Christmas 2007

Our gracious Father answered our prayers for peace and comfort during the holidays. We thank him for that and are so blessed to have made some wonderful memories this year.

This is the newest member of the family, our niece, Molly Elizabeth!

JP and cousin, Natalie

MarMar with JP and Brent

Grandmother and her six beautiful and handsome grandkids

The boys open some gifts at home

We had a yummy dinner on Christmas day

Logan and JP are great friends and cousins

The cousins had a ball at the Gaylord Texan

The Gaylord was a beautiful place to celebrate the holidays

J.P., Ken, Me, and Brent at Mom/Grandmother's house

More Gaylord photo ops

This was the view from our 8th floor window!

A Bittersweet Christmas

As our family celebrates Christmas this year, there will be no way around thinking about the chair that will be empty. I have thought a lot about my dad in the last few weeks. About how he enjoyed helping Mom shop for all the grandkids during December and finding the best bargains in every store. He was notorious for waiting until the very last possible minute to buy the gifts that were just from him. Sometimes that made for some interesting presents for Mom! :)

One of my favorite ongoing memories of Dad at Christmastime is his famous "SAVE THE BOWS" followed by laughs everywhere and his putting all the bows he could find on his bald head. Heaven forbid we throw away a bow! We could use them for next year's gifts! :)

This year we will be doing things a little different and a little the same. We are going to spend part of our time together at a fancy hotel and do some special things together. Then we will go back to Grandmother's for our traditional gift opening time. Although Christmas will never be the same for us, we are looking forward to some special memories in 2007.

The blessing of family should never be taken for granted. It is truly a gift.

Pictures from Christmas 2006

Grandaddy helps Megan with her yo-yo

Grandaddy and Halle tell Brent something

Grandaddy opens his presents

More Birthday.... A Little Late!

Happy late birthday to my wonderful husband and friend! No, I did not forget, but we were out of town on his birthday, so I did not post on Friday. I am so blessed to be going through this life with such a wonderful man who loves me and is the perfect father for our children.

Birthday Time at Our House!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JONATHAN!!!

My baby is 10 years old today! It is hard to believe, but it's true! I am so proud of JP and all he is and all he is becoming. JP is a great friend and lots of fun to be around. We had a fun party on Saturday with some friends from school and church, complete with lots of silly challenges they all had to complete! (10 to be exact!) We will be celebrating at the restaurant of Jonathan's choice tonight. He can't wait for his presents!

Tag -- I'm It!

I've been tagged twice with the same questions, so I guess I will comply!

MY MAN!

1. Who is your man? Ken

2. How long have you been married? 16 1/2 years!

3. How long did you date? We dated for 12 months, then we were engaged for 9 more so a total of 21 months!

4. How old is your man? 38

5. Who eats more? Ken does, but he is always finished eating his second helping before I am finished with my first.

6. Who said "I love you" first? Ken

7. Who is taller? Ken

8. Who sings better? Definitely Ken! I am blessed to have him as my worship leader every Sunday.

9. Who is smarter? This is an interesting question, because if we are talking book smarts, we both help the kids with different subject areas of their homework. I pretty much help with Math, but he is always the better choice with history. He has an unbelievable memory for the smallest details and current events. I would have to be diplomatic and say that we tie in the day to day living smarts. We are a good balance for each other.

10. Whose temper is worse? Mine :(

11. Who does the laundry? I do most of it now that I am at home. But I learned early that even small children can sort their dirty laundry and put it up when it's clean!

12. Who takes out the trash? Our sons! (I love that they are older now)

13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I do. It's funny, but in both the houses we have lived in since we've had kids, I managed to be the farthest from the door, so if the kids come in our room during the night, they go to Dad first! (Maybe I am the smarter one.)

14. Who pays the bills? I pay, but we budget together. (Thanks, Dave!)

15. Who is better on the computer? I guess we are about the same.

16. Who mows the lawn? Ken does a beautiful job with our front and back lawns. He takes a lot of pride in the outside appearance of our home.

17. Who cooks dinner? I usually do, but in our house whoever cooks does not have to clean the dishes, so I don't mind too much.

18. Who drives when you are together? Ken

19. Who pays when you go out? Ken

20. Who is more stubborn? Me :(

21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Ken, almost always.

22. Whose family do you see most? Mine

23. Who kissed who first? Ken kissed me first in Nelson Park, but I knew it was coming!

24. Who asked who out first? Ken asked me out and cooked for me on our first date!

25. Who proposed? Ken (I'm smiling) What a great memory!

26. Who is more sensitive? Ken is more sensitive to others than I am. I probably take things more personally, though.

27. Who has more friends? I don't know, probably about the same, I guess.

28. Who has more siblings? I have a brother and sister, he has a sister.

29. Who wears the pants in the family? Ken

30. Who is the biggest pushover with the kids? Ken. I definitely am more strict as a parent, but we have learned to show the kids a united front!

How fun this was! I can't believe I put it off! I tag AMY G., Erica, and Brooke!

What to Write?

I have been such a slacker when it comes to posting on this blog! I really want to write, but there is nothing there. Honestly, my days are like a roller coaster. I am having a great day, then the blahs hit. I know this is perfectly normal for where I am in life now, but I have hesitated to write because I think I feel this pressure to write something profound or uplifting, neither of which I have been given lately! (You may be thinking since when has she EVER written something profound or uplifting :) !

Anyhoo, I'm still here and plugging along! Today is my date day with my hubby, then movie night for us because the kids both got invited to do something with friends tonight! Life is good!

Pass It On

Have you ever noticed that when you are pregnant, all you tend to see is pregnant women? Or if you get a certain new car, you see that car everywhere you go? I had a realization today. Since my family and I are going through a time of hurting and heartache, I notice hurting people. I'm sorry to say I'm not sure if that is usually true. Don't get me wrong. I'm not a cold-hearted person that doesn't usually care about people, but things are different now. It's almost like I am put in situations where I run into hurting people. It happened today. I was in a store and saw a friend who I knew was hurting right now. I knew I had to go to her and listen, not out of duty, but out of understanding of a hurting heart. We stood in the aisle and talked and cried as she told me of her situation. Hopefully I was encouraging to her as I shared some of my struggles, but mostly listened. Pain has a way of drawing people together. Maybe it is because you know that person will understand and not judge.

God has given me such comfort in the last few weeks, through other Christians and directly from Him. Today, God knew I needed to be on the giving end. Thank you, God, for an awesome opportunity!

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 2 Cor. 1