My Birthday & the Children's Christmas Program Are Over...

...WE'RE NOW ANXIOUSLY AWAITING THE ADULT CHRISTMAS PROGRAM AND CHRISTMAS DAY TO COME!

http://picasaweb.google.com/thepennfamily2007/AGlimpseOfChristmas#
I've decided to post just a few pix of our Holiday decor at home... there's much that I haven't captured, both inside and outside, but I hope to do so during our Open House or soon after! Keep an eye out... they're sure to show up!
I had an incredible birthday (Dec. 5th) this year, Greg took me to see the Gaither Holiday Homecoming show downtown and we had a ball with many of our friends and family! The music was awesome and the 'breakfast' following (at midnight) was quite tasty, too! It was snowy outside which made it just perfect for a Christmas show!
Our Children's program, "Christmas Eve at Hope Haven", went well yesterday though it was a bit stressful getting to that point, the kids did a fine job and Greg and I were very proud of them! Being as we were both IN the Musical this year, we weren't able to take pictures ourselves, but we're waiting now to collect several from the children's parents and will post them for you, as soon as possible!
Well, we're now into the last week before the Adult Christmas program and there's much left to do for that, as well! YIKES! Christmas is such a hectic time of year, how can it be that it still remains my favorite of all???
Plus all of the above, I absolutely MUST begin my Holiday shopping tomorrow, or ELSE!!!!! I'm in a bit of shock and unbelief that I'm only now beginning, but I'm praying for warmer weather over the next week or two and God's grace to help me get it all done!

"Here I am,
it's Christmas time,
the panic's setting in.
No presents bought and
not a thought,
of how I'll ever begin."
(A portion of a poem I read recently and felt it was fitting for one such as me...)

The Final Week Has Begun...

To begin, I'd like to say we had an exceptionally nice Thanksgiving week with Greg's family in Missouri... Uncle Tom and Aunt Janie hosted a yummy Thanksgiving Dinner, which we all ate too much of and we were able to see many family members we hadn't seen in a very long time!
We arrived at Greg's parents on Tuesday in the late afternoon... We truly enjoyed our time together although, it flew by way too fast, as always!
'Mom P.' chose to babysit Aly, while we all hit the Mall on "Black Friday" afternoon, I believe they had a good time playing together and we certainly all had a grand time shopping! In the midst of all the hustle and bustle, with our Starbucks 'in-hand', no amount of traffic was going to stop us! LOL
Personally, I'll be glad when I get over my "new mommy-ness" and decide once and for all, not to stress out over large family get-together's, major events, etc. and learn to take things as they come... maybe if and when that takes place, I'll begin relaxing a bit more! LOL (On a side note, I did de-stress long enough to take 3 or 4 pictures during this trip and I'll share them with you at the bottom of this post!)
Well, I'm about 75% unpacked and hope to finish out tomorrow, BEFORE the Christmas decorating gets done, which is only about 50% complete at this moment!!! As busy as we are these days, it looks as if we'll have to keep our decorations up through the first or second week of January, otherwise we'll not have time to even enjoy them!
Aly is loving all the lights, trees, snowmen, stockings, reindeer, etc. She especially loves her OWN tree with all it's sparkles and she can't get over the freshly fallen snow outside!!!
THE FINAL WEEK HAS BEGUN... We have exactly TWO practices left before our Children's Program at Church! Only TWO? Where has the time gone? Heaven help us all! We certainly have MUCH to do between now and Sunday, that's for sure!

http://picasaweb.google.com/thepennfamily2007/ThanksgivingInMissiouri2008#
~ Happy Holidays

Happy Thanksgiving, Ya'll!

(Aly loves to help Mommy and Daddy do dishes...)
We are 'multi-tasking' these days, for sure! This past week, we were involved in 2 Adult Christmas practices, 2 Children's Christmas practices, Greg worked his regular hours plus a few, I worked at home, the Office, picked up additional costumes for the kid's Musical and we had another 'Date Night' with our friends, at "Christian Couple's Connection". I could go on but, I do not want to bore you further... LOL
Today, Monday (the 24th), we are planning to get all of our Christmas decorating done here at home, clean the house and begin our packing for the Thanksgiving trip to MO. After all, we are supposed to leave TOMORROW!!! (Do any of you have a suggestion as to when I can begin Christmas shopping??? Maybe I'll begin by buying a little TIME???)
Trust you'll all have a FABULOUS Thanksgiving with your loved ones and try not to eat too much, while you're at it! Ha Ha, look who's talking...

