Christmas cont...

My last post on here was about Christmas Eve and our plans for accomplishing Christmas dinner. I thought I would let you know, since I'm quite sure you were all wondering...the meal was wonderful. The roast didn't burn. It tasted great and we all loved it. Everyone did their part to make the meal fantastic and memorable. Sam made macaroni and cheese because Emily inherited my cooking skills...sorry Sam. Mackenna made the mashed potatoes. Destiny set the table. Loressa made deviled eggs (Where did that name come from?), Halton made the desserts. Bethany made rice. Hunter made green beans and John made the salad.  I couldn't have asked for anything more.  We had an unbelievable time that lasted all day and into the night. We gave gifts, played games, won prizes and even watched a movie. It was fun and joyful and I was so blessed by my husband and my children. I also wanted to assure everyone that, even though I'm not a cook, my husband accepts my lack of skill in this area with love and humor. For Christmas, he gave me an adorable pink apron to wear that said, "I kiss better than I cook."....I'm glad he recognizes my true talents ;)

About Life4Him-skits, scripts and stories: Christmas eve...

About Life4Him-skits, scripts and stories: Christmas eve...: "I'm excited about Christmas...This will be our first Christmas at home in a very long time. I'm looking forward to it, but at the same time,..."

Christmas eve...

I'm excited about Christmas...This will be our first Christmas at home in a very long time. I'm looking forward to it, but at the same time, I'm a little nervous. I haven't had all the responsibility to make Christmas special on my own shoulders for a long time. I've always been at someone's house who knows what they are doing-you know, they know how to cook and all. My kids all wanted to order out for Christmas dinner because they knew I would not thrive on being in the kitchen, therefore, they would not thrive on seeing me miserable, nor would anyone enjoy my stressed out craziness in trying to get it all done...They were trying to spare me, and by doing so, they would be sparing themselves... I actually believe I have a few good qualities, but cooking is definitely not one of them. No turkey this year...No dressing...(turkey dressing that is-we do plan on wearing clothing...hmmm...now wouldn't that be an interesting new tradition) We are planning on having roast for Christmas dinner because I can make that. It goes in a crock pot and it doesn't burn. It's going to be wonderful:)...Now to get busy with Christmas Eve...there is still so much to do. I hope it will be wonderful for all of you.

About Life4Him-skits, scripts and stories: The Christmas Legacy

About Life4Him-skits, scripts and stories: The Christmas Legacy: "I just finished my last post, but I have been wanting to finally talk about what this blog was originally going to be about in the first pla..."

The Christmas Legacy

I just finished my last post, but I have been wanting to finally talk about what this blog was originally going to be about in the first place-my scripts. Many years ago, I felt like God was calling me to become a writer. For most of those years, I felt the yearning in my heart to follow through with that calling, but I just didn't know how. I struggled with my failure to do what I felt like I was told to do. It was always on my mind, but I felt so inadequate and in many ways, I still do. I have taught youth and children's choirs for many, many years and I have always loved it. Quite a few years ago, as I searched for a youth musical to work on with my students, I was disappointed that I was never able to find a musical that went deep enough or one that fit the needs of my kids at church. As I struggled with what to do, a thought came to mind that I could probably put enough material together to have the kind of play that I wanted. I searched and search for skits and songs and, amazingly, it turned out ok. Over the next years, God began giving me ideas for what He wanted the next musicals to be about and, since that time, I have been writing the scripts for all of our youth and children's musicals. I hope to use this blog as a way to show what God is doing with the stories He has given me to write. Right now I am working on the musical for this coming spring. It's a work in progress, so I would appreciate your prayers.

Most recently, I had the opportunity to write a short skit for a women's brunch to go along with the topic of finding joy. I was excited to come up with a way to express the difference that Christ can make in living a fulfilling life. What I came up with was "The Christmas Legacy." It ended with a wonderful song by Matthew West called "The Story of Your Life." I'm going to put the video of the performance on youtube on the channel "pampeck9". It's about 10 minutes long, so I hope you'll watch until the end. Let me know what you think. I hope to begin to put video samples of some of the other things I have written, too. I'll let you know when I do.
  

About Life4Him-skits, scripts and stories: Let me tell you about...Three birthdays and a Chri...

About Life4Him-skits, scripts and stories: Let me tell you about...Three birthdays and a Chri...: "Well, I haven't written on here for a while, but that doesn't mean I haven't been thinking about it. I have so many things that I want to wr..."

