It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

For the few people that read our blog that are not related to us, let me go ahead and apologize up front for this post. I am writing this post for our families. They have all wanted to see our house decorated for Christmas, but nobody is going to be able to travel this way. So.....enter a very self-indulgent blog full of pictures of my house all decked out! Sorry!

Here is a picture of our cozy little home from the outside. Check out all that snow!



Had to include this one......even Hairy Dawg is in the Christmas Spirit!



This picture is going to take some explainin' This is my "sentimental" tree. I am married to possibly the world's most traditional man. Let me share an example with you... every year Matt's family put up the same angel on their Christmas tree. When Matt was in high school, his mom decided it was time for a new angel, so she purchased a beautiful one, I am sure, but you see I have never seen this angel. When Matt came home and found a new angel on the family tree....let's just say he was not happy! "Christmas is just not Christmas without that angel!!!" Well look closely at this tree....look where the angel is now! When the time came to buy the angel for our Christmas tree that first year we were married - it was AWFUL! I almost made myself sick because I knew I had to choose wisely because the angel I bought that year would follow me to my grave!!!!

This tree is also sentimental for other reasons: the lights and garland are from Matt's mom and dad's first Christmas tree, all of the ornaments were handmade by Davis at school, and under the tree is a Radio Flyer Rocket that Davis got his first Christmas. The tree skirt is a new sentiment as well. I could not find that perfect tree skirt for this tree but knew I needed one quick because we have some very special friends coming to visit next week SO I went to the fabric store, chose some fabric, shipped it to my mom, she sewed a tree skirt in record time and shipped it back! YAY US Postal Service!



The infamous Georgia Tree! Davis decorated this tree all by himself this year! He did a great job, too!



This is the newest tree to the Scott home. This past summer, Davis moved into the big world of Bunk Beds. We allowed him to choose his bed and the bedding. Not much of a surprise that he went with Star Wars. This is the beginnings of a Star Wars tree. Pretty sad.....it has only one ornament, BUT check out R2 in the Santa hat!



This is the tree in our bedroom. Nothing particularly special or sentimental here, just needed a tree in every window! BUT check out those Santa's under the tree. My mother-in-law collects these Santas (woof-n-poof) and every year I comment on how cute they are! Look what I got for Christmas last year! Musical Woof-N-Poof Santas!



The next two pictures are of our kitchen. We keep our Snow Village up all year above the cabinets, and just like my post from the other day about Christmas music, there are lots of days Matt comes home from work throughout the year to find the Snow Village plugged in! Can you tell I kind of enjoy Christmas? The second picture is of a little tree on the counter that has tiny kitchen utensil ornaments on it





The next picture is of what I usually put on our mantle, but this is Davis' first Christmas without a fireplace. Insert a sad face! But I just could not stand the thought of not putting these pictures out, so we put them on our dining room table. These are Davis' yearly picture with Santa. The first and second are my personal favorites. That first year we could not get him to look at the camera, he was way to interested in Santa. The second year is that terrified, screaming for mommy picture! You gotta love that!



These final pictures are of our main tree in the living room. This is the tree Santa comes to and also the tree with all the gifts. We love having a live tree, and you all know that every year there is a story to picking out our live tree. Nothing beats the year that we went to the tree farm and cut down our tree, but true to form, there was a story this year as well. We just went to a little market close to our house, nothing fancy, but I would not let Matt drive my car. We had just gotten it out of the shop from our little "wreck" and I just did not want to scratch it up, so we took Matt's work car. Probably not the smartest thing to take a Camry to buy a tree, but we did. We picked out a tree, tied it to the top and began the drive home. Well, the tree started slipping and I just casually said "Davis you need to pray we get this tree home" I never thought of it again until we were at the dentist. The hygenist that was cleaning Davis' teeth said "Do you have your tree up yet?" Davis replied "Yes mam, we do. I had to pray that God would let us get it home. So you see, prayer works!" Davis decided to witness to the dental staff! He is his father's child!



This is the rocky horse that Santa brought to Davis his very first Christmas.



This is the rocker fire truck that we gave Davis on his first birthday. Old Santa is in there, and there are presents in the back



Sorry for the picture overload! There is actually one more tree in the bathroom, but I forgot to take pictures of it and I think I am at my limit! I will upload that tree next time!

Merry Christmas!

Oh The Weather Outside Is Frightful!

