Christmas 2011

I'm seriously late on posting Christmas pictures, and believe me, I have a lot more, but I'm just going to post the basics because otherwise I would never get caught up :)

Anyway, we woke up Christmas morning and sat around the tree reading the story of Jesus' birth in the Bible. Then we prayed and thanked Jesus for his birth, and prayed that we would have grateful hearts and that we'd be appreciative of the gifts we had picked out for them. The kids asked to sing Happy Birthday to Jesus (we hadn't panned on it but we were more than happy to oblige) and then we had a quick breakfast before opening gifts. I made yummy cinnamon rolls and bought special cereal (Fruit Loops; it's too sugary to have around so I got this as a special treat and they were probably more excited about this than the presents, haha!)

As usual, we gave three gifts to each child like the Wise Men gave Jesus. Lauren's large gift as this pretty cool desk with tons of crafts and craft supplies... it was the best gift because she has already spent countless hours at that thing ;)



Jacob's big gift was this CD player... he wanted to play music in his room.

They gave each other special small gifts they had bought for one another:

 and then we opened up the remaining gifts:

(Yes, there were more than three gifts each because a couple of grandma's sent gifts and we opened them that morning).

It was a beautiful Christmas morning. This was only the second Christmas that we collectively spent more time praying and concentrating on Christ's birth than the gifts. And it was an amazing thing ;)

2011 Recap

Whew! What a crazy year it's been for us!

In January, our first snowstorm of the season arrived so we played outdoors alot:

In February, our sweet little Megan was born,

making us into a family of five:

 In March, our big girl turned four:

In April, we celebrated Miss Meg's first ever Easter,

and my husband felt the Lord's calling to go into ministry (eventually), so he enrolled in college and 'CLEP'd' his way through all of his General Ed classes (in less than 4 months!).

As for the kiddos and I, we spent most of the month outside enjoying the weather on various park and hiking trips:

Oh, and lets not forgot someone *ahem* gave herself a mullet:

AND this little man gave up his crib to move into a big boy bed:

In May, we celebrated my Birthday (the big 3-0!), our Anniversary and Mothers Day. It's always a challenging month for my man :) So my sweet Hubster lumped all of that into one and bought me a fancy camera. I spend alot of my time photographing this cutie:

In June, we celebrated Justin's Birthday (he had just had Laser Eye surgery):

Jake's third Birthday,

and Fathers Day:

We also sold our Durango in to buy a van with cash outright (yes, no car payments at all anymore; yippee!):

This is a picture of what the van looked like had we bought it new. We didn't, lol ;)

In July, we completed yet another summer swim session,

and celebrated the Fourth of July:

 August was a super busy month for us. We took a mini vacation to the beach with the MacDonald family:

we had our family dedicated at the church:

Megan began solid foods (and initially wasn't a fan):

she began crawling:

and we went on a retreat with our small group:

  

In September, my husband started Bible college:

and the kiddos joined gymnastics (and loved it!):

 In October, Miss Meg dressed up in her first ever Halloween costume:

 and the big kids accompanied her bee costume with additional insect gear ;)

We also felt God's calling to rent out our home in preparation for our move to Texas next year (Justin will be starting seminary there):

That meant giving up some valued personal possessions, like the piano, swingset and spa which was really hard:

We moved into our rental home (for the time being) though, and made it as homey as possible:

Oh! And in the midst of packing up our lives, the kids enrolled in a season of soccer:

 In November, the kids started their new PreK (and it's amazing!):

and we celebrated Thanksgiving as a family with our extended family: 

And in December, we went on our annual tradition to check out the lights:

volunteered at the animal shelter:



celebrated Christmas:

and on New years Eve, enjoyed a game filled night with food and friends while the little people slept ;) 

It was a crazy, exciting, growing year for us. I can't wait to see what 2012 holds for us ;) Happy New Years everyone!

...or not...

Well, it's not the end of a chapter, I guess ;)

I have been praying for a clear answer as to whether I made the right choice or not ending the blog (that's not to say that I didn't pray about it before because believe me, I did!). But ending this chapter was more challenging than I expected and so I specifically  prayed today that God would confirm that I did the right thing.

Funny guy, our God. He answered my prayers, just not in the way I expected ;)

Without going into too much detail, I got confirmation from a few different friends and acquaintances today who called and wrote, completely unprovoked, to tell me that I should and need to continue the blog. Hmmm, coincidence??? ;) One girlfriend told me that I am 'doing His work through the blog' by reaching out to people, such as herself. Another person told me that the blog has been a blessing to them because they get ideas on crafts and baking activities with their kids.

What a compliment and answer to prayers! I spoke with my husband about it at length, and we both agree that this blog is a good thing if I use it for the right reasons and that it doesn't become a hindrance in my walk with the Lord.

With that said, I'm back at it. However, I won't be posting as much as I did. Daily posts began to consume me, and I need to make sure my priorities are in check. So, here we go... again ;)

End of a chapter

God is doing some amazing, challenging and radical things in our lives. We've felt it happening for some time now, but it's becoming more and more obvious just how 'radical' we truly are. We have faced some harsh judgement and persecution over some of our choices to follow God and obey His Word, and I find myself meditating on this verse often: ¹⁸ “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. ¹⁹ If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. "

In an attempt to be relate-able, and likable by our peers, family and friends, I think we begin to lose sight of our true identity in Christ. At least, this is the case for me. I can get caught up in the world, sucked in and easily begin to live a life of material possessions, idols, and things which take the focus off of Him.

And now, every time we embark on something new, or even consider the things we are doing right now, my Husband and I ask ourselves two questions; 1) Is this growing us closer to God and 2) Is this building the Kingdom?

Such is the case with this blog. For a long time, it was simply my outlet. But it has since become something that has become an 'idol' in some ways. Like, I frequently decide to update the blog, or redesign it, or silly other things instead of reading the Word and connecting with the Lord. I have this tendency and that's why I rarely go on Facebook, blogs, etc... It truly is a stumbling block for me, so I avoid it.

I have thought long and hard about this because I know extended family and friends keep updated on us through this blog. But I can't be a hypocrite to my family, telling them how much I love the Lord, and yet, I'm not reading the Bible as much as I should because less important tasks have taken priority. More importantly, I want to spend time with God, connecting with Him and growing in Him every chance I get ;)

I want to focus on three things this year; 1) studying the Bible and spending much more quality time with God, spending my time with my man and kiddos (loving on them, teaching them, crafting with them, playing with them), and taking better care of myself physically, since I am the example to my babies. (This is already happening because instead of doing a blog post in the mornings, I've been running for 30-45 minutes).

We are looking forward to getting more involved in our new church, begin street witnessing and reading a few new books. I've read Radical before, and it's life changing, but I'm also planning to read this book. The author took seven months, identified seven areas of excess, and made seven simple choices to fight back against the modern-day diseases of greed, materialism, and overindulgence. I am SUPER excited to read this book... it is right up my alley. I don't think it's coincidental that God has made us very passionate about this issue ;)

Anyway, lots going on and I simply don't have time to do this blog.... I want to fill every precious moment of this life Loving my God, my man and babies, and taking care of myself physically so that I can be around as long as possible, Lord willing. Of course, we will still be doing fun things; crafting, baking, playing, loving but it won't be shared on the blog anymore. .. it will be portrayed in day to day life ;)

We are SO looking forward to 2012. We have some glimpses of where we see the Lord leading us, but He is sure to surprise us and we can't wait to see where he leads us! Texas, missions, who knows?!?

Be sure to write. Love to you all :)