HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

This is from my devotional this morning "Streams in the Desert" by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman.
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"Forgetting the things which are behind." (Phil. 3:13)
"Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee." (Deut. 8:2)
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Forgetting ills behind me, the sorrows past and gone,
Forgetting all my wanderings, to sad to dwell upon,
Remembering God's great goodness, in times of stress and strain,
Remembering His restorings, I praise my God again.
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We stand together at the gateway of another year. It may be a year of many blessed experiences. Follow Him who goes before --the One who went before His people of old--a guiding light, a constant protection, an unfailing Friend and Counselor, an almighty Saviour.

When shadows deepen, and fear rides on the moaning wind; when sorrow comes, and we wander in the misty vale of grief; when joy beckons, and our way is sunlit -- "remember" His past leading and know that all is well. When spectres rise hauntingly from the past, when old heartaches and sorrows seem to weigh us down and blot out the sunshine forget "those things which are behind," and reach forward to the joys before us. Paul says, "I press toward the mark"--here there is urgency, and nothing must be allowed to hamper the runner's progress.

We make our own hindrances many times -- our Master has done all He can to free us from every weight, giving us forgiveness for the past, help in the present, and assurance for the future. So, dear pilgrim, as we face the coming days of a new year, knowing that each one brings our Master's return nearer, let us "lay aside every weight...and press toward the mark," with singleness of heart "looking unto Jesus."

Forgetting all my doubtings, which dimmed faith's vision bright,
Forgetting all the earth-clouds, the darkness, gloom and night,
Remembering God's bright sunshine, and radiance of His face,
Remembering His long patience, I praise my God for grace.

Forgetting all unkindness which friends and foes have shown,
Forgetting and forgiving the wrongs that I have known,
Remembering God provided, unsought, each faithful friend,
Remembering love's devotion, I'll praise Him to the end.

Forgetting my repinings when disappointments came,
Forgetting all the murmurings, which filled my soul with shame,
Remembering God was ever true to His Holy Word,
Remembering He was faithful, I praise my sovereign Lord.
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I pray that everyone has a very safe night and a very BLESSED HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!
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WEEKLY WRAP-UP

This got all screwed up. This pic was supposed to be down with my PROJECT 365 pics but somehow it ended up at the top. I'm too lazy and don't have enough time to fix it.

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#172; 12/27/2008...playing RockBand on fight night.

WEEKLY WRAP-UP

12/22/2008-12/28/2008

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It was a quiet week except for Christmas and the weekend.

Here's the highlights:

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Christmas morning:

AC giving the dogs their Santa present:

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AC really likes his Star Wars mugs filled with candy:

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KT LOVES her Chargers blanket:

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And her Chargers jersey:

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AC fixing his Patriots shirt that KT had wrapped inside-out:

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Another favorite: her Team Jacob tshirt from Twilight:

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A poster of his hubba-hubba....Jessica Alba:

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He was being cocky on Christmas Eve, so sure he was getting RockBand. Jade played a trick on him by putting KT's name over his on the box when she wrapped it. That and a few things all of us said had him convinced he WASN'T getting it.

He said we sucked.

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My gifts....a keychain that Jade made, a Mickey Mouse picture, a set of knives (which are awesome, I have the cut on my finger to prove how good they are), Slash's autobiography, socks, M&M Premiums(yum!), a set of Burt's Bees stuff, and numerous books that were my present to myself:

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They spent all day playing RockBand:

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Brutus and Roxy REALLY loved their toy:

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Saturday night we had fight night for the UFC fight (poor Forrest!!!)

It was also Tara's bday. I made her a cake:

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Sunday we went to my middle sister's to celebrate Christmas with her and her family and my dad and Molly.

Here's my sister's 2 granddaughters.

Aren't they the cutest?

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My sis and Is:

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KT and Al acting mad:

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My gift from my sis:

Mom THIS is a "pill" plate. Do you remember now?

We had this exact set of dishes when we were growing up. We called them pill dishes because the design on them looked like pills to us. My sis found this bowl in a secondhand store I believe.

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PROJECT 365 pictures:

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#167; 12/22/2008..our tree in the dark

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#168; 12/23/2008....a boy and his dog

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#169; 12/24/2008...our traditional Christmas Eve dinner...lasagna

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#170; 12/25/2008....AC really loves Rockband

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#171; 12/26/2008....how AC spent some of his money

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#173; 12/28/2008.....what does this remind you of?

It kinda freaks me out.

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#174; 12/29/2008....GO VIKINGS!!! They clinched a spot in the playoffs!!!

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YOU'VE GOT TO SEE WHAT IS HAPPENING IN MY LIFE!!!

CLICK ON THE LINK. IT IS REALLY AMAZING!!!
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http://www.sun7news.com/index.php?code=2z229hv73iE720B8dFQN&CMP=OTC-WWYCOVS1001

WEEKLY WRAP-UP

WEEKLY WRAP-UP

12/15/2008-12/21/2008

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WEATHER: mostly cloudy, cold, and rainy. We got SNOW!! on our hills behind the house. Only about 1000 more feet and it would have been us!!!

