round one

umm, who are those big kids flanking us? 

This was our first attempt at taking our annual Christmas card picture...we took it on Thanksgiving last Thursday, which also happened to be 1.)  the 21st Thursday since Jack departed and 2.)  the day that our van was viciously broken into (scumbucket). Tom, you did a nice job...your subjects, well, they were NOT very cooperative.

We tried not to look too fearful but I think a new brand of fear was creeping into my soul this day.

In other news, today is the 22nd Thursday since Sweetie boy died. I can't believe it. I miss him and see pix of other people's babies at the same age and try to close my eyes, imagine what that doll boy would be like...just can't fathom this.

That is a story for another day...I have a few different blog posts that I want to get on here before I forget them forever...let me post them here so that I can remind myself, or so that one of you can remind me, say, in a comment? Tashena? Tory? anyone?

1.)  The amazing JOY/Jack/butterfly gifts that I've received in just the past 3 days.
2.)  Jack's garden
3.)  Hopefully Round #2 of Christmascardpalooza of 2011. I have to say, I just LOVE Levi's face in most of those pics up there...but the last one is my fave. I might have been pinching him. We discovered that we needed to have lighter clothing on for the JOY letters to show up or implement them another way. So we are formulating. Our cards may not get out till closer to Christmas but we are working on them.

Since our van lock was popped, the driver side door will not open now. soooo, I didn't realize how much and effortlessly I hop in and out of our van till this. It's just one more of those things that I'm trying to smile about. Choose JOY ya know?

go check out Ann Voskamp's website at aholyexperience.com . I am loving her book "One Thousand Gifts", even though I read thru it earlier this year. I have a different perspective now (imagine that! gasp!) and discovered her site...which is cool. Check out her Jesse Tree download...that is something we've added to our nightly Advent reading/prayer.

Ok, gotta run...kids need to get to karate but I'll be back.

JOY in the journey

love this wall vinyl from Denise. Thank you, sweet girl! It's right by my scrapbook desk.

sweet scrapbook paper that reminds me of my son. wish he was here. I wonder if his hair would've laid down eventually. I want to sniff his baby head so badly.

Jamie got this beautiful picture for us. shedding fresh tears of gratefulness. As she pointed out, if Sully and Jack had lived, we wouldn't know each other. yes, we want our boys here but we thank the Lord for putting us together.  Thank you, Jamie, for this touching picture. seeing his name makes him seem "legitimate". He was here, he was prayed for, he was wanted and we love him.

Well, Happy Monday to YOU! If your Monday was as rainy and dreary as ours, then Happy may not be the most fitting word. Choosing JOY is a bit harder when the weather bites.

As you know, our van was broken into on Thanksgiving (grrrr!). I called our credit card people and the very nice rep asked me if I wanted to change the look of my card, that they have over 1,000 styles available to choose from...I told her to pick one for me, "surprise me" i told her.

I got my card today.

it has a butterfly on it.

coincidence?

I don't think so.

I think the Lord cares about me enough to send me little reminders that He loves me and that HE alone is in control of things. yeah, bad things happen to reasonably good people...and He uses these situations and seemingly bad things to draw us to Him. I'm being drawn. I don't want to live outside of His plan.

In other van breaking into news...David discovered on Saturday night that the thieves/creepers/jerks did in fact pop our lock. It's not noticeable, especially since we use a remote to open and close the Ol' Grey Mare. Doesn't that just make your skin crawl? yeah, mine too.

Christmas decos are going up slowly...I can't seem to move very quickly, as I stained the entire pool deck on Saturday (bent in half, mind you) and I can hardly move my limbs. Sorry about skipping out on you for an early morning rainy Monday walk, Tashena. I may be able to walk by week's end. but it's doubtful. ha ha.

Thank you, Mom and Dad, for taking #1, #3, #4 and #5 home for me tonight....I love you.

Levi stepped on a sewing needle tonight. It was gruesome. He doesn't cope well with stabbing.

Ok, I'm going to take my scattered brain and go put more lights on ye old tree. Hope this finds you warm and snuggly...maybe listening to some Nat King Cole singing about chestnuts and JACK frost...like I am.

Good night and God bless you!

shledding fun

earlier in the day (Christmas), Andrew thought it'd be fun to snowboard down the shledding hill.

Good thing he's still quite resilient...must be all that sweetened/condensed milk in his coffee.

Mooski

Tree Smear...thankfully, it looks much worse than it was....E is a bit of a daredevil too.

Beck says Two Thumbs WAY UP!

David, Levi and Nora

Nora

Will and Levi

One word: Waverly.

nuff said.

Ethan was very attached to this clothes basket. I even gave it a whirl a couple times and it was amazingly smooth.

we're nuts

My favorite picture of Becky...biting the powder! needless to say, she bounced right back and wasn't even sore the next day.

Will liked to scare us all and go down the ravine.

Becky, showing us her mad shledding skills.

Andy set aside his California ways (palm trees, 80 degrees and perpetual sunshine) to humor the Indiana Eskimos for a bit...he's a bit of a daredevil.

David, Will and Levi!

E and Nora

If it wasn't for Becky's feet, we'd have been eating tree bark.

Will was the official mule boy for this pack of females. running them back up the hill after a quick slip down the hill.

working on their model faces while shledding.

I will have to look thru the pix of the shledding adventure to put more on...there are sooo many. This is a good start, right?

As you have read, unless you are just here for the pictures, I have referred to this time-revered activity as "shledding". We have done this since our childhood. Don't ask why.

I think it goes back to our Michigan roots.

Anyways, I shall be back later with more Christmas day pix that Tom took...again, all these pix above belong to him. He takes great pix, don't you think?

