It's so funny to think that people you know are reading your blog. I was talking to Karen (my daddy's wife) last night and she mentioned she had been checking out my blog. Then after I got off the phone I sorta had a panic, thinking that I might have listed their Christmas presents on here. I was trying to think back in my head what all I had written!!! I've looked back over everything this morning and it's all safe - but if not it would have been too late anyway, huh? So, I'm wising up - know you never know who's reading!!! :-)

So, Karen, you have to leave me a comment now!!! Did Daddy like the Ray Stephens video?

What Movie is your Christmas Most Like?

Your Christmas is Most Like: A Charlie Brown Christmas

Each year, you really get into the spirit of Christmas. Which is much more important to you than nifty presents.

What Movie Is Your Christmas Most Like?

Elmo's Biscuit

Well, the dog got a name, but not without some discussion. Terry wanted to name him Elmo - which we all thought was cute. Stephen was reading Biscuit at school that very night and thought the new puppy looked just like Biscuit - so that had to be his name. We were trying to decide the name and Stephen in his true form said that he was calling the dog Biscuit whatever we named him. So, to try and appease everyone - the dog's name is Elmo's Biscuit!!! :-) Pretty much everyone except Stephen is calling the dog Elmo and just as he said - Stephen is calling him Biscuit.

I am jumping in the Menu Plan Monday from I'm an Organizing Junkie .

Here is our menu plan for the rest of this week and going into next week... I'm hoping to get some things cooked up ahead this week to make the weekend and holiday run smoother. But, you never know... :-)

Tuesday - Fried Chicken, macaroni and cheese (not the real stuff this week - only the box type) :-)

Wednesday - Sandwiches for the littles, Artie and I out to dinner while they are in church services

Thursday - Spaghetti & French bread

Friday - Chicken Kabobs grilled on the grill - Artie's night to cook - start the celebration - Artie's off work until after New Year's!!!! :-)

Saturday - Clary Christmas - Karen's pick

Sunday - Quinn Christmas - soup and sandwiches

Monday - Christmas Eve - our traditional eve meal - chili (maybe I'll be smart and get this cooked ahead this year???)

Tuesday - Lunch at Mimi's - I'm bringing the turkey, dressing and peanut butter pies. (Gwyn, I promise I will get the recipe up soon!!)

Elisabeth Elliot

I found this short video of Elizabeth Elliot on Chats with An Old Lady . I so love Elisabeth Elliot!!!! She is such a godly example of what a woman should be.

Thanks Gina



Now, if I could just be that kind of servant here in my own house!!!!

Tackle It Tuesday

Today's Challenge is Christmas Shopping!!!

One of my all time favorite challenges!!!!!

I'm off to see what all I can cross off my list. I don't have much left (for me - if you saw my list, you might think it was a lot still!!) I have stocking stuffers (for 7), some specific gift wrappings bags, a couple of swap presents for Artie's family's Christmas, and just a couple of things left for the children.

It should be a fun run....

Update ... I did so good. Found many things I was looking for and a couple that just seemed to jump up in my buggy (mostly stocking stuffers). It was a fun afternoon. Just a few more items and I'll be already!!!

God is so good

I just got a little surprise today (a Christmas present from a lady at church) and feel so blessed. You know, as we were having babies, then more babies, then they just seemed to keep coming there for a while... :-) people would always make comments they thought were cute but always trying to make us doubt God's provision. What are you gonna do with all those kids, don't you know what causes that, what about college? They just went on and on.

It has been so fun to watch how God has provided. Artie has been blessed on his job - in every way. He has so much knowledge in his field now. People have blessed us right and left from day one. God has always met our needs. I remember when we had four little ones and were living in a temporary 2 bedroom house and found our we were having twins. I have to admit, my faith faltered a little, but learned to rest in God. When I went in the hospital to have the babies we were still living in our little two bedroom house, but when I was rolled out of the hospital with a baby in each arm, Artie was able to bring me to our new spacious home. Friends and family all pitched in and blessed us. The rooms had all been painted, there was food in the frig, and the beds were even all made and waiting on us. All I had to do was bring my sweet little babies in and keep on going. God is like that. I wonder if we had waited on the big house if the children would have ever came?

So, Brian's the first one to college next year. Thanks to all the wonderful gamblers in SC, the lottery had brought in a ton of money for college scholarships. (what's the verse about the wealth of the wicked?) Brian has a full scholarship for school - books and all.

