19 days... the countdown begins

I cannot believe we actually begin our move in 19 days! I just realized that Christmas is close, and that soon I will be watching strangers pack all of our earthly belongings and I will watch them drive off with them headed to the unknown in Florida. I think I might be a little overwhelmed just thinking about that. There is so much to do that I don't even know what to do!
I think the best thing to do is just to pray over all of the details and to enjoy my time here. It is making me very aware of how I spend each day.

WOW... Do we feel loved!!!!!!!

Last night friends gave us a going-away party here in Raleigh. As you can imagine, we faced this party with so many different emotions. It was difficult to even thing about going to our GOODBYE party!! Do we really have to leave? I cannot even begin to tell you how amazing the entire night was. WOW.

Wouldn't you know K set me up with a "blow dry pretty" with E before the party. K always makes me feel so wonderful! E is a doll and I have loved getting to know her. She cuts my hair. AT HOME. If you are local, contact me for her info! She blow-dried and styled my hair and then did my makeup. I felt like a queen!

When we drove up, flamingos lined the driveway. Some of them even had on Santa hats!!! It was so precious. Our friends worked tirelessly on this party. We came in the house and were greeted with hugs and sweet friends and family. MD & M's house is amazing, and it was particularly beautiful with all of their Christmas decorations and their beautiful tree!!!! C had arranged all of the flowers in beautiful glass vases in unusual shapes and a giant silver epergne on the dining room table. These hostesses had thought of everything!!!!

In the Master bedroom where we put our coats, there were signs saying "HENLEY ON THE HORN" .... telling you to call a cab if you can't drive home. Too clever. I love it (that was all because of this blog that I thought no one read!)

I put my things down, and our friends showed me the host/hostess gift to us... a GORGEOUS painting by my favorite local artist, S!!!(who is also a very dear friend!) It is a painting of my absolute favorite restaurant downtown!!! Wow! It is beautiful. The colors are perfect and it is just beautiful. Of course I cried. I can't wait to hang it in our new home.

The food was incredible. I create cookbooks as gifts and have 2 volumes. Our sweet friends cooked all of the food using recipes from my cookbook!!! WOW! They were all of my favorites including marinated cheese, hatcher crackers, white trash, blonde brownies, tenderloin and rolls, pepperoni pinwheels, etc. It was so special.

It was so nice to be in our sweet friends' home where everyone felt welcome. It was so festive and beautiful with fires burning and so many special people who have touched our lives. DH woke up teary-eyed this morning. We felt so loved! I will post pics asap!

Portrait of my sweet boy

This is our son's portrait. Is it not amazing??!! You really need to check out Art Gallery Originalsif you have children. The portraits are beautiful and very reasonable compared to other oil portraits.

Portraits

I just love Art Gallery Originals!! Their artists are in China, and they are absolutely incredibly talented. We have had portraits painted of 4 of our 5 children and they are all perfect. I thought you all might want to check out their website because the prices are so reasonable and the work is perfect! I have enclosed our samples below.

The Art of a Written Note

In today's world of email, blackberries, I phones, and WiFi, how often do you receive a handwritten letter? My guess is that unless it's the month of December when Christmas cards begin to pour in, you don't receive handwritten letters very often. My friend, K, is gifted at writing letters. She enjoys writing them like I do. Yesterday I saw her handwriting on an envelope, and I knew that she had taken the time to send just the kind of encouragement I needed. I was right. Inside was a sweet note acknowledging that a move is difficult and letting me know she loves me. Thank you, K!! The Lord used you to bless me so!!

LOVE MY TREE!!

My friend, A, was so helpful when we were deciding how to decorate this Christmas because of the move. She & J graciously offered to put up an artificial tree for us & it was her idea to use Christmas cards instead of ornaments on the tree. We decided we needed the joy of choosing a tree as a family since last December was a sad one as we were losing my father-in-law. So... we bought a tree yesterday. At the end, we decided on the least expensive tree since we're moving. It was just delivered... and it is BEAUTIFUL!! I kid you not. It is gorgeous & it doesn't look small or short. It is perfect.

K doesn't nap & is home just after lunch everyday. I pulled out the pretty chocolate with pink dots ribbon that I had bought for our tree. We have already hung our first three cards and it is precious!! We'll have to take them down when DH hangs the lights, but I am so excited about our tree!!!

Fonts

My friend, M, is so smart!! She told me about a great website called dafont.com . I have been playing on the website this morning to download a font for our little hurricane's 2nd birthday. Meanwhile, she has eaten natural cheetos and marshmallows, and has tried to open some MMs leftover from Halloween!! Nonetheless, I have the CUTEST Santa train font for her Santa train birthday party this month!!! Now off to print the invitations!!