Jingle Jam Contest

Thanks SOOOO much for voting for Abby and Nathan in the Bartow Ford Jingle Jam contest! You can go HERE and watch it live from 6:00 - 8:00 tonight!

Second Round Voting!

Abby and Nathan made it to the second round of voting for the Bartow Ford Jingle Contest! THANKS so much for voting! They have until Friday at noon to get votes to enter into the top 5. We would love it if you would vote for them again ( or for the first time) :)

project 365

This week's theme is HEARTS...Such Sweethearts! Some of my Pioneer Clubbers made Valentine's Day treat bags and passed them out last Sunday to the adult Sunday School classes. They also sang them a "You are my Valentine" song.This little sweetheart was looking particularly cute!I bought my kiddos a Valentines Day cookie to enjoy.

Greg is a Valentine day baby. We celebrate him on Feb 14th! I am so glad God blessed me with such an amazing man as my husband. I love him so much!

My middle 3 sweeties with their candy hearts.

And all 5 of my sweeties. They have my heart!

Please Vote for my kiddos!

My kiddos are in the Bartow Ford Jingle contest. Please vote for them!!

project 365 week 7

Project 365 with My Captivating Images this week's theme was WARM. I have to to tell ya, I had trouble with this one. A lot of my photos are from my iPhone..so sorry the quality isn't all that good. Bible. Check.Coffee. Check. Toboggan and sweater. Check. My preacher man all warm and cozy studying for his sermon on Sunday.
Sarah Faith got a package of clothes from her grandmother in Florida this week. It had this cozy warm sweater in it. LOVE. Thanks Ma!!
How about a book with the warm sun in it.. My child is so smart she can read a book upside down. ;)

Warm winter pjs on my Essie and Sarah. They are my early birds. First to wake up, usually around 6:30 each morning, they keep each other company while mama drinks her coffee and the big kids sleep.
The magic blanket. That is what we call this blanket that Greg gave me for Christmas about 8 years ago. It is so warm that you will magically fall asleep with it on. If any child has insomnia or is afraid to go to sleep at night, I have been known to lend out my magic blanket so that they can get to sleep.

Ok... these next two pics are kinda cheating. They warm my heart. And the second, I didn't even take the photo but I decided to include it anyway. :)
This is our Ethiopia mission team from our church that is going to Kombolcha Ethiopia in April. They all gave their testimony at church ( that is Abigail speaking in the photo) I am so excited and proud of this group!
And here is a picture of our sweet Embet, Our sponsor child with Children's Hope Chest. We were able to send her a care package in the fall and here she is holding our family picture. If you have ever thought about sponsoring a child I highly recommend Children's Hope Chest. It is so cool how you can send care packages and letters and the child can send you letters back. My kids especially feel so connected to Embet, like she is part of our family. Here is a great place to get your information for sponsorship.

FHE Basketball

We are so blessed to live in an area that has huge opportunities for homeschoolers. FHE (Forsyth Home Educators) has a great sports program with many sports to choose from. Abby plays volleyball and basketball for the middle school teams. This year, Greg was able to coach her too which was really nice for both of them. My Hawk #15Go Hawks!!

Pizza and Ham and Cheese braid for lunch!

Here is what is for lunch today and it is Yummy!!

Meat and Cheese Braid

2 cups warm water

3 tbls. Yeast

4 tbls. Sugar

4 tbls. Melted butter

2 tsp. salt

1/4 cup mustard (whatever kind you like-fancy or plain)

6-7 cups flour

2 tbls. Dough enhancer (opt.)

1 egg-for brushing on dough
20 slices of deli cut turkey or ham, Or pepperonis is doing a pizza braid
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar Or Mozzerella if doing a pizza braid

~Mix together water, yeast, sugar and two cups of flour. Allow dough to rest until bubbly.

~Add melted butter, salt, mustard and dough enhancer. Mix well.

~Add flour 1 cup at a time until dough pulls away from bowl. (At some point switch to your dough hook) Don't let the dough get too stiff. Knead 6-10 minutes until dough is stretchy and gluten developed.

~Divide dough in half. Roll out into a rectangle. Down the center of the dough, long ways, put 5 slices of meat, then put 1 cup of shredded cheese on top of that and add another layer of meat. Using a knife, pizza cutter or pastry knife cut strips in dough on either side of meat and cheese.

~Carefully fold strips over meant alternating sides to make a "braid."

~Put bread on greased pan. Repeat with second half of dough. Allow to rise, covered, for 30 minutes.

~After dough has risen, take egg and beat it. Then brush on top of bread. Bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes.

*Serve Warm. Makes 2 loaves. Serves 6-8

* When I make a pizza one I always spread some pizza sauce on the bread before I layer the meat and cheese.

Super Bowl Party (s)

Last night we went to a couple in our churches house to watch the super bowl. I don't think anyone really really cared which team won. We were all just happy to talk and laugh and EAT!Thanks Chris and Elizabeth for having us over!

Man, I look tired..maybe it was the colors I was wearing.....Or maybe it was just past my bedtime. :)
Brenden and Donnay

Dean and Donna

Brent and Deana

Derek and Deanna ( who by the way are going to Ethiopia with Greg and Abby in April) Go HERE to check out their blog! So excited for them!!

Meanwhile....back at the Mullis house, another super bowl bash was going on....

Abby had her besties, Katelyn and Peyton over and they had a ton of food to eat too!Watching the game and then I think they turned it off and did Wii Just Dance 3 most of the night!
Sarah got in on the first part of the party ( snacks) but before I left, I put her down for the night and she didn't even know all the fun she missed! :)

My favorite part of the super bowl was the Tony Dungy adoption video that was shown right before halftime. If you missed it, you can watch it HERE.

