Shipping Out!

On December 10th we set sail on the Disney Wonder for three fun filled days at sea! This was our second Disney cruise and it was even better than before! Papa and Ah-ee treated us all to this fabulous vacation for our Christmas and it was wonderful to spend such a special time surrounded by family. The fun started as soon as we got on the ship and we packed a lot into three days. As usual, I took a ton of pictures so it will take several posts for me to post them all. Day one consisted of the Bon Voyage Party, meeting up with Mickey, a fabulous supper, time in the playroom, and a movie...

The Bon Voyage Party

My handsome boys!

Visiting with Christmas Mickey before dinner.

All dressed up for dinner the first night.

Trey was so happy to finally make it to the playroom after dinner.

We headed out to watch the late night showing of The Christmas Carol in 3D.
Jesse barely made it through the previews, he was so tired and it was not his kind of movie at all.
Trey made it until the door knocker came to life and scared Scrooge...he was outta there after that!
Luckily, Phil and I got to see the whole thing the next afternoon while the boys were busy with Oceaneer Club stuff.

Our first towel animal...
Trey loves these things!

Playing in the bunk beds.

Love

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Eleven years ago I married the most wonderful, the most frustrating, the most loving, and the most aggravating man that I have every known! Today he still thinks that I'm beautiful inside and out, he still makes me laugh, even when I think that I'm mad at him, he is still coming to my rescue when I won't go anywhere near my car because a mouse has stowed away, he is still MY BEST FRIEND!
I am the luckiest woman in the world.
Thank you Lord for blessing me with this man.

Today I read the most perfect devotion to celebrate our Christmas time anniversary and I wanted to share it with you.

A Gut Honest Look at Love
by: Lysa TerKeurst

"if I have faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing."
1 Corinthians 13:2 (NIV)

As the holidays approach, I have to be careful about developing an overly ideal view of love. Sometimes I'm guilty of setting the expectations so high of what a 'love filled' Christmas should be that it dooms me to feeling disappointed and grumpy. Ever been there? Well, this year I am feeling challenged to look at love a little differently. I don't want to repeat a habit that I've had from the past where I expect unrealistic things from those I love. I used to hold out the little cup of my heart to my husband, "Will you fill my empty spaces? Will you do that one really romantic thing that makes me feel like I'm the most terrific and special woman in the world? "Then I would hold it out to my children, "Will you fill up my empty spaces? Will you do something that makes me look really good as a mom so I'll feel a little more validated?"Then I would hold it out to my friends, "Will you fill up my empty spaces? Will you provide something today that makes me feel more included and significant?"Maybe Christmas is an odd time to consider such things.Or, maybe this season celebrating Jesus is the perfect time to hit the reset button on my sometimes frail heart. Love is a tricky thing. Our hearts were created to crave it. But misplaced expectations from love can wreak havoc in a person's heart.God proclaims in 1 Corinthians 13:8 that love never fails. And in the quietness of my heart that verse makes me squirm a bit. I see love failing all the time. Or do I?If my only view of love is what it will give me, love from others will fail me every time. It's not that love fails. It's that other people were never meant to be my God. Even a great husband, wonderful children and a thriving ministry can never truly fill me up, right all my wrongs, and soothe those deep insecurities. Not at Christmas. Not at any other time of the year.No, I can't read 1 Corinthians chapter 13 with eyes hungry to see what love should give me and then demand it from those around me. I should read those steadfast Scriptures with the realization that this is the kind of love God gives to me. And this is the kind of love I can choose to give to other people.I can choose that my love will be patient. My love will be kind. My love won't keep a record of wrongs. (Ouch - that's a hard one, right?)I can choose that my love will protect and persevere.And I can choose to lay the cup of my heart at Jesus' feet and stop twirling, twirling, twirling...hoping- demanding- that those around me do things for me they were never meant to do.Interestingly enough, when I read 1 Corinthians 13 again this morning I found an odd yet perfect verse toward the end of this chapter. "When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me" (verse 11).Yes indeed. How funny I never connected that verse about putting away childish things with 1 Corinthians 13 - known as the chapter of love. Oh how we have the propensity to grow in other areas while keeping such a childish, selfish view of love.Love isn't what I have the opportunity to get from this world. Love is what I have the opportunity to give. And I guess there's no more appropriate time to remember this than Christmas.

Dear Lord, thank You for the ability to see love in the proper way. Help me to know how to be filled with Your love so I don't try to get others to fill my empty spaces. Lord, give me wisdom with each of my relationships. Make me a woman that properly lives the principals in 1 Corinthians 13. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Blessings

