My eyes are heavy and it's only 8:45 p.m.. And although we had a wonderful time at the Gaylord Texan this weekend, and I slept in the car for a bit, I am pooped (pictures to come tomorrow). This is about what I feel like.

I am so looking forward to this coming week...well, in all actuality, I'm looking forward to Wednesday on. Monday and Tuesday are busy, and although I function well in busy, I am looking forward to being completely the opposite of busy. I just want to hang out and do whatever comes our way.

But, with Christmas a week away, I still have things to check off the list.

That means there is still work to be done, and luckily lots of it is fun work, if you know what I mean.

Shopping, wrapping, baking, hosting (again), traveling, celebrating with family, and waiting for Santa.

I love this week, and I'm ready for the fun of it to start.

This week instead of the usual installment of The Sunday 7, I'm just making a list. Sometimes there is nothing better than a good list, if you know what I mean.

So here goes.....if you're feeling like you too could use a master list this week, feel free to post it below. We'd love to know what you're doing this week, too.

Monday:

1. Make a master grocery list (complete with all the ingredients needed for all the goodies we are taking to all the great parties we have this week).
2. Grocery shop! 
3. Finish all Christmas shopping (both for our family and for the Hope Link families). If you'd like to help with Hope Link, there is still time to give. Click here for more information about how you can help.
4. Start wrapping presents. (I haven't wrapped a single one yet!)
5. Life Church.TV staff Christmas party Monday night....should be fun!  

Tuesday:

1. Host our women's Bible study here
2. Attend Luke's Christmas program 10:00 am
3. Make Taco Soup for our Switch leader Christmas party
4. Clean house and keep wrapping presents
5. Host Switch leader Christmas party

Wednesday:

1. It's my birthday! : )
2. Bake away with my kiddos
3. Finish wrapping presents 
4. Start packing for a trip to my mom's
5. Deliver Hope Link gifts 
6. Dinner with the hubby

Thursday:

1. Finish packing
2. Sort all the presents 
3. Clean out the car
4. Head to Lawton with the kiddos to hang with my momma

Friday:

1. No plans and no list! 
2. Can you believe it?! 
3. Yeah for Christmas break! 
4. Friday night we'll celebrate Christmas with my aunt, uncle and cousins

Saturday (Christmas Eve):

1. Celebrate Christmas in the morning with my Mom, Guy, sister and Kris
2. Head over to Nana and Papa Erwin's to celebrate Christmas around 1:00
3. Head to my cousin Staci's house to celebrate Christmas with my dad, aunt, uncle, cousins, and nana. 
4. Then drive home so Santa can come to our house! 

Sunday (Christmas day):

1. Wake up to Santa's presents
2. Read the story of Jesus' birth 
3. Make a birthday cake for Jesus and have a party! 
4. Hang out 
5. Head to Kristi and Jason's house to celebrate Christmas with the Dalkes that evening

Oh, how I love Christmas : )

Other fun things I plan on doing this week:

• read lots of books to my kiddos 
• snuggle
• watch Christmas movies
• listen to Christmas music
• give
• love 
• worship
• pray
• read
• serve others
• praise God for the best gift of all (as Addison would say), His Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ

May your Christmas week be full. 

.....day 128 of a year of writing.....

Christmas Cards...Where Are Yours?

Are your Christmas cards just sitting in a pile somewhere?

I love going to the mailbox during Christmas. Instead of bills (actually it's in addition to bills) there are Christmas cards waiting for me to open them!

This year I wanted to find an easy and fun way to display them all. Thank you Pinterest!

And this was super easy. All you need is any type of ribbon. (I wanted to find cute Christmas ribbon, but I never got around to it). I happened to have black tulle on hand, so that's what I used.

You'll also need push pins, paperclips or clothespins, and a pair of scissors.

Just take your ribbon and pin it on the inside of your cabinet on both the top and the bottom. You'll want to make sure the ribbon is pulled tight so the cards don't sag when you hang them. (This literally took me less than 5 minutes.)

Pile of cards+ribbon+paperclips= Easy Christmas Card Display

I started by using clothespins. They're easy, cheap, and a cute way to attach the card to the ribbon. 

When I ran out of clothespins, I started using red paperclips. I like the look of the paperclips, too. The clips don't take any attention away from the cards. 