Project 365 week 5

This week's theme was REMINDERSI am reminded how much I love my husband when I see him loving on our children
I am reminded how cool life is when I see my big black lab, Mac. Growing up, one of my best friends had a lab named Bud and I always wanted a big sweet dog just like him. I have one now. He makes me smile.
The picture reminds me of how much I love my new coffee maker and making coffee in one of my new favorite mugs. I need daily reminders of this. So I must use it daily... or many times a day. :)
Oh my heart. This shot reminds me that they grow up way too fast. Couldn't you just eat those little fingers and toes?


These next three are reminders of God's amazing blessings on my life. I get to watch these kids grow up and I get to teach them and laugh, love and live with them. every. single. day. awesomeness. ( I love Abby too, but she had like 4 ball games this week and other 14 year old social plans and was seriously never home when I got my camera out!)
This bell sits in our church courtyard. I love it because every time I walk past it I am reminded that I am only here a short time. This bell ( and our church) has seen wars, good times, bad times, funerals, marriages, babies and even many pastors. It has stood by and watched years go by. I am just here for the moment. I am reminded that I want my moment to count.

Abigail

My oldest daughter Abigail is 14. She went with us last year to Ethiopia for our court trip and fell in love with it there. When talks began of a mission trip within our church to Ethiopia, she was all aboard for going. We told her that she needed to raise her own money for her trip...$2500. SO she began writing letters for support, saving her allowance, making crafts to sell and thinking of all kinds of other ways to raise money.

Tomorrow the "Kombolcha Team" is going to get up in church and present about where they are going, what they will be doing and why they feel like God wants them to go to Ethiopia. Abby was asked to speak and here is what she has written down to say...... I am so proud of the young women she is becoming. The cool thing about her is not only do I love her as my daughter, but I really like hanging out with her too! She is fun and "gets" what is important in life....I pray that God will continue to mold her into His image.

I was able to go on a trip to Ethiopia in January 2011 to adopt my brother and sister. Before when I was asked if I wanted to go on that trip or not, I said, “no”. I didn’t really want to go, I didn’t want to sit in a plane for so long, I didn’t want to go somewhere that was completely different from where I’ve been all my life. I just didn’t really care.

Apparently GOD wanted me to go because every single time I was talking to someone and the subject came up (which happened all the time) everybody said that I should go. They all said it was the chance of a lifetime or if they were in my place they would go. GOD was making it pretty clear that I should go on this trip. GOD provided the money through friends and family (mostly grandparents). It’s funny to me because as soon as I agreed to go to Ethiopia, GOD provided enough money for the plane ticket. As the days went by I began to get more and more excited, and nervous.

The day came when we would get on that long plane ride to Addis and I was ecstatic. I woke up at 3am, left the house at 4am, got to the airport at 5am and were headed to D.C. by 6am. That was a crazy morning. Then we were on Ethiopian Airlines for 13 hours?? That was the longest, most maddening plane ride of my life.

When we made it to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia we were picked up by one of the guides from our adoption agency. I could not believe the difference between America and Ethiopia. Different landscape, smell, language, houses, food, driving, stores, different everything. The people were the biggest difference for me. It was the way they smiled, the way they looked you in the eye when you were talking to them. The people were so polite and happy.

I made friends easily with the guides, guest house workers, guards, and nannies. I loved these people, and they seemed to love me. Some other people I fell in love with were the children at the orphanages. I remember playing matchbox cars with some of the little boys, painting older girls finger nails, and blowing bubbles with some of the little girls. But what I remember most clearly was going to the toddler room. The nannies would let me come in, sit down, and let about 15 snotty, wobbly toddlers crawl all over me. Blowing kisses, giving high fives, pulling up my shirt and slobbering all over my belly. The were all so sweet!

Then one little shy boy came over from the corner and sat down on my lap. He never smiled, and he never cried. He would just stare at me with his sad little eyes and let me hug him tight. When I had to leave I set him down and he watched me leave. He never cried, but those sad eyes glued to me, and broke my heart.

That day I realized that these amazing children need to know GOD loves them. These children are starved for affection and love. I feel like I need to show them GOD’s love. That week went by way too fast, and as soon as we landed back in America I knew...that I would be going back to Ethiopia... because now I care.

Happy February!

Happy February to you all. The Old groundhog saw his shadow this morning ( try explaining that tradition to an 11 year old Ethiopian!! :) )

We have a busy month full of basketball, my hubby has a birthday and the end of the month we are planning to be on vacation. One of the reasons I love homeschooling is we can go to the beach and amusement parks while everyone else is in school! :)

Micah and Sarah have not been to meet our Florida family so I am looking forward to that. It will be Micah's first time ever on the beach.

We are also gearing up for our spring school testing before Abigail and Greg go to Ethiopia for 10 days on a missions trip with One Child Campaign and Children's Hope Chest. Speaking of such...Abigail is raising money for her trip and is making some cute items. The first thing she has made are these adorable cloth hair rosettes. They are 1 of $3 or 2 for $5. She also started a blog, The Preacher's Daughter Designs. She is working on some survival bracelets for they guys and the girls that are not really into hair clips. They should be up on her blog soon.

I was really hoping for some snow this winter, but it is not looking that way with the windows wide open here in Carolina today. It felt more like the first of April than February. I do believe Miss Sarah Faith is going to like springtime. She was enjoying running around in her bare feet and onesie today. I cannot believe how much she has grown! She has now officially been with us longer than anywhere else in her little life. She has attached beautifully and is beginning to be a bit friendlier to those outside her family. We have the best time entertaining her.

I hope you all have a wonderful evening. Love much!