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SUNDAY SERMON: Was really, really nice. Pastor Greg talked about the real meaning of Christmas.

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LIFE LESSONS: (for my loved ones) if I say I want to crawl into a hole and be by myself, let me!

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TREASURED MOMENTS: hanging out with AC Friday afternoon, bonding when we went to Kmart

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THINGS I READ: Heroin Diaries by Nikki Sixx; The Christian in Complete Armour; The Pillars of the Earth

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THINGS WE WATCHED: I don't think I watched anything but Intervention and Celebrity Rehab all week.

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PLACES WE WENT: shopping, church, to get our tree, tacos, T and I went to my company Christmas party, KT went to her Aunt's yesterday.

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BLESSINGS: my great kids!!

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CHALLENGES: taking care of T because his back is out

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ACCOMPLISHMENTS: I'm completely done with Christmas

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FAMILY HAPPENINGS: Last weekend, a kid from AC's school was shot and killed at a party. All week the school was on heightened alert with a major police presence due to the fact that it was race/gang related and there were many threats. KT's school was on alert and locked down for much of Friday because the threats had spilled over to her school. Thankfully, due to the police presence no violence ever happened at or after school and this 2 weeks off will settle things down.

The BIG NEWS is that T's son proposed to his girlfriend over the weekend. SHE SAID YES!!!

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I straightened KT's hair on Thursday:

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We watched the cousins overnight on Saturday.

The girls made a tent:

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The boys played video games:

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We had octopi for dinner (see recipe blog):

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PROJECT 365 PICTURES FOR THE WEEK:

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#161; 12/15--isn't this the coolest!

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#162; 12/16....AC walked out of his room with tape on his butt

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#163; 12/17...KT and Brutus

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#164; 12/18...WE HAVE SNOW!!

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#165; 12/19....AC's new jacket

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#166; 12/20....dead octopi

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167; 12/21....Mt. Baldy

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WEEKLY WRAP-UP

WEEKLY WRAP-UP

12/8/2008-12/14/2008

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WEATHER: some wind, mostly sunny around 80, until Saturday then we started getting rain.

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SUNDAY SERMON: Pastor Greg spoke of Christmas and Christ's return.

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LIFE LESSONS: I'm a big girl now and can drive a far distance all by myself!

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FAVORITE MEALS: onion taco cornbread

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TREASURED MOMENTS: I got to shop by myself! Drinking my Godiva Dark Chocolate Decadence drink; taking a wonderful nap (even though I felt horrid).

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TALKED WITH: mom, big sis

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THINGS I READ: Praying God's Word, Nikki Sixx's Heroin Diaries, The Pillars of the Earth

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WHAT WE WATCHED: the kids and T watched Drillbit Taylor

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PLACES I/WE WENT: I had an adventure (see pics below); the recycling place; T and I went to superwalmart; I went to the mall; to the Tapout wherehouse.

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BUDGET SAVERS/BUSTERS: Well, it was kind of a mixture, I mean, buying Christmas presents is a buster but I got some pretty good deals.

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BLESSINGS: my little adventure

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CHALLENGES: driving 160 miles round trip all by myself (through LA no less); keeping up on my chores (which I did really well); walking every single day (which I also did really well).

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ACCOMPLISHMENTS: see challenges

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FAMILY HAPPENINGS: KT had a dance on Friday. She got socked in the face by some 8th grade boy who was dancing crazy. She had a little bruise, but she's ok. It was totally an accident.

We went to the Tapout wherehouse for a huge sale late Sunday afternoon. I hadn't been feeling all that great ever since I was at the mall (hence I took that wonderful nap when I got home). I started feeling really sick inside the Tapout place and had to go outside and sit down. Extremely nauseous. I finally threw up sometime in the middle of the night. Austin and I were out for yesterday with it. We're both feeling better, but not quite up to snuff today.

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MY ADVENTURE:

On Wednesday, I had to go to the corporate office on the other side of L.A. for a training meeting:

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On the drive there, all of a sudden, there was the Disney Studios right off the freeway!!!! I didn't have time to stop. I spent most of the meeting thinking about jumping off the freeway on the way home.

So that's just what I did. Unfortunately, I didn't see the arrow pointing right, which is where I wanted to go and instead went left, onto Bob Hope Dr.

I thought I was lost. There was no Disney studio here.

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But I did get to see this:

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And this:

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Then, finally, I went around a few corners, and I saw this:


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And then, there it was:

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This was the best part....the Animation Building:

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The pictures aren't the greatest because I didn't get out of my car. Since I know where everything is now, I'm going to check on going on a tour.

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I also got to see this on the way home:

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I was almost home and just thanking God for taking what could have been a really stressful and/or boring thing and making it into such a fun thing,

and He goes and does this:

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Not something you see every day (even in California).

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Project 365 pictures

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#154; 12/8

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#155; 12/9...my Rudolph shelf

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#156; 12/10

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#157; 12/11.....downtown Riverside

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#158; 12/12....AC and friends playing RockBand

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#159; 12/13....me trying to take a picture of the moon through some clouds; obviously I should have gotten out the tripod

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#155; 12/14....what we do on a cold, rainy day