Saturday, December 26, 2009

Gold, Frankincense and Goggles?

Annalee loved the fleece blanket I made her!

Rob's favorite gift - his Leatherman! (a very handy tool!)

Josh's favorite present - this church jacket (he has been asking for one for months!)


At the airport, seeing Auntie Amy off! :-(



Auntie Amy opening her quilt and goggles!




Merry, merry Christmas, dear reader! I hope you and your family had a wonderful celebration, and that you were drawn closer to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! Our family had a fun Christmas. Jeremy's sister came to visit us the week before Christmas. And we, being the very unconventional parents that we are, allowed our kids to open presents while she was here - being that we wouldn't have any other family here during Christmas to open presents with. So they got to open their presents 4 days early. But we still saved stockings for Christmas morning. We had Amy this year for Christmas, and I have been working since May on a quilt for her. I should have taken a picture to post on my blog, but forgot about it. I didn't want to before Christmas anyway, since the possibility that she might see it early was pretty great. But a funny thing happened when she opened her quilt. Apparently one of the kids had put their snowmachine goggles (from in Galena) in the box with her quilt, and they were wrapped with it. We all had a good laugh when she went to pull out her quilt, and the goggles fell out. Too funny!

Last Sunday, the boys had their Christmas play at church. It went really well. I was in the very front, and could hear most of it, but I'm not quite sure how far back their voices actually carried. But they were all so cute! The wigs were a little too big, the masks didn't stay on too well (and Silas kept trying to take his off!), and a little bit of the myrrh (or olive oil!) spilled on the floor. But all the kids remembered their lines, and I was proud of all of them. I was in the front, in the corner by the piano, and I couldn't see Zeke. I wasn't too worried, since he didn't have any lines, but wanted to find him nonetheless. I looked in the back to where the nursery worker was sitting (she had brought our two babies out to watch the play), but Zeke wasn't with her. But when the play was finally over, and the kids started to file down from the platform, Zeke was the last one to come down. I was so surprised to see him up there. He hadn't moved a muscle or made a sound during the whole thing - which is pretty hard for a 3 year old. I had been told by the woman in charge that he was having some difficulty during practice, so I was very surprised that he had been so good!

For Christmas Eve, we went to the service at the Nazarene church here in town. Our church didn't have a service, and it was very nice to be able to just go to a service, and not to have to plan one! Most of the time was spent singing Christmas carols, which I thoroughly enjoyed. The pastor then shared a message. After the service, the kids all enjoyed some cookies and hot cocoa in their fellowship hall. Then we drove up to Hoopa to look at some Christmas lights that some women at our church had told us we had to go see. Christmas day started with the kids all opening their stockings. Annalee even got a couple of new hair barrettes. Then after getting dressed and ready for the day, we started getting everything cooked for our Christmas dinner. We only ended up having 4 people from church over here. We had invited several others, and had expected to have more than that, but we enjoyed the fellowship of those that came. Rob was sick most of the day. He was so excited when he went to bed Christmas Eve, and I think he worked himself into it. He just had a headache most of the day, and he said his stomach hurt. He was still able to eat, and never threw up, but did end up taking several short naps throughout the day. And today, he is perfectly fine. I mentioned this to my mom last night when we talked on the phone after the kids had gone to bed. She told me that when she was little she had the same problem, and that her mom couldn't tell her anything exciting that they were going to do (like vacation, etc) until 2 days before they left. So maybe that's where he gets it from. But other than that, we had a very enjoyable day.

Now that Christmas is over, Jeremy and I are getting very excited about our trip next month. My mom will be coming at the end of January (our retreat is the 26-29). I'm also getting a little nervous about leaving Anna home. I know my mom is capable of taking good care of them all, and Rob and Josh are very big helpers, but there's just something about leaving the baby home. I had a hard time when Jeremy and I flew up to visit Alaska before going there, too, and we even took baby Micah with us (but Zeke was only 13 mos at the time). So if you think of it, please pray for us that we will have a wonderful time, and not spend all of it worrying about the kids. And that my mom and kids will all do well together.

If you haven't noticed, I have started putting the Village Missions prayer spotlight on the side of my blog. Each week, there is a different couple that we pray for. I have included a link to the Village Missions webpage that tells their name, field, and a little bit about the community and church that they serve, as well as some things to pray for. We pray for these dear couples in our church every week, but I wanted to put them on here, so you could be aware of them, too. This week, the spotlight is a couple just out of Redding that we really enjoy fellowshipping with at our VM fellowship days in Redding. They are a really neat couple. If you think of it, please lift them up in prayer.

Thank you for reading my blog. I wish you and your family a wonderful new year!!!

1 comment:

Stacie, A Firefighter's Wife said...

So cute! It must be nice to just go to a service and not have to do anything to make it happen. What a treat! The things we take for granted and the people. I'm ashamed...