Christmas Day

We spent Christmas Day at home. It started early with some very excited children, ready and waiting to open gifts. We enjoyed the morning sharing gifts with one another. The kids had used their own money to buy gifts for each person in our family. John and I had separately taken them to the Dollar Tree, where they carefully picked things out for each person on their list. The boys wrapped their own gifts in the privacy of their own room. John helped Brenna get her gifts for others wrapped. It warmed my heart to watch them give the gifts they had purchased. I'm praying that God will use this to help them understand that it truly is better to give than receive.

After opening gifts, I finished cooking our Christmas lunch while the kids played with some of their new things. Papa John came over and joined us for our yummy lunch. John, the boys and Brenna took turns reading the Christmas story from God's Word. That afternoon, we went outside to take a walk and let the kids ride their bikes. We ended our day with a birthday cake for Jesus that the kids decorated themselves.

Here is John with his new Ipod docking station.

Brandon and Bradley got these football suits for Christmas. Here they are showing me their best football faces!

Here is Bethany with her new baby stroller, playpen, and swing. She is a sweet little Mommy to her baby dolls.

Ms. Brenna has grown so much this year that her bike from last Christmas is too small. So, she got a new one for Christmas. We let her take it for a spin and she did really well. The next step is to get rid of the training wheels. Maybe soon!

We made a heart-shaped cake to show how much God loved us by sending His Son Jesus to be born on earth. The kids loved decorating the cake, and then blowing out the candles.

Happy Birthday Jesus!

What a Great Visit!

We had an early Christmas visit from my side of our family. My brother and his daughter Alex, flew in from Chicago. They, along with my Mom, Dad, and sister Kimmy came to our house for several days. They were here until early Christmas Eve, when they had to travel back to Dallas for my brother and neice to catch their flight home. We had lots of fun while they were here. We played games, watched movies, finished shopping, and had lots of laughs. They were all here for Brandon and Bradley's baptism too (see next two posts). We celebrated Christmas with them on Monday evening. John shared the Christmas story with everyone in a very creative way, and then we opened gifts. It was such a treat to have them all here. We are so thankful they were able to travel to our home to spend time with us. It was sad to see them leave, but we made lots of Christmas memories while they were here. Enjoy these photos from the week.

Myself with my brother (Jeff) and my sister (Kimmy). There are always lots of laughs when these two are around.

My brother and his daughter Alex (my sweet neice)

PawPaw opening his gift from Brenna (his favorite, Butterfingers). He had been teasing her the whole visit trying his best to get her to tell him what she got him for Christmas.

Mom, Dad and myself at church on Sunday.

Christmas with Family

On Sunday, the 21st, John's sister Janie and her family drove up from Houston to be here for the boys baptism (see next post). John's mom was also here with us for this special occasion. We had fun after church eating lunch and opening gifts with all of them. We're so glad they were here and enjoyed our day with them.

Here is Uncle Darren and Brenna.

John and I with our nephews Blake and Rayne, and our neice Jordan

John and his sister Janie with their Mom (Linda) and Dad (Papa John)

The grandkids with Moms and Papa John! Aren't they all so cute???

Brandon & Bradley's Baptism

Sunday, December 21st was a very special day for our family. Brandon and Bradley were baptized by their daddy! What an honor for John to be able to baptize our boys! They were able to share with our entire church family, plus grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, that they had accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Their MawMaw and PawPaw, Aunt Kimmy, Uncle Jeff and cousin Alex were all there to share in this exciting event. Plus, Papa John, Moms, Uncle Darren, Aunt Janie, Cousins Blake, Rayne and Jordan were also able to be there. It meant a great deal to our family that all of you came.

After church, we had a family lunch at home and opened Christmas gifts with John's sister Janie and her family. What an exciting day!!! Here are a few pictures to share!

Bradley is looking on as Daddy gets ready!

John and the boys before their baptism.

John baptizing Bradley

John getting ready to baptize Brandon

Brandon & Bradley, your daddy and I are so proud of you for the decision you've made to follow Jesus! I pray that you will always strive to know Him more, and to love Him with your whole heart. We love you boys very much

14 Years, Wow!

December 17, 1994 was one of the best days of my life. I remember it like it was yesterday. It was my wedding day, the day I married John A. Woods, the love of my life. I remember the excitement and joy I felt that day. I wasn't nervous at all, just so excited that our day had finally arrived. I remember all our family and friends being there to share our special day with us. I remember wishing the day would never end. But, as our wedding day came to an end, our new life together as a married couple began.



This year on December 17, 2008, John and I celerated 14 years of marriage. I can't believe it has been 14 years since we said "I do", but it has. After getting the kids all to bed, John treated me to dinner and a movie right here at home. He also surprised me with 15 dozen roses. Yes, that's right, I said 15 DOZEN. I was shocked to say the least. And, they didn't cost him a thing. I'm not sure how he did that, he never would tell me. But, they were absolutely beautiful. We didn't have enough vases to fit them in, so we had to leave them in the lovely buckets they came in. He said it was one dozen for every year we had been married, plus one to grown on. I've posted pictures to prove it. It doesn't look like 180 roses, but it really is. Scouts honor!!!



Thank you John for 14 great years. I know we've had our ups and downs, but God has sustained our marriage. I'm thankful for you and your love for me and our family. Thank you for working so hard to provide for us and take care of us. I love you more and more each day and am looking forward to the next 14 years to spend with you. Hopefully it will be many more than that! God has done so many things in our marriage over the past 14 years, and I praise Him for all He's done. Thank you John, for the yummy dinner, the movie, and the beautiful roses!

