Resolutions

The Patridge Family has finally decided on our goals for the year 2011.

Family Goals:

As a Family, our main goal is to pray together each day. We have a prayer list we are going to go by so that we can make sure we pray for everything each week. We are actually making a prayer closet in our bedroom (for personal prayer time). I will post pictures as soon as it is finished. We also are going to memorize scripture together. Ok, well Huds isn't going to participate in this one. We have almost finished memorizing Romans 12. I picked this one. Will gets to pick the next one. So, how are we going about this? I have posted our scripture memory on our bathroom mirror and in the shower.






We also both have note cards we carry around with us!

Other family goals include taking turns planning family time and romantic dates.

Heather's Goals:

I am going to try to tackle the Bible in a year once again. I made it to May 5th last year, which happened to be the day Hudson was born. Note to self, reading the Bible in a year should probably not be a goal when you are expecting. I am reading a chronological Bible this year. It has been great so far!



Also, by the year 2012 I hope to be able to sew a little. I do not want to overwhelm myself here, so I am starting very small. My goals also include gardening and having people in my home more often.

Will's Goals:




My sweet Hubs plans to read two books with me this year! It is very hard for Will to commit to an entire book. He gets distracted by something else. I want to get him into loving novels. Any suggestions?

Will also plans to limit how many times he says he is tired. He only wants to use the word for true times of exhaustion.


Hudson's goals:




I talked to Hudson about how hard it is to keep resolutions. I encouraged him to think small. He insisted on having the most. So here goes....

1) He wants to completely wean himself from the bottle by 2012.
2) He plans to have accomplished crawling, walking, and RUNNING!
3) He envisions being able to use some of his words.
4) He is planning a huge Cinco De Mayo party.
5) He is excited about learning to dance.


Hope we keep these resolutions!!!

My New Favorite Things...

I thought I would share some of my fave Christmas items! I just love adding fun new things to our home.

1) My owl spoon rest:



2) My banana hand towel:



3) A peacock painting:



4) This cool little night light that makes our house smell AMAZING:



5) A sewing machine! So nervous and EXCITED about this one:



I also got a food processor! Exciting.

On another note, since of course most of my blogs never have the same theme, I have been learning so much about our sweet Lord from my baby boy. This week, I was loading the car with groceries and Hudson was playing with my keys. Of course, I had to take them away or else we would stand all day in the cold. I had to pry them out of his sweet little hands, and he, as most babies do, threw a huge tantrum. His tiny mind did not understand why his loving mommy had to take the best thing in the world-- at that moment-- away from him. While it saddens me to upset him, I didn't for a second think about giving them back---ever for that matter! I knew they were absolutely necessary to drive home. I see how God, our loving father, truly knows what we need! We are spiritual babies often not seeing past our most recent desire. Thanks Jesus for reminding me of your unfailing love that surpasses my understanding.

2011.....Wow!

I remember thinking the year 2000 was forever away, and here I am in the year 2011. We don't live like the Jetson family yet, but we have come along way since I have been around.


Will and I ended the year 2010 wonderfully. We celebrated on the 30th. Dinner at 26---sushi, grouper, and steak....slap me! We then spent a little time downtown and headed to the Hotel Highland. It was great time together. Thank you sweet Hubs!

We celebrated NYE with a few friends. We had tasty chili, yummy dessert, and good bubbly. We played Catch Phrase, and rang in 2011 Eastern Time. Will and I were home and in pajamas just in time to watch the Moon Pie in Mobile drop. We were asleep by 12:05.

Today, we are enjoying bowl games and eating black eyed peas, pork chops, and turnip greens. Please don't think I believe those superstitions, but it reminds me of childhood.

The year 2010 brought us our sweet baby boy. We love you so much Hudson. You have greatly enriched our lives. Happy New Year to everyone!

Sweet Christmas Time

We had a wonderful Christmas as a family of three. So many memories...

We started our celebration on Christmas Eve. We made ice cream for our Happy Birthday Jesus party. It was surprisingly easy to make.