This past weekend, we had a little snow. Being from Alabama - this was like a blizzard to us! We could not believe it when we saw people driving in this!!!! Matt and Davis got out for a little game of football. They had the best time!





I had to include this next picture for all of my friends from Oneonta. Do you guys remember the Ski School video?



Well.....this is what we woke up to this morning



A LOT OF SNOW!

This snow called for a game of soccer - not sure why, but soccer was played, fun was had and memories were made.





PS - People did not drive in this!

Christmas Music

Anyone who knows me well knows that I LOVE Christmas music! I listen to it all year long, much to the disdain of my dear, sweet husband. I am never far from my Steven Curtis Chapman Christmas CD. That has been a staple in my life since it was only available on tape - and that has been a LONG time!

Well....I have some shocking news.....I have a new favorite Christmas CD. Here it is.....





I LOVE Chris Tomlin! I LOVE the whole Passion movement! Matt and I will be attending Passion Atlanta 2011 in January and we are ten years older than the "recommended" age! I just refuse to grow up I guess. I digress... Back to the main point....I really enjoy when Chris Tomlin releases a new cd. This cd was like gold to me.....Chris Tomlin and Christmas music, could I really ask for more. It actually came out last year, I loved it, listened to it frequently at Christmas and then forgot about it.

Then today I was humming Christmas songs while folding laundry and these words came to my mind:

What hope we hold this starlit night
A King is born in Bethlehem
Our journey long, we seek the light
That leads to the hallowed manger ground


I had to go dig out this cd and have fallen in love with these songs! Wow! If you want a true worship experience this Christmas season hop on over to itunes and download the album! Or...somehow my mom got the cd at Lifeway for $5.00. If you do neither of those, just enjoy these beautiful lyrics to my new favorite Christmas song:

Emmanuel

What hope we hold this starlit night
A King is born in Bethlehem
Our journey long, we seek the light
That leads to the hallowed manger ground

What fear we felt in the silent age
Four hundred years can He be found
But broken by a baby's cry
Rejoice in the hallowed manger ground

Emmanuel, Emmanuel
God incarnate here to dwell
Emmanuel, Emmanuel
Praise His name Emmanuel


The son of God, here, born to bleed
A crown of thorns would pierce His brow
And we beheld this offering
Exalted now the King of kings
Praise God for the hallowed manger ground

Emmanuel, Emmanuel
God incarnate here to dwell
Emmanuel, Emmanuel
Praise His name Emmanuel
Praise His name Emmanuel

Oh, praise His name Emmanuel

A Letter To Santa

I LOVE to read! I am always reading the newest book that I have heard about. Between my mother-in-law, my sweet friends Rosemary and Jency, and the traditional library card, I am never at a loss for a good book. One Christmas a few years back my dear friend (and new Grandmother - CONGRATS!!!!) JoJo gave me Chicken Soup for the Christmas Holidays. You know... those books that have ALL those stories that make you cry? Well I read it and cried, a lot! But one story in particular stood out to me.

Tonight, as Matt is out of town, Davis and I are snuggling in bed watching Snow Buddies, and snow is falling all around our cozy little home, I remembered this story. I went and dug it out....tonight is the perfect night for this....Hope you enjoy!


A Letter To Santa



My five-year-old scribbled out his Christmas list. It's there by the fireplace. The Coke and chocolates are from him, in case you're hungry. You know five-year-olds these days. The Cheez-Its are from me.

Santa, if you don't mind, I thought I'd go ahead and leave my list, too. It's long, but do what you can.

It's all I want for Christmas.

~ Santa, let my little boy grow up still believing that he has the funniest dad in the neighborhood.

~ Give him many close friends, both boys and girls. May they fill his days with adventure, security and dirty fingernails.

~ Leave his mom and me some magic dust that will keep him just the size he is now. We'd just as soon he stayed five years old and three feet, four inches tall.

~ If he must grow up, Santa, make sure he still wants to sit on my lap and read Frog & Toad together.

~ Let our house be filled with slamming doors and toilet seats, which are the official sounds of little boys.

~ Break it to him gently, Santa, that his dad won't always be able to carry him to bed at night or brush his teeth for him. Teach him courage in the face of such change.

~ Let him understand that no matter how nice you are to everyone, the world will sometimes break your heart. As you know, Santa, child's feelings are as fragile as moth wings.

~ Let him become a piano player, a soccer star or a pastor. Or all three. Anything but a politician.

~ Give him hunger for books, music and geography. May he be the first kid in kindergarten to be able to find Madagascar on a map.

