A Celebration of Life!!

When does life begin?  It is a question that has come up frequently in our home since the birth of our niece Lily.  Lily was born with Downs Syndrome.  Since her birth, our family's eyes have been opened to the world of children with DS.  It is a world full of happiness, love, and miracles.  It is also a world filled with darkness, misunderstanding, fear, abandonment, and abortion.  I saw this video on Patti's blog and I had to post it.  Yesterday I posted that what I truly loved about the Christmas Season was the Love, Hope, and Peace that filled it.  Today I am adding Life to that list.  Let's us not forget God's gift of Life, and the Life of  His son Jesus.

Before you watch the video I thought I would list some scripture about God's involvement with the unborn baby....

Jeremiah 1:5...5
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew[a] you, before you were born I set you apart;..."


Psalm 139:13-15
"You did form my inward parts, you knit me together in my mother's womb...you knew me right well; my frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret..."


Luke 1:15
"He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even before his birth." - Speaking of John the Baptist, the "babe" mentioned in the next scripture.


Luke1:41-44
"And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and she exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the voice of your greeting came to my ears, the babe in my womb leaped for joy."
(The Greek word "brephos" is used in Scripture for the English word "babe"....This is the same word Luke uses in Luke 2:12,16 "You will find a baby lying in a manger." to describe the infant Jesus, and in 1 Peter 2:2 "Like newborn babes...." - clearly God sees no difference between the unborn and born baby)


Genesis 25:23
"two nations are in thy womb" (Jacob and Esau) "and two manner of people."


Proverbs 24:11-12
"Rescue those who are unjustly sentenced to death; don't stand back and let them die. Don't try to disclaim responsibility by saying you didn't know about it."


Jeremiah 7:6, 22:3,17 and Exodus 23:7
"shed not innocent blood."


Proverbs 6:16-17
"The Lord hates hands that shed innocent blood."


Exodus 20:13
"Thou shalt not kill."


Matthew 5:21
"Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill..."


Genesis 9:6
"Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God made He man."


Genesis 33:5
"The children which God has graciously given me."


Psalm 127:3
"Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is His reward."


Psalm 14:1
"The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God'."

The Beginning of The Season....

Today is the very last day in November, in the year 2011.  Tomorrow marks the beginning of the Christmas Season.  I know that every merchant in America begins this season BEFORE Thanksgiving, but our Countdown to Christmas Calender begins December 1st. 

I have to admit that the month of November got away from me - it was Thanksgiving before I had a chance to plan for Thanksgiving - AND...I am a little worried about the month of December getting away from me.  Christmas is my favorite holiday.  It is sooooo FUN!!!  Every year I look forward to the music, the decorations, the traditions, the memories, the shopping and the gift-giving - there is sooooo much to love about Christmas.  

Today I am going to focus on what I truly love about Christmas....Love, Hope, Peace.  All of those were gifts, in the form of a baby, given on the very first Christmas.  Christmas began with a person...not Santa, Jesus.  We were all given the incredible gift of a Savior and Redeemer on the very first Christmas.  So, before I post about any music or decorations or family traditions, I am going to post about giving Love, Hope and Peace to people.  Two very specific people.....

Robyn...

                                                           

and Ty....

                                

Both Robyn and Ty need a family for Christmas.  I know that we all have visions of what gifts our money will go to buy this Christmas season.  Can you visualize your money - just 10$ of it - being donated to help get these kiddos a family for Christmas. 

It was exactly one year ago, this Season, that I posted about  Reese's Rainbow for the first time.  It was during Patti's first Blog Giveaway for Olga, remember?  Today I am announcing Patti's Pure Love Giveaway.  Donating 10$ to one, or both, of these children enters you into a chance to win an XBOX 360 with all the do-dads, a home theatre speaker system, an HP laptop, a Canon camera, an iPad 2, two Kindles, $500 in giftcards, and still so many other prizes that you really should go to Patti's blog and check it out.  The drawing is December 12th. 

What a great way to begin the Christmas Season!!!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Scentsy Party!!!

We had some friends from Ohio knock on our door and surprise us this past weekend with a visit - it was WONDERFUL!!  Stay tuned for pictures ;)
Also - only 1 week left for my Scentsy Party, don't forget to check it out ;)
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Welcome to my Blog Scentsy Party. 

I am having an On-Line Scentsy Party, so I decided I would have a Blog Scentsy Party too!!

(although I am pretty sure that everyone who reads my blog received an email invitation to my Scentsy Party)

Today I am dedicating my post the the products of Scentsy!!!

Here is the Lovely Elli showing you one of my Scentsy warmers....

My mother-in-law just bought me a Scentsy Plug-in for my birthday....

It is the perfect size for a bathroom - I LOVE IT!!!  Thank you mom :) !!

I love this new Scentsy warmer that I just saw in the catalog...just in time for the holidays....

It is a morning ritual now to turn on my Scentsy warmers first thing.  I love beginning Joshua's home school and my morning Bible time with the fragrances of Scentsy filling my home.  Some of my favorite fragrances are Beach, Eskimo kiss, Cinnamon Vanilla, White Tea & Cactus, French Lavender, Just Breathe....there are soooooo many.  I cannot wait to try some of the new ones like Quiver, and Be still.

I haven't tried many of the other products that Scentsy sells.  So, if someone from my party purchases a body fragrance....

....or the Scentsy Fragrance Foam...

...or a the Scentsy Room Spray....

...or a Scentsy Buddy....

...you will have to leave me a comment and let me know what you think. 

If you want to join my blog party then look for the icon, over on the right hand side of this post, that reads "Lily's Scentsy Store", and click on it.  If you blink both eyes when you click on it, you will feel just like Barbara Eden of I Dream of Jeannie, as you will immediately be transported to Lily's Scentsy Store....

Find "Lori's Basket Party" under the heading  My Open Parties and have fun shopping. 

Also...remember to leave me a comment and let me know if you enjoyed my party ;)

Guess who got hair cuts....

Oh Komblamblo....

Today Reagan is going to entertain you with his song about a Lobster named Komblamblo....



Happy Halloween....

Gosh, I cannot believe that Halloween is over.  Here is a recount....

 We made candy apples this year....

We had our annual costume party for Trevor's birthday.... 

Elli and I handed out candy to Trick or Treaters with Grandma.... 

Everyone else hit the streets to get candy.  Jason and Reagan were Dragon and Dragon Slayer....

Joshua and Trevor were Zombie and Zombie slayer.... 

Brandon was a pilot...but everyone was calling him Tom Cruise.... 

Hope you all had a great Halloween and got lots of candy - with 6 kids we should have candy until at least Christmas :)