Ingredients:
5 egg yolks
1 pint milk
1/2 pint Heavy Whipping cream
2 oz sugar
6 oz milk chocolate cut in small squares

Directions:
Create a custard base and when you remove it from heat, drop in the chocolate and mix well. Cool the custard in the fridge for 30-45 minutes. Next, mix in the cream and stir well. Place in freezer for 30 minutes or until edges freeze. Take out and mix well. Repeat 3 times. After third time, leave it in the freezer for 1 or more hours until you get desired consistency to eat.

Custard base:
Mix and whisk egg yolks and sugar.
Pour milk into small saucepan and bring to small boil.
Pour hot milk into egg and sugar mix and stir constantly.
Pour entire mixture into pan and heat gently, stirring until it thickens. Don't boil.
When a film forms over spoon, remove from heat and let cool.









Of course, Huds could not take part in the ice cream tasting this year, but he still had a blast staring at the advent candle while we worked.



On Christmas Eve night, we had our traditional Christmas Eve dinner at Ge and Pops. The menu: prime rib, green beans, salad, bread, and mashed potatoes. Yummy!


Here is Huds with his first crown from the Christmas popper: (a Patridge family tradition)




On Christmas morning, we woke up early to have some family time. Will read the Christmas story from the Bible and we lit all of our advent candles.

Huds didn't really understand all of our excitement. He was still tired from our late night:



He wasn't sure what we wanted him to do with his gifts:



He sure was excited when he figured it all out:



Afterwards, we loaded up and headed back to Ge and Pops for our traditional Christmas breakfast. Unfortunately, the Patridge clan had an early visitor. The stomach bug that had already been to our house arrived on Chablis Way on Christmas Eve. We still managed to have a fun time despite the sickness!

Huds with Santa Pops:



Huds and Nana:



Enjoying presents with Uncle Wes:



Annual family photo:



Yes, Laker is giving a full frontal!!

We loaded up to have dinner with the Gordon family in Alex City.

Needless to say Huds had a few gifts waiting for him:



We may have to set a gift limit next year so that a greedy Grinch is created.

After dinner, we enjoyed a white Christmas:







We ended the day by relaxing in front of a movie with Maw Maw and Paw Paw.

But Christmas wasn't over:

The next day, we visited the Caldwell family:



As well as having the annual Taylor family Christmas complete with two intense games of Dirty Santa.

Huds enjoyed more family time and MORE gifts:






Needless to say, we are beyond blessed. Our family had a wonderful time reflecting on the true meaning of Christmas: our Savior took on flesh to save us from our sins. How beautiful! No gift compares to His gift to us. We pray as the years go on that Hudson would look back on Christmas and remember Christ! To Him be the glory forever.

New Decor

As a result of staring at my walls lots more lately, I have recently updated the look of the Patridge household. I will take you on a quick tour. Almost all of my new looks are stolen from other people's ideas!




I took two boring pieces of artwork and stripped out everything but the frame. I sanded the wood and painted it with a coat of white and yellow. I then took hooks and wire and strung it across the frame. They are hanging over our bed. We are using them to hold old pictures of our parents and gradparents, cool snapshots, and old letters from our sweet love story. :)






We scored this piece of furniture in the midst of piles of garbage at a foreclosure site. I wish I had a photo of what it looked like before. It was a piece of work. Will did the sanding, painting, and staining work. My job was to find knobs. We are using it in our bedroom. It is the site of my couponing office. We scored the old lamp for around 5 bucks at our local thrift store.








I am pretty proud of this one. First off, we own so many books. Old books are a weakness of mine. Yeah, I am a major dork! I could spend hours in thrift stores looking through books. We found this cabinet door in a trash pile. I just piled lots of books under it, and presto, we now have a new end table.






Remember the old boring pieces of art I tore apart earlier. Well I needed to fill the space they left behind. I found this old shutter at a consignment store, and I painted old frames I found at a thrift store to go around it.






We needed a Christmas card holder. I fashioned this from twine and clothespins.



More pictures of other stuff to follow! I will leave you with this cutie.

Sadness.... and the Hope we have in Jesus!

