OUTSHINE

This past weekend was 180 Weekend for the youth of our church.   It is a huge discipleship weekend.   We had 250 students come from across the Jackson Metro area for this amazing weekend.  

Hubs and I personally hosted fifteen amazing 10th grade guys.    We do not have a large house so they were everywhere.   They slept in the living room, the dining room and even in the front entry way.    It was crazy.  Even crazier was trying to feed all of these guys.    Here is a portion of our guys (the rest of them were at a soccer game for a little while.)   They are dressed silly like this for the mega relay which we had on Saturday afternoon.

Of course, our own sweet boys enjoyed the weekend too.    Little Guy walked up to me at the mega relay and I did not know who he was.   See?...   The picture below is Little Guy's group for the weekend.

And my sweet Big Guy and his group of friends for the weekend...

The best part of weekend was definitely the worship.  Our theme for the weekend was focusing on the glory of God.

Our Family Christmas (Part 2)

Saturday morning we started the day with a big brunch.   Let me say, when you are planning a brunch you just can't wrong making a huge batch of Pioneer Woman's homemade cinnamon rolls.   Add to that hashbrown casserole, grits, sausage and cream cheese crescents, ham and cheese quiche... and we were a full family.

After breakfast my Daddy read the Christmas story (one of my favorite things ever) and then Little Guy surprised everybody by playing "Silent Night" on his guitar.   He has been taking lessons for the past nine weeks.    I was so proud of him for playing.

The rest of the day was spent watching football, playing games and decorating gingerbread houses.   It was a wonderful time with my sweet family.   I hope they enjoyed it as much as I did.

Our Family Christmas (Part 1)

We hosted family Christmas at our house this year.    We took a trip up to Canton to see the lights and enjoy beignets and hot chocolate.    Looking at lights is something we used to always do, but has become quite the challenge since our family has gotten so large.    We came up with the idea of getting a van so that we could all ride together.   It really was fun to all be able to ride together.

Here are some photos we took while walking around Canton.   The beautiful young woman in these photos is my niece.   Before you ask... yes, she is just that photogenic in every photo she takes.   Gorgeous isn't she?

Things I Love About Winter

Warm and cozy fires 

Drinking hot chocolate

Snuggling under warm blankets with a book when it's cold outside

Winter coats

Tall boots

Scarves

The rare but always fun Mississippi snow

Christmas

Get togethers with family

Sweaters

180 Weekend (our youth discipleship weekend)

Popcorn

Peppermint coffee


Flannel sheets

National Air and Space Museum

Marked It Off My Bucket List: National Book Festival