Saturday, December 25, 2010

merry christmas

from all of us here...
click to enlarge and see Haven's repeated joy even better!

hope your day was merry and bright and full of the joy of the Lord!

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Mati+Hay=trouble!

Haven's front teeth +Mati's forehead = a night spent at the ER.

A horrible collision as they were running through the house resulted in our second trip to the ER in 10 days.  In the course of those 10 days we also had a traumatic dentist visit for Haven and a few hours spent at urgent care. My kids have never had this much medical trauma  in such a short time span! Thankfully we walked out of the ER Tuesday night with the best case scenario.  We thought Mati was going to need stitches and Haven was going to loose at least one tooth if not more.  BUT, we were wrong, Praise the Lord!  They decided Mati's head would heal okay on it's on.  (And it was until last night when he climbed up on a rocking chair to get something off a bookshelf and a wooden box of wooden play food came crashing down on his head, re-opening the wound! He needs a helmet for Christmas!)  After waiting a long time for a pediatric dentist consult, it was decided that we should give her teeth a chance to reattach.  They might not, but since the teeth weren't cracked or broken off, we should at least let them try.  So we'll check again in a few weeks and see what the dentist thinks then.  They are ridiculously wobbly and she's having a hard time not messing with them; can't say I blame her.
Who looks like they're in more pain here? Seriously- what was my problem?!

I am thankful that overall I have really healthy kids and that we have money to pay for the great medical care that is readily available to us.  I am not taking it for granted! While I hate seeing my kids in pain or sick, I realize it could be SO much worse.  The last few weeks have been joyfully busy for our family, but all the medical drama has added another layer of crazy.  We've fought hard to not let any of it steal our joy and distract our hearts.  He is good no matter what our circumstances may try to tell us.  These next few days will be, Lord willing, calmer around here.  We're eager to celebrate His coming!  And we long for His return!

Monday, December 20, 2010

Advent thoughts

"Whenever Christmas begins to burden, it’s a sign that I’ve taken on something of the world and not of Christ." 

-Ann Voskamp 

Read the whole post here, because you really should.  She says it better then just about anyone.  This sentence has been running constantly through my mind since I read it.  It's become my gauge to filter what I'm doing, the busyness I find myself occupied with.  Thankfully, much of the busy is joyful, but it's a way to keep my heart and my actions focused on what really matters.  


Him.  The baby Jesus, born to die.  For me.  


Glory to God in the Highest!








**I'll need to keep this in mind this afternoon as we decorate our gingerbread house!**

Sunday, December 12, 2010

An almost hibernation day

It's been a slow, easy day around this house.  We had a somewhat self-imposed hibernation day, due to a concussion and trip to the ER for a certain little boy yesterday. We needed to keep an eye on him and lay low and that's just what we did.  But we also had some lovely holiday fun.  Donuts and bagels for breakfast while we watched a movie.  (Don't think we'd ever done that before.)  Christmas coffee for the grown-ups (thanks, Amber!).  Making treats to eat and share and packing boxes off to friends and family. I also crossed off a major to-do: the Christmas cards!  Lots of help from Haven with those and it feels good to see them all lined up, ready to go.  Some presents got wrapped and a new list was made of what I have left to do.  We watched some football and ate some snacks.  It was a lovely day, all around.  Productive, but in a low-stress way.  Loved it.

And the boy is doing fine. We kept a close eye on him last night, waking him every few hours.  After checking him at 3:30am he decided it was an okay time to be up for the day.  Let's just say Mama and Mati got a lot of quality time in today.  (And I loved it!)  We had all the classic symptoms yesterday- vomiting, dizziness, out-of-sorts- so it was a relief to see my little guy back in action today.  Even at 4am!

The snow piling up outside only added to the almost hibernation day we had.  Couldn't have written it better myself!

Monday, December 6, 2010

Christmastime Fun


We had a great weekend enjoying the snow and lots of holiday fun.  Friday night we went to get our Christmas tree.  We love the small family tree farm that we found a few years ago.  They are so nice and the trees are so reasonably priced.

With in a minute of arriving I spotted our tree and knew it was "The Tree of 2010".  I pretended to check out a few others, but I knew who we'd be going home with.  I thought it looked kind of small, but that's probably because all the other trees around it were at least a foot taller.  As it is, the one we got, with star on top is touching the ceiling of our living room.
We spent the rest of the evening decorating the tree. It's always such a bittersweet time as I pull out ornaments from Christmas' past and am flooded with memories and missing.  The tree looks perfect and I just love walking past it; I smile every time.  There is something special about the glow of the Christmas lights while watching the snow falling outside.  Love it.
I also love this kid.  He and Haven loved the tree farm and had fun running around.  Saturday night our Christmastime fun continued as we headed to the Lebanon Christmas Parade.  We invited our home group to join us and we found some prime seating for all the kids to enjoy the show.  It was cold and snowing, but it added to the fun of the night.
We drank hot chocolate, ate caramel corn and maybe tried to catch a snowflake or two while we watched 130 horse drawn carriages go past.
Mati loved the snow and the horses and was just delighted with the whole experience.  He yelled, "Merry Christmas, to you!" at all the horses and people walking past.

Cale and I were bundled up tight with layer upon layer.  But what exactly is Cale doing with his scarf?  I don't know either.  But he stayed warm and that's all that really matters.  And he helped me when I spilled hot chocolate all over.  And ate my caramel corn with his big lobster gloves one.  And he's mine.
Sharing the parade with sweet friends made it even better this year.  We love our home group and love that they wanted to brave the cold with us.  I love these girls and am so thankful to have them in my life!

A fun weekend full of Christmas fun.  Did you do anything fun this weekend?

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Our day in links

Haven and I enjoyed making Candy Cane Kiss Cookies.  And we've all enjoyed eating them.

We made these cute and easy tree ornaments for an afternoon activity.

We filled our bellies with Chicken and Wild Rice Soup for dinner. Sister Schubert rolls on the side.  Yum.

I won a $50 gift card at the mall.  Just for being in the right place at the right time.  (No link for that, just happy news from the day!)

One of our new favorite Christmas books this year is Snowmen at Christmas.  Beautiful illustrations and great imagination!

I read this and was challenged and encouraged to speak truth to myself.

And now it's time to string popcorn for the tree while we watch this.

I love December.