~ The kid's a born artist, Santa, so send more crayons. May our kitchen window and refrigerator doors be ever plastered with his sketches of surreal rainbows and horses with big ears.

~ Steer him oh-so-carefully to that little girl destined to be his bride. Let his mother and me still be around when they walk down the aisle as husband and wife. And Santa, please let her daddy be obscenely rich.

~ Grant him a heart that will cherish what his parents did right, and forgive us for the mistakes we surely will have made over a lifetime of raising him.

~ Let him not hold it against us that he was born with my chin and his mother's ears. Time will teach him that these are God's way of girding him for life's adversities.

~ Hold him steady on the day that he learns the truth about you and the Easter Bunny. May he take the news better than I did.

~ While you're flying around up the heavens, Santa, make sure God has heard our prayer for this child: Lead our little boy not into temptation; deliver him from evil.

Be careful out there, Santa. And close the flue on your way up!



Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Mommy, I am a boy - I really don't like Princesses!

Those were the words that my child said as we climbed the castle steps to have dinner at Cinderella's Castle. I agree, he is a boy, and most boys don't like the princesses, but....I really wanted to eat at the castle one more time to get his picture made with Cinderella. See, we ate there a few years ago and got the sweetest picture with Cinderella and the picture got bent in our move to West Virginia. We made the reservation and Davis was not happy. He did NOT want to eat here! He had better, more manly things to do than take pictures with stinky girls. So, we struck a deal, just take your picture with Cinderella and you will not have to take any more pictures with any other princess. He could handle this, not too bad right. He even convinced his daddy to take pictures with all the other princesses (which was not too hard to do I must say) but then.....



Snow White showed up! Let me give you a little background.....I LOVE Snow White! Don't really know why....I guess those little dwarfs just melt my heart, maybe it's that handsome prince, or maybe I have just never grown up, but I love Snow White. Davis knows this about me and maybe he has a special place in his heart for her too, but when she came to our table, he jumped up, gave her a hug and smiled for the camera!

Then there was BELLE!



Davis loves Beauty and the Beast. He loves the fighting between Gaston and the Beast, he loves Belle's crazy professor dad and he loves the show at Hollywood Studios, and I personally think he may have a little crush on Belle. When she came to our table he told her all about loosing his teeth, the Pirate League and even about West Virginia. It was precious!

If you have ever eaten at Cinderella's Royal Table you know they have a special time where each child is given a Wishing Star and there is a Wishing Ceremony. Each child is instructed to close their eyes and make a wish. While Davis was making his wish, we had a very special guest at our table to help make his wish.....The Little Mermaid!





After the wish, he was quite surprised at what he found when he opened his eyes. This picture was taken right after she asked Davis what his wish was......to stay at Disney World forever!





PS - Daddy never got his picture with a Princess - oh well! There is always next year!

A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes

This past month we loaded up and headed south to "the happiest place on earth." We took our first trip to Disney for Davis' third birthday thinking this was the vacation of a lifetime and would never be going back......well, we had booked our second trip before we even left to come back home. We LOVE Disney. I know some people just don't understand it, but it is our "happy place" We really don't take any other vacations during the year, we save all our birthday and Christmas money and Matt teaches conferences ALL summer so that we can enjoy the vacation of a lifetime....every year.

Here are just a few of my favorite pictures, believe me it was hard to narrow it down and I will actually post two more entries to give you my two favorite days, but enjoy these precious moments in our trip!



The Seven Dwarfs! Wow! What a great moment! I cried!




While looking for a table at lunch one day at Hollywood Studios, Davis found this sign. Wipeout - his favorite show. Needless to say the hunt for a table was over and we had to take a picture.



As soon as we got our luggage into our hotel room (which by the way was SO cool - we stayed in the Pirates of the Caribbean room - AWESOME!) Davis' front tooth fell out! Two days later after riding Soarin' his other front tooth came out! This is the best picture I could get, and you really can't tell, but he is the cutest snaggle tooth ever!



This was the first year that we took part in the Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure. It was so neat. If you are going to Disney in the near future - check it out! It engages kids in the World Showcase which is sometimes boring to children, it is loads of fun and it is FREE!



This was one of our favorite nights. We ate dinner at Ohana's in the Polynesian Resort. The food was WONDERFUL and we had the best seats in the house. We sat right by the window and as soon as our food arrived, the lights dimmed and the Fireworks at the Magic Kingdom began. We had front row seats!

