Photo Hunt

This seemed like the perfect picture for the category “new”. This is a picture of me & Little Buttercup the first time she met Baby Buttercup (who was new to us all — she was just about 30 minutes old in this picture). Look at the smile on Little Buttercup’s face … priceless!

Things That Amuse a One-Year-Old … Trash??

My just-turned-one-year-old daughter, Baby Buttercup, is sitting here (I should say standing here) beside me making me smile. She is pulling trash out of the trashcan (this is an office so, forunately, it’s all paper trash … do you think I would let her do it otherwise? Geesh!). When she is in here and I am on the computer this is what she likes to do. Nevermind the plethora of Little People and Little Tikes toys and Leap Frog things … it’s the trash she’s most interested in. No wonder we have to keep the kitchen and bathroom trash locked up! Eventually it does get out of control and I have to redirect her to the “good toys”.

That’s all I was going to write, but then I thought, “Hey wait … that’ll preach!” (as Farmboy says). How often do we prefer the trash over the treasure? What are some areas in my life where I am going for the trash and forgetting that there is treasure that I can turn to? I imagine that for most of us the areas are many and various. Philippians 4:8 says “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.” NASB

That’s something to think about …

The Goods

Now how spiritual is that? Yes, we had a very good Christmas around here. I named my post “The Goods” in reference to all that I received for Christmas from my family. Well, “goods” means personal property, so I guess that is what they are … goods. And I got some pretty good goods

Okay, so in case you really do care, here are the highlights of what I received from Farmboy:

• A new cell phone. I needed one since Little Buttercup proceeded to rip the charging cord out of the bottom of my old one. This I have been wanting — a Pink MOTORAZR
• Awning lights for our new camper. Yes, I consider it a necessity to have awning lights if you are going to own a camper and I have been wanting some … and they’re not cheesy (which I fully expected)!
• New knives. I know, doesn’t sound like a great gift until you realize how I love to cook and my old knives were cheap and D U L L!

Other gifts from my family:
iTunes card
iPod Socks (I really like these!)
iPod tape adapter to play it in the car (finally)
iHome under-the-counter console for iPod (love this!)
JoAnn’s gift card (I love to sew)
Archiver’s gift card (scrapbooking store)
Creative Memories albums and pages (more scrapbooking)
Family Pass to Zoo Atlanta
Matching Storyteller sweaters/sweater dresses from Hanna Andersson (these are so pretty!)

and we received the money to complete what we need for a mission trip in January to L.A.!!

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!!
(HT on the idea: my Big Bro)

The Resident Geek

That would be me!

A dear friend from our church calls me “Grand Geek” and this is where the name came from. You see, I am our church’s webmaster – truthtabernacle.net. I also am responsible for converting our sermon mp3 files to wma files and uploading them to the web for streaming audio and podcasting, writing our weekly feeds for podcasting and generally keeping that all up to date and running.

I make all the graphics for our church website as well as this blog, my homeschool blog and our family website (which hasn’t been updated in a while). And I make all the graphics for our announcements. I also created our chuch’s “logo” (for lack of a better term). The latter really blows me away sometimes when I see our pastor wearing a shirt with the graphic that I designed or when I see it on our website or in print – how wierd!

Anyway, last night Farmboy was working on his new blog (finally LOL) and I was helping him. At one point he said, “You really are a geek!” and we laughed. He said it because I knew right away how to set everything up and where to find what he was looking for, etc.

I have always loved all things computer-related. My dad has always worked in the computer industry and we got our first computer when I was 13 (a commodore 64 - LOL). I promptly began writing my own little programs and playing with it all the time. I remember using Prodigy to get on the internet (when no one else I knew really knew what it was) back in the early ’90’s. And I was writing DOS programs in college when I thought I would be a business major.

Now, if you have read this far and haven’t become bored of my geekiness – thanks! Because interestingly, I also am an artist at heart. I love to draw and paint, and would do it all the time in my own studio if I could, but I cannot right now. I have so many others things currently that take precedence — homeschooling, my responsibilites as a wife and mommy, etc. So my artistic endeavors are few and far between at this point. But my heart is passionate about art … creating it and viewing it.

I’m not really sure where I am going with all this – it is 3:00 in the morning here and I am awake for some reason … babbling on and on about this … I was thinking about how that is such an odd combination — Geek + Artist = Me But you know what? That is one of the things that I love about Little Buttercup (our oldest daughter) – she likes to hunt with her Daddy and she has her own gun! She plays HARD, but she also is a beautiful dancer whom the Lord has already gifted at such a young age. She is multifaceted, to say the least.

