First Christmas

A Christmas of firsts....

Our first Christmas in our new(to us) home.
Our first Christmas with Bandit.
Our first Christmas without Checkers.
Our first Christmas service at our new church home, with beautiful service led by Pastor D!
Our first that we might not get "home" and miss the family celebrations.
Our first that Luke needs to sleep on Leah's bedroom floor "so Santa doesn't come in my room"

Nothing compares to the very first Christmas! Ed's sermon was a series of homilies on how Christ came to be man. He of course shared scripture to prepare the way and hymns to describe God's faithful love. He also shared how real the Christ child was growing and stretching and being loved by his expectant mother for months before his birth. I had never thought about how real that is. Christ became more than just "man", he was as much a babe that grew as I was growing in my mother's womb. He was real, he is real and he lived to save the believing.

Mean Mom

I found one negative to our new home. Since it's Iowa (which we love!), our neighborhood is flat! Not all of Iowa is flat, but our neighborhood sure is ~~~ thus no sledding hills. Now I'm the mean Mom that won't allow my kids (and the neighforhood pack) to slide down our 7 foot deck steps!

Sunday School XMAS program

The best part of the weekend was the Sunday School Christmas program. Leah placed some of the "Savior's Nations" flags around the alter rail (you can see that it is round!) Luke was Joseph and a proud one at that! He had to go early with his Pastor Dad, as Mom might run too late (with 2 cousins coming too!) The program was so sweet, bring tears to my eyes. I was so proud of each and every one of them. I guess I am starting to love the whole congregation! (still have probably 60% of the names to learn though!). The pictures are taken from my usual front row spot and I LOVE looking up at the cross and stained glass above.

Baking cousins

I was ambitious this weekend... maybe a little too ambitious! If you are family and these show up on the goody table... be cautious, more flour than dough was used. Of course most ended up on their clothes, hair, the floor and curtains!

Leah the monkey

Christmas time and recital is the only time to watch class progress.... we are proud of how much she has learned in 3 months. Hopefully it isn't too grainy!

Missed blogging

Tap, Tap.... anyone there? Probably not for awhile. I can not believe it has been almost 2 months. I joined facebook, and that distracted me for awhile... pretty easy but vague and writers block is even more intense as some of my high school "friends" are reading... and I just know are probably "judging". Maybe life has changed for them too... but old insecurities don't die I guess. Several good friends are on FB too (even high school), but they aren't posting much either!

Life is going on... very fast. I blink and another week is gone! I still love the hospice house, but the drive is more difficult worrying about the weather. The kids have started to adjust. I don't know how much longer God will keep me in DSM. It really seems like that to me.... Some pretty incredible "God instances" have occurred that have influenced me and hopefully have helped others. God's plans are right and perfect and I am continuing to learn to trust in him. This blog started due to all of the "God instances" that occurred during the seminary years. I wanted to keep track of them and share them. Mostly the blog turned into "cute stories about the kids" and mostly Leah as I didn't want to embarrass Luke as he began to try new things and suffering enough growing pains as it is being a "tweener" as he refers to himself. So I have a new camera, too much teenage insecurites for regular facebook, and miss the good old blog so... lets try this again!