Merry Christmas!

Our final week of advent was less eventful than planned. Everyday one of my children was sick with a fever so we spent most of the days watching movies and eating popcorn (those that were not sick). On Monday night we drove around town and looked at Christmas lights as a family. On Friday night (Christmas eve) we went to the Christmas eve service at our church. They have theirs at 11pm so that it ends "Christmas morning". It was a late night for the kids, but they did very well and slept in a bit more. Our Christmas morning was spent as a family with my older brother joining us for the day. We finished Jotham's Journey (excellent story), read the Christmas story from the Bible (Katelyn requested we read from Matthew), enjoyed homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast, and then opened presents. It was a wonderful day spent with the family! We had fajitas and tamales for dinner...delicious! Our evening ended with family devotions and watching The Nativity.
Happy Birthday Jesus!

Advent-week 2/3

I have really enjoyed celebrating advent in so many special ways...I have just found little time to sit down to blog about it! Here is what we did for the past 2 weeks:

Day 8 - Made gingerbread houses...though they ended up being towers. We had some friends over to join in this activity! Our verse was Zechariah 2:10-11.





Day 9 - Jingle Bell's Angel ornament - verse Luke 1:19
Day 10 - Shopping for birthday party presents (we had 3 on Saturday) and Teen Christmas party.
Day 11 - Due to all the birthday parties our original activity was canceled and we spent the day blessing others at birthday parties!
Day 12 - Colors of Faith snowflake ornaments - verse Isaiah 52:7-12





Day 13 - This day we had planned to make a nativity scene with some friends, but they had to cancel and I was not feeling well, so we spent the day watching Christmas movies!
Day 14 - Bake sugar cookies and make cards for our church staff - verse Ecclesiates 3:13



Day 15 - On Wednesdays I watch my friend's little boy, Rhett. Today we took his mom and grandma coffee to their school (they work together) - verse John 13:34-35.


Day 16 - Today we made more cookies for our church staff and our homeschool party.
Day 17 - Today was our homeschool party. We took cookies over to a nursing home to deliver to the residents. We then went to the church and wrapped gifts that we had purchased for a family in need. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures. We also went over to our new church to deliver our cookies and cards, but no one was there. Oops...guess I need to learn the office hours! We will deliver them on Sunday. We also went to a waffle party at one of our friend's family's house. It is a tradition they have every year and we are honored to be apart of it! Verse - Psalm 150.
Day 18 - Today we were going to go to a live nativity and donate food to the food bank (admission into the nativity), but Katelyn ended up getting sick and so we had to cancel...poor girl. Verse - Matthew 1:18-25.

Advent-Week 1

This year I decided to have an advent calendar for our family. Each day the children would pull out a piece of paper with a scripture and activity on it. In the evenings, our family has been reading Jotham's Journey, a book for advent with a story that is broken down for a little bit to be read each day until Christmas...I would highly recommend this book! We are also reading a Christmas story and watching a Christmas movie each day (we do not normally watch tv around here, so this is a treat...and most of the videos are short.)
For the first day, we made paper chains to help us count down the days till Christmas, and we also made an advent wreath, but I later realized that I switched the colors and we have 3 pink candles and 1 purple candle! I tried to also get part of outside into this picture to show all of our snow! Our scripture was Isaiah 40:1-11.






For the second day, we made stained glass candle holders. Our verse was Isaiah 60:1-2.



For the third day we decorated our tree and home for Christmas. We also went to lunch with some friends with Katelyn's Book-it coupon at Pizza Hut! Our verse was John 1:14.




For the fourth day, we went and bought food and took it over to the Lighthouse Mission (part of Boise Rescue Mission). Our verse was Mark 16:15. This was also Hallie's birthday!

For the fifth day, we did a Christmas puzzle together as a family. We were only able to find one with 550 pieces and so Josh and I were the die-hards, but the kids came and helped throughout the afternoon. This day was also the Christmas program at our church. Brenden was Joseph, Makenna was an angel, and Katelyn participated in the puppet show. I sang in a ladies group and Josh read scripture. Our verse was Matthew 3:13-17.







For the sixth day, we did a craft and made snowmen with stickers. Our verse was 2 Corinthians 5:17-18.






Usually, Hallie is sleeping while we do our activity, but today she was up and playing!

For the seventh day, we read the Legend of the Candy Cane and made candy cane cookies. I also had a Dr. appointment, so Katelyn made a card for Dr. Julie and we took her some cookies for her family.

Happy Birthday Hallie!

My dear sweet Hallie, you are so special to our family! It is so hard to believe that you are already a year old! Your bright smile lights up the room. Your easy going nature and silly giggle make you such a joy in life.
I look forward to many more birthdays with you my special girl.

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! Our family took a trip to Montana to spend Thanksgiving with Josh's family. We also celebrated Christmas while we were there. Due to the wonderful weather, our trip there took us 16 hours...8 of that was just to Idaho Falls! Our trip back was a bit quicker at 9 hours. We had a wonderful time seeing all the family. The kids especially had a great time enjoying the Montana snow! When I told Brenden that Montana gets more snow than we do, he said, "That is not fair to Idaho!" I guess Idaho made up for it this week! My children spent most of their time out sledding with their cousins. Surprisingly, the one that was a bit afraid to venture out in the snow was Makenna...so she spent her time indoors with all the grownups. Here are some pictures to highlight our trip!

They call him Pastor Josh

I am so proud of my husband. For the last several years he has been pursuing God's calling to be a youth pastor. He has filled his time with helping with the teen group at Bethel to studying for his ministerial license. This last weekend, he finally reached the goal...he is honored to be called Pastor Josh. Our first Sunday at Lakeview was wonderful. The church was very welcoming and accepting of our family. We are very blessed, anxious, and eager about this new adventure.

The last day

Today was our last day at Bethel. It was a rather emotional time, sad for what we will miss, yet eager for what God has planned. It was a good ending to our chapter. I was able to sing on the worship team one last time. I was able to read scripture during service one last time. I was able to sing in choir one last time. I was able to help out in Promise Land (our nursery area) one last time. I was able to pray at the long known alters one last time. It was a gift to do these things one last time. I am thankful that many of the faces will not be far away and that we can still be a part of each other's lives for years to come. I am thankful for the precious friendships that I have made at Bethel, but are not confined to those walls. These friendships go beyond Sundays and Wednesdays.
I look forward to what God is bringing. I admit, I am nervous about the many unknowns, but I know that God has us in the palm of His hand and is guiding us through this transition. I have already met many wonderful people at our new church and I do not think it will take long to call it home.
Thank you Bethel for a wonderful 11 years. Thank you Lakeview for accepting us with open arms. Thank you God for walking with us, and as we are leaving one home for another, it is comforting to know that you are right beside us.

Looking back to summer...

Summer seemed to go so fast, as it does every year. Looking back, I realized that I have not shared about some of our adventures.
In August, we took a trip up north to Coeur d'Alene to visit the grandparents. We first stayed a few days with my family. We then went with Josh's mom over to Montana to visit Josh's sister and family. When we returned to Cd'A Josh joined us for the remainder of our trip with his family. The kids had a wonderful time seeing all the family. My brain is a little foggy about the details of the trip, so I will just share some of our pictures.

















Unfortunately I do not have any pictures with my family. I guess all the "different" things we do out in the country/forest are all new for us city folk. Josh's parents live in a cabin in the woods and his sister lives out in the country in Montana. My family lives in the "city" like us. Sorry mom...we love to visit you, I just forget to get the camera out. :(