This year, we had the awesome privilege of attending our first Beginners Band concert!!! It was a hoot and the kids did really well. I couldn't really get any pictures of Morgan as he was hiding behind his music stand. However, I did make him take a picture before the concert in front of the Christmas tree... hey, what else are mom's for???

Grammy began a tradition years ago of baking Christmas cookies with the grandkids. We have a good time hanging around in the kitchen unwrapping chocolate candies, putting cookie dough on baking sheets, sharing our latest news and watching the children make a huge mess. Grammy is so patient with the kids and they all have a great time. Here are a few pics from this years "Cookies with Grammy".

Ivey, Gavin and Arden get ready to spoon out the M&M cookies. Although, Gavin didn't really help, he just ate all the cookie dough!

Let's face it... Grammy did most of the work. Thank you, Grammy!

Alex and I - she's such a sweetie!

Best buds, Gavin and Andrew. They are definitely two peas in a pod!

Contrary to popular belief, I did help (some) :-)

Ivey and Grammy decorate sugar cookies

Yesterday was Ivey and Gavin's last day for preschool until January. Ivey's class sang a few songs in front of the parents. Both classes had a Christmas party. Here are a few pics from our day.

Best buds: Daddy and Gavin

Gavin wasn't very excited about getting his picture taken with the class...

Or about singing Jingle Bells.



Ivey and her good friend, Kathryn. These two are like two peas in a pod.

Ivey begins decorating her gingerbread man. By the time she finished, I think we had about a pound of sugar on that thing.

The Pre-K classes sing for the moms and dads. Very sweet.

Today I have been working on a embroidering a few Christmas gifts for others. I don't really advertise, but I love to embroider things for friends and family. And, many of them ask me to embroider gifts for them to give to others. It's a fun hobby and the extra cash is nice. I'm told that my prices are much cheaper and my turn-around times are much faster than an outside embroidery business. I appreciate the votes of confidence and the fact that someone can give a very special gift to someone they love.

Aren't these mother-daughter aprons adorable?!?!?!

Well, the past 36 hours have been... interesting. Sunday evening, while we were celebrating my mom's birthday at her house, Gavin and Morgan were horseplaying. Gavin had a pencil in his hand from pretending to play drums earlier and Morgan tripped him while playing. Gavin fell onto the eraser end of the pencil, the eraser was pushed out and the metal part cut his eye lid and tear ducts on his right eye. (Lesson #1 - Don't play while holding sharp objects.) His eye started bleeding within a few seconds and we immediately scooped him up, put on his shoes and headed out the door to the ER. Mom and Papa kept the other kids while we headed to a nearby hospital. I obviously wasn't thinking with a right mind because we decided to take him to a regular hospital rather than driving down to the children's hospital. We spent several hours at the regular hospital before they told us that they couldn't treat his injury and that we would need to take him to Scottish Rite. (Lesson #2 - Always take children to Scottish Rite to begin with.) So, a couple of hours and two $200 ER co-pays later, we were taken back into the emergency department at Scottish Rite. They called in a pediatric opthamologist who told us that they would probably go ahead and do the surgery to repair his eye. However, after the trauma of trying an IV in one hand without success and then putting it in the other hand, we were told that it wasn't enough of an emergency to call in the opthamology team, so we would need to go home and schedule surgery for later in the day. Great. We finally got home around 4:00 AM on Monday morning only to wake up Gavin at 8:30 to eat breakfast since he couldn't have anything after 9:00 because of the upcoming surgery. He went back to the outpatient center in the afternoon, had the surgery at 5:30 PM and was home by 10:30 PM. Everything is sewn and fixed and he looks great. Just a little redness and swelling around his eye. We are so happy that the pencil didn't cut his eye ball or cornea or that it didn't just go straight through. All in all, it was a fairly minor injury. We feel very blessed.

The morning after the surgery. He looks pretty good doesn't he? He has several stitches in the top corner of his eyelid and a small tube inserted into his tear duct so that it will heal correctly.

“This came about so that God’s works might be displayed in him” (John 9:3)

It is in the nature of man to ask why. We see tragedy in our world and we ask why. We encounter hardship in our lives or suffer loss, and we ask why. We want to know the reason for it all, the unifying purpose behind this strange, needy world. Jesus reminds us: It is all for the glory of God. The universe exists to display His splendor.
We can see many specific examples in Scripture. The Israelites were kept as slaves in Egypt in order that God might be knows as Deliverer (Exodus 11:9). He led them to near disaster at the edge of the Red Sea in order that He might gain glory (Exodus 14:4). Many psalms of David would never have been sung if not for his persecution. This man in John 9 was blind for his entire life “so that God’s works might be displayed in him” (John 9:3). Paul suffered in order that Christ’s power might be seen (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).
But we are slow. We can’t help but think this universe is about us, and when life is hard on us, it doesn’t make sense.
If we remember that it is all about Him, we begin to see. It all makes sense. By our captivity He is known as Deliverer. By our sin He is known as Savior. By our weakness He is knows as powerful. Next to our hatred, His love amazes. Every evil we can think of has the potential of being a platform for the goodness of God. It’s all about Him.
Do we suffer and question God’s goodness? Do we complain about our hardships? If so, we have forgotten that the universe is meant to glorify God, not us. Consider how His power might be made known in our trials. Redirect your prayers not to improve your situation but to have your situation demonstrate His glory. Thank Him for making Himself known.

--taken from the December 2009 issue of Journey: A Woman's Guide to Intimacy with God

We decided this year to buy a real Christmas tree. Chris and I both love the "feel" of a real tree, but of course it's more economical to have an artificial one. This year we decided to go with what we really wanted, so we went out to buy a 9' Fraser Fir. We absolutely love it. We decided that we want this to be our family's tradition, so now we're looking for good homes for our fake trees. We had a great time decorating the tree with red and white lights and all the home ornaments from years past.

I thought this picture that Ivey drew of our family was really cute. It will definitely take its place in the keepsake box!

Holy Smokes!! Time is flying! Between preschool, basketball practice, watching football games, handbell concerts, Wednesday nights at church, cleaning, laundry, exercising, shopping and family activities time is just flying by! It's been really fun!

This past weekend, Chris and I took our family and his parents to see "Back to Bethlehem" at a nearby church. They did a fantastic job and we all loved it despite the freezing temperatures.

Mary and Joseph with Jesus.

The kiddos having a good time, Gavin, Ivey and Morgan.

We posed with this nine month old camel that was making the craziest noises the whole time! We all got a great laugh out of it!

Jim and Chris bundle up near the fire of a shepherd.