Let me tell you about...Three birthdays and a Christmas

Well, I haven't written on here for a while, but that doesn't mean I haven't been thinking about it. I have so many things that I want to write about because so much has happened since the last time that I wrote. I look forward to putting my thoughts into print. Sometimes my thoughts are probably better off not in print, but regardless of that fact...Let me tell you about...Three birthdays and a Christmas. As if the weeks before Christmas are not busy enough, the Lord chose to bless our family with three extra celebrations during this week in December. My daughter, Bethany, had her 17th birthday on December 13th, my son, Halton, will turn 19 on his birthday on December 17th, and my birthday is December 18th. We have a tradition that we started several years ago where we celebrate our birthdays with our family at midnight as soon as the birthday "day" begins. So, on Sunday night at midnight, we began the celebration for Bethany's birthday and we will do the same for Halton and me. We started doing our celebrating this way because I didn't want the busyness of the day itself to rob us of the chance to make the birthday girl or boy feel special.  I love our midnight birthday parties. No one has to take an important phone call, or be in class, or in a meeting. Everyone can be there and, because we are Pecoraro's, midnight is our best time of day! Since most of the world around us has stopped for the night, our focus can be completely on the one with the birthday. This week in December is probably busy for just about everybody, but I get to have my family together at midnight on three of these busy days. I love it. My sweet son-in-law even brings my oldest daughter, Emily, for the midnight celebrations. I couldn't ask for anything more... Oh, but I am going to get something more...Emily and Sam are expecting my first grandbaby and guess when she is due? Baby Violet is probably going to make her appearance sometime in December. I can't wait for another celebration when she is born. After we finish with all of our birthdays, we get the opportunity to celebrate an even more important birthday, the birthday of our Savior, Jesus Christ. As you can see, December is very important time of year for me and it brings me great joy. I hope you will all find great joy along with me as you celebrate during this special time of year.

Let me tell you about... a fun memory!

Last time I was on here, I told you about our trip. Well, actually I didn't tell you about the trip. I told you about getting ready for the trip. I thought I'd let you know that the rest of the trip was great. Friends and family are always wonderful to see. On our way down to Spring, Texas we stopped at the now famous (at least to us) Buccee's. I do believe Halton created the best coffee concoction I've ever had while we were there. Since we liked Buccee's so much on the way to Spring, we had to stop there on the way back. It's funny how exciting a restroom stop can be when it becomes a tradition. After we climbed over the extra suitcases, Christmas presents and Halton's guitar to get back into the van, we began the rest of our trip home. After we were all settled in, we had fun with something that has kind of become a new tradition, so....Let me tell you about... a fun memory. A few trips ago, I surprised the kids on a long, late night trip home from Christmas in Amarillo with glow sticks that I had picked up at the dollar store. At the time, we had just gotten the CD of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra (who are amazing I might add).  We had a lot of fun using the glow sticks to "dance" to the beat of the music we were listening to. It was such a cool experience that I hope to make it a "new" tradition. It has created some very special memories for me. (I'm really big into making memories.)  This year we picked a lot of different music to "dance" to. I'm going to try to put a video of it on here. I hope when you see it, you'll have a little bit of fun along with us.

Let me tell you about... Pecoraro road trips

Our family just got back late last night from our Thanksgiving trip to Spring, Texas. I know a lot of people travel more than we do with their families and I'm sure everyone has little quirks that make their trips interesting, but I'd like to take you on an adventure with our family. It's not that I think anyone would actually ever want to come along or that you have ever sat around wondering what it is like, but still...Let me tell you about...Pecoraro road trips. The first part of the adventure begins before day 1. Before we ever set foot in the van, we have to pack. Before we are able to pack, we have to wash clothes. Before we are able to wash clothes, we need to remove all of the dirty clothes from the middle of the floors of our rooms. (I say, "We," because I am the queen of the pile of laundry on the floor of my room.) And so what usually begins with, "It's a short trip, so it shouldn't be too hard to get ready for it" becomes "Here's another load of laundry to fold and I am not going to wash another thing... Oh, you forgot to wash your favorite jeans? Well, put them in and we'll try to get them done." Ten loads later, we finally get the suitcases out. Do we pack together in several big suitcases or do we each take our own small one? We look at the pros and cons of each and decide to each take our own, except for Destiny. She shares with me. We finally start packing. We can't decide what the weather will actually be like, so we pack for hot and cold weather. Now, after our suitcases are packed with double the amount of clothes that we need, we must all pack another bag for our carry-on stuff (you know, everything that didn't fit in the suitcase because we opted for the small ones). Next, it all has to go in the van. In comes Hunter to save the day. He starts packing the van. Everyone brings out their bags and then comes the important stuff...eight pillows (so we are all comfortable in the car), eight or more blankets (so the car can be freezing to keep the driver awake and comfortable) a biblical amount of stuffed animals (two of every kind, so they won't be lonely, of course),  And then, 3 huge box fans (because my husband taught our whole family to sleep with fans blaring in their ears all night). Several bags of junk food snacks (so we don't spend too much money at Buccee's) and then, finally, the eight of us (it used to be 9, but Emily got married).   We are now finally all in the van...What's that? You forgot to go to the bathroom? Stop the van. Give them the keys to the house. You need to go, too? Oh, my, we will have to finish the trip in a later post. I'm exhausted!

