Deanna Doss Shrodes

My table is all set for the birthday party! Christmas is one of our busiest times as pastors. I haven't even shaved both legs in one day this month.  The question, "Are you going away for the holidays? " is always one that is humorous to me if one knows my line of work. If the holiday in question has any religious significance at all, I am  working overtime.  In 26 years of marriage we've never "gone away for the holidays" mainly because of our work and also because we have three children and our traditions are rooted in the family we have created together as a married couple. There is no complaint here, just an observation. I absolutely love what I do!  Just sayin' that for a pastor...this is our busy season!Last night we were at the church late, getting things set up for tonight's Christmas Eve Communion. Larry has a special surprise for tonight that he can't wait to unveil! He has talked about it non-stop for a month. I can't wa...

This is what my life feels like this upcoming week and it's not even started yet.  Not complaining! Just sayin'. Thought I'd share and ask for your prayers. I can always use them, but I could REALLY use them in a super-duper way over the coming 11 days. Pray my strength! I just got home from Idaho , and caught my breath and now...

  Lately we've been watching old home movies at our house and turning them from VHS to DVD. The kids have been watching them and just loving it! So much that Jordan has requested that we record Christmas day, at our house this year. Seriously! It looks like we're actually going to do that.   We love traditions at our home especially during the holidays.  Tonight we have Christmas Eve Candlelight Communion at the church.  It's one of our most special times of the year.  Afterwards we go out for Chinese food.  (Usually a Chinese buffet.) We've done that for 25 years now, since the very first year Larry and I were married. We started it because after all the preparation I do in cooking and cleaning for Christmas, we've already got a full refrigerator, and the last thing I want to do is MORE cooking.  Today I'm putting the finishing touches on all the home festivities for tomorrow. When we wake up we enjoy what the kids call  "sweet ro...

Yesterday was an overwhelming day. I didn't blog. Yeah, I know...that makes two days in a week. People might actually think the apocalypse is coming since I haven't blogged two days this week. It's a sign of the times, friends. Get your cans or pork and beans ready, and prepare to flee to the mountains.  Seriously, I'm blogging today at Lost Daughters, writing at my spiritual column on the site, so check me out there today . I'm talking about why adoptees don't let go of the past. The answer may be a little different than you expect. For those who are adoptees or are those who care about them, it's important information to know. One more day til' Christmas Eve!!  Help us, all Lord! Something tells me the world shouldn't be this stressed out on Your birthday. Oh for an opportunity to just get quiet and focus on You!

I love to sleep but love my daughter more. She enjoys waking at the crack of dawn on black Friday to go out. I must confess while I normally wouldn't be caught dead outside the house without my hair styled and makeup applied, I don't care on black Friday. I'm just not gonna awaken at 4 am to do all that. So, she wakes me up at whatever ungodly hour she wants to leave. I take about 10 minutes to wash my face, brush my teeth and change from my pj's into clothes and we head out. We shop at one department store (usually Bealls) and then we go to breakfast. Her choice is Waffle House. When we've been sufficiently smothered and covered, we hit the road to go to more stores for a few hours. When we're too tired to shop anymore we come home to do the Christmas decorating at the house. This always gets completed on black Friday.  Usually we have seven Christmas trees but the past two years we've been down to five, since two of them bit the dust. The Christmas spi...

Turkey and all the trimmings were on hand at our house today, along with a plethora of pies and other moan-worthy delights. Twenty-eight people feasted on it all, not once but all throughout the day. And yet, it was not about the food. The food was just the backdrop. It was really all about family, friendship, conversation, and love. We laughed, and laughed and laughed some more. We thanked God for our blessings, and talked around the table about what's most important. Faith and family...what could be greater? All of these things and more...I am so grateful for. Thank you, Lord...for all Your blessings on me.

This is our theme for service at Celebration today -- "Anything is Possible!" Larry will preach a message on this theme. We're having coffee and donuts in our cafe this morning followed by service and this will include songs of celebration about the resurrection, an egg hunt for the kids and some surprises along the way.  Our Easter table is set at home. Our family is ready for a great meal with friends after church.  My husband made a ham last night. His ham is theeeeeeeeeee best. Everyone loves it. It's a cherry glazed ham. I took a photo last night as he started making it...  I made some hash brown potato casserole to go with this, and stuffed eggs (I make them with a touch of Old Bay Seasoning...mmm mmm good!), creamed corn and green beans and Cuban bread, and dessert and coffee. Larry spent yesterday canvassing the neighborhoods by the church, inviting people to come today. He did the same thing with a team last Saturday. He had a lot of things to t...