Elections Are the Name of the Game...

Well! As if we're not excited enough about the Presidential elections coming up in November... Greg is in charge of the Fall Sunday School Drive at Church this year and guess what we've chosen as a 'theme'?!?!? "Get Out and Vote For Sunday School 2008!" We've filled the building with patriotic decor' and are looking forward to increasing our S.S. attendance for the upcoming Church year!

Needless to say, we've been up to our ears in prep-work this week, but this 'drive' has brought with it more of a need to pray and not ONLY for our Country... the Church is in the process of beginning a building project soon and we are all trusting God to provide for this particular need!
Greg and Alyson playing 'Tug O War' this afternoon...
As far as family news goes, Greg began a different work schedule today and will now be working 1/2-days on Mondays and 9-hour days Tuesday through Fridays. He has previously been working 4 10-hour days (T-F) with Mondays off... the new schedule will make our evenings a bit nicer and give us more time together during the week! PTL - it is also going to be somewhat 'flexible' when it comes to our trips home to MO.

Aly after she WON at 'Tug O War'...
We've certainly had a very busy week, the weekend actually began on THURSDAY with a great deal of decorating at the Church and ended on Saturday evening when we finished the 'labor' part of the job!
On Friday evening, we ordered 'take-out' from GT South's BBQ and took it to Mamaw S's house for a bit of a break and a chance to be with the family for a bit.
Alyson and Papaw trying on her 'Princess' crown...
Saturday was the 'final' work day and Sunday morning we officially began the 2008 Election Campaign. The Sanctuary was filled and we had a great turn out! Sunday evening following the service, we had an ALL-Church 'Pie Fest'... MY OH MY! All I can say, is that I'm glad my diet was to begin TODAY and not yesterday!!! LOL

Aly reading in the car tonight...
(By the way! There are a few other pix that we were able to snap today... if you have a second you can view them by simply clicking on any former Photo Album or Slide Show, click again on our 'Public Gallery' and you'll see the Album, "Aly Showing Off Her Teeth N Having Fun".)
Before signing off, I'd like to post a quote that John McCain said regarding Hurricane Ike. I'm also posting a link below, to a video the McCain /Palin Campaign put out on the 12th of this month, about Obama's disrespectful efforts to attack and smear the name of Governor Sarah Palin...

"I am increasingly concerned that there may have been a substantial loss of life (with Hurricane Ike). We do know that the economic impact from this storm will be severe. Like most Americans, my concern has been reinforced by scenes of widespread flooding and ferocious winds. And like most Americans, I remain concerned about the impact this storm will have on gas prices across the country, but our priority now must be to help the relief effort in any way we can, and to pray for the safety of those in the storm's path."

A "Stop" made earlier this week with McCain & Palin...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-b0pSXmT10I
(The above mentioned Obama 'clip')

We're IN - Even if just barely!

YES!!!!! We're IN - even if just barely!
We'll be working on things like decorating, painting, etc. for a bit longer BUT, the main thing is that we're IN!!! (More pix to follow next month...)
We were moved enough this past Thursday evening to actually SLEEP in our new place! What fun to watch little Aly and how well she took to her new room... There's still quite a bit to do as far as organizing, painting, etc. goes. However, it's already looking very much like OUR HOME and we're absolutely loving it!!! God has been SO good to us... we'll be forever grateful!!!
To add to an already busy time... we're in Revival this week with Rev. ("Papa") Russ and ("Nana") Barb Coffee. We're not complaining though, because we're aware that we NEED a revival and renewal in our lives. These have been hectic weeks and this Revival has already proven to be exactly what we need right now. God is truly blessing in this Revival and we look forward to many more blessings before the week is over!
We'll be BLOGGING back to normal in May... trust all of our Blogger-Buddies are doing well! Thanks for your prayers and a special special THANK YOU to all of you who helped us move last week! We couldn't have done it without YOU!