About Life4Him-skits, scripts and stories: Let me tell you about...a family tradition

About Life4Him-skits, scripts and stories: Let me tell you about...a family tradition

About Life4Him-skits, scripts and stories: Let me tell you about...a family tradition

About Life4Him-skits, scripts and stories: Let me tell you about...a family tradition: "So, here I am again. This blogging thingy is addictive. It's like with every thought that comes through my mind I think, 'Oh, I could write ..."

About Life4Him-skits, scripts and stories: Let me tell you about... being thankful.

About Life4Him-skits, scripts and stories: Let me tell you about... being thankful.: "So, my family and I are on a trip for Thanksgiving. This year, like most years, we are in Spring, Texas where John and I first met and where..."

Let me tell you about... being thankful.

So, my family and I are on a trip for Thanksgiving. This year, like most years, we are in Spring, Texas where John and I first met and where we began our journey together. We go to see his side of the family and also to see some very special friends. It is always a great trip. We always feel so loved and encouraged and pampered when we go there. We offer very little in the way of help to any of our hosts, but yet John's sister nor our friends ever treat us like we have been a burden to them. I'm so thankful for that. I'm one of those people who feels very inadequate in the kitchen, so, although I love Thanksgiving, I would just freak out if I had to be in charge of it. (In fact, I think we are going to be at our own home for Christmas and I'm pretty sure we are going to order out.) Thanksgiving is one day out of the year that is dedicated to being thankful. It's good to have that special day, but a few years ago, we began another family tradition having to do with being thankful, so....Let me tell you about the Pecoraro family "thankfuls." At night before we go to bed, we often say what we are thankful for before we pray together. We don't do it every night and I wish we still did it as often as we use to, but anyway, here is how it works... We simply go around the room and everyone has to say something they are thankful for. It can be something very simple or something big, but everyone has to think of something and they can't "steal" someone else's thankful. They are each just supposed to say one thing, but usually it ends up being several things. I love it. I love hearing about what is important to each of them. I love having a chance to end our day with our eyes off of ourselves. Being thankful is remembering that there is someone to be thankful to. Our God blesses us and blesses us, but sometimes we barely notice the blessings because we forget to be thankful for them. Saying our "thankfuls" is a reminder to me that thankfulness is part of our character and thankful people are happier people because they know and recognize that they have been blessed.  I hope that my family and yours will be blessed this week and that we will notice all of the blessings we have been given and remember to be thankful for all of them.

Let me tell you about...a family tradition

So, here I am again. This blogging thingy is addictive. It's like with every thought that comes through my mind I think, "Oh, I could write about that." It is really a funny, new thought process. Today is the beginning of the week of Thanksgiving and I have so much to write about thankfulness, but first I want to tell you a little bit about Sundays at our house. Yesterday was Sunday. Sundays are very special days in our house. We all look forward to them. We look forward to seeing friends. We look forward to singing and worshipping. We look forward to being taught from God's Word. We even look forward to Sunday naps. One of my favorite things about our Sundays is a tradition that we began many, many years ago. So...Let me tell you about our Sunday morning drive to church. Years ago, when the children were young, I would always hear about how so many families would fight and argue on their way to church and then put on a fake, happy face when they got out of their cars in the church parking lot. I did not want to be that kind of a family. I wanted us to be real and honest about who we were, but I also didn't want us to have bad attitudes on Sunday mornings. John and I decided that we would give the children something specific to do on the way to church, so... we taught them to "pray on the way".  We would begin at the back of the van and each of us would pray out loud for our Sunday School teachers, our pastor, the worship leaders, our attitudes and our ability to stay focused and learn what God had to teach us. We would also pray for all the people that were trying to decide whether or not to come to church that day. Praying on our way to church has become a great family tradition. An unexpected blessing from it is that it has even taught our kids not to be scared to pray out loud. I think every family could benefit from this tradition.  It's never too late to start "praying on the way". Now that most of our kids have gotten older, we don't all ride together to church anymore, but I'm pretty sure we all still remember to pray.

