18 years ago...

18 years ago....today.  I married the love of my life.  18 years ago, we were just kids.  So in love, yet not knowing what true love really was.  Our love has grown so much over the years....our family has grown too :)  God's providential hand has been in our lives, guiding us through the good times and the not so good times,   He has never left us or forsaken us.  18 years....seems like a lifetime ago, yet seems like yesterday.  There are no words strong enough to describe the depths of my love for my husband.  He is everything to me.  He is my hero...my best friend...my knight in shining armor....my love.....he is mine.

 

Happy 18th Anniversary to my ONE and ONLY! 

I'm dreaming of a WARM Christmas.

The weather this week has been crazy.  This is supposed to be Georgia, not Indiana!  It started out unseasonably cold, like down in the teens, and ended up in the 60's.  I mean... I'm not complaining about the 60 degree weather, but the teens!, you northerners can keep your cold weather, thank you very much!  As for me, I'm dreaming of a warm Christmas ♪♪♫ ...just like the one we had 2 years ago...♫♪♪

We've had a busy but fun week though.  After braving the extremely cold weather on Monday to go to the store, we did some Christmas cookie making on Tuesday.  All the kids took part...even little Liberty.  As you can see in the pictures, she is in nearly every one of them, trying to get her hands in the dough {and the dough into her mouth}.  It was memories in the making!

If you'd like to make some too, here is the recipe.  You can do A LOT of different variations with this recipe, so experiment and have fun!  My favorite was adding lemon extract.

Butter Balls {snow balls}

• 1 cup butter
• ½ cup sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• optional ingredients:  pecans, almonds, food coloring, *flavors or extracts {I used 1 tsp. lemon extract} 2 tsp. cinnamon {the cinnamon ones turned out really good too}
• powdered sugar {enough to cover cookies when cool}

Beat butter on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar, beat until fluffy. Add flour, and beat at low speed until well blended, stir in extra ingredients if you are adding them.  If you add flavors or extracts, you may have to add just a little bit more flour if dough is sticky.  Shape into one inch balls. Bake at 325 degrees on  ungreased cookie sheet for 20 minutes. Remove and put on wire rack to cool. Roll in confectioners' sugar when cool.

 {Click on picture to view bigger}

My Heart Overlows...

Don't you just love those mornings where you actually get up before anyone else?  I know I do.  My day seems to run just a little smoother as well.

2 weeks until Christmas.  Actually less than.  Am I finished with my Christmas gifts?  I was supposed to be, BUT.... I'm not.  That's not to say I haven't been busy.  I feel like I'm becoming one with the sewing machine, I have been in front of it so much here lately :).  I do have to say though, I think I have more done now than I did last year at this time, if that is any consolation.  But that doesn't help me get done any faster....I was supposed to already BE done!  I really enjoy making things, it's just the stress of "am I going to have everything done in time" that stresses me....  :)

I have been finding ornaments on the Christmas tree in "clusters".  Liberty LOVES the tree and the ornaments, she's just not supposed to be touching them.  So it is amusing when I find ornaments clustered in groups of 3 or more on the same twig.  Her excitement puts a smile on my face.  I received a gift in the mail yesterday and I put it under the tree {the first gift under the tree} and Liberty laid on the floor on her belly with her head in her hands and kept looking at it.  She's only 16 months and even though she had her first Christmas last year, this one will be even more exciting!

I was reading over my girls' blogs {3 of our daughters have them} and it hit me real hard this morning how much they have grown.  I see it every day, 3 of them are as tall as me {one of them slightly taller....but I'm not going to admit it} but when it hit me this morning, it was a different feeling, one with mixed emotions like melancholy, sadness, I'm getting old, ... but also joy in seeing them become Godly young ladies.  They make me so proud.  I am so proud of all my children.  God has blessed me FAR more than I deserve.  When I was my oldest daughter's age, I said I didn't want ANY kids... in those words.  But God in His love and mercy changed my heart and gave me 8 beautiful children, I am so unworthy yet so thankful!  I am so thankful that God doesn't see me as me, but sees His son, Jesus Christ.  Where would I be today if not for His love.

Have a Blessed Lord's Day!

Everything Christmas....a book review

Everything Christmas by David Bordon and Thomas J. Winters is a compilation of exactly what the title says, Everything Christmas!  If you want to know the origin of a certain Christmas song, food, tradition, story, etc., it's in there.  It's packed full of delightful recipes, traditional Christmas songs, little Christmas tidbit facts.... it even has Christmas jokes!  I especially like reading the history of many of our favorite Christmas songs, although several of them have an unknown author.  The book is set up to be able to read something everyday in December.  Overall I am pleased with this book.  It is something I will use for many Christmas's to come.  It would also make a great Christmas gift.  I recommend it to anyone who loves Christmas as much as I do!