I was also thinking about how thankful I am that the Lord has given me an artistic eye and how He has given me ways to express myself through various outlets that I can pursue at this point in my life. One day, perhaps, I will have a little art studio of my own, but for now this computer is my studio

Blessings!! I think I need to go back to bed now!!

Friggin’ Sweet!

He’s out to prove he’s got nothing to prove

If you read a previous post you would know that I put O Brother, Where Art Thou and Napolean Dynamite in Farmboy’s stocking. He loved it and we couldn’t wait to put the girls in bed and watch one of them last night. We chose Napolean Dynamite since we both have never seen it. I must say it’s wierd, but I LOL thinking about many of the scenes! It’s definitely one of those films that you must watch over and over and over in order to get everything. Farmboy and I found ourselves cracking up just watching the little scenes that are in the menu of the DVD when the movie ended. We’ll be watching it again very soon.

And by the way — it’s rated PG

Christmas Morning

It’s 7 a.m. here and I am waiting for the kiddos to wake up. My husband and I finally went to bed around 2 a.m., but I woke up not too long ago and decided that I would go ahead and get ready for the day.

I am waxing nostalgic here and remember the days, even up into adulthood, when I would wake up on Christmas morning full of excitement and wonder. I would go and happily wake up my big brother (love you!!) and then we would go together to wake up my parents. We would all get ready (picture to take you know) and then go downstairs together to see what “Santa” brought (yes, even after we knew the truth about Santa and as teenagers and even as adults still living at home). There’s really no way for me to write in words the feeling I have inside as I remember those days. You know in “A Christmas Story” the part where it’s finally Christmas morning and Ralphie and Randy are just waking up and the harp music that is playing? It’s so dreamy … maybe that would come close to “showing” how I would feel (although my brother and I were much nicer to each other!!).

I hope my children have that much fun waking up on Christmas morning — I hope they are filled with excitement and wonder. It wasn’t at all about getting the gifts for me so much as it was the total package – the memory making, the anticipation and excitement, the gift giving, how my parents tried to make it fun …

Well, I hear my youngest, Baby Buttercup, kicking her feet in her bed, so I better go and make sure we’re all ready to go! I hope you all have a very blessed Christmas!!

Christmas Blessings to you!!!

Christmas Letters

I wanted to share Lisa Whelchel’s Christmas Letter as I think it is outstanding (and I just love it when people get real!)

Dear friends

Is it just me? Am I simply incredibly small and insecure, or do you sometimes want to throw up after reading certain family Christmas letters too? I mean, isn’t this the time of year when we are supposed to be sending good tidings of great joy? After reading a litany of child prodigy feats and perfect family success stories, I often feel like pond scum. Oh, and by the way, “Merry Christmas.”

Perhaps it is a knee-jerk reaction, but I decided to write this year’s family Christmas letter from slightly below the surface of the pond. Although my whole family is onboard with this idea, it is probably only fair that I begin with me and my “accomplishments” in 2006.

For starters, I gained ten more pounds this year and went up two pant sizes. The bathroom scales hadn’t seen those high digits since my third trimesters. The publishing company I’m currently signed with sold to a publisher that turned me down two years ago and they still don’t want me. My last book way undersold projections and is probably available at your local bookstore on the clearance table.

This year, Steve finally decided we could no longer ignore the financial woes associated with the fact that we both stink at handling money. We got all of our back taxes cleared up, and we are ready to tackle the debt we got into when we couldn’t get enough women to attend our MomTime Getaway events back in 2003. This living on a budget is for the birds.

Tucker fell in love for the first time and, subsequently, experienced his first broken heart. After six months, he is still recovering from the break-up. On a happier note, he finally completed his geometry curriculum. It took him a year-and-a-half, but I’m sure all those theorems will come in handy in the life of a musician.

Haven is no longer part of the student ministry worship team at church. She was replaced this year by a drummer with fancier fills. She received a “D” on her first English Lit essay, complete with notes from the teacher like, “Don’t use such lame sources” and “Did you even read the book?”

