

Jake's outfit choice earlier this week...shirt inside out and...

red pajama shorts over his jeans. Proof positive that one can carry off anything if they can project enough confidence.

Jake's not feeling so hot today...fever and cough have slowed him down considerably. I think it's gonna be a day of Spongebob Christmas DVD over and over...just like yesterday.

PS - I'm trying to get my husband to do a guest post on this little blog but he thinks no one will comment. I assured him how nice ya'll are and that even if he's boring you'll still give him some comment love...because I'm an encourager like that. My birthday is Tuesday. I think this would be a great thing for him to do on my birthday, right?!?

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Still Not Very Deep.

Do you know what is at the heart of the reason I blog? Guess.

I really think it's because you are all so nice to me. Deep, aren't I. For real, your over-the-top kindness to me is maybe making me a little too big for my britches...THAT or Starbucks is...either way, I am so not to blame *cough*

Your blog recommendations were fabulous (I do not say fabulous is real life, only when I blog...but I do talk with as many exclamation points as I use in bloggy world, I can't help myself.) I added them to my reader.

I wanted to come up with something a little deeper today...as I scrolled through much of the last few weeks I realized there's not much depth here. In real life there is...I promise :) What I did see though, as I looked back, is fun and joy and that, my friends, is something I am praising God for today. It's easy to take for granted the times in my life that are light...and full of simple joy. Most of the time I don't realize how good it is until something tough sneaks up. Today, I'm thankful to have recognized this peace while still in the midst of it.

So, in the spirit of fun and realness, you should know that in real life I am not as cute as you think I am, at least most of the time.

I have proof.

Bed head. Unwashed face and shirt that I wore yesterday under my cute sweater (which I got at Dillards for those of you who wanted to know ;) that I wore to bed and then still have on this very minute. I went like this to Target this morning. And I do not even care. Do not even tell me I still look cute, because then I will officially have to call you a liar liar pants on fire. Seriously, do not go there.

What you can tell me is: Do you ever have so much stuff to get done around the house that you end up just wandering around aimlessly accomplishing NONE of it...and instead maybe take pictures of the bag of coffee you bought?

Pretty, isn't it. Decaf too. This former caffeine addict has changed her ways. Oh, I still get me some caffeine, but now it actually does pep me up a little and when I don't have it, I no longer have nasty headaches. Phew. I'm glad that my chosen addiction allows me to still consume that which I was formerly addicted too...as I understand it, the crack addicts do not get to enjoy those same perks...which is how I justify it being ok to have been addicted to caffeine in the first place.

Clever, aren't I.

Did I mention tomorrow is FRIDAY!?! WOO HOO!

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It's the Spice of Life.

Let me start off by telling you how blown away I am with the quality of some your blogs. Generally, I try not to dwell on your fabulousness because it seems to cause me to sit frozen at the computer unable to come up with a post.

There are all kinds of blogs. ALL kinds. Mine falls into the easiest category. It's called "here's what I did today." It works for me...because well, I'm a little lazy, and this kind requires the least amount of effort...I think.

Some are filled with deep spiritual insight and Bible study, some are crafty, some have recipes, some are helpful etc. with great tips about pretty much anything you can think of.

My Google reader is filled with all kinds of these different blogs. I am convinced that variety is the spice of life. We are meant to be different...and to share it.

One of my new favorites is called Small Notebook it is full of all sorts of goodness! And if you click on her links there's a bunch of other great sites that she's got all labeled and organized for you.

And, in true parsonage life fashion...something totally unrelated to what I was talking about...

Here is my new haircut. Because well, it's different than it was...and I like change. If only my hair grew at a really rapid rate, then I could try all sorts of stuff...maybe in heaven that will happen!!! You never know :)

Any new favorite blogs I should know about?!? C'mon, give it up. OR are there any kinds of blogs in particular that you enjoy reading?

Nosy aren't I.

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Try Not to be Intimidated...

Today is show off your tree day. Which makes me smile. When you see my tree...you will know why.

Our regular tree happened to be stored in our basement when tiny-town flooded...goodbye fancy flocked tree with pine cones.

Don't cry for me. I wasn't really a flocked tree kinda girl anyways.

I decided this year we would go to the tree farm and cut it down and haul it home, just like we did when I was growing up.

Then reality hit and I remembered I have a certain destructive three year old that I can barely keep up with. The kids and dog are lucky to be watered, I don't know if I can handle a high maintenance tree.

So instead...we went wild this year.

I give you our white tree.

Where are all your ornaments you ask?!? Two explanations.

1. There's a huge box of ornaments in the attic...I may have mentioned before that I'm not all that sentimental when it comes to that kind of stuff...which helps because...


2. they would just get ruined and broken around here. Jake has already pulled the tree over once when he cast is John Deere magnetic fishing pole into the tree and then "reeled" it in. Lucky for him his mama just had to set it back up. Done. I didn't even re-fluff it.

We're fancy around here...what can I say. ;)

If you'd like to link up and show off your tree head on over to Sara at Butterville! Unless, of course, I've totally intimidated you with my fancy tree *wink wink*

Happy Tuesday! (We have a snow day by the way, which is fun, because it's the first one. Don't talk to me about snow days come February, I will likely break into tears.)

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In a Nutshell...

This time of year is absolute craziness around here. Presents to buy, Cards to be sent out (which haven't been done yet), the church Christmas program (which I'm in charge of and have no skills/gifts/talents in this area what-so-ever...I am so not exaggerating), cleaning/regular household stuff, blogging ;),and just general fun stuff!

Usually, this overwhelms me a bit...shocking, I know. But this year, I'm trying to enjoy the madness of it all. Cramming in all the fun, and trying to savor every last second...not feeling guilty.

So what if I've averaged Starbucks three times a week for awhile, it's a precious treat/reward for all my running around. So what if I've put on a few pounds from eating lots of sugar...I've enjoyed every bite, I'll run it off later...hopefully...So what if it's a little more hurried and crazy...it's crazy fun, and this year...I'm choosing to love it.

Here's my festivities from the past weekend:

Friday night was dinner and shopping with some of my Bible study friends:

Kaya, Brenda, April & Trisha

Sarah, Me, Billie & Cecilia

Saturday was shopping & Starbucks with my sister Lindsey...let me tell you, the mall...it was a zoo!

After that was my nephew Gavin's 1st birthday party! Here's the birthday boy:

Apparently the love of sugar runs in the family...check out my niece Maddy ;)After the party we swung by Steve & Barry's because they are going out of business...which is sad...but I got some GREAT deals!Red puffy winter coat, black pencil skirt, boat neck, long-john jammies, 3 dress shirts for Ben, 2 t-shirt:Ben and 20 wooden hangers for $60...Merry Christmas to me, by the way ;)

Sunday night we all decorated the church...and then snacked...because that's what we do.

...and my handsome hubby. Turns out the rest of the pictures I took of people decorating were of their backsides...which I'll refrain from putting on the Internet, cause I'm nice like that.

Today: Cleaning...and hopefully those Christmas cards will address themselves.

Tomorrow: Big snow storm coming.

Life is good.

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