Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas,
from our family to yours!

 

 

We pray that in the hustle and bustle
of what is often "Christmas"
you will be able to take time
to remember and know
the Greatest Gift ...
Immanuel, God with us.

 

Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son,
and they shall call His name Immanuel
(which means, God with us).

Matthew 1:23

 

With love,

 

Chris, Jenny

Hannah (8), Peter (6), and Matthew (3)

365 Project | Week 51

Weeks seem to fly by at the speed of light, and this year has done the same. :) We are, however, very excited to be half-way through our school year and are thoroughly anticipating our two week break. :) Not that I took a single picture related to either of those facts, but that's life. :)

 

349. Due to the nature of being in a college-town, we have our Christmas program a bit earlier than others around the country might. This was the Children's Choir in our program last Sunday evening.

350. Peter thought up his own challenge this week ... a carousel from K-nex! :) It was VERY cool. :) As you can see, he even made horses to go on the posts! :)

Me thinks riders would be a tad bit dizzy though. ;)

351. Ah. I guess I did get a school picture ... Hannah with her persuasive letter asking Grandma and Grandpa to come down a little bit earlier than planned. :)

352. We broke the #1 rule of photography ... always take at least TWO pictures. :) Here's about two-thirds of our class with their craft from our Christmas party Wednesday evening. Obviously not everyone was ready for a picture, but everyone enjoyed the evening. :)

353. Peter and Matthew felt it would be good and appropriate to decorate the couches.

354. With all assignments finished up by Thursday, our last day of school was enjoyed with friends. :)

355. And now the school room has become Mommy's wrapping station. :) At least I've started ... I still remember one year when our friends who had joined us for fellowship on Christmas Eve ended up helping us finish wrap gifts before they left for the night. :) (Remember, Debbie???) ;)

 

Once again, pictures seem to capture just bits and pieces of life ... especially when I keep forgetting to take them! :) Chris continues to make progress on our closet, someone delivers one or more packages on a daily basis, grocery shopping and errands and trips to the library keep happening, Christmas cards were mailed out, mountains of laundry are washed and folded, meals are prepared and cleaned up from, ... etc. etc. etc.

 

Probably the hardest thing this week was Mommy running over Matthew's bike with the van. :( So. So. Sad. Many lessons learned and a very shook up Mommy, but Praise the Lord, NO one was hurt--Matthew was inside when it happened. And by God's grace, there was enough left in the Christmas budget and a bike left in his size at Walmart, so that a replacement can be put under the Christmas tree. ♥

 

Anyway, that's where we're at. Looking very much forward to Grandma and Grandpa arriving to help us celebrate Christmas!

365Project.2 | Week 50

It's been a busy, full week ... yet, what week is not? :) I'm thankful for my munchkins and their energy ... even when it exceeds my own by what seems like a hundred-fold! :)

 

Day 343. Christmas decorations ... :)

 

Day 344. One little boy was exceptionally excited by his early Christmas present ... a Handy Manny ornament from Miss Emmy and Callie. Although he had the shirt, he had never seen "Handy Manny" until he watched it with his friend Callie on Good News Club day. Now he makes it a point to wear his Handy Manny shirt every. single. Tuesday. He was utterly delighted with his special ornament! ♥ Thanks, Miss Emmy!

Day 345. Random tidbit from our house ... marking the hardboiled eggs is a coveted "chore." ;)

Day 346. Happy squeals from the Mommy of the house ... primer (and now paint!!) cover the walls of our closet!!! :D You may wonder why I am quite so excited ...

These 18-inches in the front entryway have been my hanging space for the last 18 months. I am looking forward to 1. Having significantly more room. 2. Having my clothes in my bedroom. In case you were wondering. :)

Day 347. Somebody's learning how to use a leaf blower ... :)

Day 348. And among a couple other significant activities this Saturday, Hannah played "Silent Night" in her first ever piano recital!! :) She did a wonderful job ... especially considering that she's had only three lessons! :) Her time spent playing piano with Grandma over Thanksgiving definitely helped! :)

And here she and Faith-Ann are with their teacher. :) SO thankful for the people God places in our lives.

 

And amazingly, we now embark upon our last full week before Christmas ...

Mommy has planned a decidedly "light" week of school ...
hopefully we can make it through at least a few subjects. ;)

365Project.2 | Weeks 48-49

We were blessed with a wonderful visit with Grandma and Grandpa during Thanksgiving week, and since we were visiting, I was not blogging! :)  Here's the highlights from the last couple weeks.

 

Day 329. Hannah-bug convinced Mommy to rearrange the living room furniture. Her Daddy has hinted at the idea rather unsuccessfully for about four years running. Funny thing? I really like it! :) So why did I wait so long?

 

Day 330. Fun times with Grandma and Grandpa! Lots of snuggles, stories, building, and games. :)

 

Day 331. After quite a few days of rain, everybody was glad to get outside! :)

 

Matthew really took off with his Imaginets this week!

And Hannah loved playing from a beginner hymn book Grandma brought with her! :)

Day 332. Thankful for food and family! ♥

Day 333. Taco Bell lunch with Grandma :)

Day 334. Decorating for Christmas. And for the record, as I was preparing for this post, I realized that I have yet to take a SINGLE picture of the completed decorations. And the house is not in picture mode at the moment, and I did NOT feel like tidying, so ... you're just going to have to wait. ;)

Day 335. Got some great family photos this morning before church ... LOVE this one of the kids with Grandma and Grandpa! :)

And I'm also rather partial to this one Dad got of my hubby and me. ♥

Days 336-339. Back to school. Just two weeks left till Christmas break, and focusing can be rather, ummm, challenging. ;)

Day 340. We thoroughly enjoyed BJU's annual lighting ceremony ... we even got our picture taken by the campus photographers! How fun! :) (I hope they don't mind that I saved a copy of our picture from their FB page!) :) It's amazing what a difference the right flash/camera makes--my pictures are always (more than) a bit blurry ... theirs? Not so much. :)

Day 341. A rather busy day ... to the groomers for Toby, a church funeral for Chris and the big kids, Christmas goodie making for Mommy and Matthew, church work project for Chris and Peter later on ...

