I've shared with you before, about the old pig farm behind our house. Yes, the one that our puppies love to get into trouble in. The unused, but still full hog pits made me nervous with so many children and animals around here. Well, work has begun on eliminating those dangerous pits and the 5 buildings. There's only one more left to go! Check out these pictures of the work in progress. Oh, and by the way, the puppies are having a great time in all the mud too! :)





There is always some type of action going on around here so, just thought I'd keep you updated. Well, I'm going to be enjoying some additional time off this week, so I may not be posting again until Monday. Hope you enjoy your week and Happy New Year!!!

Have a great day
Living fearlessly in Christ
Christie :)

What a wonderful Christmas we had! I've been so far out of schedule, that it is nice to go back to a little bit of normalcy this morning. Normal schedule won't last for long though, I'm only working today and tomorrow and then back to taking some much needed time off.
Here's some highlights of the last few days of my crazy life.

We lost alot of tree limbs during last weeks ice storm. My husband, children, dogs and I, worked for several hours at cleaning up the yard. This was Liz, Nate, Cooper and Grace taking a break in the trailer.



When all our work was complete, we had this finished result. Now that's a pile of wood, I tell you!! Whew! Glad that's done - at least until the wind begins to blow! :)


Now, on to Christmas fun. Check out this awesome shirt that my mom got for Nathan. It says "My Mom Rocks". I loved it - Nate did not. He wouldn't even put it on for a picture! This was the only picture I got - him holding it. He said he'd never wear it and I couldn't even convince him to keep it for pj's. He says it's just not cool. What??!!! Who wouldn't think this mom isn't cool? (except for my own children, of course.)


We enjoyed so much time with friends and family over the Christmas holiday. Here's me with our cousin's baby, Bethanie, and Nate and Liz with their cousin Chase.



What a joyous time! Celebrating the birth of our Savior with family. It just doesn't get any better! I hope you enjoyed your family and friends too.

More pictures coming tomorrow
P.S. I will be speaking at 2 churches on Sunday and I ask that you will be praying for me as God prepares my heart to share His Word.

Have a great day
Living fearlessly in Christ
Christie

Good morning all my bloggy friends! My husband and I, both started feeling puny yesterday and by this morning, felt even worse. We've both got sore throats and body aches. I took the day off work to rest, but my poor hubby is the manager, so he can't take off. Please pray for us as we really want to be better to celebrate our daughter's birthday tomorrow and Christmas on Thursday.

Have a great day and Merry Christmas!

Living fearlessly in Christ
Christie

Hey all! I'm finally back after some craziness around here. We had a nasty ice storm on Thursday night which caused us to lose power about 1 am until 8 pm the next day. Thankfully, we have a wood burning stove on our four-seasons porch. So, we spent all day Friday hanging out by the fire. Saturday was full with practice for the dramas on Sunday morning, then to McLean for 2 basketball games and then our daughter's birthday party.

Sunday, oh how wonderful Sunday was. Our pastors always do an amazing job of proclaiming Christ to the world, but yesterday was even more amazing. Their desire for others to see Christ was apparent as they planned and prepared for our Christmas outreach yesterday. God has blessed our church with many gift-filled people who are so very willing to serve and I am thankful for each one of them. God's presence is so apparent there and I'm so glad to be a part of it all. It was a touching and moving experience. Praise God! Check out the website at www.pontiacbible.org

As if that wasn't good enough, we just happen to run into some really great friends at a restaurant after church and had a wonderful time visiting with them. Our plan was to then run to Bloomington to pick up our last Christmas gift but when my husband decided that we should stay home, I was excited to take a long afternoon nap. Mmmm mmmmm GOOD!

Hope your weekend was good too!

Have a great day
Living fearlessly in Christ
Christie

O.K. - get ready - I'm about to approach a very touchy subject. A subject that has brought much disagreement and hurtful times to my life. Are you ready?? Today, we will discuss tradition. Tradition vs. inner purity was the subject as I read Matthew 15:1-20 this morning. Now, I totally understand that different people enjoy different things. I understand that some people enjoy history and traditions and some people enjoy new and different things. In no way, am I saying that one is wrong and one is right. I'm just saying that either way, we must never allow what we want to overpower what God wants. If we are more focused on keeping with tradition than what God wants - we are in the wrong. If we are more focused on keeping up with keeping everything different so we don't create a tradition than what God wants - we are in the wrong.

In these verses, some Pharisees and scribes asked Jesus why His disciples broke their traditions and did not wash their hands before they ate. Jesus came right back at them about their willingness to defy God's instruction to honor your father and mother. They would make excuses about why they could not give their money to help their parents because they were giving it to God. While this seems to be a worthy cause, it became an excuse to not obey God. In vs. 6 Jesus says "And by this you invalidate the Word of God for the sake of your tradition."

