We were blessed with sunshine and bright blue skies on Rose and Diego's wedding day. The bride and her bridesmaids looked lovely and the groom and his attendants looked gloriously handsome. 

Just like her older sister's wedding, the bride was exquisite and the family was so happy to add another son/brother to the family. We were so happy with Jenny Rose's choice of a husband. He is already near and dear to our hearts. 

My sister and some of my dearest friends were with me for the big day, helping me prepare, decorate, and celebrate. We were blessed to have Mike's siblings Ginnie, Rob, and Claudia with us, too. 

The ceremony was beautiful and there were many tears of joy as Rose & Diego were pronounced man and wife. 

After the ceremony, i glanced around the ballroom, so happy to see our dearest friends and close family celebrating with us. 

The entire day was truly a blessing from beginning to end. 

Here are some photos for all who could not be there, so you can share the joy of this special day with us. 

God bless you in every way! 
Love, 
Merey Curtis

We are getting ready for a wedding in 3 weeks. We have hired a florist, a caterer, and a photographer, but we still have to provide centerpieces and decorations for various tables like the cake table, guest book table, and seating chart. 

I decided to get help from the bridesmaids rather than do it all myself. 

I invited everyone over with no pressure. If they could come, "great" and if not, that was fine, too. 

Then I set up stations in my house to prepare all of the different decorations that need creating and putting together. 

Here are the stations I prepared: 
Cake Table (create the decor for the cake table)
Seating Chart (already made, but needed cards cut out to pin on the twine)
Photo Booth (bag tulle & flowers to make booth & figure out a way to have props available)
Entrance Table (create decor & store bubbles for end of night)
Guest Book Table (create)
Under-Slideshow Table (create)
Card & Gift Table (create)
Wedding Favor Table (put together & fill))
Centerpieces for Guest Table (put together--this was the biggest station)
Bridal Party Table (create, put together)

Before my helpers arrived, I sent photos of each station and photos of where those stations would actually be in the venue. This was helpful for planning. 

When my helpers arrived, I let them choose where to go. The ladies had the choice to create or put together so that creative and non-creative types could both be happy. After all, I wanted the night to be fun. 

I was excited that the groom came and helped, too. 

Here are sets of photos from the night with the station, the location in the actual venue, and the finished product. 

Since it is All Saints Day, I thought it would be a great time to talk about Super-Hero Saints from the olden days. 

​These men inspire me to follow Jesus with all my heart and make a difference in my generation. I hope this post will make you want to learn more about these amazing saints!

​Saint Polycarp (69-155), bishop of Smyrna, was mentored by Apostle John the Beloved. He pastored his flock faithfully in the midst of terrible persecution, but managed to make it to the age of 86. At this point, the Emperor decided to execute Polycarp, but gave him permission to recant his faith in Christ. When he heard he was a wanted man, he refused to flee, but waited patiently for the soldiers to take him to the arena. When asked to recant, he replied, "86 years I have served him and he has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my King and my Savior. 

Saint Eusebius (260-340), bishop of Caesarea, is considered the Father of Church History. He escaped execution during Emperor Diocletian's "Great Persecution," but was imprisoned. After Emperor Constantine's Edict of Milan, Eusebius returned to pastoring his flock. Today, we remember him for ​Ecclesiastical History​, a 10-volume work covered Church history from Jesus to his time. I read this book and I love it! It's so awesome to read about the early church! In addition, he wrote a 15-volume work explaining how Old Testament prophecies were fulfilled in Christ. He also wrote a history of the world.  

Saint Nicholas (270-343), bishop of Myra in Asia Minor is remembered for his kind heart and generosity. He loved children and they loved him. During the "Great Persecution" of Emperor Diocletian, he was imprisoned and exiled. Saint Nicholas attended the Council of Nicaea, a defender of Orthodoxy, defending the Deity of Christ, the Trinity, and Incarnation of Christ. He boldly denounced the heresies of Arius. 

​Saint Athanasius (296-373), the Archbishop of Alexandria, was exiled five times for his strong stand on the Deity of Christ and the Trinity. When the Church was divided over the heretical teachings of Arius who claimed that Jesus was not always one with the Father, Saint Athanasius firmly stood his ground on the Word of God. Throughout Christendom, there were fierce arguments. Emperor Constantine finally had enough and he called for a church council at Nicaea where the Nicene Creed was hashed out as a answer to Arius' heresy. Athanasius' works on the Incarnation of Christ helped to lay a strong foundation for sound doctrine in the Church. 

Today we celebrated the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation. On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed 95 Theses on the Whittenberg Door. It was a list of things he wanted to dialogue about, concerns he had about the state of the church. 