Hope you enjoyed and stay tuned.....more coming tomorrow!

MIA

I have been missing in action for the past few weeks. I apologize for the lack of blogging, but we have been super busy.

We have been:
to Alabama
to a Pastor's Conference
"next door" and "next door" has been to us
sick with a stomach bug
visiting churches
swimming
and just enjoying our last few days of summer.

When we get into our school routine I promise to be more consistent in my blogging. I will blog about all the places we have "been" asap. Well, all except the stomach bug!

Have to give you at least one picture of the sweetest boy in the whole world before I go:



We have also been shooting fireworks!

Put Me In Coach ~ I'm Ready To Play!

My child has always loved baseball. It could have been all that time at the ball park watching Oneonta play, it could be The Sandlot (one of the greatest movies ever made) that has seemingly been on repeat everyday this week, or it could just be that he loves it!

Check out this windup!



Just a few miles up the road in Charleston is the Minor League baseball team the West Virginia Power. Yesterday on a whim we decided to go to the game. We ordered the tickets online and went for the best available (at only $8.oo a ticket - wow) and ended up in the presence of Minor League Baseball Royalty!

Here is Davis at our seats in "section 107 - next to heaven"



Matt went on the adventure of finding supper and Davis and I got to know the family beside us. You know, if I am going to be sitting beside someone for that amount of time, we might as well be friends. I found out they were from Parkersburg and the guy next to me (their son-in-law) was visiting from Pittsburg.

Here is Davis saying "batter up!"



A few minutes before the game began a man came in to sit in the row in front of us. He had a wrought iron side table, a bag FULL of bread and signs and was welcoming us to "section 107 - next to heaven." We all just smiled and he introduced himself as "the toast man" The guy beside me from Pittsburg went CRAZY!!!! "I have heard of this guy! This is SO awesome"

Here is a picture of his bag:



Here is the story of "the toast man" He has season tickets to the West Virginia Power games and never misses one. He does "homework" every night on the opposing team and knows where they went to college, their era, their batting average and what games they have choked in and he is not afraid to use these things.

But you may be asking: Why is he called "the Toast Man" Well - here goes. He brings a TOASTER to the game and when an opposing player strikes out he yells "T-O-A-S-T! You are toast!" and throws toast into the crowd!

He has cheers for every WV Power player by playing off their name like:
I say Captain you say Morgan: Captain Morgan
I say Shake 'Em you Say Baker: Shake 'Em Baker
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus is on the loose (that would be the spanish form of the word, not the Christian)
Jose can You'll See (like the Star Spangled Banner)

But the best part was what he would say to the other team. The Savannah Sand Gnats (the opposing team) had two players with the last name Harris. Every time either came up to bat he had the whole place shouting "The other Harris is better, the other Harris is better" or "If I choked in a game against Greenville like you did I would really try to put that out of my mind"

In other words, we were in the presence of a full time heckler and he was GOOD at what he did! Here is a picture of "THE Toast Man"



Here is a picture of Davis with his toast. After "the toast man" threw toast into the crowd he would chant "Don't eat the toast, you don't know where its been"



We had a great time, we won the game and on the way home we decided we have to go back to "section 107 next to heaven" very soon

When I got home I googled "the toast man" and was SHOCKED at what I found: he is on Wikipedia, Facebook and Youtube! He is a star! But my most AMAZING find: he is the assistant mayor of the city of Charleston, WV!

So Friday night, we are going back to "section 107 next to heaven" for some baseball, fireworks and toast!

Interviews, Starbucks and New Friends

The first weekend in May, Matt and I went to Alpharetta, Georgia for our North American Mission Board (NAMB) interviews. Let me give you some background on Matt's job at the West Virginia Convention of Southern Baptist. His official title is The Director of Evangelism and Student Ministries. He was hired by the West Virginia Convention of Southern Baptist (and we went through extensive interviews with them) but we are actually NAMB appointed missionaries to the state of West Virginia. Very confusing I know! We had to fill out tons of paperwork with NAMB and I do mean TONS! We had to give them the names of 15 of our closest friends and then THEY had to fill out tons of paperwork. It was very extensive. When we passed that part of the interview, we received an "official invitation" to the NAMB offices to be interviewed in person.

This was one of the first things you saw as you walked into the building "The World At Our Doorstep" Below you see the heartbeat of NAMB: Sharing Christ, Starting Churches, Sending Missionaries.