God just keeps on using his people and those that don't even realize they are helping Him to do His work. I am so thankful!!!

I'm such a bad organizer. Really organization is my gift, but you know your gift can also be your worst quality sometimes.

Sunday night, Terry's 4 year old class was singing for the church's Christmas party. I got Troy and Brenda both to their own Discipleship group Christmas parties - with presents, money for dinner and snacks, got me and the littles dressed and cleaned up for church, got the dessert to take for the Christmas gathering, took the camera. I thought I was so ready. (Artie has a really long work weekend - and was still at work - so I was on my own)

But...the batteries on my camera died in the middle of the first song. Here you can see a little anyway. Terry is on the right side with the red vest on. We just keep playing that little part over and over for him. He loves to see himself on the big computer screen. :-)

Be careful, the volume always seems very loud. You might want to turn it down before you press play.

Okay Chrissy, here's your picture. DeAnna's in the front again, seems to be a theme going here. I'm in the middle and Chrissy is the cutie with the pigtails. We were swimming in the kiddie pool at the apartment we lived in for a while when I was little. DeAnna and I have on matching bathing suits - while Chrissy is the star with the red one on.

It's so funny to hear from Tami, I just saw Chrissy at Wal-Mart today. She looks so good. I wish we all had a long weekend to hang out together!!! Maybe we need a weekend at Myrtle Beach or Gatlinburg!!! :-)

I got an e-mail from my cousin Tami this morning and it got me to thinking of older days. :-) We used to have so much fun together. I wish we got to see each other more often. I found this picture in an album of Tami and me and my other cousins. It was taken at my grandparents house. I'm the squinty one in the middle. Terri's the cool teenager standing up with the pigtails, Tami's in the front and DeAnna's in the back. Aren't we stylish??? :-)

Now I need to dig one up and embarrass, I mean show off, Chrissy too~~~ can't leave her out. She must have been a tiny toddler when this picture was taken.

PEACE
It does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise,trouble or hard work,it means to be in the midst of those thingsand still be calm in your heart...only way to do thatis to place all of your cares and fears at HIS feet...and feel the peace of God overwhelm you...

I read this at Chats with an Old Lady (http://chatswithanoldlady.blogspot.com/ ) and thought it was beautiful.

Saturday in the Quinn Home

Things are clicking right along here at the Quinn house. Aside from Artie having to work all weekend, things are running pretty smoothly. Today is our work day. I am doing some much needed bedroom cleaning while the littles work on their rooms. Laundry will continue to run all day - as most days here.

I went today and got my Christmas stamps. I got the Madonna and Child by Bernardino Luini from the National Gallery of Art. I was so glad the post office had some left with me waiting so long. I'm hoping to get a good movie to watch tonight while I address the cards!! Last night we watched a good movie on the life of Joseph (Mary's husband) while Artie worked late. This was a movie towards our school study on his life. I'm hoping for Winter's End tonight - from the Sara Plain and Tall movies. That's one of my favorite winter time movies.

Brenda has her discipleship Christmas party tomorrow night, so she will be working on her gifts this afternoon after her room is clean.

Terry is suppose to sing with his 4 year old class at the Christmas Celebration tomorrow night at church. I hope with Artie's weird work schedule this weekend, we will be able to make it.

Troy has to work tonight, so he should be good to go. Still trying to make some more money for Christmas presents. I will have to take him shopping later in the week for his gifts. He is excited to be able to buy his presents with his own money for the first time this year.

So, off to clean....

A Little Early Christmas Present

The girls and I had our homeschool day at Granny's today. We went to do some Christmas cleaning for her. We were able to put clean sheets on her bed, clean her ceiling fans, vacuum and begin cleaning out her closet and packing away some summer clothes. It was a productive morning. But the main news was that Granny had a early Christmas present for them!!!




Isn't he adorable???

He's a feist. I have never even heard of that breed before yesterday. It is close to a Jack Russell. Sometimes they are used in the circus with clowns because they are so smart and easy to train.


Granny came home with us so she could see the boys reaction!!! Everyone is in LOVE!!! :-)


Stephen loves all animals. He will be so happy to have our own dog. Brenda is excited to begin training him.

Tonight we will work on a name. The top names so far are Jody, Elmo, Cutie, Dasher, SuggieBoog.... any more?

RSS - Do you know how to use it?