Time goes on in our lives and we progress from screaming with glee over opening an Easy Bake Oven Set, a Barbie, a toy gun or a video game, to other things. Decades beyond childhood, the Keurig and a Tempur-Pedic pillow are my two favorite Christmas gifts.  I got to thinking about what this says about me. At this stage of my life I value comfort over play. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not but it's just reality at this moment. I read a blog post by Michael Hyatt this week that really challenged me to embrace discomfort.  It's the last thing I wanted to hear. I've been in an uncomfortable place for quite some time trying desperately to grab on to any bit of comfort that I could find and still retain ministerial credentials. ;P I'm only half kidding there.   I have hope for 2012. Even if just a little bit on some days, I still have hope and on the days it's low, a few friends give me some that they have to spare. Lucky for me, I have some friend...

A lot of churches are closed today. How crazy! Not us.  We're anticipating celebrating the birthday of the King today! I know some people want to go to church today but can't go to their own church where they are a member because the leadership of the church made a choice to close today. I feel sorry for those people and have encouraged them to go visit another church in their area that's open today. It's interesting, that some Christians and even pastors fight the whole "happy holidays" versus "Merry Christmas" yet many of those same people stay home from church today or even made a decision to close.  That's really where the rubber meets the road for me.  How strong IS your faith? Just strong enough to complain about "Christmas" being misaligned by some store clerk telling you happy holidays?  That's pretty weak.  By the way, the word holiday derives from the term "holy day" which is exactly what we are celebra...

Our Max ~ he's loving Christmas! We love traditions at our home especially during the holidays.  Tonight we have Christmas Eve Candlelight Communion at the church.  It's one of our most special times of the year.  Everyone loves it!   Afterwards we go out for Chinese food.  We've done that for 25 years now, since the very first year Larry and I were married. We started it because after all the preparation I do in cooking and cleaning for christmas, we've already got a full refrigerator, and I'm tired.  The last thing I want to do is MORE cooking. So, we go for Christmas Eve and invite anyone who wants to join us to come.  The past few years we've gone with at least 20-30 people.  It's a lot of fun. Today I'm putting the finishing touches on all the home festivities for tomorrow. When we wake up we're going to have what the kids call  "sweet rolls".  They loooooooove these and we always have them on holidays. I make them with a but...

A man once said, "My mother in law should be a travel agent because she specializes in guilt trips." The truth about guilt trips is, you don't have to take them! You can say no.  I realize it's easier said than done and today I'm going to give you a few tools to actually say no. What is a guilt trip? It's a manipulative tool some people use to try to influence the actions of others. Now that inventions like facebook have come on the scene it's unfortunately even easier to try to guilt trip someone.  How?  Through status updates, particularly through vaguebooking . Vaguebooking is an intentionally vague Facebook status update that prompts someone else to ask what's going on.  Or, it is a manipulative cry for help. This can happen at any time of the year but holidays are times when it seems these things can really flare up. Let's say you have decided to have Christmas this year with your spouse's side of your family, or with friends un...

Last night's leadership Christmas party at our home...the last guest didn't leave til' after 1:30 am, and a great time was had by all.  I wish I could sleep all day today.  I'm exhausted!  But, I have so much to do for Christmas so I've got a full day today. It was all worth it! Love spending time with our leaders.  Here are some photo highlights of the festivities last night.

Forget calling, responsibility and all that stuff..............I'm convinced some people might stay on our leadership team simply because they want to come to our Christmas party!  ::giggles::  Every Christmas my husband and I host a party at our home to show our love and appreciation to our Celebration Church leaders.  Between 70-80 people usually come as our leaders are invited to bring their spouse and kids. Everyone loves this party from the youngest to oldest!  We do everything from eat (of course!) to play games, and sit around the fire, and sing carols around the piano, and dance, and talk, talk, and talk some more.   We start at 6:00 PM and usually the last person leaves by about 2:00 AM.  I did mention that our name is Celebration Church?  Emphasis on the CELEBRATION. Being a person that loves fresh culinary ideas, I'm always wanting to try something new but every time I dare mention changing the menu there is an outcry...