I love weekends with my family. :)
Barry and Luke had basketball practice on Friday night. They had a grand ol' time. Barry came home and told me that he thought he was a really good coach....talk about no self esteem issues!!
Emily and I hit the mall on Friday night and did some Christmas shopping. She is so much fun to shop with. We had to go to Bath and Body Works so she could buy a gift for a friend. She happily pulled out her money and paid for the gift. She has grown up so much this year. She handles her money wisely and doesn't beg me to pay for everything. She melts my heart!!
We ate dinner together and took dessert home to enjoy while we curled up on the couch with some Christmas TV.
On Saturday evening, we had tickets to the Christmas Celebration at Houston's First Baptist Church. It was better than amazing!! It started off with a whimsical feel and then turned to the Christmas story. Angels hung from the ceiling and an elephant paraded through the sanctuary. We were so moved by the way the story of Jesus was portrayed.
Here are a few pictures from Saturday evening....
Barry was raking the leaves and Luke decided they looked fun to jump into....
We really love Houston's First Baptist Church, but it takes us about 40 minutes to get there. We have found that we are not able to be as involved as we would like to be, so we decided to try a church closer to our home. I would like my children to be able to participate in activities on Sunday evenings and throughout the week. The church we tried this morning is the church I was baptized in when I was in 6th grade. I was so excited to show my children and share memories with them. As I stood and worshipped with music, I whispered to Jesus, "This is where I first met you." It brought tears to my eyes.
You see, I had a friend in 6th grade whose dad was on staff at the church. She invited me to attend with her and introduced me to Jesus. I used to love going to church and attending youth functions. She moved when we were in 7th grade. Sadly, I stopped attending church not long after she moved. I was the only one in my family that attended church, so my decision to stop attending didn't affect anyone but me. I strayed from Jesus for many, many years. As I worshipped this morning, I was so grateful to Him for waiting for me so patiently. I fall into the truth....forgiven much, love much. I never want to forget who I was before I went back to Him. The memories remind me just how great my Savior is.
We are huge Buddy the Elf fans! We walk around quoting him anytime we can. We crack ourselves up. That's normal, right???
Have a fabulous week filled with shopping and smiling because you know, smiling's my favorite. :)
