Getting ready for Christmas!

Well, I can't believe it has been this long since I have posted. We have been so busy getting things ready for Christmas. One tradition that we have with the girls... is to have them pick out some things that they would think a little boy or girl their age would like or need, then we take it over to the nearest Sleep Country, where they have a collection area.

I love to see the concern they have for the kids that are less fortunate than them.

Then this week we got to have the Sister Missionaries over for a Christmas dinner. I remember when I was on my mission far away from home for Christmas, how fun it was to have families invite us into their home at such a wonderful and busy time of the year! 

It was fun getting stockings ready for them and for decorating the table

up for dinner!

Then another gift I got early was for Amy, Lauren and I to go out for a day together. We started out going to the Temple...how grateful I was to be with them in such a special place! Then we went shopping and then went out to lunch!

The rest of the week we just delivered Christmas gifts and we blessed to get have so many of you 

drop off wonderful things for us, Thank you!. And the Christmas cards this year...were simply beautiful!

Then tonight we went to Amy and John's house and had a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner.

We got to watch a Christmas special, and just enjoy having our family together.

We were blessed to even be able to Face Time with Kai and Oakley in Texas, it was so fun to have the whole family together, so grateful for modern technology! We even got to sing a Christmas song together and wish them a good night. Oh how I love those Texas kiddos!

I think Kai is going to take after his Nana, he loves Christmas too! Look what he and his family made after finding a branch that looked just like antlers! :)

Then Lauren gave her Christmas present to me early! A watercolor that she did. She is one talented girl! I love it!!!!!

I pray that each of you have a wonderful Christmas, and are able to feel the true meaning of Christmas this year.

Good night dear friends and Merry Christmas!

Christmas Spirit

I am sorry that I didn't write a post yesterday. I was in a lot of pain, and so I stayed low most of the day. When my pain is really bad, it hurts to even write so... thanks for understanding. I was able to go to church today for a little while, and how grateful I am. Going to church renews and uplifts me. So even though I couldn't stay the whole time, I was thankful for being there for at least, a little while. Plus, I love singing the Christmas songs in church, that was a great memory from the time I was a little girl sitting in church with my family and grandma.
Here is  your Christmas story for tonight, it's good.

Christmas Spirit

The line of disgruntled customers snaked around the counter and disappeared somewhere in the men's ware department. There were just two more shopping days before Christmas, and most of the shoppers in line were in panic mode, coiling to strike. One of those customers was my husband, Dale.
Dale is one of those people who shop better under pressure. They are the no-nonsense shoppers who depend on fast service because every minute counts as the countdown before Christmas continues. But the service here was anything but fast.
The problem was the elderly lady at the front of the line, who was twittering happily to the lone salesgirl manning the cash register.
"This sweater is for my granddaughter," the lady explained. " She's going to be a teacher, you know. And she's doing very well. She has a nice boyfriend who is an architectural technician. He's just started a job with a good company, but you know, we  haven't  seen any sign of a ring yet. Young people  seem to wait so long these days. They've been going out for quite a while now. Why, I was married with one child and another one on the way when I was her age."
On and on she rattled as she painstakingly counted out her change, oblivious to the writhing serpent of customers behind her. When she finally zipped her purse shut and picked up her parcel, the clerk motioned to the man next in line.
"Thank you, dearie," said the lady as she started to move slowly away, checking the contents of her shopping bag. She was almost to the end of the counter when suddenly she turned back. "Opps! Excuse me," she cried. A collective hiss went down the line. Several fangs were bared. An ominous rattle of keys began in someone's pocket.
"What's this for?" she asked, holding up a piece of paper
"It's a discount coupon that will give you a 15 percent off your next purchase here at the store, from now until the end of January," replied the weary salesgirl.
"Well, thank you, my dear, but I won't be needing this," she beamed. "Here, you can use it right now!" she said, handing it to the man next in line. The man's eyes widened, and he mumbled a word of thanks as she shuffled to the door.
Then an amazing thing happened. The man stepped up to the counter and used the coupon that the elderly lady had given him. When the clerk handed him another coupon for his next visit to the store, he promptly turned around and gave it to the woman in line behind him. After she had used that coupon toward her purchase and the clerk gave her another one, the woman then passed it back to the shopper behind her. By the time it was Dale's turn, the salesclerk had a smile on her face, and so did Dale as he turned around to give his coupon to the lady behind him. And so it went, on down the line until there  was nothing left of that disgruntled snake, not even a rattle. One small act of kindness had snowballed into a mountain of goodwill.
Dale says it was one of the best gifts he got that Christmas---when he discovered that the Christmas spirit is still alive and well in our world.   ~ Lisa Beringer ( Chicken Soup for the Soul Christmas )

"The only blind person at Christmastime is he who has not Christmas in his heart"  ~ Helen Keller

"Selfishness makes Christmas a burden, love makes it a delight."   ~Unknown

"He who has no Christmas in his heart will never find Christmas under a tree."   ~ ( Sunshine Magazine ) 

Most memorable Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all of you!  I would like to share one such Christmas miracle that happened to our family over 20 years ago.

