God's protection

You never know what a day will bring. Yesterday we left our house around noon for South Carolina. Last night at around 8:45 we were about two hours away from David's parents and got in an accident. We collided with a tractor trailer, spun around, went into the median and ended with the trailer of the semi hitting the left side of the van, blowing out the windows. It was all quite terrifying, of course. Thankfully, no one is hurt except for a few little cuts, just very shaken. God's hand was upon us and protected us from flipping over. The rescue workers were so kind. One of them took me and the kids to a truck stop after we had sat in her truck for about an hour. The people at the truck stop brought us food, water, coloring books, and just kept asking if there was anything we needed. So this Christmas, God has shown us His mercies in a whole new way! Life can change or end in a blink of an eye! God is a merciful and forgiving God. We praise Him for the gift of His Son who has saved us and continues to hold us.

19 years ago

Nineteen years ago yesterday, David proposed to me!!! It was on my Dad's birthday. I am so happy to be stuck with him! Remember that Huey Lewis and the News song?? (So Happy to be Stuck with You)...I liked them.

crunch time

We are going to South Carolina this week. Mary Ellen has her annual strep throat so we might not be able to leave tomorrow as planned. She usually gets it on our trip some time around New Years Day. She gets it when she is worn down, lack of sleep, etc...Last week was crazy with midterms, Christmas program, parties, etc...thus the lack of sleep. I am the same way. If I don't get enough sleep over an extended period of time, I always get strep. I have so much to do before we go. I haven't finished my Christmas shopping, gotta clean the house, pack and all that fun stuff. We are looking forward to seeing our friends and family, going to the fish camp, carousing with the Avera's in beautiful Beaufort, SC. I hope it is warm down there. It's windy and cold here, but nothin' like it is in the midwest. Maybe I will post some pictures while we are on our trip...if not. I'll see ya when we get back.
Goin' to Carolina.... yippeee!!

Christmas cookies

Jacob working on his cookies

We had so much fun baking on Sat. These our two of our neighborhood friends that come over quite a bit to play. Glenn (on the left) actually lives in Baltimore, but comes to see his grandma on the weekends in our neighborhood. Tristan (on the right)lives across the street. He loves to play football with the boys and is pretty good at it. He is a little guy, but holds his own. I think there was more eating than frosting going on, but that's part of the fun. Glenn thought that we made the gingerbread men brown just for him... He is so funny. He didn't know that gingerbread IS brown. He saw me putting them in the oven, after I made the "white" cookies and said, "You made some black ones?!" I said "Yeah, we did that just for you!" He was touched until I started laughing and explained that they are gingerbread men and gingerbread is brown. We have so much fun when he is around. When he comes over, everyone is happy to see him. It's nice to have neighborhood friends that we enjoy having in our home. We have kind of adopted Glenn. His grandma says he is our stepchild. So that was our Sat. I also made peppermint cheesecake brownies for a party Sat. night. I wasn't too impressed with them. I tried a new recipe.
This is our last week of school. The girls have midterm exams this week and the teachers have to have all our grades in by the end of the week. I am sooooooooooooo looking forward to Christmas break.

looney

Yesterday morning my brother called me to wish me a happy birthday. He called early to be the first one! You know how everything is a competition for us Calhouns!! :) I was on my way to my friend's house to work out. It is a drive through the country from my house to hers. I have been there several times by now and should know my way. Well, I am not good at multi-tasking or maybe it has something to do with age. I am talking away on the phone and come to a stop sign. I look both ways, look around me, and realize that I have no idea where I am! I have never been on this road and don't know how I got there! So I say to Ron, "I have no idea where I am!" He says, "Wait a minute, I think I have the wrong number. Is this Elsie?" ha.... I laughed the rest of the way (once I figured out where I was)!!!
So thanks,mom, for passing down all kinds of wonderful traits! I am so blessed by you! :)

birthday

Thank you all for your birthday greetings! If any of you are discouraged or feeling a little down on yourself, just spend a day in a first or second grade classroom. If the one at Tall Oaks is available to you, I highly recommend it! I wasn't feeling low or anything, but if I had been those beautiful children yesterday would have picked me right up! They were so cute yesterday. In second grade the tradition is for the girls to wear a crown for the day of her birthday and they are princess for the day. I kept teasing them that I was going to bring in a great big one and wear lots of jewels on my birthday! I got to wear the little toy crown yesterday and they all thought it was just the greatest thing to see the teacher wearing that little crown. Then about 10 min. into science class, David comes in the classroom and just starts dancing with me right in front of them all. So we did a little jig and they LOVED that! In first grade you get to wear a sticker. So I wore the sticker and then both classes threw a little party at the end of the day! It was so nice. You know me I love parties...no matter what the size! Today is the faculty/staff Christmas lunch and party. The kids have a half day. We are going to have an Italian feast! I'm so excited!

Ruth Graham...and Christmas

Christmas is in full swing!! I went to two Christmas teas this weekend, sang lots of Christmas songs, did a little shopping, sat in my cozy living room by the fire and Christmas tree and watched a movie. It even snowed a little bit! Now we just need to make time to go to Longwood Gardens before the end of the season.
I heard a quote by Ruth Graham yesterday, "I saw what I want on my tombstone the other day while driving down the road, 'End of construction. Thank you for your patience.' "
I love that...what a lady!

doug

After we picked out the tree that we wanted at the Christmas tree farm, the man comes and puts a tag on it and tears off the stub. He wrote the word "Doug" on it for douglas fir and handed it to Jacob to give to me. Jacob came running to find me and says with all the excitement and sincerity in the world, "He named our tree Doug!" :)

festivities

I am not sure why these are small and the others are bigger. I can't get this formatting thing.



The tree behind us is our tree, not the one in the front. :)

This is the traditional chili supper. We always have chili the day we get our tree and decorate. We started the first year we were married.




Wow, it's been awhile! I took a break from the computer last week. Partly because we had the whole week off of school and because my kids are always sitting here....I had better things to do. I felt like I got a lot done last week, although I didn't get my bathroom painted like I wanted to. I got my haircut on Tues. and visited my friends in Chestertown. I can't wait to get back there before the end of the Christmas season. It was so good to catch up with them and go for a nice brisk walk and talk with Cheryl. We slept in every day, and watched movies just about every night. I have almost all my Christmas decorations up. I have to confess I started the day before Thanksgiving. I didn't want to waste any time and want to enjoy every moment of the season! We try to get the most out of it! I have told you before that I have CDS (Christmas Deprived Syndrome). :) Thanksgiving was spent in Lancaster at my sister's with the nieces, nephews, grandnephews, and significant others! Sam's girlfriend is so fun...loved her! You can tell they have so much fun together!