Big Changes On the Horizon

Happy Decemeber!!
Wow....30 more days and we are done with 09.... wow!!!!
I have this crazy feeling 2010 is going to bring some changes to our family.  I already know of a big one... but I cant share it yet! :o)

I also cant wait until Christmas.  We will be spending Christmas Eve with my family in a cabin at a local lake... my mom aunts said they are going to go "wild" and decorate the inside and outside of the cabin!! The kids will love it!  The Christmas day with Mikes fam.
We are hoping that our extended family from Erie (Mike's side) can make it down here with their new lil baby boy.  They are such a fun and Godly couple, and we really enjoy spending time with them... and there other 2 kids are sooo cute and fun, and Madi loves them.  Cant wait for Dee Dee and Bubba to meet them too! :o)
AND, my sister-in-law is due in the next 2 weeks with a baby boy... and we seriously cant wait to meet him!  Good stuff!
God is good to us.  He has blessed us with an absolutly amazing family and this great future, and this great ministry of the redemption of kids.  Yeah.  God Rocks! :o)
As we count down to Christmas, and on to the New Year, my mind cant help but start to get consumed by the presents I need to buy, wrap, and give.  The boxes that need put away or moved to the basement, the hall closet that needs cleaned out so when people come, they have places for their coats, the food I need to cook, the sweets that need baked, the cards that need sent, and the family pictures that need taken.  And as I sat down last night to make my month of December to do list, I just stopped and realized that on my list, i included nothing about the real meaning of this season!!
So this morning, after a lot of thought and prayer, I added a few extras to my list.
1. Find a daily game/activity to do with the kids as a countdown to Christmas that tells the story of Jesus.  (Dee Dee and Bubba dont have a lot of experience with Jesus and Dee Dee doesnt know the Xmas story!)
2. Go Caroling (this may not happen, but I'd LOOOVE to do this and I think that the kids would love this!)
3. Make a BIG meal and take it to a local Childrens Home/Residental Treatment Facillity for some foster kids... and give those kids some love!
4. Teach the kids a really lovely Christmas song to sing for the family at Christmas Eve.  The girls both love music so much, I think this would be so cute for them!
5. Take a bath.  Just one.  Just for me.  No hurried shower that day.... just a nice relaxing bath!!
6.  Read the kids lots and lots of stories.
7.  Have the kids HELP me bake....trying to find ways to spend time with them while I get all this stuff done!
8.  The girls are going to help us wrap Alex's presents! :o)
9.  Spend and extra bit of time everyday praying.  I need to keep Jesus front and center and not let my time with Him fall on the back burner becuase my list is huge!!
10. ENJOY THE SEASON!!!!  This is such a GREAT time of year!!  The lights, the presents (i love presents), the family time, the MEANING of the season, the Joy, the Peace, and the Love.... they all should be celebrated and enjoyed.  Especially the meaning!  SO I plan on enjoying this season to its fullest! 

Christmas with 3 kids... that will be such a new and wonderful thing... I cant wait for the insanity! lol!! :o)