You like it? Make your own.....so easy, so cute. 

Oh, and here is our Christmas card this year. We only had one made, so here's your copy....Merry Christmas! : )

"And an angel of the Lord stood by them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.10 And the angel said unto them, Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all the people:11 for there is born to you this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.12 And this is the sign unto you: Ye shall find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, and lying in a manger." Luke 2:9-12

.....day 127 of a year of writing.....

The Promise of a New Day

~written last night~

Sometimes I yearn for the smell of coffee in the morning. That smell means that the night is over and a new day has begun.

That yearning more often than not comes at night before I fall asleep, while I still have time to worry.

You see, not too long ago, fear and I were close. Like BFFs.

She crept into my mind on a daily basis. She wanted to be close to me and rule over my mind and eventually my life.

Fear is what often caused me to drink wine. I said I did it just because. Just because I was Italian. Or just because I liked it. But more often than not, I used wine to chase away my fear.

So, now on occasion, if I find myself not busy at night (which is rare) I find fear creeping her naughty little head into my life again.

Lately (as in this week) my fear has centered around the stomach bug that is making its way around town.

As a reminder, the stomach bug is what started all my fear and anxiety in the first place (you can read that story here).

So when it comes around every year (and it always does!), I start to feel those thoughts come rushing back.

And for some reason, the night is always the worst.

Tonight I prayed over both of my children believing that God can and will protect us from the virus that seems to be attacking everyone.

But I have also come to a place where I know that if we do get it (which we won't!), there will always be a new morning. I have heard Him say to me so many times now, "And then what?"

I used to worry myself sick about the mere possibility of someone in my family getting sick, but now when I start to think those things, I hear Him saying to me, "If someone does get sick, then what?"

Then what?

Well, I guess we'll take it step-by-step until the ill are well again and then life will move on as normal.

For some reason, I could never get to the above statement before. I was just stuck at the "if." I never could get to the "then what?" part.

I still yearn for the morning sometimes. I feel like the night is just a really long wait. Like I'm just waiting for something to happen when everyone is asleep.

But now I have my Savior to rest in. I have power through Him and I trust in His perfect plan.

I always worry that someone will be sick at Christmas. I don't want anyone to miss anything.

Later today we're taking our kiddos to Dallas for the weekend, and I want to be able to go. (I don't want anyone to be sick.) That's probably why I'm up at 1:15 a.m. writing this. I'm attempting to keep myself busy, so I won't worry.

But in all reality, I've come a long way in a little less than a year. And I know now that I can rest in the promises of His Word.

“So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today."  Matthew 6:34

"And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise."  Philippians 4:8 

.....day 126 of a year of writing....

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The Dalkes +1

Well, unfortunately, I received good and bad news yesterday from DHS.

The good news? Our fingerprints came back! Yeah!

The bad news? Brian's fingerprints were rejected which means we have to go back to the drawing board with his prints.

This time he's going to do them electronically, but I'm not sure if that means they'll be back sooner or not.

So, we're still waiting. It's frustrating, but I know the Lord has a perfect plan in all of this. I know He has a child in mind for us to love, so we'll just keep waiting.

In the meantime, I got a little practice round with three kiddos last night. My brother-in-law, Matt, took my sister-in-law, Jacquelyn, out for a night on the town. Dinner and a hotel room for the night. So I got to hang out with baby Jaxson for the night.

Brian was at church, so I went solo for my first time hanging with three munchkins, and I think it went pretty well. I'm just saying.

I documented with pictures. Enjoy!

We were working on a gingerbread house when Jaxson showed up. 

That's about as far as we got. Hey, at least it's standing! 

Addy and Luke had some fun in the pantry while Jaxson had dinner. 

Yup. That's what we had for dinner. 

We were working on our self portraits. 

Okay, check out my outfit. (I'm not that into clothes,
but I love the outfit I had on today!) It was so comfy and cute. 

I'll have to tell you more about the brand later. I need to research where I can find more of it. 

Three sets of jammies in a row!

Jaxson got in with the big kids. 

He had his real bath in the shower first. : )

Snug as a bug in a rug.

Addy decided to try out the bathtub, too. 

Making faces at Aunt Allie 

They were all in bed by 9:00. You like that? Not too shabby. I'm feeling good about it.

.....day 125 of a year of writing....