~Blessings~

Well the Christmas season has come and gone while the New Year has begun.  It was a busy time of year hear at the Whalen house. The kids never thought Christmas was going to be over, we celebrated 5 different times between all of the family.  It was a wonderful time and I pray that all of our friends and family had a blessed year. Wished we could have seen everyone but just impossible.  

New Years was a little different for us this year.  We missed celebrating with our wonderful friends from KC and having our annual New Years bash at our house!  This year, it was a time of reflection and a time to look back over 2012 and see where God has taken us. We moved to Edmond in February and it was hard for us to grasp that it had been 10 months! Time flies when you're having fun. The growth that has happened personally and spiritually.  Lessons have been learned with tears and laughter.  We miss our friends and family from KC but don't regret making the "leap of faith" 10 months ago, doing what God had planned for us. We are happy to see the Whalen side of the family here and are excited about the new friendships that are building. 

My house projects are coming along! I took a break from painting and decorating to enjoy the holidays. Now I am back in full force, well to a certain extent.  This past week has been a week of recovery from sickness. I pray for everyone who is suffering from the flu and other sicknesses.  

Trim in the hallways have been painted white. Just working on the walls next, oh and put doors on. Kids are complaining because the bathroom door is not on yet. I guess I need to work on that one first. 

Madi's room is under way. About 3/4 the way done. Just need to paint furniture and make her bedskirt. Wall color is a pretty sea foam blue.  My mom made her curtains, I love them!

Progress: Master bedroom. What a project! Trim is being painted which is taking me longer than planned. I started painting the walls but then the light bulb came on and I figured I should probably do the trim first. So paused that for a bit until trim is done. Walls do not look very pretty right now but they will be a classic teal color. My wonderful husband put together my headboard. It isn't quite finished yet. Just holding off until I completely decide what else do to with it. Open for any suggestions! How it was made: I took 3 24" paneled interior doors from Lowe's (we are loyal to them since they are providing our income) and Mr. Husband put brackets on back to hold them together.  I have made two curtain panels so far and working on the other two. The fabric is fabulous and purchased from BabyBedding.com. I know funny huh? That website is great for fabric. You can order by the yard and it isn't all baby fabric. Great quality for a great price. I bought the fabric for Madi's curtains there. Check it out if you need some fabric. 

Lots going on but excited to see it all come together (and be done with it). And now on to more exciting things! NEW LIFE NEWS. 

God has been so great. We kicked off the new theme for 2013 two Sundays ago. "Moving Forward."  Each Sunday will be a different focus, North American Missions-Global Missions-The City of Edmond-Sunday School and the Children.  Excited to be seeing what God is doing around the world and in our community. 

The most important is we baptized our first sweet young lady today!! God is doing a great thing in her life and she wants to continue in growth and knowledge. After service today, another young lady that has been visiting expressed the desire to be baptized next Sunday!  Our youth is the church of tomorrow and we must do everything to invest in them and see their lives changed! We had 18 today in service. Our average has been 14 so we are growing. 

We are having our first youth blast on Friday, February 1st. Derrick Borders from Norman will be speaking to the young people. Excited to what God has in store for that service. Encouraging all of our youth to invite friends and family to join us for a time of laughter and worship. 

God has been blessing more than I can ever thank Him for. Every time I walk into the doors of New Life, my spirit is lifted and encouraged by the love and kindness of the saints. In the adult Sunday School class, we have been doing the More to Life Bible Study series.  There are great lessons in that series and every single one that has been taught, has ministered and blessed me. I want to glean as much from them as possible for growth and wisdom. Our lesson today was on giving the gift of blessings.  I want to speak a blessing into each and every person who may read this.  We are special and original. God made each and everyone of us unique, there is no one else like us. We must pray for blessings over our friends, family, ENEMIES (yes I said enemies) and ourselves. 

God is so good that I could go on and on but I am going to stop there.  =)  I pray everyone is healthy (or on the mend) and have a blessed week. 

God Bless