From the moment we stepped on the campus we were treated as royalty. Everyone there was so nice! Everywhere we turned someone was thanking us for giving up our lives to become missionaries! Truly an amazing experience! They rolled out the red carpet for us! We ate and ate and ate! We were encouraged in our lives, marriages and ministries. It was an uplifting experience to say the least.....then we were interviewed. As many of you know....I am a worrier by nature. I had built the interview up in my mind to be something Jack Bauer would use in one of his interrogations. It was FAR from it! Our interview was two-fold. The first half was our missionary interview where we discussed our calling into missions, ministry and our own personal spiritual growth. This went REALLY well! Our interviewer was so kind and compassionate. He took the time to ask about Davis and we even talked about 24 for a little while! The second half of the interview was our ministry interview. This was the most precious time of the week! Our interviewer was Thomas Hammonds and he took this time to just encourage us! He gave Matt some very practical ministry advice and then just kept us in stitches telling funny stories.

This is a picture in the Missionary Break Room. One wall was a white board and as you can see it says Welcome Missionaries! And then each missionary candidate name is listed. The staff at the building took time to come by and pray for each of us by name! There was also couches for us to rest on, bottled water and the BEST chocolate chip cookies I might have ever tasted!







Throughout this process, we met some of the most precious people ever! We came from all over the United States (Georgia, Alabama, Seattle, Arkansas, South Carolina, North Carolina, California, Oklahoma, etc.) We all just really connected to each other and became fast friends. What was amazing was how similar our stories were. One night at supper we sat with two other couples, one from Oklahoma and the other from California. Our "ministry stories" were almost identical! Only an amazing God can bring three couples to one table to share and encourage each other!

The evening after the interviews, we were all ready to relax so we headed to Starbucks! This is a picture of Matt and Tanner at Starbucks. Tanner and his precious wife Marsha are planting a church in Boston. We just really loved getting to spend time with them. As an aside here, when we were at the SBC in Orlando it was time for the Seminary reports and after the report from Southern (Matt's alma mater) I just kind of zoned out. Then the report for Southeastern Seminary began with a video and there was Tanner! Small world!



This is Cara and I. She and her husband Matt are from San Francisco, California and he is going to be a Chaplain in the Navy. Sweet, sweet couple!!!



And this is everybody! I could go on and on about each precious person in this picture, but I won't because that is only interesting to us and them. I will just leave you with this ~ each person in this picture is doing BIG things for God and I count it a privilege to know them!

The Southern Baptist Convention

In June, Matt, Davis and I headed to Orlando, Florida for our very first Southern Baptist Convention. Here are some pictures from the trip....ENJOY!



This was lunch our very first day at the convention. You can see we had to eat in the floor. Just a few people were there.




I had to include this picture because it is so stinkin' cute!!!! That is CapriSun in there....not coffee!




This is ALL Davis wanted to do! And for those of you that know Davis...this is a BIG deal!




The picture you have all been waiting for.....Daddy in the "gobbles" Does it really get any better than this?




Mommy and Davis after swimming




This is Raleigh. He is one of Matt's college ministers for the Charleston Metro area, but more than that he is our friend! We LOVE Raleigh. He is so much fun to be with, but also such an awesome Christian. Most importantly, he thinks Davis hung the moon. The feeling is mutual as well. Davis' prayer time included "thank you God for the pool and Raleigh" on more than one occasion this week!



We decided to take a trip to DisneyQuest while in the Orlando area. You all know we are a Disney Family, but we could not bring ourselves to go to the park while in Orlando, so DisneyQuest was the next best thing. I highly recommend this if you are traveling to the area. Fun stuff. This is just one of the MANY pictures I took while we were there. I chose only this one for two reasons: 1 - I know you really don't want to see twenty pictures of us playing games, but 2 - this was so cool. it was like human pinball using the Mighty Ducks. You stood behind those duck-looking things and competed against fifteen other people. Davis came in THIRD place!!! And the other fourteen people were all adults! He was the ONLY child!




After DisneyQuest we ate at T-Rex. So awesome. It is like the Rainforest Cafe, but with Dinos. Super cool!





The restaurant is divided into different rooms, each representing different dinosaur "ages" I guess this was the frozen age.


Now let me say....it looks like we only did fun stuff and we did do A LOT of fun things, but we did actually go to the convention. I just don't think you want to see any pictures of a bunch of Southern Baptists sitting around - but I can post those if you want!!!