Seasons

When I was in high school, there was a period of time when my small group leader rarely had a prayer request. She often said that she felt as if she were in a "summer" season in her life - in other words all was going well. She was thankful for her kids and her husband, and though sometimes unpleasant things came her way, she just seemed to have an attitude that was joyful no matter what. She would sometimes say that she wondered if maybe a "winter" was coming - that maybe some tragedy would happen because things had been so "right" for so long. And yet her "summer" continued. I always envied her life a little during those years, and hoped that someday my life would be something similar.

Well, in thinking over the recent months, I am realizing that I feel as though I am in a "summer" in my life. No, I don't have everything I could ever wish for, but yet really I do. I have a husband who loves me unconditionally. Who provides for my needs and the needs of our children. Who loves the Lord, and serves Him faithfully every day. Who romances me, makes me laugh, enjoys spending time with me. I have two wonderful children, who bless me every day. To hear them laugh makes my heart melt - every time. They are kind, and generous, polite. They make me proud. They are not perfect - nobody is - but they are such wonderful children. And already they both love the Lord. In fact, just yesterday Parker told me for the first time, in his two-year-old excitement, "Mom, I love God!" I have an amazing extended family, both on my side and on Jared's. Our families are supportive and encouraging. I have good friends. I have good health. I have everything I need, and also so much that I don't need, but that just makes life sweeter. And the One who gives it all to me is my Heavenly Father.

I would not change a thing about my life. I am so blessed. I feel more blessed now than I ever have. And yet I believe that it is not only my circumstances that have changed to make me feel this way, but more importantly my attitude. I can choose to focus on the things I want, that maybe I don't have. Or I can choose to focus on the wonderful things that I do have. And today that is what I choose to do. And while it is winter and a little bit chilly outside, inside it is a warm and wonderful summer!

Christmas 2010

I realized that I have yet to blog about our recent Christmas celebrations, so here I am, a couple weeks late. The weekend before Christmas, we had our own little family Christmas morning here at our house, since we would be gone on Christmas morning. I made our traditional Christmas breakfast, biscuits and gravy. The kids received one gift from Jared and I - a children's table and chairs set that we thought would be too large to take over the mountains and back - and we all opened our gifts from my side of the family (they had sent them with us when we came home from Thanksgiving). The rest of our day was just a normal Saturday.

The night before Christmas Eve, we packed into our car and drove over the mountains to stay with Jared's family. Jared's sister and her family were staying there, too, and it was lots of fun for Ellie and Parker to play with their cousin, Kya. We were also able to see Jared's other sister every day while we were there. On Christmas Eve Jared went hunting then came back and joined the rest of us at the Christmas Eve service. Then was the living nativity - Ellie and I were angels this year. Then we went back to the house for a late dinner and the opening of most of the gifts. It was a great time, and the kids were all so excited and entertaining!

Christmas morning we woke up and opened stockings, and our family opened the rest of our presents. Then we got ready for a Christmas dinner up at Jared's grandma's house, with extended family. We were able to stay one more day after Christmas (Jared hunted again that day), and then we made the drive back home the next morning. It was such a fun Christmas! It was wonderful to see family, to play in the snow, to enjoy time spent together!

Ellie and me before the living nativity

Parker and Ellie in their new Christmas p.j.s on Christmas Eve

The kids looking for the "pickle" on Christmas morning

Ellie and Parker in their Christmas best!

The kids had a blast tubing down the snowy hill!

Thanksgiving

This past Tuesday night we travelled down to Oregon for Thanksgiving. We had a good drive, with minimal traffic, and arrived around midnight at my mom's house. We had a great few days with my family. Thanksgiving is usually at my mom's house, and this year we gathered at my brother and sister-in-law's new house, right next door to my mom's house. It was really fun seeing so many family members (I think there were around 30-35). The food was delicious,of course. We even had home-raised turkey, which my brother and sister-in-law had raised this year. We all stuffed ourselves, and then returned to my mom's house to look at the ads and form a game-plan for Black Friday.

My niece, Sara, and I decided to take a short nap on Thursday night, and then we got up at 12:30 to begin our shopping. We went to Walmart, Target (although we didn't actually go in Target because after waiting outside for an hour I found out that all the tickets for the tv I wanted were already gone), Shopko, Fred Meyer, Kmart, and JC Penney. Sara and I went to Walmart and Target, then met some of our family at Shopko, and later we met with the rest of the family for breakfast, before doing the rest of our shopping. Jared and I got almost all our Christmas shopping done, and all of our shopping done for Ellie's birthday. And we found some awesome deals! I don't usually like crowds very much, but I love Black Friday shopping! It's one of my favorite days of the year!

We rested on Friday afternoon, and enjoyed the rest of our weekend, before driving back home on Sunday. It was a great weekend, and already I miss my family!

The kids love spending time with their Uncle Scott (who is famous in our family for his delicious pancakes that Ellie always looks forward to)!

We got to see my sweet great-nephew, baby Connor. The kids just LOVE him (so do I). He is one of the sweetest babies ever:)

I think I will just end by listing some of the things that I'm so very thankful for this year:

• My wonderful husband, who I fall more in love with every day.
• My two sweet kids, who are blessings from the Lord.
• Our new home.
• My extended family, on both sides.
• That I can stay at home with my kids, and homeschool Ellie this year.
• Good friends, both old and new.
• My wonderful Jesus, who came to earth as a baby and died on a cross so that I could one day live forever with Him in heaven.
• Our car, that (so far) runs so well and gets us where we need to be.
• Our new laptop.
• Jared's new job.
• SO much more!
  
  
  

Beautiful weather! And more...

Well, I am a week late in writing this. Our computer has been on the fritz, and it officially dead. However, I now type from our brand new laptop:) I am thrilled that we were able to get it, and we love it!

Our last couple weeks have been pretty busy. I had a weekend all to myself, when my hubby went to a boardgame retreat and took our kids to their grandparents' house. I did a lot of painting, and then spend some time just relaxing. It was wonderful! I missed my family like crazy by the end of the weekend, but it was so nice to have that break. I have the world's greatest husband, to think of the idea and then drive the kids over the mountains and back!

The next weekend my family from Oregon drove up to visit us and see our new house. It was so much fun, and I was wishing they could have stayed a lot longer!

I've been making Christmas gifts, and preparing our Christmas card and letter. And with homeschooling and just daily life, things have been busy!

In the past couple of weeks our weather has changed from a beautiful fall, with brightly colored leaved everywhere, to a gorgeous winter, with snow covering everything! Of course, we know that the snow won't last long here on the Western side of Washington, but we're enjoying it while we can:)

And tonight we leave for Oregon, to celebrate Thanksgiving with family. We have so much to be thankful for!

Ellie and Parker in the beautiful leaves in our yard.

Our first snow in our new home:)

The kids love the snow!