Until then, more coffee is in order to get thru this toothache filled day of recovery....argh.

Merry Christmas Eve...

The little angel and little shepherd send warm Christmas wishes to you and yours....

Today, we are supposed to get snow...lots of it. We are heading to Illinois at around noon...depending on that snowfall, we will be home around 10 p.m.

I'm so excited for the kids...they are ALL so excited. Even Will, in his laid back ways.

I, for one, will be slightly relieved when Sunday, December 26th rolls around. I sound like my mom. She always used to say that she'd be "glad when it was all over" and it'd make me so mad...Mom, I know what you mean now. And I appreciate you all the more...It's definitely more fun to have Christmas fun happen TO YOU than to be the one(s) that MAKE IT HAPPEN.

I get it now. hats off, Mom and Dad.

And all of you fellow parents out there...let's all take a nice, collective deeeeeep breath...I can see the finish line.......

I shall be back tomorrow with more pix, I am certain.

Merry CHRISTmas, Glorious Emmanuel, God with us, to you and yours! Let us not forget the most amazing gift ever given...JESUS CHRIST!

Simply having a wonderful Christmas time...

Our green lidded shepherd kept hiding behind the other shepherds. grrr.

Our unimpressed littlest angel.

this was the best nighttime shot I could get of David...

Molly wasn't all that fond of Will's "break neck, let's go down the ravine" ways.

Mel, catching some powder...

This kid likes to eat snow. We warned him that eating snow in the dark could be hazardous to his health. o well. we tried.

Will and Melanie

David, Levi and Molly...I'm amazed at how much she enjoyed sledding! it was so much fun...I even took my bum down more than a dozen times, very carefully, mind you...but I figured it was some good cardio for that day. No real daredevilry on my part. well, not completely.

Becky, trying to scare the holiday spirit right out of me...

Mel, Levi and Piper, carefully preparing their reindeer food for Friday night...Molly and Nora made some too, but by that time, I was elbow deep in dinner dishes and they were in and out so fast, that I failed to get their picture. yes, I am a loser.

I'm sure I've used this title before. I'm pretty un-original that way.

Quite honestly, in spite of how I "feel" physically or whatever...we are creating good memories...

Sunday was a very busy day. Kids' Christmas program at church, lunch there afterwards followed by Boyden's cake and presents for my 38th b-day at my sister/bro in law's house. We went sledding. All of us, except for Randy (spoilsport :D) and Ethan, who was ministering at a local retirement home with his Phos Ontos group (Will stayed home with us).

My kid brother, Andy, flew in from Sunny California yesterday so we all met up for dinner and reindeer food making at Beck's house...

I can't believe Christmas is in THREE sleeps. I am all caught up on wrapping, just have to get a few giftcards but otherwise, all is well.

I am so thankful for Emmanuel... God with us. I will cling to that today. Happy Wednesday to you...

Last two days of 2009....

Levi is fulfilling his role of "The Licker Guy"...thankfully, we were really the only ones to eat our shortbread cookies. so his saliva germs remained here.

Love this tree in downtown Indy...and our fun evening with the P family! Thank the Lord for new friends, with just as many kids as us! whoa!

Another highlight from December was a fun evening spent with our good friend, Jen. She is a busy high school math teacher and we helped her decorate her beautiful home for Christmas. She fed us delicious Parmesan coated chicken, potato casserole, broccoli, ice cream...Thank the Lord for long-time friends!

My li'l cookie decorators.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Let's recap... ...............

Ok, let's not....

While I love December and everything that goes along with the Christmas season, I'm always slightly relieved when we get back into the mundane days of life. less hustle and bustle.

Then it begins to sink in that yes, I'm really 37. And we've just made it thru the first decade of the new MILLENIUM.

We will be having our annual New Year's Eve bash at our house Thursday night...hope to get lots of great action shots and such of our fun time...Nerfing, Hustling, ringing in the new year! Welcome 2010....hopefully you are a year of new and exciting things! Some interesting and exciting things are on the horizon. But I've been saying that for a while now.

I am most thankful for 2009 for many reasons...David's patent co. and construction co., good people to work with, friendships made and re-established, lessons learned and trials by fire!

Merry Christmas!

The nutcrackers that will haunt me forever.

the annual pajama open

Molly was asleep for the PJ Open but we did manage to get her Christmas Princess PJ's on...and we even left the food smudge on her face.

We call our style of decor Charlie Brown

Levi, trying out the new mini indoor tent from Gma and Gpa Y.

Getting Santa's plate ready...even though we really don't push that idea...it's traditional to put the cookies out. and oats.

All's quiet.

silent night....

ready for some praise and prayer time before commencing on the present front.

swimming in the sea of wrapping...

My fam came down after 4 p.m....the festivities didn't take too long, for no one felt spectacular and quite honestly, we were all worn down for this reason or that....

Gma and Gpa G always bring the loot...

see previous post...those little rascals? hard to believe that this is them now. Mel, you have so much hair. whatta lovely young chick you are. Will, Ethan? You are so dang handsome. and chivalrous.

Scotty and Beckaboo...love you guys too...

Can't believe I actually got a pic of Nora...there aren't many pix of her and Molly, for they were whirling dervishes this entire day.

Levi wanted me to take a pic of him with every one of his presents. funny guy.

Molly trashes her hair and feet pretty quickly....rips out the bow, takes off the shoes and socks.

Good evening!

Thought I'd better get some Christmas pix up!

That's all I've got tonight...that's it. nothing more.

Hope you and yours had a blessed Christmas celebration. Merry Immanuel!