A Look Back At Christmas 2009

We welcomed lots of dear friends and family through our front door this Christmas season!

had the pleasure of hosting all the ladies on my street to a Christmas tea in our home. It was a special time and I loved learning the Christmas traditions of each sweet lady.

Rhett had a few of his friends over for a Christmas PJ party. They were adorable in their jammies. I wish I had gotten a picture of them all together so you could see!

Of course, we decorated the tree. Or maybe I should correct that and say I decorated the tree. I decided this year to get Rhett and Reggie their own tree for the bonus room upstairs to decorate however they wanted. The funny thing is it still sits with nothing but lights and a train you build into the Christmas tree. They turn it on each night and are as happy as they can be. I love how easy to please they are!

One of our family's most treasured Christmas traditions is to read this Advent Book each night startiing December 1 through Christmas day. The entire book is the true story of Christmas and is the most beautiful advent book I have ever seen. It has been so sweet to see Rhett memorize the Bible scriptures surrounding the birth of Christ because of this family tradition.

We even made a trip to the famous Grove Park Inn to see the most spectactular display of gingerbread houses around. Reggie had a business trip in Asheville so Rhett and I got to spend the day touring around and taking in all the Christmas sights. We missed having you with us Reggie!

This is only a fraction of the houses on display.

(This was my favorite. All the white details were hand drawn onto this house. Wow!)

(And, this was Rhett's favorite. Hmm, I wonder why he chose this one?!)

(We had snow and even really big icicles to enjoy.)

(In the foyer of the Grove Park Inn they have a life size sleigh where it is a tradition to get your picture taken. Not sure if you can tell, but that is the fireplace that the sleigh is sitting in and it is huge!)

Christmas morning we hide Rhett's gifts and make him use clues to find them all around the house.

Can you tell which gift was his favorite?

So from our family to yours, we hope you had a wonderful Christmas and that Jesus will be in every detail of your New Year!

Please Pray for Ellie Potvin !!!!

We have a sweet little girl named Ellie at our church who has been fighting a rare pediatric stage 4 cancer and just recently the doctors have said the cancer is so aggressive that she has around 4 weeks to live unless a treatment is found. Can you imagine the hard decisions and overwhelming emotions that her parents must feel? She is also a twin and she and her sister are the best of friends so this will be very hard for her as well. I am calling on everyone to lift this family up in prayer. Only the Lord knows when He is ready to take little Ellie home, so please pray that while she is here that the family would make wonderful memories together, Ellie not be in any pain, the family continue to glorify God through the process and lean on Him for their deepest needs.

Background Story (from Ellie's Caring Bridge site)

Our Ellie was perfectly happy, energetic, tanned and appeared healthy... not a symptom but a dull leg ache for the last few months. What was dismissed for growing pains was the ugly tumor growing silently in her lower left pelvic area...pres

sing on the leg nerves. From there cancer metastasized into her lungs.

Our innocent, kind and sweet Ellie (a twin), at six years old has are rare pediatric stage 4 (Rhabdomyosarcoma) cancer in her trunk and lungs. I found a hard lump in her pelvis area on the evening of July 2, 2008 while powdering her before bedtime. Ellie's twin sister is Grace, they are best of friends and rarely leave each others side. Our family asks for your prayers for God to heal Ellie. We do need a miracle. Ellie began her cancer treatment on Saturday, July 5th. She had completed 30 straight days of radiation to her lungs and abdomen by end of October 2008. Ellie completed a total of 42 rounds of Chemo through May 2009.

Ellie was an inspiration to many and kicked cancers butt - Remission in June 2009.

Sadly, less than 3 months later, Our Ellie is back where we began with tumors in her lungs and the same tumor in her abdomen growing again.

We started a new chemotherapy treatment as our second line of therapy... it failed to work. Now we are looking for the cure.
This will be decided over the next week... we hope.

But we must hold strong to the faith and belief that God can heal our daughter... Ellie does not need medicine. Cancer does not have a chance next to God. For such a scary name, it is just a weak bully when compared to our almighty father in heaven and earth.

We wait for a miracle... Why not Our Ellie? We pray.

*If you would like to follow along and keep updated on specific prayer needs over the next few weeks please use this link:
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/elliepotvin

Sometimes you just learn along the road of motherhood!

