A Little Christmas Cheer

Sorry to leave you hanging...but I want to spread a little Christmas cheer this week before I tell more of our story.

We've really been enjoying the celebration of advent in our house of curls.

Operation Christmas Child
Decorating our Christmas tree

Cookie Party with sweet friends

Decorating cookies with LOTS of sugar sprinkles

Making a Christmas tree with GLITTER overload

Gift making for the Grandparents...shhh, don't tell

Making a Gingerbread girl with Daddy (and potty training...note the tears...)

SNOW!!!!

The girlies are super excited about Christmas this year, which makes it so much fun for all of us to talk about the birth of Jesus and the joy of giving to others. My oldest curly girlie has been daily cleaning out her room so that she can give some of her own toys away to little girls who don't have toys. This has been a sweet blessing to my heart to see her genuinely want to give. She is also anticipating giving a few small homemade gifts to some of her closest friends.

For her classmates, we decided to make reindeer food. This is such an easy craft and something both curly girlies can fully participate in and do with their own precious hands.

To make the reindeer food, you will need:


oats, granulated sugar, sugar crystals, plastic baggies, cardstock, Christmas stickers, ribbon, and
2 curly little elves to help :)

Type out the following poem on white cardstock:

Magic Reindeer Food
Sprinkle on the lawn Christmas Eve night,
The moon will make it sparkle so bright.
As Santa's reindeer fly and roam,
This food will guide them to your home.

I cut out the poems using crafty pattern scissors, oldest curly girlie put a sticker on each, and I punched a hole.

Next, comes the fun part! Mix together 1 cup oats and 1/4 cup sugar.

Add 2-3 tbsp. sugar crystals.

This will make about 3-4 baggies. Pour into baggies.

Add more sugar crystals to each individual baggie to give bolder color.

Wrap ribbon around the top of the baggie and tie onto the poem.

My curly girlies had a blast making this and my oldest is very excited about giving these to all her school friends to enjoy on Christmas Eve.

In our house of curls, we are truly thankful for the Christmas season and the blessing that we have to celebrate the birth of our great Savior, Jesus Christ. My prayer for you, as it is for my own family, is that you will understand just how much our Gracious God loves you. So much so, that He sent His only Son to be born on this earth that He might one day die on a cross for our sins. Wow, what an Amazing Gift we have been given and what a joy to celebrate Him this season!

Forever changed

I've been trying for about three weeks to write a "perfect" detailed little post with eloquent words that explains what my family has been going through these past eleven weeks. But, I can't. So, I'm just going to start at the beginning....

On September 20, 2010, our house of curls was forever changed. Doug got up really early and left for Montgomery, AL to film a training video. I took Elie to school, had coffee with some preschool moms, and then ended up at a good friend's home for lunch with the girlies. On the way home, I got a phone call that I will never forget. It was the chaplain from Baptist Hospital in Montgomery telling me that my husband was in a terrible accident at work and I needed to get there as soon as possible. I hung up the phone and immediately started calling Doug's cell phone, over and over, just hoping he would answer, even though I knew he wouldn't. I left him a really long message and typed him text. As I hung up the phone, my mind was racing and I was praying for the Lord to help me stay calm for my precious little girlies sitting in the back seat. I took a deep breath and I spotted a friend of ours (Terrell) running down the sidewalk. I rolled down the window and started yelling at him to get in the car with me. Thinking back, I know it was the Lord rescuing me and taking care of me in a very scary and needy moment. To this day, He continues to take care of our family and you will see His gracious and loving hand weaving throughout our story.

Once we got to Terrell's house, his wonderful wife Jane met us at the door and immediately began to take care of so many details. We thought about who could drive me to Montgomery and my sweet friend Hannah came to mind. Little did we know, the Lord was already preparing her for our upcoming journey. Read her story here.

Hours later (and in record time) Hannah and I found ourselves pulling into the Baptist Hospital parking lot. I'm really not sure how we made it there so quickly, but I do know the Lord got us there safely and without fear or tremendous worry. We got to the ER waiting area where we waited and waited and waited...lost a Swiss Army knife from our key chain to the rude security guy and then finally were given directions to where we needed to be.

Now at this point in the day, I still have NO idea what happened to my husband. I only know he was hurt in a work accident. To be completely honest, I don't even know if he is alive. As you can imagine, I am quite anxious to see my husband and get some answers.

We finally found our way to the surgical waiting area where we met three employees of Doug's company. I honestly thought my husband was dead when I met them because they all had a look of horror and couldn't say anything; they just sat in the chairs staring at us. Hannah and I did learn that Doug was just beginning surgery and that he in fact, was alive, but they really didn't know many details.

These are the horrible details - now of course, writing this eleven weeks later I'm not sure what they told me then and what I found out from Doug throughout this entire process but this is the gist: Doug was run over by a forklift. He was hit from behind and never heard it coming. He was first hit in the back of the head and he fell to the ground. The driver reversed, went forward to try and get off of him, and then ran off screaming. His left leg was severely damaged and the fork lift stayed on top of the leg for at least half an hour. He was conscious throughout the whole trauma and when he arrived at the hospital by ambulance. Again, another picture of the Lord's hand taking care of our family. He was definitely with Doug in those moments of pure horror and need. What an amazing Savior we serve!

Sorry to leave you hanging, but I gotta go to bed. I'll be posting more....soon.

I will leave you with these verses that the Lord used during those first few hard weeks and continues to use now to comfort both Doug and I.

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:16-18