Click To Play

Yeah, I'm learning more and more. I now have a BlogLines link on the left. You can click on mine or any others and know when your favorite blogs post.

The 100 Acre Personality Quiz

I saw this over at Organized Junkie ( http://orgjunkie.com/ ) and thought it was cute...is it true? :-)




Take the 100 Acre Personality Quiz!

Tackle It Tuesday - Decorating Time

Susan and Janice at 5 Minutes for Mom host a Tackle It Tuesday challenge. Today they tackled Christmas Decorations.

We did too. Here are a couple of little pictures of our day.

We finally got the stocking hung... Yes, anyone new whose reading there are seven stockings for seven children!! :-)

For my friends, you will be happy to see Brian's stocking is hanging with the other children. He says he's planning on being here Christmas eve with us again this year as usual!! :-) God is so good.

We began our "real" Christmas study today (as apposed to our previous Christmas tree and candy cane study). We studied Angels - mainly Gabriel. We looked at how God sent him to proclaim to Mary of Jesus birth. We also looked ahead (which is a great thing to do during this time of Advent) as how the angels play a role in announcing the second coming of Christ. Here are our little angles hanging over our hallway door.

Our Christmas tree has been sitting in the living room for over a week now with no lights and no decorations. Artie is usually in charge of the lights, but has been so busy that he hasn't gotten them up yet. The girls and I decided to help him. Now, the tree is all lit and ready to be decorated this evening when he comes home. He will be relieved to have that crossed off his list and the girls loved it.

We also started One Wintery Night by Ruth Bell Graham today. We are reading one chapter a day - planning on finishing the day after Christmas. (The book goes from Jesus birth all the way to His death on the cross) They wanted to read more than the first chapter, but I think it is always good to leave them wanting more. They are looking forward to see what happens to Zeb tomorrow.

Monday Meanderings

Here are our plans for the upcoming week... so here's the weekly update in red

Artie begins balancing at work this week... did a great job, looking forward to more balancing jobs

More Christmas school - we've had so much fun with this. I'm looking forward to getting to more of the realness of Jesus this week. Loved the movie on the life of Joseph - looking to Mary's coming soon.

A school day at Granny's - working on a Christmas projects which are still to be decided - helped Granny clean her closet, change sheets on the bed, cleaned ceiling fans, got new puppy

Beginning One Wintery Night by Ruth Bell Graham - such a good book - it starts at the very beginning with Adam and Eve - showing the whole reason Jesus had to come to earth in the first place

More Christmas cooking - candy cane cookies, gingerbread house and people - nope, not yet

More Christmas shopping - can't say more here - Brenda will read!! Working on two surprises!!! :-) - still a surprise

More Christmas cleaning - working on the kitchen next - washing down cabinets, walls, doorways, appliances - still working on kitchen

Hopefully begin wrapping presents - not yet!!! :-(

Pick up and address Christmas cards - done

Call and check on my Granddaddy - done, he's going back today for the results of his test, so will check on him again this afternoon

Reading more of my new Beverly Lewis book - Sanctuary - can't wait to see what happens next - I think I like the more true Amish based books better than this one - but this one is good too.

Troy and Brenda will have a Progressive Dinner with their Youth Group this week - a fun night for them

Stephen has wrestling -done - he's doing super!!

Bobby begins his new gymnastics class (moved up from the beginner class) done - began learning a back hand spring

Troy will be working most evenings on the grill - done

Gaffney Christmas Parade

As much as I'm ready to move from town to the country, there are days where it is handy! Today we bundled up and were able to walk (about 3 blocks) to the town's Christmas parade. It was a beautiful day. Everyone ended up shedding there warm gloves (it got almost up to 70) and loved the parade.

Here's the boys looking to see if the parade is about ready to start. Brenda and Emily walked on down to the City Hall building. They went up to the top floor and watch with Brenda's discipleship group.
Anticipation is building. It's almost time!!!
Here comes Troy's AirForce ROTC unit.
Troy is the tall one in the back.

Here's a back shot of him. That silly boy deleted my only good shot.
And here's the boys favorite parade participant!!! Dora is riding on the back of the jeep too.

Artie had to leave the parade early. He met Troy's ROTC at Ryan's for lunch. The children and I walked back home and began our Saturday house cleaning projects. I went straight for laundry first!!! I think they ended up playing much more than any cleaning that needed to be done.