Chocolate covered pretzels and popcorn this year ...

Day 342. And the one and only picture of decorations I could take this afternoon without expending any effort ... ;)

 

I know it's a busy time of year for most everyone ... I pray that in the midst of it, you're able to take time to reflect on the incredible gift we've been given in the Son, Jesus Christ.

365 Project | Week 47

My camera definitely lagged behind me this week ... thankfully we did (barely!) capture the major events of the week. :)

 

Day 321. Isn't he handsome?? :) And he's eating. Actually. Correction. He's finished eating. That is a VERY regular occurrence. ;)

Day 322. Hannah took a break from reading out loud and they all enjoyed listening to the audio CD's that came with the book. :)

Day 323. Our piano arrived!!! Woo-hoo!!! SO excited!

Day 324. And yet another HUGE blessing ... the lessons we weren't expecting to start until January were able to begin immediately! :)

Day 325. K'Nex fun :) If only it could really go to the moon ...

Day 326. Pschew. This was a HARD day. I received a call in the morning that my precious Grandma had gone to the Emergency Room for chest pains. :( Matthew especially had a very hard time understanding why Mommy was so sad. He climbed up on my lap and played his "roaring" game to try to scare the tears away. If only it were that simple. Peter built a Duplo "Grandma" to help me feel better. And Hannah was at my elbow to hear the latest update every time the phone rang or beeped. So thankful for my precious children. ♥ Our whole family was SO relieved when we learned that Grandma was having trouble with her gall bladder rather than her heart! We love you, Great Grandma!! ♥

Day 327. While the rest of the crew partied, I spent most of the day in bed or curled up with a blanket. I'm so thankful that head colds are not an overly regular occurrence around here! :) I felt pretty much like these poor birds did after they flew into our living room window. At first we only saw the one bird which fell into our bush. After watching it for a few minutes and not seeing it move, I carefully picked it up in order to get it to solid ground. Then we saw the other bird, also stunned, in the flower bed. We put them together, and about 15 minutes later they had flown off. They were so soft. ♥

Day 328. My version of a DIY project ... I enlist moral support. ;) My hubby is in the final stages of helping me with our magnetic board for our school wall.

And now we eagerly wait for G&G to arrive!

:)

365Project.2013 | Week 46

In looking over our pictures this week, I'm realizing how small a picture just one photo a day paints. Our days are SO full. But, I guess that's why I do this--over the course of a year or so, most of the aspects of our days and weeks get captured. Just assume that most of the "ordinary" pictures tend to repeat themselves on a daily basis. :)

 

This week's been especially interesting. The Lord has taught us much--it's been quite a journey. :)
But for now, on to the pictures we took ...

 

Day 315. The kids were so excited to empty our "backpack" and send the money we saved for Bible Clubs in India. :) Mommy rejoiced to see their enthusiasm. ♥

 

I l.o.v.e. the fact that Hannah is eager to include her brothers in her cooking adventures! ♥  Kinda wonder how they managed to get chocolate in. his. EAR. (?!?!?), but some of things are simply best left unanswered ... ;)

Day 316. The sunset Tuesday evening was incredible! Peter was outside biking and called me outside three different times to make sure I didn't miss it. :)

And ... the boys enjoyed helping Daddy hang drywall! :) Our closet is coming ... :)

Day 317. Peter lost his very first tooth! :)

Day 318. Ummm ... yeah. Moving on ...

Day 319. I think I have nearly the same exact picture from about three years ago ... the bread maker has yet to lose its fascination. :)

Matthew had fun learning to make Challah. :)

And the highlight of our week ... dinner with our Pastor and his family. ♥ We do love them!!! ♥

Day 320. And then, what the Lord has been teaching us. To trust Him. And to wait on Him.

We've known we wanted to get a piano for a while now, but certain phases of house renovations needed to be completed before we had space for it. And then we needed to save some pennies ... lots of pennies actually. And then we needed to find a piano.

THAT was the harder piece of the puzzle, and a couple weeks ago we started actively searching for it. Many late nights researching, learning lots of new terms ... the definitions of acoustic, spinet, and console being just a few!, long phone calls with salesmen, good conversations with friends who blessed us with their time in sharing their knowledge, deciding on digital vs. acoustic, hours scouring Craigslist, multitudes of emails asking the questions people didn't feel the need to answer in their ads, a big disappointment when the piano we thought was to be ours was sold to someone else ...

And I'll be honest. Even as many times as the Lord has shown Himself abundantly faithful and clearly guided us in our purchase of a large ticket item, I was having a hard time trusting Him with this piano business. But I kept praying ... and praying and searching and praying and praying and searching ... and He once again proved Himself faithful. Saturday evening He led us to our piano. We are so thankful and glad!

And just another one of His good gifts? This piano is being sold by a piano tuner who will be delivering it as well, so I didn't have to go to the trouble of lining up separate people for delivery and tuning. :) We are rejoicing!! :) I am thoroughly looking forward to getting my hands back on the keys ... limited though my skills may be ... and we are EXCITED that Hannah will begin piano lessons in January. :) Exciting stuff! :)

 

And that my friends, is a glimpse (just a glimpse!) of our week. :)