I had lots of thoughts today. I decided to blog them in hopes to bring encouragement to someone else…

The other day I was watching something on the Holocaust. It was too painful to watch, and I had to turn the TV off. I have been thinking about the horribleness of the event a great deal lately. I just finished a book by Corrie Ten Boom (thanks Em!). It is about her experiences in a concentration camp, and I have to say it was life changing. It is just hard to believe that kind of hatred actually happened. Since becoming a mommy, my heart is even more softened to such hatred. I look at pictures of little children heading off to certain death, and I can’t bear to imagine my own little boy being torn from me by the hands of brainwashed officials. I weep for those mommies and daddies that must have felt so helpless. Needless to say, there are so many people hurting in the world today. The topics are endless…racism, abortion, abuse, orphans, the hungry the, homeless, the jobless, the unreached nations, those without the hope of Christ, people with no Bibles in their language, street children, those in the midst of war, the persecuted, the tired, the lonely, the hated, people trapped in religion and cults, those in prison, the widows, those that have lost children and loved ones due to tragic circumstances, the sick, neglected children, etc… Not to be Debbie Downer or anything, but it all breaks my heart!

Of course, I am convicted of my own selfishness. I may see something on TV or read about an event in the world, and I think about how terrible it is! A minute later, I forget and start thinking about how I could redecorate or where we should go have dinner or what movie we could watch.

Other times, I am just simply overwhelmed. I can’t give my time, money, or attention to every single issue. I can’t depress myself by thinking about all this stuff every second. There are things I can do….1) I can pray daily. I can pray for several of these issues, and the next day pray for several more. I can pray that my fellow believers would go into the world---that our feet would bring the good news, that our hands would feed the hungry, that our ears would hear the hurting, that our homes would be open to the needy, that our tables would welcome others, and that our voices would speak hope. I can devote myself to these prayers. 2) I can remember the hurts in the world as a reminder to not live for the pleasures of this life. These issues serve as a reality check in my own heart of where my treasure often lies. 3) I can devote my life to what I am most passionate about. I can’t tackle everything, but I long to find what I am most passionate about and give my money and my time to just a few areas. We all as Christians have been given gifts and hearts that may be more inclined to a certain area. How beautiful is that picture! We don’t all have to contribute to the same thing. What a great display of the body of Christ!

WELL……

On a much lighter note, check out Hudson’s updated room. I scored the door for 15 bucks at a yard sale, and I stapled fabric behind it. I also found the window at the same yard sale. I am beginning to love the treasures to be found at yard sales and thrift stores. Much of this is owed to Nikki Armstrong! See ya retail prices. Hello cheap finds with much character! The last picture is the baptism gown my talented mother in law made. I'll blog more about his baptism and post pictures really soon!

Traditions

So, I guess I finally am going to update my blog. The boredom that goes with rain is most of my inspiration. Hudson is nearly 7 months old, so I guess it is past due!

This Christmas season I really want to focus on traditions. We are beginning traditions and patterns now that will help shape what our family continues throughout generations. It is my prayer that our children hear Christmas and think of our Lord...not presents, Santa, candy, etc.... Those things are totally fine when in their rightful place. I for one remember the letdown of Christmas morning as a child...when I got everything I wanted and still felt unsatisfied. I long for Hudson to cherish the celebration of Jesus! The Word became flesh and dwelt among us!

So...I am going to start small. I don't want to throw too much at once on my sweet and patient husband.

First--the Advent wreath. We are going to light a new candle every Sunday of Advent and have the candles lit for that week while we have dinner. We have 3 purple candles, one pink, and the white Christ candle.

Each candle carries a meaning.
1st purple candle-Prophesy/ Hope
2nd purple candle-Bethlehem/ Peace
3rd pink candle-Shepherds/ Joy
4th purple candle-Angel/ Love
5th white candle-Christ.

Second-an Advent devotional. This is something we will read each night in December while the candles are lit. Very excited about this family time!

Third-The Advent calendar. I purchased a wooden one with little doors. Each door has a little piece of paper with a verse and activity inside. The activities include things like make pumpkin muffins, watch a Christmas movie, sit by the fire, drink hot chocolate, go for Christmas coffee, etc... The point of this is to anticipate Christmas day. As Hudson gets older, I will add candy to each day.

Fourth-Christ centered ornaments. I want our tree ornaments to tell the story of Christ. This one will take time. So far I have a few fruits of the spirit, a lion, (which can symbolize many things such as the Lion of Judah and Daniel and the lions den) and the star.

Fifth--a Nativity scene. I don't have this one yet. If anyone knows where I can find a good one, please let me know.

Here are some pictures: