Merry Christmas!!

Saaaaantaaaa!

My Heart Actually Hurts

It wasn't until this school shooting on Friday that I realized just how unsafe our country has become.  Yes, there have been other shootings and yes they have even been in schools.  But this one in a Kindergarten through fourth grade school has shaken me to my core.  The children killed were Cinderella's age and a year or two older than Sleeping Beauty.

I grew up in a Navy family.  I was always aware that there were bad people in the world, people who would want Americans dead if they were given the chance. But I always felt safe.   When I was about Cinderella's age we lived in Italy.  I went to school on base AN HOUR AWAY from my house.  I was in first and second grade during this time. There were guards with guns that rode on the bus with us.  I am thankful that I was unaware of that until I was older.  Once at school, it wasn't uncommon to have bomb threats and have to hide.  Libya was all sorts of crazy then and I remember vividly being crouched down and praying.  AT SCHOOL.    On a Navy Base.  No one can ever tell you that you cannot pray.  You can do so in your head and only you and God will know.

Deuteronomy 31:6
New King James Version (NKJV)
"Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.”

One thing I have ALWAYS taken with me and that I will instill in my girls is that GOD IS ALWAYS THERE and you can always talk to Him.  The WORST thing they can do is kill you and if that happens, and you are a child who is innocent,  you get to go to Heaven.  That is where everyone is trying to make it to anyway.  To not be sad about those left behind because God will take care of them too.

I am still anxious and do not like my oldest being at school today.  I have cried and prayed about her safety and the safety of other children in schools across our country and even overseas.  I would not be OK at all if something were to happen to either of my girls but I will not stop living my life because of fear.  Then evil has won and evil doesn't win.  I've read the end of The Book.  :)

More Mountains

More at Grandfather Mountain:

My family with my brother and his girlfriend.

My Daniel Boone.  Haha

My girls <3  The owl hats are so presh.

I hate to say this, but I look better in Tim's hat than he does.  :)

See?  ;)

Scary!

Sleeping Beauty never fails to scare us.  See below:

She drew this in a restaurant last night.  And said it was the devil and then left it there for the next customers.

North Carolina Mountains

We spent Thanksgiving in the North Carolina mountains this year.  I was cold the entire time but I had fun.  :)

We thought we'd see snow - maybe man-made even but we did not.  Despite the fact that I was freezing to my core it was not cold enough most days for the snow (real or fake) to stick.  And no, it didn't snow at all anyway.

We stayed in Seven Devils, NC and spent a lot of time in Boone.

We went across the suspended bridge - it was a mile high.  See our feet?

Sleeping Beauty was terrified at first and then did what she always does.  Took off with wild abandon. 

My mom did not do well.  At all.  But she DID walk across it.  :)

They say there's a sucker born every minute....  HAHA

Ten Years

On the 23rd we had our 10th wedding anniversary.

This was at Linville Falls in North Carolina last week.  :)  We went to dinner and a movie to celebrate.

Trunk Or Treat

At church before Halloween:

(Better late than never.)  :)

Dorothy, a pirate and Elphaba (Wicked Witch)

:)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Halloween

Me and my Dorothy at her school

Complete with Toto in basket :)

Super Doggy!

Elphaba (AKA Wicked Witch of the West)

With her Maleficent pumpkin.  Like the "person" buried next to her?

With her Cinderella pumpkin

A new favorite picture

The best we could get of all the girls.  We couldn't see the witch's face, so this is what she did:

:)  See?

Who knows?!

Silly girls

"The Brawny Man."

Maleficent lit up

Cinderella lit up

More Pumpkin Patch Fun

See this turkey?

And this one?

See this little girl?

They've met their match!

 She was yelling that they were "ugly and delicious."  HAHA

 She is SO her father's daughter.  :)

 It's on!!

We had a fun day.  :)