Crafting

For Christmas this year I decided to get my creative juices flowing and CREATE! My first plan of action was to browse Pinterest for ideas, and boy did I find ideas. I like gathering ideas and then creating my own version of that idea. Often I have a vision in my head of how I want something to turn out, and very rarely does it turn out the way I thought, BUT...I am typically happy with the end result. Here are some of the gifts I made.

Post It Note Holders

Scrapbook Wooden Letters for some of our nieces and nephews

Grandkid Picture/Art holder for our parents

This is one of those things where I had a vision, and it turned out differently,

but I was pleased with the end result. Aaron helped me with the chalkboard paint.

I enjoy crafting, and I enjoyed making these gifts!

Operation Christmas Child

For those who don't know, Operation Christmas Child is an organization that ships shoe boxes full of toys, goodies and the gospel to children (ages 2-14) all around the globe. What a joy it was this year to take Jason along to fill a shoebox for a 2-4 year old little boy. I know he won't remember doing it this year (thus the picture), but I do hope to continue to do this with him throughout the years. I pray it will instill in his little heart the desire to give cheerfully and generously.

The Lord has richly blessed my little family this year! We have received blessing after blessing and we praise the Lord for His goodness to us. It is our desire and prayer that we will generously use our time and resources to bring glory to our Lord Jesus Christ.

Dallas Turkey Trot

Keep in mind that this hideous picture was taken at 6 am.
I was going for functional, not cute!

It sure has been awhile since I blogged last. Must have been all the running I was doing to prepare for my 5k. ;) Or...maybe it was just that I have been busy with other things and this blog isn't high on my priority list. Whatever the case, I am back to tell all of my faithful readers about my very first race.

With God's help I successfully completed my first race ever on Thanksgiving day. I ran the 5k portion of the Dallas Turkey Trot. I am happy to tell you all that I actually ran the whole thing. It wasn't really FAST running (mostly because I don't run fast but also because there were 40,000 people there). I finished the race in 34 minutes, and since my goal was 45 minutes, I was thrilled with my time!

The race started at 9 am, and I didn't get across the start line until 9:46. The first 8 mile runners had crossed the finish line before I even started! That wasn't frustrating at all -insert sarcasm-!! But once I crossed the starting line, I was able to weave in and out pretty well. I did manage to run into a parking meter, talk about ouch!! The biggest bummer of all was approaching the finish line and seeing people stop, and having to push through to finish. I know it was due to the thousands of people there, but still, I wanted to finish strong. I almost cried when I finished because I still couldn't believe that I had actually ran a whole 3.1 miles!! God gave me the strength and endurance and I am thankful to Him.

After crossing the finish, I ran over to the 8 mile finish line and watched my oldest sister and her husband finish. I got there just in time to see them finish (they ran the 8 mile and were able to start closer to the front.)

It was a cold and foggy morning in Dallas! It was a great temperature for running! All in all it was a fun time. I am not sure I would run in that particular race again, but I will if the Lord permits, be running more races in the future. Thank-you to all of you who prayed for me and encouraged me as I prepared for and ran the race.