We are thrilled to report that after three years, Clancy finally made a friend here in Texas. She played “Juliet” in her homeschool academy’s school play last year, only to earn a bit part in this year’s production. After playing the bass guitar for three years in the junior high worship band, she’s a bit bummed about the fact that she’s not yet good enough to play on the high school worship team.

Donut, our family dog, no longer has the run of the house. She has been relegated to a pen in the kitchen with a doggie door to the backyard. After failing two obedience schools, we resigned ourselves to the fact that she just wasn’t going to get this whole house-training thing down. As soon as we get this whole budget-training thing down, we’ll replace all the carpet in the house.

Now, don’t you feel better? Merry Christmas! In my opinion, this letter more accurately reflects the spirit of Christmas. No, stay with me here a minute, I’m serious. Why did Jesus come to earth in the first place? Because we desperately need a Savior! We are fat, yet so empty. We owe a debt we cannot pay. We are not good enough in our own strength. He came to heal the brokenhearted. He calls us friend. He came to set free those of us who are bound because of the mess we’ve made of our lives.

We aren’t the first ones to celebrate Christmas as primarily the birth of the King of kings, conveniently skipping the whole “Suffering Servant” role of the promised Messiah. Yes, Jesus will reign and rule forever, but the “good news of great joy” that the angel declared to the shepherds on the very first Christmas was that a Savior was born. I need that Messiah this year!

How about you? Have you, like me, been tempted to believe that we will be better witnesses for Jesus in our Christmas letters if we are living victoriously, reigning over our circumstances, and ruling with authority, as befits a child of the King? If that is where you have lived this year, then praise God, you have enjoyed an early taste of heaven.

If, on the other hand, you have lost or failed or died or cried or experienced any other symptom of humanity, then celebrate Christmas with me this year. The birth of the baby Jesus, God in human form. Our High Priest who sympathizes with our weaknesses. The King who wore a crown of thorns. We have eternity to reign with the King of kings. Today I need a Savior. That is the reason He was born. This is why we can celebrate no matter what kind of year we’ve had.

Christmas blessings,

Steve, Lisa, Tucker, Haven, Clancy and Donut Cauble

Gift-giving anticipation ………..

I sure hope Farmboy doesn’t read this (I don’t think he will … he’s too busy obsessing about which vehicle to buy to tow our new camper!).

I bought 2 movies to go in his stocking … Napolean Dynamite and O Brother, Where Art Thou? He’s going to love them! We’ve not actually seen Napolean Dynamite yet (we are really bad about getting to the movies or even renting them!), but from what I understand we’ll like it — we like that kind of humor (yes, we’re wierd!). We like really good adventure movies (The Lord of the Rings, Braveheart, etc.) and off-the-wall movies (The Princess Bride, for instance, and Monty Python & the Holy Grail). And we find ourselves quoting movie lines from our favorite movies all the time (alas … we were meant to be together …).

O Brother, Where Art Thou? is one of our favorites…

They have a plan, but not a clue.

Just that tagline alone makes me laugh out loud right now, anticipating staying up late one night after the girls are asleep and watching.

The soundtrack is also quite good — perfect for the movie — and you can preview it here.

Yes, I did buy Farmboy other gifts, and he will love them, but I was just thinking this morning about how this will make him laugh …

Blessings!

Linus’ monologue ….

One of my favorite Christmas songs is from the Charlie Brown Christmas Special: Christmastime is Here

Christmas time is here
Happiness and cheer
Fun for all that children call
Their favorite time of the year

Snowflakes in the air
Carols everywhere
Olden times and ancient rhymes
Of love and dreams to share

Sleigh bells in the air
Beauty everywhere
Yuletide by the fireside
And joyful memories there

Christmas time is here
We’ll be drawing near
Oh, that we could always see
Such spirit through the year
Oh, that we could always see
Such spirit through the year…

Friday Feast

Appetizer
What is one of your Christmas traditions?
Visiting Stone Mountain Christmas and riding the Christmas Train

Soup
Who is the easiest person on your list to buy presents for?
My 6 year old daughter

Salad
What is your favorite Christmas scent?
Cranberry Chutney — Yankee Candle — yum!

Main Course
If you could give a fellow blogger a Christmas gift, who would it be and what would you give them?
I would visit Kindred Heart and give her a big hug!!! We’ve been dying to meet IRL

Dessert
What’s something on your Christmas wish list this year that you need (not just want)?
A new cell phone (a need because my charging cord will not stay in and a want because I just want a new one)

Blessings!