I think the title of my post should be more like "Always learning along the way of motherhood!" For all you moms out there, have you ever faced a disciplining situation (usually when the hubby is at work, so really no one else around to face the challenge with) that was really important to correct right away? Well, that happened in our house today and since it has happened before I already decided on my plan of action for the next time.

Now that Rhett is 4 he of course is learning all kinds of new things from us and anyone else who is speaking. You probably know where I am going with this. In the past few weeks he has picked up a word that is not acceptable in our home (and not spoken here either!) and the first time I heard it I gently went to him and explained that we must always be honest and to tell me what he said. Okay, so I really wasn't prepared for the bad word thing and thought that just talking to him would really get through to his heart. This is after I got out my handy dandy "Wise Words for Moms" chart. I have to just stop right here and give a huge plug for this chart. It was written by Ginger Plowman and it is the best quick reference guide to aid you in Biblically disciplining your child that I have ever seen. This chart has just about every behavior that you could run up against with the heart probing questions, reproof and encouragement to go along with each so you don't feel so overwhelmed in that moment. The best part is it comes straight out of the Bible and we know that as in all things, especially raising children, it is ultimate true reference guide.

The only problem was that the chart did not have a "Bad Language" topic. So, I set out on a journey to get an answer on exactly why we shouldn't use bad language. When you become a parent you just know there are things that are not allowed, but maybe we really haven't gotten a true reason why. Well, I knew why but had no idea where that was exactly in the Bible.

Well, the next day I overheard the same word again! And just when you think you got through and a lesson has been learned a week later (today) we are back to sqaure one. So after this was all said and done, God placed the sweetest reminder on my heart:

Jessica, you are just like Rhett. No, you may not sin with bad words, but you do sin and sin is sin whether from a child or an adult. I have placed Rhett in your life to help you grow closer to me through seeing that his realtionship to you is similar to that of you to me. It may seem that you have been placed in his life to shape and mold him, and you have been, but I also have big plans to shape and mold you through this precious little boy. When Rhett disobeys, is defiant, discontent, complaining, whining, being selfish, etc. I need you to see his sin for what it is, but always remember you too have the same struggles and just because your mom and dad are no longer there to instruct doesn't mean you should ever gloss over a sin. I am always here to help you make the right choice and I want nothing to hinder our relationship or drive us apart. So, when you are playing your role as mother and it seems like Rhett is making the same mistake over and over, I feel the same way about you at times but it is in my loving correction that I teach you to be more like me so we can grow closer. Give him love and grace along with true instruction just as I have done for you.

Thank you God for such a precious reminder and intrusting me to be a mommy to Rhett.

"She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue." Proverbs 31:26

Time for Tea!

I love an afternoon with girlfriends and tea (must be the southern girl in me!). This past weekend I had the chance to be part of the biggest ladies tea I've ever been to with over 600 women. Each year our church holds this Christmas Tea and if you want to use your decorating skills you can sign up to decorate one of 70 or more tables. It is exciting to see how each table is decorated differently representing the style and taste of each individual decorator.

This year I went with the theme "Jesus is the Gift." And, because I figured I should use girly colors when I can, (don't think Reggie would want this color scheme in our house for Christmas!) I went with lots of pink, aqua, red and green.

Here's the finished product:

Here are a few other tables that caught my eye. Every decorator did a beautiful job!

All the tables were great, but the best part of all was when my sweet friend Kim (one of our pastor's wives) spoke to us all about being women of integrity, honesty and transparency. It was a message that spoke to my heart and so many others!

Christmas Card Designs

It's that time of year again, time to send out Christmas cards! With encouragement from my sweet friends I have designed a few Christmas card templates. Take a peek below.

(front)


(back)

If you have any questions or would like a custom design, please contact me at waitingonafullhouse@yahoo.com .

All photos were taken by Nicole Rogers Photography

My Little Man Turns 4!

A few weeks ago my little man turned 4 and since he can be found on most days running around the house in his superhero cape and mask, what better theme for his party! I must say I had a blast putting this party together and I think even my hubby enjoyed helping come up with all the details (it must have brought him back to his own superhero days).

To make it more fun we had a Superhero Training Camp where all the kiddos went through an obstacle course to earn their cape, mask and official certificate stating they had completed the training camp and were now real Superheros. They were all so adorable!