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

"Secret" Ingredient Peanut Butter Fudge

This is one of my favorite Peanut Butter Fudge recipes.  I try to make at least one batch every Christmas.  It's not healthy by any stretch of the imagination....but is fudge supposed to be?  Anyway, it is exceptionally creamy and VERY good!  The only thing is, it has a "secret" ingredient.  What I mean by secret is, it is not commonly found in fudge recipes, and most people are shocked to find out that it is in there.  See if you can spot it!

• 2 sticks margarine (see...I told you it wasn't healthy)
• 8 oz. Velveeta Cheese
• 1 C. Jif Peanut Butter
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 2 lb. powdered sugar

Melt margarine and cheese in sauce pan over low heat until creamed together.  Add peanut butter, vanilla, and powdered sugar to the cheese and margarine mixture, then press into pan.  Cool in fridge and enjoy!  Name brands work best.

Christmas 2010

Three Wise Men Religious Christmas Card

Get custom photo Christmas cards online at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

Send out the Christmas cheer!

One of the exciting things to me during the Christmas season is giving and receiving Christmas cards.  It brings back something nostalgic from when I was a child.  I always waited in anticipation for the mail to arrive to see if we had any Christmas cards.  It was exciting to see the shelves in our home fill up with Christmas cards during the month of December.  To this day, I still wait in anticipation for Christmas cards from family and friends.  And yes, I do enjoy sending them out as well.  I only wish I could do more.

One place to find great cards is Shutterfly.   They have a vast array of cards and styles and the best part is that you can add your own photos and make them uniquely your own.  I have used Shutterfly before to order prints, and they were exceptional!  I am excited to try their Christmas photo cards this year.  I have been looking through their cards and have found several I really like.  Christ Wishes is one of my favorites.  One of the most important things to me when I send out Christmas cards is “does it honor Christ?”  He is our peace and hope and everything we do should bring glory and honor to His name.

Shutterfly also has an array of other fun cards.  If you are having a Christmas party, then the Christmas invitations are just what you need.  They also have cards for all the holidays, birth announcements, birthdays, etc.  Give them a try.  I’m sure you’ll be pleased.

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” - Luke 2:14

Biscuit Bread

This recipe came about as a "mistake" and soon became one of our favorites!  It's great when you want a quick bread to go with a meal.  We also like to have it with sausage gravy!

• 2 C self-rising flour
• 1 1/4 C milk
• 1/4 C oil
• 1 egg
• 2 T sugar

Heat oven to 425*.  Spray 8x8 pan with cooking spray.  Mix all ingredients together and pour into pan.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.  Recipe can be doubled and put into 9x13 pan.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars

This recipe is definitely one of our family favorites.  It also makes 2 {9x13} pans.

1 C. oil
1 3/4 C. sugar
4 eggs
2/3 C. water
2 C. pumpkin puree
3 1/2 C. Self-rising flour
2 tsp cinnamon
Chocolate chips {enough to sprinkle on top}
1 C chopped nuts {optional}

Mix oil and sugar. Add eggs, water, and pumpkin and mix well. Stir in dry ingredients. Pour into two 9x13 pans.  Sprinkle with chocolate chips and nuts. Bake for 30 minutes or until done.

O Christmas Tree

We enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving this year.  God truly is good, even amidst our failures and shortcomings.  Even when we seem to overlook the many things He blesses us with each and every day.  Why are we so prone to take our MANY blessings for granted?  We don't deserve His mercy and grace.  But that is one of the many things that makes our God an AWESOME God!  "His mercy endureth forever."

With Thanksgiving past, the wonderful, joyous season of Christmas is here!  I LOVE Christmas!  We were able to put a real tree up this year, a Leyland Cypress!  Thanks to our good friends {who have good connections}.  It is beautiful!  We make a big to do about putting the ornaments on the tree, so it takes quite a while to get it all done.  Everyone gets involved.  I also like to make a new ornament every year for each of us and this year we used the age-old shrinky dinks!  We had a lot of fun making them, especially watching them shrink!  I got a little carried away and made a few more, but they turned out great!

Liberty also had fun playing around with garland and ornaments.  She thought she was a little angel. 

After all was said and done, we turned off the lights, had devotions, and sat there for a while, just looking at the tree.  Isn't Christmas wonderful?

Just around the corner!

Can you believe that Thanksgiving is almost here?  I cannot.  It seems it sneaks up on me every single year... a little faster each time, and every single year I say the same thing..."Can you believe that Thanksgiving is almost here?"  And in another week I'll be saying, "Can you believe it's only 1 month till Christmas?"  So it goes.

Anyway, now that Thanksgiving is almost here, we are preparing 2 Thanksgiving dinners; one on Sunday and the traditional Thanksgiving Day dinner on Thursday.  I am looking so forward to it!  And then there will be so much anticipation for Christmas.  We all love Christmas time around our house.  Not one Scrooge among us.  I think we are getting a real tree this year too, I love having a real tree!  It makes it that much more special to me.  The kids have already been 'secretly' listening to Christmas music in their rooms.  They know I don't like to have it going all through the house until AFTER Thanksgiving, {I know, I'm peculiar that way} but they are anxious to listen to it at the beginning of November.  

We are officially off of school now for a whole week!  We like to take a week long break for Thanksgiving and 2 weeks for Christmas.  So everyone is all excited today!  Clara said she would like to take off for 4 years.... ahem, I don't think that is going to happen.  But she can dream.  Poor girl...still has at least 10 years of school left.

We also started up an Etsy shop {Away Down South} this week, and it's going great!  We've already made 2 online sales and 2 offline sales.  All of our items are on sale from now until Thanksgiving, so head on over and see if there is anything you might like.  If you'd like a custom order, just send me an email and we'll see what we can do.  You'll never know till you ask!

I hope and pray y'all have a blessed and joyous Thanksgiving.  May all of our hearts be turned to the One who has given us so much to be thankful for.  HE is our life and our salvation, our God!

Faith, Family, and Friends

Wow. It's been a while.

We've had a lot going on over the past couple of weeks.... and yes, I know, it's been more like 3 weeks since I last posted.  But never fear, I'm back again!

We had a wonderful visit with family - my mom, sister and her family two weeks ago.  But of course, it seemed like it was over before it began.  We enjoyed each others company, went shopping, and topped it off with some good ole' Tim Hawkins!  A visit isn't complete without Tim Hawkins.  He is funny with a capital "F". 

Our church also celebrated our 1 year anniversary and Reformation Day.  It was a grand occasion.  It was a blast dressing up and "trying" to play games and such just like they did back then!  We are looking forward to next year already!  You can view more Reformation Celebration pictures on our Church website.

My husband also spoke at a Pre-Election Prayer Rally.  He did a wonderful job, {be sure to watch}.  Before we will ever see any results of God's blessing on our land, we must first humble ourselves and pray and repent.  God is still full of mercy, and His arm is not too short that it cannot save.

Lastly, we had a great time of fellowship with some dear friends last night, where we also got to meet a whole host of new friends!  It was such a blessing!  After the food and fun, we were able to enjoy an evening of singing and music.  God has truly blessed our dear hostess with the gift of hospitality.  She is such a delight to be around.  Her son is starring in a new film to be released in December called Jimmy Valiant: Scions of Danger.  It was nice meeting him and the crew that are dedicated to making films that bring honor and glory to Jesus Christ.  We were blessed by meeting several new families and bits of families :)  God is Good!

I have a little secret....

Boy, that sure got you here quick!  Everyone loves a little secret, don't they?  But I won't count you, YOU just follow my blog on a regular basis and so you just naturally came over to see what I posted....right?  Well, whatever the reason, I guess I'll let you in on MY little secret.....Okay, here it is....Hello, my name is Sonya and I have O.R.D.*

Whew!  Thanks for letting me get that off my back!  I feel better already!  Now I can get on with my post.

Oh.... you don't know what ORD is?  I thought everyone knew?  Well, it's just this little thing commonly known as Obsessive Re-arranging Disorder. {don't you LOVE the name I gave my disorder?  I had to give it some kind of name....there's a disorder for everything these days!} Yep!  That's me!  I LOVE to re-arrange my furniture! Sometimes I go through spells where I re-arrange it once a week... and then I might have a lull where I don't do it for a WHOLE month! {that's when I REALLY start thinking there's something wrong with me!}  Most of the family has accepted my problem.  You might hear things like, "Yea, Mom's ORD has kicked in...again" or "But Mom, I wanted to go outside and play.... do we HAVE to re-arrange, again?".  Nothing like child-labor! {for those who don't know me very well, I am kidding, just  a little bit...}

Okay, enough about my problem.  Do you want to hear the really good news?  Well, since I have this silly disorder, I just happened to re-arrange this week and I got a new SEWING ROOM! I am LOVING it!  It's actually the whole fam's sewing room {us girls at least}  and it doubles as my office.  It is just GREAT!  See, I was a woman without a room.  My poor office and sewing stuff just couldn't find the right place to fit in.  It was sad.  But not anymore!  I even have a window that looks out back where I can watch the kids playing outside.  Yeah, those kids can now run and play without any worries about Mom dragging them back inside to re-arrange, again {for now, anyway}.  I will post a picture of my new room, eventually, so you can be excited with me.  For now though, I am going to sit here and enjoy my coffee in my new room.  Y'all come back, ya hear.

