I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas! This year I decided I wanted to start some new family traditions. I’ve come up with a few small ideas on my own and found a few other ideas online. We did a couple of these ideas this year to see if we would like them but the rest I am saving and thinking ahead just a little for Christmas 2014. 😉

Anyway, I wanted to share a short story with y’all about something that Jonathan and I received this year as a Christmas gift. The picture to the right shows the beautiful blanket that we were given. I had been in Hobby Lobby many times and saw this fabric but did not have the extra money to buy it. My Mom bought enough fabric so that it would be a blanket big enough for me and Jonathan to share. I hope to someday soon buy more of it to make for our own little one. I also saw some fabric in Walmart with puzzle pieces on it which I plan to buy someday for making a baby quilt. As you can imagine, I love anything now that has to do with puzzle pieces. 😉 So many plans and so many ideas… maybe it won’t be much longer until we can make them reality.

I hope you enjoyed this sweet Christmas story. Honestly… This blanket matches absolutely nothing in my house, but I could completely care less because what it represents is so special to me! Its new home (when not in use) is spread across the back of the couch where it can be seen by all, and on these very cold days… used all the time. 😉 We are thankful for everything we received this year and for the time we were able to spend with our family and friends. We are so blessed!

It is of course also $5 Friday so we are sharing our blog in hopes that you will pass it along to those you know. Please pray for us and if you have it to give please help us raise the money we need for our IVF Fund. May God bless you all abundantly for what you’ve done for us!

It’s so hard for me to imagine that Christmas is just 5 days away! It seems like we were just cooking turkey and dressing for Thanksgiving a week ago. Where did the time go? I finally finished all my shopping yesterday which also included buying groceries and food for dinners we will be going to over the next several days.

While Christmas music rings through the house and I sit wrapping presents I am reminded of so many Christmas memories from past holidays as a child to the new ones Jonathan and I began when we got married 8 years ago. I love this time of year and all that it holds… Giving to those in need, saying “Merry Christmas” to someone and seeing the smile as they respond with the same, watching someone open a present they have wanted so much, baking goodies, and cooking a special Christmas dinner that is just for the two of us, making Christmas cards, decorating my house, the smell of cinnamon, being involved with the Christmas play at church every year, watching the bright eyes and big smiles of my nieces and nephews as they see Christmas lights and point with glee while saying over and over “Look at that house!” But….

The best part of Christmas to me… (and its not just a cliché) is remembering that Jesus came to give us hope and life through Him! I love when Jonathan reads the Christmas story every year on Christmas Day! I love the carols we sing that bring Him glory, I love being in church and hearing preaching that tells us of this beautiful story of our Savior! While I love the story of how He came, I also cherish that He is not a baby anymore. He is personal to me, He is always there for me, He guides me and protects me, He loves me… always! I hope as we celebrate this season that we will not forget that HE is the true meaning of “Christ”mas!

Please continue to pray for us and if you have it to give this Christmas, help us along the way to making a new Christmas memory of someday having a little one of our own to cherish!

Thank you to all who have given. May God bless you all with a very Merry Christmas!

It’s a sunny (but cold) Friday here in East Tennessee! I know God knows what we need, but I was certainly ready for all the rain to end!

Becky has been selling bracelets, and we had a Tupperware fundraiser done for us by a friend of ours. That has brought a significant increase in our funds, but we’ve still got a long way to go. Along with the bracelets and Tupperware, we’ve sold one whole puzzle, and 589 pieces of a 2nd puzzle. Here are a few numbers to help make a picture of where we’re at, and where we need to be:

• Total raised: $8,465
• Total need: $14,030
• Still to raise: $5,565

There are 411 pieces left in the second puzzle. At $5 a piece, that would bring $2,055, bringing the total up to $10,520, leaving only $3,510 to go!

We want to say thank you again to all those who have bought puzzle pieces, bracelets or Tupperware – you can see here how much it has helped! We especially want to thank you for praying for us!

Today is another $5 Friday! We are very excited about how the Lord has been working for us and how we have seen Him provide this GIANT of a need in our lives. We knew once we started this process that it was going to take a miracle for this to happen for us. Through the money, and the procedure itself. We certainly knew that the Lord was very capable of providing this for us, but I’m not sure that we thought it would happen so fast. We do still have a ways to go, but from the start we began setting smaller goals for ourselves of what to reach rather than always looking at it as 14,030. We have been so blessed to see each one of those goals met!

Our latest goal was to reach 8,000 and we have definitely passed that one so we are now getting close to reaching a new goal of having sold 2 puzzles. Once that goal is reached we will have 10,000! :O The amount of puzzle pieces we have left to reach that goal is 413.

The picture to the left (as you can see) is of a puzzle piece frame. It was given to me by my secret sister this year for Christmas. I immediately fell in love with it because I decided from the start that I wanted to have something like this for after we have our baby to put their picture in! Of course… prayerfully that we do IVF and it is successful. 😉 So… If you are able today, please help us get a little closer to this new goal and in doing so it will also bring us closer to bringing home our baby someday and having a beautiful picture to put in my new special picture frame!

God bless each one of you during this Christmas season! Thank you to all that have given and most of all for your prayers, and love shown to our little family. The Lord sure is using all of you in a very special way!

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above… James 1:17