Funny story....

Last evening our family went to see
Sight and Sound's Miracle of Christmas
Show. It was great, as usual.

I liked it better because we didn't
have people talking on cell phones
or amongst themselves the whole time
as we have had in the last couple of
attempts to see the show.

Last night, in fact, it was a small
audience but an involved one. I
love watching people enjoy it...since
we get to go every year because Warren is
an employee. This means that I know when
the "good parts" are coming and get
set to watch someone's reaction near me.
Last night it was a guy who looked like a
linebacker a few rows ahead. He was
literally on the edge of his seat leaning
on the balcony rail in front of him.
You could "feel" the excitement and enthusiasm
coming from him. He was the first one up
in a standing Ovation at the close of the show...

To hear the
exclamations of appreciation for the
camels, flying angels, and the story
itself...makes me delighted.

Anyway...before we left to go to the
show we had been watching Anne of Green Gables,
The Sequel. None of us had taken the time to
notice that it was four hours long.

We just put it in and watched and watched...
and watched.

I quickly heated leftovers for dinner because
the movie continued...and I was into it.
Besides, the leftovers were good and we needed
to eat them.
Finally, we absolutely had to walk out of the
door so Mikey turned off the DVD. There were
groans of disappointment that came from all of
us...including a teenage boy...Jonathan! It
was funny how we were all totally into the story.

Once back in the car and on our way home after
the show and a quick stop for a sundae at McDonald's
on the way home, Chelsea asked if we could watch the
rest of the DVD when we got home. I didn't answer
right away. I didn't know how much was left or how
we might be feeling when we got here...however, at 11:30pm
after we were settled back in, I agreed that we could watch
up to a half hour more.

There were cheers and we settled in...with blankets and
enthusiasm. Chelsea started the DVD.

We watched the last 60 seconds of the movie and the credits
rolled!

Another big groan and then lots of laughter
from the entire family!

Oh well, the anticipation was fun!


♥♥Becky K.♥♥

"Oh Joe-PA, Say it ain't so!"

Congratulations to all of my friends
who are USC fans!

Penn State lost fair and square...
however...we came to fight and after
we got over shooting ourselves in the
foot in the first half...we definitely
showed that we aren't that bad!

Here is the game through the eyes of
our doggies...



Kimmy started out comfortably on the bean bag in front of the fire.
All was well. Mommy and Daddy seemed happy and ok with the first two
scores. All was tied up...


By halftime Mommy and Daddy seemed to need a little bit of encouragement so both
dogs joined them on the couch. They watched the game intently...



Hey Mom, are we worried, or what???





Yep! We are worried!




So, when the game was over...the puppies were sad...

but they will cheer up because they are loyal Nittany Lion Fans
to the bitter end.


♥♥Becky K.♥♥

Ahem, Miss Paula....

Once a Penn Stater...
Always a Penn Stater!


Penn State


Beaver Stadium - Pennsylvania


Crowds Numbering over 100,000 Gather During the College Football Season to Cheer Penn State

Go Penn State!

You can take those Trojans!

Yes, you can!

Happy New Year! Our Celebration!

Well, there was absolutely nothing we could do to stop it from happening...2009 has arrived.
It blew in here... to Pennsylvania!
The winds were so high.
All day on New Year's Eve I would look out
the window and see more broken tree branches in the yard.
The wind was extreme.

This made it very tempting
to just stay home in front of the fire...
however...we are glad we didn't do that.
Our progressive dinner was fun!

We began at Jon and Sue's home.




The first course was appetizers and soups.
In our original planning this would have been
two separate stops...however...the
stomach bug bit one of the host families.
Yuck!

This is a very nice picture of Kelly from Cozy Comforts.



We enjoyed our time at this home and then had to say goodbye to run to stop number two. This was my Mom's house. We had some things to gather up from our place and she was riding with us and wanted to get set up before everyone got there...so we said a sad goodbye to Jon...



and hit the road.

When we arrived at Mom's house, Chelsea posed on the front porch.



At this point in our evening we enjoyed our main meal. It was so yummy!
The conversation was great too...at both houses!
It is interesting how the dynamics of conversation and seating arrangements
make for a totally different experience from one home to another.

While we were there and waiting for the rest of the group to get there I went around taking pictures of Mom's beautiful decorations. I am so glad they were still up. It occured to me at some point on Christmas Day that I was missing the opportunity to get some gorgeous photos. Mom decorates so nicely.


















One person had to leave and not everyone was available for this group photo...but this is our exit photo from Mom's house...