Jesus goes on to explain that it is not what we put in our mouths that defiles us but what comes out of them that defiles us. For what comes out of them is what is in our hearts.

Sometimes, traditions can be good and sometimes, they can be bad. I believe it's all about our focus and whether these traditions affect our obedience to God.

Do you hang on to traditions too tightly? Are you more concerned with keeping traditions than obeying God or loving others? Keep the ones that enhance your relationship with God and be rid of the ones that hinder.

Have a great day

Living fearlessly in Christ
Christie

Good morning - and what a good morning it is in the Todd house. Our Nathan has woke pain free for two mornings. His doctor gave us some pills to try for his stomach which he has taken the last two days. We're waiting to see if this is just another good couple days or if the meds are working. Either way, we're so glad to see him up, about and going to school. Praise God for His faithfulness.

Last week at our Bible study, my reaction to others' pain came up. In a very loving way, I was told that I probably should work on having a little more compassion with others. See, I was brought up with a motto of "suck it up and move on" and find this is the way I tend to see life. The older I get, the worse it seems to get. I know that when I'm down and out, I really need someone to come along and give me a good kick in the behind to get me going again. So, I assume that's what everyone else needs - right??!!

Being strong minded can be good at times, but it makes me miss out on so many opportunities to show God's love to others. Sometimes, people may need a good kick in the pants, but many times, they just need to be listened to and loved on.

Overcoming emotions has been a huge obstacle in my life but God continues to work on me. It really doesn't matter what we feel or what we want to do, but how God feels and what He wants us to do. This is a minute by minute fight for me on some days. Guess what - it's not about me and it's not about you! We really have to learn to get over ourselves!

All of this came to mind this morning as I read 2 Timothy 2:1-10 "Be Strong". Vs. 1 says this "You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." Check out the commentary:
How can someone be strong in grace? Grace means undeserved favor. Just as we are saved by grace, we should live by grace. This means trusting completely in Christ and His power, and not trying to live for Christ in our strength alone. Receive and utilize Christ's power. He will give you the strength to do His work.

GOOD STUFF!!!

Have a great day
Living fearlessly in Christ
Christie

Happy Tuesday, my bloggy friends! Last year about this time, I posted the following:

Our pastor had a Christmas quiz posted on his blog, so I decided to take it - thinking, of course, that I had heard the Christmas story so many times it would be a cinch. Wrong! I failed the quiz! How could this be? I had my husband and children take the quiz - they failed. I forwarded it to my extended family - they failed (except for my Bible scholar, sister, who still only got a 66%). I've heard the Christmas story hundreds of times in my life and so had they - I began to realize the problem, our world, our Christmas marketers, our media have aided in giving us the wrong picture. Have you ever seen a Christmas card, nativity scene, Christmas picture, or program that wasn't bright and beautiful - that didn't sparkle and shine with happiness? I'm in no way saying that Christmas shouldn't bring joy and happiness, it should - it is a great reminder of how we should be celebrating Christ's birth and time on this earth, all year long. What I am saying is that I don't think the world truly wants to know how it truly was. They want to think that the birth of our Savior was a perfect, bright, wonderful occurrence. Ponder on this - Here was a young girl (probably 12 or 13) traveling for this census being 9 months pregnant (miserable). Then she is in labor and cannot find anyplace to stay for the night so they are forced to put their newborn son wrapped in cloths in a manger. The mention of the manger is how we get the idea that He was born in a stable. Stables back then, were caves with feeding troughs (mangers) carved into the rock walls. The surroundings were very dark and dirty. Definitely, no place for a King and Savior. The shepards come to worship Jesus in the manger. The wise men, didn't. The wise men came to worship Jesus when He was probably between 1 and 2 years old. By this time, Mary and Joseph would have been married and living in a house. So all the nativity scenes with the wise men worshipping in the stable are false. We also don't know that there were 3 wise men - only 3 gifts were mentioned, so assumptions are made that their were only 3 wise men. The more I write, the more frustrated I become. How have we allowed the truth of the birth of our Lord and Savior be compromised so that we can all have warm and fuzzy feelings. We should be humbled and thankful for the gift God gave us in Jesus, but the life He lived for us and the brutal death He died for us was in no way, easy.

O.K., could you tell I was a little fired up??!! I went back this morning and re-took the quiz. I did pass this time, but only with a 77%. I do want to comment though, that I disagree with a couple of the so-called-answers, so I think I got a better score than that.

Take the time today, to take the quiz for yourself and let me know how you do.
http://homepage.mac.com/rmansfield/thislamp/page33/page33.html

Have a great day
Living fearlessly in Christ
Christie