CHRISTmas Bell

THE BELL

I KNOW WHO I AM
I am God's child (John 1:12)
I am Christ's friend (John 15:15 )
I am united with the Lord (1 Cor. 6:17)
I am bought with a price (1 Cor 6:19-20)
I am a saint (set apart for God). (Eph. 1:1)
I am a personal witness of Christ. (Acts 1:8)
I am the salt & light of the earth (Matt 5:13-14)
I am a member of the body of Christ (1 Cor 12:27)
I am free forever from condemnation ( Rom.. 8: 1-2)
I am a citizen of Heaven. I am significant (Phil 3 :20)
I am free from any charge against me (Rom. 8:31 -34)
I am a minister of reconciliation for God (2 Cor 5:17-21)
I have access to God through the Holy Spirit (Eph. 2:18)
I am seated with Christ in the heavenly realms (Eph. 2:6)
I cannot be separated from the love of God (Rom 8:35-39)
I am established, anointed, sealed by God (2 Cor 1:21-22 )
I am assured all things work together for good ÿ(Rom. 8:28 )
I have been chosen and appointed to bear fruit (John 15:16 )
I may approach God with freedom and confidence (Eph.. 3: 12 )
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Phil. 4:13 )
I am the branch of the true vine, a channel of His life (John 15: 1-5)
I am God's temple (1 Cor.. 3: 16). I am complete in Christ (Col. 2: 10)
I am hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:3).. I have been justified (Romans 5:1)
I am God's co-worker (1 Cor. 3:9; 2 Cor 6:1). I am God's workmanship (Eph. 2:10)
I am confident that the good works God has begun in me will be perfected. (Phil. 1: 5)
I have been redeemed and forgiven ( Col 1:14). I have been adopted as God's child (Eph 1:5)
I belong to God
Do you know
Who you are?

Jesus is still the Reason!

2009 Hobe Sound Christmas Parade

At first glance, this first picture portrays a typical annual tradition.


It had been raining that morning, and we thought that surely the parade would be cancelled. People lined up, however, and it soon cleared up enough that we all thought the worst was over. Then it started in again about 30 minutes into the parade.


We stuck it out because Rebecca and Elijah were marching with their Tae Kwon Do school. Can you see Elijah here, drenched to the bone? (wearing black shoes and looking at the camera)


The rains came down.


Candy was ignored for the sole chore of trying to keep dry.


Unbelievably, it started coming down in sheets. Looks like a hurricane, huh? This Martin County Sheriff's posse bravely plodded on.


Afterwards, except for our heads we were all soaked to the bone and the kids were getting the chills.


We won't soon forget this years parade! After this one, next year's has nowhere to go but up! This was supposed to be the largest ever parade. In the end, all the bands cancelled but one. There was very little music playing, but plenty of good humor! What a way to kick off the Christmas Season!

"Present time, present time, open the present, see what's inside!" ~Blue's Clues

Due to a crazy schedule this month for all parties involved, we decided to have Christmas with my parents this past weekend. It was a great weekend to do this since we had a full plate of Christmas activities to make it feel more like Christmas! (two Christmas parades and an awesome program at Hobe Sound Bible Church...The Singing Christmas Tree.) So, Saturday the 5th found us gathered around the tree in the living room, ready to unwrap!


Mom loved her monogrammed canvas tote bag from L.L. Bean. She never finds anything with her name on it so she was one happy gal!


I found a great book with "then and now" Bible maps. It also included a CD rom so Dad can print out the maps for his Sunday School class.


Grammie made these aDORable bear shaped blankets for Nate and James. They LOVE them!


Zack and Elijah both received a box full of art supplies. Paper, assorted art pencils and cool design books.


Both boys love to draw, so these were a BIG hit!


Dad went shopping for the men in the family and bought Rob a very nice set of drill bits. I don't know much about tools, but apparently Dad picked out a good set!


Can you believe we made Rebecca wait last to open her gift from her Grandparents??? We are SO mean! Actually, we all enjoyed taking our time and savoring every minute. Anyway, Mom crocheted this huge snuggie for Bee. Her favorite past time is to cuddle up in a blanket with a good book. This is way better than a blanket... it's a blanket with sleeves! How cool is that?


What? There aren't any pictures of ME opening a gift? You are right! My parents didn't think I behaved well enough to get one. Lump of coal for me! Just kidding of course. Mom (good listener that she is) remembered me saying that I would love to have a Mennonite Cookbook so she had her local book store order one for me. LOVE IT! (and just for good measure, she threw in a box of Rubbermaid storage containers, to boot!) Since there aren't any pictures to PROOVE that they bought me a gift, you'll just have to take my word for it!

Sugar Cookie Fun!

I have found the perfect sugar cookie dough that rolls out, cuts out without sticking to the table and bakes perfectly without spreading across the pan to become conjoined twins with it's neighbor to be as elusive as the proverbial needle in the haystack. Until this year!!! Whatever possessed me to decide once again to have a go at the infamous sugar cookie, I'll never know! But while at wally-world, I picked up a tin of star shaped cookie cutters. On the back of the package was (of course) a recipe for the cookies. Much to my absolute joy, this recipe is fail-proof and doesn't taste like cardboard!!! Yahoo! Without further ado....

Traditional Sugar Cookies
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp nutmeg (optional)
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
Mix the dry, cream the wet, adding sour cream last. Add the dry to the wet and mix well. Chill for 1-2 hours. Bake at 350, for 8-10 minutes.

Making them with friends is much more fun! We joined our friend Misty and her girls Kathryn, Karissa, and Kaylee yesterday morning for some flour flying, dough snitching, red hot stealing good time.






Here you go! Try one for yourself!


I don't know who came up with this winning recipe, but as Misty said (at the failure of perfection of her Betty Crocker recipe) "Who needs Betty Crocker, anyway?"

Seemed like a good idea at the time...

Someone sent me this following email. I don't know the source, so I can't give credit where credit is due.

The homeowner says:

“Good news is that I truly out did myself this year with my Christmas decorations. The bad news is that I had to take him down after 2 days. I had more people come screaming up to my house than ever. Great stories … but two things made me take it down.

“First, the cops advised me that it would cause traffic accidents as they almost wrecked when they drove by.

“Second, a 55 year old lady grabbed the 75 pound ladder almost killed herself putting it against my house and didn't realize it was fake until she climbed to the top (she was not happy). By the way, she was one of many people who attempted to do that. My yard couldn't take it either. I have more than a few tire tracks where people literally drove up my yard.”