Let me tell you about....

So, I haven't written on here for a couple of days, but this blog thingy is definitely being talked about at my house...a lot. We keep checking to see if anyone has made a comment or become a follower (which both, by the way, make us very happy). One of my kids keeps begging me to write about him, so I thought I would make him happy and tell you a little about one of the two greatest sons in the world. It's ok for you to disagree with me if you have your own sons and think that they are the greatest, but, since I'm writing this, I get to consider mine the best. So.... Let me tell you about my Hunter, my 15 year old son....He keeps telling me what to write about... "tell them I take out the trash, tell them that I make up games for my sisters and I, oh, and don't forget to tell them about my hair". He even adds, "Wait don't tell them what I'm doing right now. (he was crocheting). He is cracking me up. I would have to say that out of all of his wonderful qualities, his humor would be at the top of the list.  My husband, John, just finished making 5 cans of cinnamon rolls for breakfast/lunch and you should have heard the shriek come out of Hunter when he found out how many he would get to eat. One of the things about having a big family is that everything has to be counted out so that everyone gets their share. Hunter got to eat 7 and then ended his meal by licking the icing container. It takes so little to make him happy. ..Hunter is a huge joy to me. I hope you all have a Hunter in your life-someone that makes you laugh, someone that makes you take yourself less seriously, and someone that gives great hugs whenever you need one.

So, since I'm new to this blog thing, I'm not really sure how often is the right amount of time to wait before putting a new post on. Do I wait to see what the response is to the first one or do I just keep writing them in hopes that people will keep reading? There you have it. My constant dilemma of not being able to make decisions. I second guess just about everything. That's why I've avoided this step of writing for so long, I am basically insecure and afraid. Does anyone else ever feel that way or am I the only one?

Now, what I really want to write about was last night. It brought back good memories. Emily, Sam, Loressa, Halton, Bethany Hunter, Mackenna, Destiny, Daniel, Tonia, John and I were all here after church to just hang out. It was so much fun for me. I love having people over. Until recently, people coming over to our house on Wednesday night after church was a standard activity. Students would start piling in and our house would come alive. People would play games, sing, talk and laugh until very late and I would go to bed happy that we had a special time. Sometime, not too long ago, people stopped coming over as much. Some of the ones that had faithfully come have grown up. Some have moved on. For some, Little Elm seems too far away from The Colony and everyone wants to have a more convenient place to hang out. It makes me sad, but fortunately, when you have several kids, you can have a party even if no one else comes along to join you. My hope is that a new crop of students will start coming over and hanging out. I want our home to be a place that people feel welcome. It may not be the coolest or the cleanest or the closest, but I hope that people that come and hang out here will be glad that they did.

Now comes the second guessing. Should I really post this? Is it too personal? Did I say everything right? The second guessing could go on and on and on. I guess I'll just...click...publish.

Stop Talking and Start Doing

It's 3 am. My favorite time of the day, or maybe I should say my favorite time of the night. One of my daughters is sitting beside me memorizing scripture while one of my sons works on some music. Everyone else is in bed where they should be. Usually, we are all in bed, too, but sometimes, for some reason, I am awake at this early hour and I always think I should be writing something. When I'm working on writing one of the musicals for the youth and children's choirs at church, it's easy to stay up all night and work on the scripts. I write and then rewrite and then sometimes I rewrite it all over again, but tonight I am beginning this blog. I'm extremely nervous about this writing adventure because it is something I have been thinking about, talking about, and doing nothing about for years. I have known God was calling me to be a "writer" for around 20 years. I have talked about my desire to write for almost that long, but putting it off has become a way of life. I have been writing the scripts that our students at our church have been performing for several years, but I only recently realized that by doing so I was actually "writing". I know that sounds silly, but it took a dear friend stopping me in the middle of one of my "poor me I'll never write anything even though I know I'm supposed to" rants and asking me why I never considered the scripts I had written as fulfilling part of that calling. A light went on in my head and I realized for the first time that maybe, just maybe, I could stop "saying" that I wanted to be a writer and just be one.

Hopefully, through this blog, I will be able to share links to the scripts I have written in order to sell some of them-I've been talking about publishing them and selling them for years, too. I'm am hoping to stop talking and start doing.