Christmas Is All About Presence

No, you did not misread the title to this blog. Christmas really IS all about presence. BUT did you notice how the word presence is spelled? P-R-E-S-E-N-C-E...meaning the presence of Jesus Christ.
I have heard myself saying a few times that it "just doesn't feel like Christmas." I grew up in a place where it was always cold during Christmas; and we always had our house decorated with a tree and other Christmas decor.  I always spent time shopping for the perfect gifts for others. And there was always a huge family gathering. Since moving to Honduras, things have changed a bit, including my perspective on Jesus' birthday.
Christmas is NOT a feeling. It is also not about trees and decorations, gifts and candy canes, eggnog and peppermint mochas. Those things are all great and I miss them. But that's all they are are things. Take all that stuff away and you still have Christmas. You still have the greatest gift in the whole world, and that is the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. His presence is what Christmas is all about.

Mommy's Little Genius

I have quite the little genius on my hands! I love watching Asher learn new things everyday. It is so fun to watch each and every stage, even though some of those stages are rather challenging. He is such a smart little guy and he learns so quickly. I recently did some research on 15 month milestones for toddlers (Asher will be 15 months on Sunday); and I am proud to announce that I have a genius for a son :) In my findings on babycenter.com, they list Mastered, Emerging, and Advanced Skills for each month of your child's development. Mastered qualifies as what most kids can do, Emerged is what some kids can do, and Advanced is what a few kids can do. These are the 15 month milestones:

Mastered: Plays with a ball, uses three words regularly, walks backward...CHECK!
Emerged: Scribbles with a crayon, runs, adopts "no" as his favorite word...CHECK!
Advanced: "Helps" around the house, puts his fingers to his mouth and says, "shhh"...CHECK!

Asher can do all these things! Now I might be bragging a little, but what mommy doesn't about their child?! I just feel blessed to have such a wonderful son. I thank God everyday that I get to be his mommy. Here are some pics of my smart little boy!

Playing with the towels is a kitchen favorite!

Helping mommy with some cleaning. 

And he loves to play with the broom! He gets mad if I take it away. 

Back to Brown

Okay, so I am doing it. I have decided to dye my hair back to brown. Before you say, "NOT AGAIN," let me give you my reasoning! First of all, I stick out like a sore thumb here being blonde. Everyone, and I mean everyone has dark hair here. As if you can't already tell that I am a gringo (that is what they call us Americans) by my light skin and hazel eyes..the blonde is a dead give away! I want to try and "fit in" to the culture as much as I can. Second of all, it will be much cheaper in the long run. If I continue to get highlights, it will be so expensive to keep going every 3 months. And being a missionary, we can't really afford that luxury. SO, with that said, I have made the decision to go back to brown. There are some styles I am deciding on and I need some advice. Let me know which one you like best!

Style #1: The picture on the left is the one I am considering.

Style #2: Miss J Lo's color is my other choice. 

Some Christmas Baking

Oh how I love to bake...like I mean REALLY LOVE to bake. I think I get this from my mother who usually bakes something a few times a week. And since the Christmas holiday is among us, that means lots and lots of baking. And on top of that, our ministry has the opportunity to host a table at a bazaar this week (Thursday and Friday). It is at the school that I taught at 4 years ago and it is the same night as their Christmas program. We will be selling Manos coffee, souvenirs, and you guessed it, baked goods!
I always love trying new and fun baking ideas so I did some google research. I especially love cupcakes and I found this great recipe http://bakingbites.com/2008/12/candy-cane-christmas-cupcakes/ for Candy Cane Cupcakes. They turned out great! Take a look:

Before icing! 

And after the icing! I added some Bell Peppermint Bark that I found at the store. 

Aren't they cute?!

I also decided to go for the popular Peppermint Bark. For one, it is SO easy to make. And two, it is delicious! I plan on putting these in little baggies with ribbon and selling them by the bag. Here is how it turned out:

So there is the start of my Christmas baking. However, there are still 17 more days till Christmas so that means I still have lots more baking to do. I am going to miss the annual Christmas baking day with my sisters and my mom. I look so forward to this every year and I treasure those moments. But since I can't be there for the baking frenzy, I will bring the baking frenzy here. I plan on taking the girls (from the Eagle's Nest) to our house and decorating Christmas cookies. I look forward to spending some time with these girls, who I love so much. Oh, and did I mention that I love to bake?! And I think my son likes chocolate as much as his nana!

He got SO mad at me when I took this spatula away! 

Asher Baby Book II

Click here to view this photo book larger

Ashers Baby Book

Click here to view this photo book larger

Mommy's Boy

My sweet boy, who just learned how to give kisses. And of course never with his mouth closed :)

