Christmas JOY

Holidays bring SUCH JOY and HEALING to my life as we, my family of 5, form new traditions that I pray my babies will look back on with TONS of warm fuzzies and GREAT memories!!

We will be doing our traditional Christmas Eve Feast again this year! A house filled with laughter, noise, crying (of course, there are LOTS of babies!), game playing, seafood and sweets! Our home is opened up to all our family and friends as we celebrate and rejoice together!! We chat about what has happened in the past year (yes, there will be LOTS of running talk, and teasing from my husband OF COURSE,LOL!), jokes about what New Years resolutions we will once again attempt, kids singing Christmas favorites, toasting glasses of yummy wine . . . all of this is JOY to me!!

This is why I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Christmas season. Yes, it's to celebrate the birth of Jesus, but along with that it shows me just HOW MUCH God loves ME. Despite my insecurities, my brokenness, He has surrounded me by all these amazing friends that support me and LOVE ME and "this" is what has been in store for me all along. All the years of darkness and fear have led me to this. I've listened to His voice, followed my heart, have been obedient and now I'm able to experience His ABUNDANCE and I couldn't be any more thankful.

Matthew 16:25 "For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it."

Thank you Lord for filling my home for the holidays, filling it up for birthdays and other special occasions that we celebrate LIFE! The more I identify myself in Christ and my obedience and perseverance has paid off in ways I can't use the word Thank You enough to express.

Breaking bread with people we hold close to our hearts and "do life" with, and sharing our joy over some wine is SO WHAT I'm looking forward to on Friday! So now it's time to get things started in The Auditore Home!!! :o)

Menu for this Year!

Baked Cod
Fried Shrimp
Fried Calamari
Seafood Ceviche
Linguine and Clam Sauce
Broccoli rabe
Bread

Appetizers
Assorted Sides

Big Ol Fancy Christmas Cake ordered by my sis!
Italian Wedding Cookies
Fudge
and some of these yummies:
Rainbow Cookies
Oreo Truffles
Grasshopper Brownies
Chocolate Coconut Candies

And I'm sure I'll add on to the list when I finalize it tonight! :o)


MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Boldness

I know I'm not a "good blogger" or very consistent with it and that's really okay. Sometimes I have the extra time to sit and write down my thoughts and sometimes I JUST DON'T. This is a very busy season for me and for my family as it is for most of us. I just had to share some AWESOMENESS as I sit here and reflect on just how GOOD God is!

So, my husband works for a company that had a big Convention a few weeks ago and I will try to get right to the point here....LOL....So they were handing out awards and everyone went up and thanked graciously as anyone would, but there was one man who went up there and not only thanked eveyone but thanked the Lord for everything He had done in this man's life to bring him to the place that he is at, started to point to a particular scripture in Malachi that described a part of his life. Anyway, at the end everyone not only clapped but stood up to clap...WOW....imagine having that kind of BOLDNESS for God? Whew! Then afterwards, the owner of the company's brother was chatting with the guy and mentioned starting a daily morning prayer group over the phone. So how does this affect me? Well, they heard it through the grapevine what Chris and I are doing and the path we are on to eventually plant a church and they asked him to join them. Yes, to some this may sound weird but to be honest I really don't care anymore. God has shown me SO MUCH, especially this past year and a half that I just CAN'T ignore, discount or NOT talk about it!

So, this morning he had his little prayer phone call with the other 3 guys and it was GREAT! He loved it and I JUST LOVE HIM! There is NOTHING like having a husband who leads your home spiritually. I didn't think marriage to this man could be more perfect, truly, but this brings a level of deepness, love and respect that nothing else could touch.

Now, the really cool thing is shortly afterwards when I dropped Christopher off at school, totally stressed out about what was ahead of me today, the director at his school called me into her office to give me candy canes to use for our Orange Santa Distribution Day event and then asked if she could pray for me. She very lovingly held my arms and the words that came out of her mouth were EXACTLY what I needed to hear. I instantly felt warmth and love and was just so very thankful to her! Now, don't get me wrong, it's taken quite some time for me to come to a place to receive that without feeling a little bit (or alot) weird. But I am so thankful I am at that place because let me tell you....there is just no feeling that I can express that compares to that kind of peace.

So as I sit here in the midst of a HUGE to-do list, 90% of it is doing for others, serving people I don't know, God stepped in and lovingly reminded both Chris and me just how much HE loves us and to keep on the path that he guided us to.

This day has been a blessing to us. I am so thankful for those of you BOLD in your faith and your love of God to not hesitate to share it with others. These two people, both of whom Chris and I don't even know very well, listened to God, acted with their heart boldly and had a HUGE impact on us both!

This is why I just *LOVE* this spiritual journey!!! :o)

Hopefully I'll be able to share more of what's going on soon! Thank goodness for Facebook though! LOL