*there is no support group for this disorder.  If you need help, well, your just out of luck!

A beautiful day in the neighborhood

The weather way down here in the good 'ole South has been MAGNIFICENT!  In our few years of living down here I don't think I've seen it go from nearly 100 degrees to 72 degrees in such a short amount of time.  It was like squelching summer one day and the next it was the most beautiful fall weather imaginable!  We are loving every minute of it.  I am hoping that this bit of early fall {at least for us southerners} doesn't mean we are going to have a long, cold winter.  I guess we'll just have to wait and see...

Well, my Christmas projects are coming along... sorta.  Not as quick as I'd like, but I am making some progress.  I hope to have a majority of it finished within a month. {hopefully}

We also watched Tim Hawkin's new DVD Insanitized last weekend with friends and family... It was HILARIOUS!  He makes me laugh until I cry.  If you haven't seen it yet, it will definitely be worth your while.

It has been so much fun watching Liberty as she gains her confidence in walking.  She has even tried out a couple of "dance" moves!  Yesterday was her first time to walk around outside, {actually I think it was the first time she has really worn shoes!} and she had such a fun time of it, and of course she didn't want to come in!  I love watching her wonder and amazement at even the smallest of things.  We could learn a lot from the wee ones!

Liberty's walking & Fall is here!!

Liberty has been teasing us with walking for a couple weeks now.  I really thought she would have been walking already, but she has decided to take her ol' sweet time {she just turned a year at the end of August}.  I say it is official, because every time I would put her down today, she would take off.  There was one time she walked nearly the full length of the living room and my bedroom....she couldn't be stopped!  Another time I put her down in the living room, walked into the kitchen and looked behind me and there she was following me!  She is such a little stinker!  She is so happy and excited about walking, it makes me happy!  Watch out world, here she comes!!

I am also so giddy about the weather!!  We had a boat load of rain over the weekend, and today was glorious!  The whole family stepped out this evening for a delightful walk.  There was definitely a hint of fall in the air.  It was just wonderful.  This is my favorite time of the year!

Blog changes coming your way!

There are a few minor changes taking place with my blog.  The big one is the title.  I have decided to change the name to Away Down South.  Don't you just love the sound of it?  I do!  There are several reasons for the change, the first one being that Covenant Blessings {dot} com was taken, and I have been wanting an actual domain name for a while now.  The other reason{s} is that I wanted something to do with the South, whether it was an olde southern saying, or just something grand about the South.  Since our move to Georgia over 3 1/2 years ago, we have fallen in love with southern life and all that it entails.  We have always loved it's grand history, {Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson being among our hero's} and it was always a dream of ours to live "Away down south in Dixie".  Anyway, I am so excited about the changes and I hope you like them too!  Feel free to leave a comment and tell me what you think.

"In Dixieland I'll take my stand, away down south in Dixie.... Away, away, away down south, in Dixie!"

Groovy Goodwill Gal

I am slowly working on Christmas gifts... s.l.o.w.l.y, mind you.  I have so many ideas running through my head, I guess that means that right now it would be nice to have a man's brain so that I could fit everything into it's own little box!  But I must be content with this spaghetti factory {commonly known as the female brain} that seems to be working too much overtime, and concentrate on one thing at time.  Okay.  That's settled.

Anyway, Monday afternoon I found some pretty good deals to help aid me in my attempt at making homemade gifts.  All the Wal-marts around here quit selling fabric a couple years ago, but Monday they had a table full of 5 yard bolts for only $5.00!  That was enough to make my day!  I also found a bag of lace at the Goodwill, and an unopened roll of rose wallpaper.  I can find all kinds of uses for the paper... scrapbook ideas, old-fashioned card making, art prints, notebook covers, the ideas are endless!  {there I go again...}

Liberty had a good time shopping too.  She thought she found the perfect pair of sunglasses {which lasted all of 30 seconds}.  But you have to admit, it was an awful CUTE 30 seconds!!  She's one GROOVY GIRL!

Quiet on the homefront...

