Short but sweet.....

On the 22nd day of December, my daughter gave to me......(my gifts to Jesus)

My baking skills....... non existent, I'm no Betty Crocker, not much of a sweet tooth,

It is no secret that I do not bake. I do not have the skills required to do so. That is the skill of following directions. You have to follow a recipe to bake or it doesn't come out right,  right?  I can cook you under the table but will lose the baking contest every.single.time. I love cookbooks and will peruse them (or pinterest) all the time but rarely will you see me use it to actually cook a meal. I use them as "guidelines". You know, now that I think about it I'm not that way in real life. Or am I ?hmmmm....weird. I am a crazy, cuckoo, rule follower. I color inside the lines and freak out if I break a rule. But only in certain areas... like traffic laws or no trespassing signs.. other areas? Not so much. I have blue in my hair and ink on my skin and I am an old lady..perhaps too old for such shenanigans. Perhaps in cooking and other personal things, since they are not a life or death or incarceratible offenses (is that even a word?..ok I looked it up, it's incarcerable... I like mine better) anywho... since I can't go to jail for making bad cookies or meatloaf or having blue in my hair, I choose not to even follow the "rules'.  Haha..I'm such a rebel!  Well there is only one rule to follow when it comes to Jesus and that is to love Him with all my heart, mind, soul and strength. You know what? That is the easiest recipe ever! So while I attempt to bake some sort of Christmas confection and have it turn out edible I will remember that some rules are meant to follow or they won't turn out right. I have turned out right! Have you?

(cookie for Santa in the pinterest household)

Sheepdog Up this Christmas

On the 19th day of December my daughter gave to me...........(my gifts to Jesus)

My Sheepdog.......... my soul mate, my hunka hunka burnin love, your resident deputy, the protector of the sheep, the thin blue line between order and chaos...

Today is Wear Blue to support Law Enforcement day and not only did I wear blue but I dyed my hair with a thin blue line. I figured I'd show my appreciation and support everyday. You will never know my heart for this man unless you have loved a deputy or police officer. The slightest sound of a siren or a story on the news get's me going every time.. My heart is always on edge when he is working. Listening to radio traffic, when a horrific incident he was smack dab in the middle of, just hoping to hear his voice to know he was ok. My heart is always on edge. With all the hate lately against law enforcement it really scares me. Of course , as in every field, there are some bad apples but come on people don't you realize the things the Sheepdogs do for you. They don't know you but they will respond in your time of need. They don't know you but will put themselves in harms way to protect your child. They don't know you but they work way past shift's end to finish up a report for you all the while their family waits for them at home. They are trained to react to the world of chaos and have to make a life or death decision in a split second. My sheepdog came home the other day and said he hesitated to react on a call of what to do because of all the media flack from recent news. People, that scares me...he hesitated.. his mind was thinking of media and news and hate instead of at the crisis at hand. That is not okay. BUT! Jesus knows this and I know He is watching over my Sheepdog while he protects the sheep from the wolves. I know no matter what the outcome of a day brings I know Jesus has him in the palm of his hand and He has me there too. So today I will let down my guard..I will rest in the knowledge of God's perfect plan .... because I want to...because I need to. 

 (old English sheepdog, the protector of the sheep and Christmas trees, singing a pinterest carol)

(me sporting my thin blue line hair! )