December is always a busy month for us and this year has been no exception...add in a working Mama & a Disney cruise to our already packed schedule and you've got yourself a very busy time indeed. To top it off, Phil decided at the last minute to compete in the Georgia Farm Bureau's Young Farmer Discussion Meet the first weekend in December. Never mind that we were already planning to be out of town TWO other weekends, and we have almost NO Christmas shopping done, he decided that we needed something else to make our already hectic month, a little more hectic. And you know what...it turned out to be God's plan all along and came with some mighty big blessings!
The Saturday that I was running around with the boys doing Christmas play practice, pizza, and parade, Phil headed to Jekyll Island to compete. He was a last minute substitution because the person that FB had scheduled to compete backed out, and Phil has some good friends (& a brother) that are heavily involved in Farm Bureau and he wanted to help them out if he could. He really wasn't expecting to do very well, although I had told him that no matter what the topic is, he can definitely argue his point better and longer than anyone I know. He was actually kinda dreading the whole thing...and so was I! Turns out he enjoyed it...I knew he would...he LOVES a good argument! Not only that, but he was FIRST RUNNER UP!!! The boys and I are so proud of him and he is now hoping that he's able to compete again next year. Hopefully if he does, my schedule will be a little less hectic and I can join him. Plus, (and here's the really big blessing part, where God answers our prayers) the cash prize he won pretty much paid for all of our expenditures on the cruise! It couldn't have come at a better time and we are very thankful that God provided him with this opportunity! It never ceases to amaze me how if we just turn loose and let God have control, He will provide for us everything we need. However I must tell you that what Phil brags about the most are that one he's still considered a YOUNG farmer and two that he is now smaller than his little brother (for the first time in his life) and was able to borrow Cory's pants (that he can no longer wear) for the competition. Yes, that last one is his biggest bragging point and he mentions far more often than he should. Ahhh, brotherly love...ain't it grand!

In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.

Proverbs 3:6

Just your random Saturday...

This past Saturday was a busy day spent with my boys. We started off with Christmas play practice at the church, then EVERYONE headed to the playground for the kids to let off some energy, took 25 kids to Pizza Hut for pizza (we also had 13 adults:-), and rounded out the day watching the Christmas Parade! What a day!

Here is a little preview of our Christmas play...
Shaggy, Smelly SHEEP!

The weather outside was frosty but that didn't bother the kids...just the parents who were more than ready to pack it up and head for pizza!

It's a parade people! And I can pretty much guarantee you that my boys couldn't tell you what one float looked like...they were way to busy looking at the ground and running after the candy that was being thrown!

Almost Wordless Wednesday

The Friday after Thanksgiving the boys went to Ah-ee's to help her pick up pine cones and to earn some pocket money. Sunday when we made our mad dash to WalMart to buy lights...they couldn't wait to spend their money. They didn't spend it on toys or candy like you might think...no, they spent their money on...

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a baby blue Christmas tree for their playroom! We had to put it up as soon as we got home, and we decorated it Monday night before we decorated the big green tree. Now they spend their afternoons switching ornaments between the blue tree and the green tree...I guess they got blue so that they could tell them apart:-)

A week's worth of decorating...

It took us FOREVER to decorate our tree this year...between Phil's busy schedule & mine and the boys busy schedule I thought that we'd never get it done! We cut the tree down on Saturday night, and on Sunday night we realized that most of our lights didn't work. The boys and I made a mad dash for WalMart to get some & Phil finally put the lights on the tree after the boys were in bed. Then Monday afternoon it was straight home from school to decorate! The boys had so much fun putting their ornaments on the tree & I had so much fun remembering where each ornament had come from and why I had picked that particular ornament that year! Unfortunetly, the boys were asleep by the time Phil got home Monday night, so we had to wait until Tuesday morning to put the angel on top...we did it before school so there would be no more waiting. It took me until the following weekend to get most of the other decorating done, but it has been well worth the wait and the work! My boys love Christmas & seeing them get so excited, makes me get all excited too!

Timber!

The Saturday after Thanksgiving we headed out to Grandma & Da's to cut down our tree...in the dark...& the cold! The boys had a blast of course, and that's all that really matters! Plus, they love any excuse to get out flashlights and shine them in people's eyes:-)

Heading out...

The Perfect Tree

Cutting down the perfect tree...
Da supervises, the boys shine light on the situation, & Daddy cuts!

Trey wanted to count the rings and see how old the tree was.

All ready to go with our 2009 tree!

Wordless Wednesday: My Cutie Pie

Thanksgiving 2009, Part 2

Thanksgiving tradition dictates that we spend part of the afternoon taking our annual family photos. As we have grown over the years, family pictures have become a somewhat humorous affair...I mean when you have TEN kids under the aged 7 and under and Uncle Marc trying to make them smile with his silly voices, then your going to have some laughs. Family photos were even more special this year since it was the first time in a while that we got to have everyone in the same place at the same time! Yea us!!!

Cousins ~ There were six of us born within four years!!!

Us ~ The Rigdon's, Music's, & Tyre's

Papa & Ah-ee

Uncle Chris, Aunt Lindsey, & Baby Hinson (arriving March 2010)

My Little Family
Christy, Jesse, Trey, & Phil

The McDonald & LaMotte Family

Aunt Dot & Uncle Kirby

Cheri, Hudson, Bowen, & Michael

Aunt Mary & Uncle Marc

Being serious this time

The Meeks, Ballard, Rawlins, & Taylor Family

Aunt Esther & Uncle Donnie

Sisters~Mandy, Connie, & Tamie

Weldon, Mandy, Sophie, Boone, & Larry

Chris, Connie, and Carlie

Jonathan, Andrew, Hayden, & Tamie

The Grands
Carlie, Hayden, Andrew, Sophie, Weldon, Boone, Jesse, Trey, Bowen, & Hudson

We are so blessed to have each other!