My husband, Pastor Mike came dressed as Apostle Paul. He started the service off by sharing Paul's testimony and the truths he taught about Christ Alone, Faith Alone, Grace Alone, Scripture Alone, and To God's Glory Alone. 

More heroes followed. First, a Roman lady talked about the early church, martyrdom, and the conversion of Constantine, making Christianity legal. Next, Lady Matilda from the Middle Ages talked about the changes in the church during the Middle Ages where some of the truth of the Word of God were watered down. 

John Wycliffe spoke next about his adventures as a student at Oxford and his attempts to call the church back to the truths of the Bible. His followers were called Lollards, so we passed out lollipops to help us remember their name. 

Making memories together builds unity in a group. Remembering the members of your church on special days and helping to make them special gives them a sense of value and worth. God calls His Church a family. Families celebrate special times together. 

Here are some ideas to make special days special.

Birthdays:

Call and sing "Happy Birthday" over the phone for a church friend’s birthday.
Gather birthdates of all church members and remember each person's birthday with a card, note, or postcard.
Let small groups celebrate all the birthdays from that month in one of the group meetings. Have a birthday cake with everyone's name on it. Pray over the birthday people. Thank the Lord for them and ask for God's blessings on their lives over the coming year.
​
Anniversaries:

​Hot Cross buns are a special treat enjoyed on Good Friday. Cross buns are small fruit cakes decorated with a white cross. The white cross symbolizes the crucifixion of Jesus Christ that we celebrate on Good Friday. They are served with butter.
 
During the 1800’s street vendors would sell them, walking up and down the street crying out, “Hot Cross Buns!” You can see this demonstrated in the movie, Oliver! based on the Charles Dicken’s novel, Oliver Twist. You might know the nursery rhyme about them. 

​It's time to make a Christmas dessert and you want something quick and easy, but festive. Here's a simple recipe that tastes delicious and looks lovely. 

Get in Shape

Often on vacation, you do a lot of walking and climbing that uses muscles that aren't used to working very hard. Take walks, climb stairs, and get those muscles working. If you only walk from your car to the office, you might need to consider walking during your lunch hour. A two mile daily walk will get you in shape quickly. And take the stairs for a month before you travel.

Break Your Shoes In at Home

Don't take a brand new pair of shoes that you've never worn. You are asking for blisters. Try out all your shoes by walking around the block in them. Are they comfortable?

Think Comfort and Layers

Forget the jeans you have to lay on the bed to zip up. Pull out the clothes that move and bend in cheery colors that look good on you. Layers work best for a place you have never visited. You can always peel off or put on a layer as needed. I brought a light weight hoodie to wear under a rain coat with a pair of gloves to the Netherlands. When the weather cooled off, I pulled on the rain coat and gloves. When it got warmer, I simply put my gloves and coat in the back pack.

I wanted to look nice for pictures so I brought pretty shirts and sweaters to wear with my comfy jeans. Wearing light make-up and no jewelry except earrings, I still managed to look nice.

Make a Detailed Itinerary

Celebrations are never complete without stories.

And our American Thanksgiving is full of stories.

Here are two chapter books that are lovely to read aloud to your children or grandchildren during the week of Thanksgiving.

Divide the chapters up so that you can finish the whole book in a week. The children will love these books and they give them a look back in time to the very first Thanksgiving.  

​Celebrations are never complete without stories.

And our American Thanksgiving is full of stories.

You can Learn from the Pilgrims and Puritans in my blog, but there are many more picture books and chapter books that are lovely to read aloud to your children or grandchildren.

Here are some picture books to read aloud.

Samuel Eaton’s Day: A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Boy by Kate Waters with Photographs by Russ Kendall (Scholastic 1989) is a lovely picture book with photographs taken at Plimoth Plantation, a living history museum. Samuel sailed over on the Mayflower with the Pilgrims. At the beginning of the book, you meet Samuel and he shows you his village. Then we go through his entire day with him, from putting on his stockings to doing his chores, from helping with the rye harvest to gathering mussels for the evening meal.

My children loved this book when they were little. Children love to learn about other children! Samuel is obedient and prays before he goes to sleep. The family says a blessing before their meals. It’s refreshing to see prayer included in a Scholastic book. I don’t know if this has been edited out of more recent versions. The photographs are vivid and attractive. There is a also a section in the back where you can learn more about Samuel Morton, Plimoth Plantation, and the rye harvest at the back of the book. 

Several years ago, my niece was spending the summer with us and it was her birthday. The problem was that Mike was in seminary and we had NO money, not even money for extra food. We were living on hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, and eggs for dinner. I really wanted her birthday to be special, but so far--nothing. I woke her up that morning and told her that I wanted to bless her for her birthday but had no money to buy anything for her, even food for a special dinner.       