Any PCD fans in the house????

Last Thursday night, my sweet husband took me to see Phillips, Craig & Dean in concert. They are one of my all time favorite Christian singing groups. They've been singing together 17 years, Wow!!! I'm beginning to feel old because I've been listening to them a long time. Anyway, we had seats on the 2nd row and it was awesome! Here are a couple of pictures below from the evening. John took them on his phone, so the quality is not the best! Thank John for a very fun evening! I loved the concert and I love you.

Christmas Concert

Tonight was a special night in our church. Our preschool, children, youth, Sr. Adult, and Adult choirs sang special concerts! Brenna and Bethany sang with the Preschool choir, and Brandon and Bradley sang with the Children's choir. Below are some pictures from the evening.

My cuties after the concert! I was desperately trying to get them to smile together!

My silly boys before singing!

Here is Bethany singing. She is supossed to be rocking baby Jesus back and forth in her arms.

Brenna and her friend Garret, singing during practice!

Awana "Happy Birthday Jesus" Party

We had our final Awana meeting for the semester yesterday morning from 10 to 12. We had a birthday celebration for Jesus, along with a live nativity for the children to enjoy! One of our student ministers dressed as a shepherd, and took the kids to the manger scene, where he told them the story of Jesus birth (Thanks Douggie!!! You did an excellent job!) The kids seemed to enjoy it. One of the funny things about the morning were the live animals. We were supossed to have some sheep, possibly a donkey, we even checked into having camels. As it turned out, none of those animals were able to join us. The only animals available were these two sweet little baby pigs. Now, I'm not sure if pigs were present when Jesus was born, but our living nativity was equipped with 2 shepherds standing watch over the pigs. Funny! The kids loved them and our morning went very well! We celebrated with birthday cake, a message from John, gifts, and of course, a visit to the manger where we were reminded about the reason we celebrate Christmas! May we not get so busy that we forget the birth our our Savior! Enjoy the photos!

Brandon, Bradley and Brenna are checking out the pigs.

Here is some of the cast of our living nativity! Thanks guys!

This picture is so funny! John was in charge of picking the pigs up and taking them back home. So, we followed him to take them home so the kids could see all the pigs at the farm. Now, pigs don't usually smell like roses, and when I opened the van door, Bethany soon learned this to be true. She said, "OOOOH, Mommy, Poop!!!" She did not let go of her nose until we left the farm. I laughed watching her hold her nose!

Thanksgiving Day

Well, John blogged about Thanksgiving several days ago, so I wanted to share a few photos with you from our wonderful day! We spent the day with my family having tons of fun, eating yummy food, riding the new go-cart that MawMaw and PawPaw bought, playing baseball, and lots of other fun things. As John posted earlier, we also remembered how thankful we are for all the blessings from the Lord. I'm thankful for my family and the time God allowed us to spend together this past week. What memories were created!

Here are a couple of photos of our go-cart adventures. The top picture is of Bradley driving John, and the bottom picture is of Brandon driving Bethany and I around the yard. It was so cute when Brandon said as he was zooming in the go-cart, "Ain't this fun, Mommy?" And at some point during the ride, Bethany said, "Hold on tight!" So funny!

Brenna's favorite thing is for her PawPaw to pull her in the trailor behind his riding lawn mower! The faster he drives, the more they love it!

We also had the privilege of meeting my sister, Kimmy's boyfriend, Joe. We had lots of fun getting to know him and spending time with he and Kimmy!

The day after Thanksgiving, we got to visit John's MeMaw and Papaw. We had not seen them since we moved so it was a treat to get to visit with them. We also got to visit with John's mom. That's one thing I love about the holidays, is that we get to see people who we don't see very often. Here is a picture of the kids with Memaw and Papaw.

The next day, Sat., we travelled to Paris to visit some of our friends there. We had dinner with our dear friends, Mark and Meredith, and Kristi. The kids had a blast playing with their buddies Josh and Noah, while I had some time to catch up with my dear friends. Brandon and Bradley even got to spend the night with them. We love you guys! We were also able to attend our previous church in Paris and had the chance to see lots of our friends there.

I'm thankful for the time away to see family and friends. It's always good to travel, but it is also nice to be back home. Our 5 hour trip home turned into an 8 hour trip because traffic was so bad. God brought us home safely and we thank Him for it.

A Blessed Day, 1 year ago, November 27, 2007

This past Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, reminded me that one year ago, we adopted our beautiful little Bethany. We travelled out to Abilene to join 4 other families who were also experiencing the incredible gift of adoption. Five families on November 27, 2007, gave 9 children the gift of a forever family. What a glorious day it was as Bethany officially became a Woods. She has been such a joy to us, as well as, to all who know her. She is now 3 years old and has grown in so many different ways. She can sing "Jesus Loves Me" so sweetly and it makes my heart smile every time I hear it. She may not probounce all the words, but the melody is almost perfect pitch. What a blessing God has given us in this little girl. I look forward to all He has in store for her as she continues to grow. Thank you Lord for Bethany, our beautiful daughter, a gift from You! I pray she will grow up to know You, love You, and serve You with her whole heart.



I thought I would share some photos from that special day! Hope you don't mind!

One Proud Mommy!!!


Here is our family with Judge Alita Hacker. She has done all 4 of our children's adoptions.

Here is Brenna, Bethany and their cousin Mary Grace. What a sweetie!

This is my dear friend Shanna, and her precious daughter Mary Grace. We were so thrilled that they could spend our special day with us!