Then it was time to head out to Georgia's house for the dessert.



This was birthday cake and ice cream...for Georgia.
Chelsea and I made the cake.

A group photo before heading downstairs to watch the ball drop...


We ended up watching some "Mikey type" do a dirt bike jump in Las Vegas. He jumped ten stories onto the top of a building and then had to jump back down. This was of interest to our group because of our own resident dare devil. The one who is giving me many, many gray hairs. I am telling you that it has to be the grace of God that is keeping this kid alive at this point. I surely pray daily that that grace continues until Mikey's brain is totally developed and he no longer attempts to hurt himself daily with these daring acts of silliness on his bike.

Then...soon after the ball had dropped and this idiot guy had successfully made this jump, further cementing Mikey's denial that anything could happen to him, we headed home and straight to bed. So...snoozing away by 1:30 am on January 1, 2009 was not a bad way to start a New Year.

I look forward to seeing your photos and hearing about your New Year's Eve.

Today we will do next to nothing...eat pork and sour kraut...watch parades...hope, hope, hope that Penn State will beat USC. I think I will be watching that through fingers over my eyes. It could go either way....sigh....and then my college football is over for the season. Always sad for me...I am not a big fan of basketball so that leaves me with gymnastics...and ice skating...well, there are some NFL games of interest still to come!

Happy New Year!

Becky K.

Another Book Club Option...

Or...Maybe we will read When the Last Leaf Falls
by Bill Myers....

Oh My...decisions, decisions, decisions...

I have just begun reading it and WOW!

Intense and so true...the emotions and experiences
of a Pastor's Family in Crisis.

Being a PK there are so many things I recognize already.
Living life in a fishbowl.
The honesty of struggles and questions about our faith...

Pain of loss.

Ever leaning on Faith even when it doesn't seem to make
sense.

Hmmm....this could be a great option...

♥♥Becky K.♥♥

Balance...Harder than it seems

I am behind on picking out a book for January's book Club read.
It seemed so far away since we skipped December....

There are gobs of books we would like to read, the problem comes
in when it comes to money to buy books. This is not something many
of us in the club are willing to do each month so I am trying to find
books that the library has at least ten copies of.

This gets interesting.

Now, I needed something that is a quick read since we will only have
a couple of weeks to get it read.
I think I found it!
This book is called The Ultimate Gift.
The author is Jim Stovall.
It is about the Last Will and Testament of a very wealthy man
and how it relates to his Great Nephew. It goes through twelve
aspects of life and their relevance to making us who we are, both spiritually and generally speaking.

1. The Gift of Work
2. The Gift of Money
3. The Gift of Friends
4. The Gift of Learning
5. The Gift of Problems
6. The Gift of Family
7. The Gift of Laughter
8. The Gift of Dreams
9. The Gift of Giving
10. The Gift of Gratitude
11. The Gift of a Day
12. The Gift of Love

This is a great read for heading into a New Year, as we are all interested in making this year better than the one before.

As I read this book, I think about how if I had all of these things in balance in my life, how great that would be!

Since that is not likely to happen completely, I can at least strive for that goal.

We are all granted giftings that are stronger in one area than another. This is a good thing. Our idiosyncrasies make the world a more interesting place.

When I was a teenager I read the Reader's Digest Condensed Version of The Stepford Wives...freaked me out! But can you imagine a world where we were each the same. Perfect housekeepers, always dressed perfectly but without the ability to do things to better ourselves because we chose to? I cannot. I need my friends who are better at some things than I am to keep me moving forward. I have to recognize my own strengths and use them to help others. Any other way would lose its appeal very quickly.

So, my challenge to you today is...look at this list. Where are you strong? Weak? Choose something to improve on this year. Be thankful for those areas in which you are gifted. I really believe that there are more that you are strong in than weak!

You inspire me daily as I make my rounds!

Thanks!

♥♥Becky K.♥♥

Progressive Dinner

We are planning a progressive dinner
for New Year's Eve. It should be fun.

The first course will be a garden salad
and pretzel salad in house number one.

Then to house number two for vegetable soup
and chili.

House number three will offer bbq sandwiches
and corned beef sandwiches.

The final stop is dessert. A birthday cake
for my mother-in-law, Georgia.

Our group did this once before but our family
was unable to attend due to a stomach bug.
We are very hopeful that this will not be
the case this year. It is worrisome though
that there is plenty of that going around.
We are holding our breath that it will pass by.

What are your plans for New Year's Eve?

♥♥Becky K.♥♥