Christmas Camryn-17 months old

I could just eat this little one up, couldn't you?  All dressed in her Christmas attire for her morning at Forest Pointe Church.  Couldn't resist sharing these photos with all of my family and friends!

In Memory of Marjorie Adell Smith-AKA-My Mom

Today I have been out of sorts despite the plan for a very relaxing Christmas Eve Day before I head back to work tomorrow.  It was as if I had PMS after "the monthly event".  Very strange feelings today.  And it is not as if I don't remember what this day represents to my family but I guess it was just not at the front of my mind.

Then the mail arrived and I received some beautiful Christmas cards from friends and family across the US.  Later today the door bell rang.....when I finally got the dogs calmed down and made it to the door the UPS man was already gone and there in my mailbox sat a small package.

I opened the package that my God Mother sent to me.  She often blesses me with kitchen towels or note pads alway thoughtfully picked out just for me.  So as I opened the package I was expecting a similar gift to years past.  Instead there sat this plaque that looked vaguely familiar to me.  Inside there was this handwritten note in my Aunt Jane's beautiful script stating that she decided to re-gift this to me.  She shared in the note that many years ago (guessing in the 1970's) mom had lovingly made this for her and now she felt that I may want to have it.

At this moment, I realized why I have been out of sorts all day long.....19 years ago today my mom died of lung cancer on Christmas Eve.   That is why I feel the way I do today and hadn't figured it out until this package arrived.  What a thoughtful gift for me to receive today and I thank you Aunt Jane for thinking of it.

Mom was such an example of faith to me those first 20 years of my life.  She showed love to everyone in her path and you see "God is Love".  So in this and many other ways she showed Christianity to me through action as we should all be showing to those around us.  They don't want to hear our words, but instead desire to see us exemplify Christ.

Merry Christmas to all of my family and friends.

Stacey

Jessica's Baptism

Recently I found myself telling one of my friends that I didn't have anything new to share on my blog in response to her saying that I had not updated it recently. I was very wrong!

In October I had the honor of being present when my first small group member, Jessica Norman, was baptized at Forest Pointe. Little did she know that I would secretly invite all of our group!

Jessica has been such an example to me of the reason we have small groups at FPC. When Jessica started attending our group her marriage was struggling, new to FPC (driving nearly an hour from Hickory each weekend!), and not connected at FPC. Now her marriage is much stronger and she is expecting her first baby in April. After our group volunteered one Sunday she became a weekly leader in our Kidzpointe area. This semester I asked if she would consider helping me lead our group some weeks and she took that on as she nicely told me that I had "a way of pushing her out of her comfort zone". Then this fall she told me she was scheduled to be baptized by submersion at the largest baptismal in Gaston County (the YMCA Pool!) This brought tears to my eyes because you see this is like a wedding ring, it shows publicly that you have chosen to accept Christ and plan to follow Him. This day was a special day for Jessica but also for her leader as well. I couldn't think of a better time than Christmas to share this story because you see the gift of Christ is a free one for us to accept, but that cost our God tremendously.

Merry Christmas Card

This is the card I designed using the CPS 145 sketch which you can find here: http://cardpositioningsystems.blogspot.com/

This is my first time using one of these sketches and I think I am hooked! This is also the first time I have posted one of my cards on my blog but think I will continue to do so......

Paper: Basic Grey and Bazzill

Stamp: Hero Arts

Ornament: Cricut

Extras: Stickles, Basic Grey Brad