Asher is going through a phase. That phase is known as, "only mommy will do." He is such a mommy's boy right now and I find it to be both a blessing and a curse. It is a blessing because I love that he loves me so much. When I get him out of his crib in the morning, he wraps his little arms around me and looks at me like he missed me through the night. Or just at random times, he will need me to pick him up just to cuddle and give kisses. Nighttime is my favorite, when putting him to bed. We sit in the rocking chair for a couple of minutes before I lay him down. And it's the same every night: he wraps his legs around my waist, his arms around my shoulders, and snuggles his little face right in the crease of my neck. I cry as I write this because I know it won't always be like this. He is already growing up so fast and I know that he will soon be the age where he is embarrassed by me, and a hug or a kiss in public will be unheard of. So now I am trying to treasure those sweet and precious moments.
And while I love those moments, I also find them to be difficult at times. Since Asher only seems to want me, I feel burnt out and tired. He whines when I put him down after holding him. He wants only me to feed him his bottle and he constantly needs to be around me. Sunday's are the hardest for me. I would love to sit in the service and listen to the message, child free. But every time I try and leave him in the room that we call a nursery, he lasts maybe 10 minutes and realizes I am not there. So I am called to come get him and I end up staying there with him during the 3 hour service. Some of you may be thinking, 'you only have one child...it can't be that hard.' But at home I had my mom and other family to rely on to watch him when I needed to run an errand or have a mommy break. I do not have that here. I only have Chad, who does help a lot, but he is also super busy with ministry stuff, which I understand. So it's just me. I feel like a bad mother for feeling this way. And I wonder sometimes if I could ever handle having another child. I don't know how some mothers do it with 3 or 4 or more! But I leave that in God's hands. I love my little boy, and he is the light of my life. I thank God everyday for making me Asher's mommy. And I will continually seek guidance and wisdom everyday of his precious life to be the best mommy I can be for him.

What a stud!

And the New Dishwasher is..ME

That's right. No more conveniency of having a dishwasher. They are actually pretty unheard of over here and it is very rare that you will ever find one in someone's house. At first I didn't like the idea of having to wash all the dishes by hand. It was so nice to just place them in the dishwasher and voila...they're clean and dry! However, I don't mind being the new dishwasher. I look at it as sort of a therapy for me. The one bad thing about it is the use of my wrists. My tendonitis has flared up again because of the constant movement from scrubbing the dishes. I am hoping this is just temporary. However, when I am washing dishes, it is daddy's turn to entertain our little buddy so it is kind of my "mommy break." I may be singing a different tune after a couple of months of this, but now I am enjoying it. Here is what I do:

The dirty dishes.

The clean ones.

10 Reasons You Know You're a Mommy of a 1 Year Old

1. Your shirt is covered in and smells like drool (from a teething baby).
2. "No!" is the most used word in your vocabulary. 
3. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, must be put up high so baby can't reach. 
4. You are NEVER bored. 
5. The broom or vacuum is most used in the area around baby's highchair.
6. Baby gates are a must in your home, especially if you have stairs.
7. You speak in third person a lot, "Mommy said no!"
8. You always have a supply of animal crackers on hand.
9. Hide-and-Seek and Peek-a-Boo are your new favorite games.
10. Your heart melts when your baby wraps his arms around your neck.

Into everything, ALWAYS!

My little 1 year old buddy!

I love him!

This Is The Way We Take A Bath

Asher has loved his baths ever since I began bathing him in the tub. As soon as he heard the water running, he would scoot on over to the tub and try to climb in. He loved to splish and splash around in the water and I loved seeing that big smile on his face as soon as his body hit the water.

Asher still loves his bath, but they are a little different these days. First of all, bath tubs are pretty rare around here. Most houses have only showers, and ours is one of those houses. Second, the water isn't safe to drink here so a shower wouldn't work either because of the risk of swallowing water. So alas, we had to think of a different way to bathe Asher. 

We came up with a way that works pretty well. First, I boil a big pot of water (for 1 minute) to kill any bacteria. Second, I pour the water in a washing bin and place it in the freezer to cool down (this takes about 15 minutes to get the right temperature).  And finally, I stick him the shower and sponge bathe him with the water from the bin. Granted, it's no bath, and it isn't as convenient as filling a bathtub of water and sticking him in, but it gets the job done and Asher has no complaints! Here are some pics of my little buddy during his bath time:

Free Shutterfly Cards

Shutterfly is currently doing a 50 Free Holiday Card Promotion for all bloggers! If you have a blog then all you have to do is go to the following site: http://bit.ly/sfly2010  and they will send you an email with directions.
I have been using Shutterfly for a long time now. This first time I used it was to make a thank you card for our wedding three years ago. Since then I have used it to make several more items such as Christmas cards ( http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery), birthday invites (http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/birthday-cards-stationery), and photo books (http://www.shutterfly.com/photo-books/simple-path). I LOVE their designs! They have such a variety to choose from and so many different options. Also, they are always having promotions of different types. I have received price reductions on many different occasions. The site is also very easy to use. Currently, I am in the process of making photo books of Asher's first year. I find myself getting addicted to each new project and have so much fun creating new things.
One of my favorite things to do with Shutterfly is creating cards, especially Christmas cards! I was upset because I didn't think it would be possible for us to send Christmas cards this year. But then I heard about this promotion and I was ecstatic! I would use one of their several holiday cards to choose from to make a Christmas card for family and friends.
I love Shutterfly and will continue to use it for more projects. Here is the very first card I ever created with Shutterfly. These are the thank yous I sent out for our wedding three years ago!

Classic Without Edge Collage Favorites

Unique party invitations and announcements by Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Let's Try This Again

Okay, I have been a blogger in the past, but never that great of one mind you. And yes, Chad and I do have our own blog on our Honduras journey. BUT, this is for friends and family, and anyone else interested, in this crazy life of mine as a missionary mommy. I am going to do my best to keep this up. So please come along with me as a I share my joys and struggles on this road that God has taken me. Thanks for following!

The inspiration for this blog, my son Asher.