HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

I am sitting writing down my goals for the upcoming year. I am excited about a new year and excited about that feeling of "starting with a clean slate". Aren't you?

Of course, it seems that the same old stand-by goals are there every year:

Quiet time with the Lord every morning.
Be a better parent.
Be a better wife.
Lose weight.
Excercise every day.
Make wiser choices.

But this year, I also want to:

Focus on better seeing the needs of those around me.

Take a class of some sort.

Make new healthy friendships.

NOT overcommit myself this year.

What are your goals???

Love,

Melissa

Chris and Melissa Christmas 2007

Who woulda' thunk it??? Merry Christmas!! Love to all friends and family!

Chris and Melissa

Christmas # 2 and Christmas Eve

Chris' family came up yesterday for family Christmas #2. I have attached photos and have also attached photos of our family today on Christmas Eve before our Christmas Eve Service.



Blessings to all and a MERRY CHRISTmas!



Chris, Melissa, Jacob, Abby and Emma

Christmas #1 - Saturday, December 22

My family came for Christmas today at my house and it was so much fun. The kids and I got spoiled badly! My sister got me a camera that I absolutely LOVE and the kids got tons of clothes from the BIG CITY.....

This is a picture of all the grandkids and myself acting like complete goofballls. Don't ya' love it!

Love to all and Merry Christmas.

DISTRICT TRAINER OF THE YEAR 2007

Chris was in Cleveland, Ohio last week for his National Sales Meeting and won District Trainer of the Year for 2007. I am very proud of him. His hard work and dedication to his job has finally paid off a little for him.

4-H Posters

Well, aside from working the entire weekend and trying to finish decorating, we also had to get cookies baked for Cookie Swap tomorrow at school and also make 4-H posters tonight. Exactly the pressure every mom needs the week before Christmas, right? To all my mom friends - hang in there, we can do this. We can get all the shopping done, entertain and be a good mom and wife, right? If we let it, Christmas becomes such craziness without any focus on Christ. Boy, am I trying to focus on Christ. Because I need Him right now, don't we all?

The stress of Christmas should be the greatest reminder of all that we need Jesus and praise God He sent his Son to earth to help us get through it all!

Love,

Melissa

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

FINALLY, I got the lights on the tree. Of course, only every other set I plugged in actually worked. But, the lights are on, and look exactly like the tree I grew up with in the early 70's before my mom realized white lights were the way to go. I LOVE the BIG fat retro colored lights and how they were never hung exactly right. I just wish I had time to string popcorn with the kids so it could look like the trees I remember as a kid. With all the things going on in the Brown House right now with my job and finances, it was relaxing (that's a lie, but sounds good) to put up the lights and remember Christmas when I was a little girl. All that really mattered to me as a child, now that I look back, was the anticipation, the traditions, the knowing we would spend time with family and all the goodies my mom would bake (literally for weeks). I honestly believe that no matter all the things your children say they want or "have to have", they still crave and love what we all did as children - the magic of it all. I am making every effort (just like I do every year) to help them concentrate on the real reason we are celebrating CHRISTmas. They will get it one day, just like I did. The presents are nice, but the atmosphere that surrounds the whole event is the best. Let's all slow down this coming week and remember that it isn't about how much we spend or what our kids GET. It is all about the Christ-child and the amazing love God had for us to send Him to us here on earth so that we could know God. What an incredible thing to ponder on - we are given the opportunity to actually KNOW the God who created us. That astounds me.

Can't figure out a title.....

Please hear this monologue by Shane Claiborne. What a true heart for the Lord and true direction for all of us. I am not giving praise to Shane, but praise to the Lord who speaks through him.

Trying to live mission minded and Christ-like,

Melissa

http://youtube.com/watch?v=bhKDBLklin8

On a much lighter note - Seasons Greetings

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1277158661

Upcoming Bible Study for 2008

For those of you that are in our Wednesday night study of Daniel by Beth Moore, I wanted to introduce you to the new study we will be starting in January. It is going to be so refreshing and exciting. If you are a lover of Israel and the Jewish people, I believe that you will thoroughly enjoy this study. It is a study on the Psalms of the Ascent, a tradition still held by the Jewish people. We will begin the first Wednesday night of January (when school is back in session) and will be meeting from 5:45 to 7:15. Please invite anyone you know who might be interested and also let me know if you are attending so that I can purchase a book for you.

See below.

LifeWay: Biblical Solutions for Life - Stepping Up: A Journey Through the Psalms of Ascent with Beth Moore: "Stepping Up by Beth Moore"