We moved from our home in Huntington,West Virginia to Kirkland,Washington in the fall of 1988. Jeff was a geologist and the coal industry took a down turn and Jeff was laid off from his job at the engineering firm. We decided then to take a leap of faith and to move our little family (which then included Brad and Amy) clear across the United States for a whole new beginning.

Jeff found a temporary job till November then right before Thanksgiving they did layoffs again. I remember well the words of my mother right before we left “ do you know what you are doing, moving so far away from family and friends, what if things don’t work out there?” I guess there was a bit of pride in us after a few weeks of being unemployed and realizing that impact it was going to have on the upcoming Christmas, but still I didn’t want to call our family and tell them that we needed help, they had already helped us so much. We had fasted and prayed fervently before we moved and we knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that this is where we were to be and was the needed change that we were looking for.

Jeff did odd jobs for people and I made and sold gifts from our home but still it just wasn’t enough. Washington was a much more expensive place to live compared to West Virginia.

We prayed and worked but I didn’t know for sure how Christmas was really going to happen. On December 1^st our Christmas Miracle began…. There came a knock at the door that evening and by the time we opened it, no one was there. But on the door step was bag of groceries. December 2^nd after it was dark while we were eating dinner the door bell rang. By the time we got up from the table and to the door, once again our visits had disappeared but we found a $20.00 cashier’s check in our wreath on the door. As so the miracle went on and on each day of December. Hard as the children tried, they could not catch our Christmas Angels. Some nights it was a treat, money or food but I just remember the overwhelming feeling of being loved and watched over by my Heavenly Father and those around us (who we barely knew!)

As Christmas day came closer, the cupboards were getting bare and I remember kneeling one night and asking Heavenly Father to help us figure out how we could possibly provide any type of Christmas for Amy and Brad this year. I even left the cabinet doors open before I went to bed, just in case he thought we might have more food than we did. I knew we were doing all that we could, now we were trying to have the faith that we needed to realize things would work out somehow.

The day before Christmas was Sunday and we were up getting ready for church when there was a knock at the door. It was a man who asked if this was the home of Jeff and Lynn Woodard. He introduced himself and said that he was a member of the Lion’s Club and that he had a delivery for us. He then asked Jeff to come to the car with him to help carry things in.

I will never forget the feeling as this STRANGER made trip after trip into our home with boxes of food, and rapped presents for each of us. How could he have known? We didn’t know anyone that belonged to the Lion’s Club? We thanked him over and over before he left and all he said was “ I hope your family has a very Merry Christmas’ and then as fast as he came he left.

I just cried as I watched Amy and Brad dance and laugh as they put the presents under the tree. I remember well the look on Jeff’s face, I knew his pride was a bit hurt- that he isn’t the one who provided for us that time, but he also was very grateful and humble that his family had been blessed. That night after church and the kids were put to bed, I put the rest of the food in our cupboards (which were now full ) and as I picked up a present under the tree, I saw what was written on the tag and I began to cry. It just said TO… A 5 year old girl and the next one said TO…a 2 year old boy.

I vividly remember all my life when our family would be part of a giving tree, where you pick a card off the tree and by a present for that person. We never knew who they were but only their ages and we would take special care trying to pick the perfect gift that we thought they might like and need.

But this time was different, this little 5 year old girl was my Amy and that little 2 year old boy was my Bradley. How could I ever repay these anonymous givers? Then it hit me, receiving is much harder than giving. It was almost embarrassing to have someone give you so much. I sorta wanted to say to them, “you don’t’ have to leave that much food or that many presents just a few would do” but that is not what you say. You say thank you and let them receive the blessings and joy that come from giving.

That night I realized that Heavenly Father had heard the prayers of a young desperate mom, I knew He knew me personally and if I tried to do all that I could to live righteously, that he would always take care of us.

It reminded me of the quote…."God always hears our prayers but it is usually through Others that He answers them."

I promised that day that we as a family would never forget the kindness and service of others and that as long as we could that there would never be another Christmas that we didn’t try to do the same for someone else.

What a difference it has made in my life and I believe in the life of each of our kids when we ask What did we give for Christmas?

"The only real blind person at Christmas-time is he who has not Christmas in his heart." ~ Helen Keller