"But God has lots of money," I told her "And He can give us a special birthday dinner."  Katie Beth nodded her head--even at the age of two she trusted the Lord. The three of us prayed together.          

Later that day, we went to a food pantry (a ministry similar to Harvest International) where we paid two dollars for two bags of food. That was the only day ever (it never happened before or afterward) that they had cake mixes there. I chose a cake mix (her favorite flavor) from the "pick one" table and then a frosting can from another "pick two tables". God was soooooooooooo good!!!!!!!

Love is in the air! St. Valentine's Day has just been celebrated and all the chocolate in pink and red wrappers in 50% off. My favorite time of year! Pink and chocolate combined...at a great deal! The roses are still lovely, gracing the dining room table. Heart shaped cards are on the buffet, a reminder of being loved by my family.

Love is an emotion that wells up inside my heart when I watch my children sleeping, see them win an award, listen to them. or hear them talk about the Lord. So often, I am proud of them, not just for their achievements, but for who they are and who they are becoming.

Love, of course, is more than an emotion; love is a choice to do good for someone else at cost to your own personal comfort. Love is all about the other person, giving them your best, trusting God to take care of your own needs. We are commanded by God to love one another deeply from our hearts, to seek their good, to lay down our lives, to care about their interests, to honor them above ourselves.

So, we experience love as a daily decision and we experience love as a delightful emotion.

But, of course, there are those times, when it is hard to sing the songs of love and devotion, when I must cry out to the Lord....

Teach me to love when my son walks around the house in his socks, wearing them out and getting them filthy dirty, after telling him at least 877 times to put his socks on or go barefoot. After all, we live in Florida. We really don't need to wear socks and shoes.

Another wonderful Christmas. It all went so quickly. Instead of flying home to California, Aisha was with us for the holidays. We enjoyed having her in Florida and appreciated her family lending her to us.

We had our usual traditions: decorating the house and tree together as a family, Christmas devotions, traveling dinner, and festive Christmas dinner. Everything was delicious and fun.

Best of all, everyone was off from school, college, and work. We enjoyed full days together without meetings or very many responsibilities. It was so nice to relax with my children.

It is time to celebrate! We celebrate because we are loved! We celebrate because God is good! We celebrate because we are safe in His love! Let's celebrate with the Lord and His Word so that we can bring in the New Year with style! 

Another year is over and a new one is about to begin. The world has its way of celebrating this transition, but God has a better way! No matter what has happened this past year, God has been faithful to you! Even if you don't believe that right now....it's true! 

The Promise Keeper

Jesus is our Promise Keeper! He has protected you this past year from untold tragedy, misfortune, and peril.  We look at all that has happened, but so often we don't think about what might have happened. Maybe you lost your house this past year, a terrible thing, but you still have your family. Maybe you lost a loved one this year, but you are not here in this world alone. Imagine the destruction that could have come your way that the Lord prevented.  

If only we could see with spirit eyes the battle all around us. Angels protecting our health, lives, loved ones, possessions, and honor. We can only see what God allows to make us stronger in Him, not all that He keeps the enemy from inflicting. I encourage you to enter 2016 with worship, prayer, and God's Word. Why not gather together on New Year's Eve with other believers who are serious about the things of God. Seek His face together as the New Year starts. Forget the ball dropping in Times Square! How about worship instead! 

Our Celebration

I  love to see pictures of the earth from outer space.

Wow! It looks like a bright shiny blue ball. That beautiful blue earth filled with life-sustaining water is a glorious to look.

It reminds us of the Creator who lovingly formed the blue sphere we call home. 

“The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it; the world and all who live in it” (Psalm 24:1 NIV).

Everything belongs to the Lord because He made.

Everyone belongs to the Lord because He made them.

It is so simple, yet profound. It means our lives have purpose.

​We live for the Lord, to bring God glory. ​

Glorious God, Reflecting Man

Okay....I have to come clean. I love Barbies. There, I said it. I decorate with Barbies every year at Christmas. Barbies, Barbies everywhere. Here are some photos of displays over the years. 

One year we tried a Barbie singing Christmas tree...but it didn't go so well.

The Barbie worship team, on the other hand, went great and this year my friend, Maria, made me a drum set, a bass guitar, and an acoustic guitar. 

Many years I have done our entire family in Barbie and set up a display of Barbies in their kitchen and family room, eating and opening presents. I even have a Barbie blender.

"And Ebenezer Scrooge learned to keep Christmas well," we are told at the ending of  A Christmas Carol. What does it mean to keep Christmas well?