Yes, it's been kind of quiet on the home front.  Not a lot to blog about.  We did start school last week and Liberty is taking a few steps now.  It seems like it happened over night, and she is kicking into gear!  If you stand her up she takes off like a rocket, except she usually ends up on her face after 3 or 4 steps.  She could very well be walking by the time she turns 13 months next week.

Another reason I haven't had much time to blog lately is because I am trying to get a head start on making Christmas gifts this year.  I started way too late last year and it made for some stressful days, to say the least.  So, hopefully I've started in plenty of time to get things done in a timely fashion!  My mind is also running over with ideas that I hope I can make some sense of without getting too overwhelmed!  I'm sure I'll post pictures eventually. 

If you haven't noticed, I've also taken most of the links off the front page of my blog.  If you'll look at the top of the page, I have a button with "links" on it that will take you to a separate page with links to all the blogs that I like to frequent.  If there is one you think I should add, feel free to comment or drop me a line.

So, if you've wondered what's been going on in our neck of the woods, wonder no more!  I'll try not to be so scarce from now on....

I LOVE a bargain!

It's September 1st, and a beautiful, magnificent day it is!  Me and the kids went out this morning to enjoy the great outdoors, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky!  Yes, it did get a little hot as the day wore on, but it wasn't overbearing, and yes, this is Georgia.... so it is still going to be pretty warm for quite a while yet.  We start school next week............ yeah, I'm not quite ready, but that's the way the cookie crumbles :)

I have to tell you about my wonderful thrift store find!  I went to several thrift stores and the Goodwill the other day {when I got groceries...not a very bright idea, btw, it made for a very long day}.  Anyway, at my last thrift store stop, which happened to be the Salvation Army, I found and fell in love with a beautiful picture hanging on the wall.  It's called "Sunday Morning in Sleepy Hollow".  I instantly called my husband and told him about it and he looked it up on the internet {don't ya just love the world wide web??} and found out it was a fairly expensive print -without the frame- and even more so with a frame, and of course "mine" was framed.  And to top it off, it was for sale at a GREAT price!  So I nabbed it up before it caught the eye of someone else!  I was thrilled to say the least!  I love it when I find a great bargain.  Rachel had a good day as well, she found quite a bit of fabric, which of course, made her day too!  I'd like to hear about some of y'alls bargain deals.  You know, the kind that make you feel like a kid at Christmas!

I'll leave you with a few of the pictures I took outside today.

She has a rough life, doesn't she?

Happy Birthday, Gracie!

Today was Grace's 15th birthday.  We had a marvelous day of walking around Wal-mart and Goodwill (a long day I might add :)  but it was a good day!  We looked at EVERYTHING, ate ice cream, and walked our legs off!  Liberty didn't enjoy the day as much, but give her time, I'm sure she will enjoy shopping soon enough!  Katie also modeled sunglasses and hats for us too.  My girls are growing up before my very eyes.  3 of them are teenagers now.  I'm realizing more and more, the older I get, that life is here and gone before we know it.  I'm thankful for the day we spent together,  I love you, Grace!  Happy Birthday!

Liberty's 1st Birthday!

Our baby girl is 1 year old!!  First birthdays are so special.  We decided to celebrate on Friday night (her birthday was Saturday) and it was a good thing we did.  She woke up on Saturday morning with a slight fever and wanted me to hold her all day.  I'm assuming it was her teeth.  But she had a great time Friday night eating a whole piece of cake by herself!  At first she didn't know what to do with it, she kept touching the top of the icing with her fingers.  Finally after she tasted it, there was no holding back.  She ate the whole piece!  And why is it, when a babies hands are dirty, they pick that precise moment to say "hair" and then proceed to put their hands IN their hair?  That's exactly what she did, and of course all the kids were laughing which made her do it again, thinking there was something funny about her hair.  She is our little sweetheart, she brings such joy to our lives!  Happy Birthday, Liberty!

In a few more days...

Liberty will be 1 year old in just a few more days.  It is so hard to believe.  How fast one year flies!  How fast a lifetime goes by.  Grace will be 15 just 2 days after Liberty's birthday, so I guess you could say she got a really good birthday gift last year....a new baby sister!  I don't think I can top that one this year!  All of our children are growing up so fast, it can be wonderful and depressing at the same time.  I guess that's where our thankfulness to God comes in.....being content with what time He graciously gives to us.

Anyway, here are a few pictures for you to see what Miss Liberty has been up to lately....She is a character!

 Riding her new "bike" from my sister

 3 sweet sisters

 Modeling the hat Rachel knitted

Ummm, get out of the fridge, young lady!