Does it mean to know all the words to at least twenty Christmas carols? Does it mean having the most lights in the neighborhood? Does it mean decorating every table top and wall space in the house with sparkly decorations? Does it mean having the tallest or fattest tree? Or is it buying expensive presents for everyone you know?

Keeping Christmas well begins in your heart. It starts with an understand of the miracle of Christmas, that magical moment when Heaven came down in the form of a newborn infant. Very God of Very God became flesh and all of Heaven gazed in wonder, though only a few were privileged to witness the event. You see, the miracle happened because of a very loving Father, a very Generous God filled with grace and mercy. He loved so much that He gave.

This year  I will be making gifts instead of buying them. I will dig out my trunk of material and my serger and make some napkins.

Napkin Directions

To make Christmas napkins, buy 1 yard of Christmas cotton fabric. Cut it into 4 equal size squares and iron until wrinkle-free. Then simply serge the edges of the napking with a contrasting thread color to give you the nice finished edge you find in stores. If you don't have a serger, you can do a hankerchief hem around the edges.

You don't have to be limited by Christmas fabric. You can make everyday napkins, Thanksgiving napkins, spring napkins, St. Valentine's Day napkins, or Fourth of July napkins.

A set of 4 napkins with 4 homemade napkin rings will make a nice gift.

Jar Gifts

Or maybe I will make cookie mixes in a jar. Directions for these projects can be found online. I have other options to fill my jars with. There are soup mixes in a jar, baking mixes in a jar, and casserole mixes in a jar too. These all make lovely gifts.

Gifts of Time

"Read this one, please," Katie Beth's chubby hands held the book up to me. I adjusted Julianna who had finished nursing and was asleep on my lap. I opened the lovely Christmas picture book and began to read aloud. Katie Beth and I smiled at each other and the baby slept peacefully.

Fast forward 20 years. My baby is a grown up lady. Katie Beth and my third baby, Jenny Rose, are cuddled up on the couch reading Anne of Green Gables aloud. They have both read the book several times, but there is something wonderful about reading a good book together aloud.

This summer I went to visit my aunt with two of my daughters. The four of us enjoyed an Agatha Christie short story together. We took turns reading aloud. My aunt wrote me a note the next week about how much she had enjoyed that sweet time reading aloud together.

What is it about reading aloud that is so wonderful? Is it the story? Is it the sound of someone you love reading aloud? Or is it the sense of togetherness? There are several Christmas picture books out there. Which are the best for reading aloud?

"Christmas is so commercial! I hate it!" Lisa grumped.

In spite of myself, I giggled.

"Lisa, Christmas doesn't have to be commercialized in your home. You can celebrate! There are lots of simple Christmas pleasures that you and your loved ones can enjoy together."

Look at Christmas Lights

Okay, so Christmas lights might be considered commercial by some, but I love to pile in the van and go look at Christmas lights. There are three houses in a row right near our church. I love to drive past very slowly at night and enjoy the twinkling display.

Go Christmas Caroling

We go caroling at least once every December. Often, we carol in our neighborhood, but one year my father was living in an assisted living facility so we went caroling there, door to door. The older residents loved it! They would beg us not to leave their door, but to keep singing.

Make Christmas Cookies

"What's wrong, Lew?" I asked the young father of three at our church.

"Oh, just trying to figure out how I am going to pay off our Christmas debt," he replied, pushing his shaggy blond hair back from his forehead.

"You can celebrate Christmas without going into debt, Lew." I looked him straight in the eye and shared with him what I will now share with you!

American Christmas Spending

Economists watch carefully about how people spend their money. If there's lots of spending and charging, then the economists smile and pronounce it "good" in an economic sense.

January finds moms and dads trying to figure out how to pay off the debt that has turned out to be much bigger than anticipated. Does God smile and pronounce this "good"?

God calls debt, even Christmas debt, foolishness. Make up your mind to NOT go into debt for Christmas.

Start this Christmas season with a plan.

Make a List, Check it Twice

Make a list of all the things you need to purchase for your family Christmas. List gifts you want to give, decorations, food, drinks, travel, and entertainment.

Now it's time to look it over. Go back and prayerfully review your list. Is there anything you can delete? Is there anything that can be substituted with something less expensive. For example, instead of buying an expensive roast, can you eat turkey or ham instead? Instead of attending the laser light show at fifty dollars a ticket, can you attend the church Christmas play for free?

Now it's time to check it twice. Do the same thing you did before, except be ruthless! Cut and substitute to bring your expenses down to the financial amount that you can actually afford.

A Bargain Christmas