Ooops!!

I have no pictures yet to with this but I forgot to let you all know that Lincoln got his 1st tooth on my mom's birthday and is already working on the 2nd.
AND he is walking!! All the way across the living room!!
Pictures will be coming soon with the birthday post! Happy New Year!

Short Christmas Post

Christmas 2009... we enjoyed the morning together as a family. In the afternoon we were invited over to some friends of ours. So we spent the rest of the day, literally, dinner and all over there. I felt very blessed to have such great friends only down the street since we don't live near any family.
Yes, the cats got a toy too. Penney was interested in sharing but Chloe eventually didn't give her a choice!

The 26th was Salyna's mom's birthday. We spent the day shopping with our gift cards from Christmas, going out to lunch, and Salyna went out that evening with a good friend.

Next... Birthday post!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

It is Christmas Eve and the snow is finally sticking... looks like it will be a white Christmas! The past couple of weeks have been an emotional rollercoaster for me (Salyna). Christmas was my mom's favorite time of year. The last two years we have been in California for Christmas so I have been trying to get excited about being home this year... I think I am only excited about wearing jammies all day and not rushing around. We have put up one of my mom's favorite decorations... a lighted train now adorns our porch railing. It is still a struggle to want to send pictures to Mimi or to just call her.
Lincoln discovered the photo albums. He pulled out my old one from when I was a kid and I couldn't help but cry when I saw this one, so I thought I'd share it! I'm not sure if this was 1979 or 1980... the resemblence is kinda crazy, but I love it!

Finally putting up the tree.

Lincoln's very first Christmas gift, an ornament from Grandma Ries.

Sydni, Davis, Andrew, and Salyna were part of the Christmas program, "Silent Night, Holy Night" at Lighthouse Community Church. Sydni was an angel, the one who appeared to Joseph. Davis was one of the wise men. Andrew played a part where we put an ornament on the tree. Salyna was the narrator. It was a lot of fun and there was a packed house for the show.

I love how "Joseph" was just chillin in the stable!!!

This year we hosted the Good Samaritan Clinic Christmas party at our house. We had four different soups, lots of yummy appetizers, and way too much dessert!! We played a white elephant gift exchange game and had lots of laughs!!

Food, Fellowship, and Fun!

This hat was one of the most entertaining gifts! Did we ever decide on Dennis' pope name???

So we've had the program and the party and we have decorations, gifts, and even snow! It does look and feel like Christmas. May we all remember the true meaning of Christmas...

Emmanuel - God with us!

Thanksgiving #2

So here are the pictures from Zapata Falls. Uncle George led the troops up the frozen creek!

We could hear and see the water running under the ice in a lot of places. Very, very beautiful!

This is the view of the valley and sand dunes from the falls trailhead.
And we got some great family pics! Enjoy!

The girls... notice the boys walking away in the background... it would be nearly an hour before they made it back!!

Next.... Christmas!!!!

Thanksgiving #1

(Once again thanks to Blogger, there are 2 posts)

POST #1

We got to spend a wonderful long weekend in Colorado with Miles' mom's side of the family. Grandma Cookie and Grandpa Don opened up their house to our 6 plus Miles' sister and fiance, Michelle and George. We hadn't seen Michelle since our wedding which means she had never met any of the kids! It was great to spend so much time together.

Beautiful sunrise over the mountains... this was the view from the backporch.

Grandpa Don's new tractor was a big attraction and I think he got it out everyday so the kids could take turns steering/riding on it! And the big kids played on it a little too! We saw the beautiful Rio Grande River with ice chunks in it.
Did you know that there are sand dunes in Colorado?? We didn't either!!

Grandma & Grandpa with the kids... um... where did Andrew go???

In the middle of a valley surrounded by mountains on all sides, near where we stayed, is Sand Dunes National Monument. We were going to just "see" them... well, thanks to Uncle George daring the boys they couldn't make it to the top... they tried. Then Miles and Grandpa (and eventually George too) had to go after them. That was something that WASN'T part of the plan. Next time we will be prepared with sleds in tow! Those little dots in the middle of the picture in the sand... those are people!!
From the dunes we headed 7 miles south to Zapata Falls with a half-mile rocky, nearly straight up, hike. But it was worth it!
(please see the Thanksgiving #2 post for the rest of the pictures)

We have been having a terrible time with Blogger and posting pictures... SO, we may be changing our site soon!!
And a little side note... On the 25th of November we celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary!!
Reflecting on the past 9yrs was quite overwhelming. We have been through SO much, good and bad. But we are thankful for ALL of what the Lord has brought us through and we hope for many, many more years!!

More Pics

Well, thanks to blogger and it's issues with posting pictures, I had to do another posting and without captions, but enjoy the pics anyway :)

Finally...

Halloween! We did go out candy collecting this year. The family we were supposed to go with had sick kids so we weren't out very long. We did stop by to see friends at one of the WI houses where they had games and treats.





So we are finally moved and mostly settled!
It is great to have so much room and a BACKYARD!! The Lord blessed us with a lot of helpers (and 4 willing souls to watch kids) on the big moving day and we were done with the big stuff before noon. The kids love it here as much as we do. Even the cats have settled in!

Deja vu

Webster's definition of the word deja vu:

1.a-the illusions of remembering scenes and events when experienced for the first time

b-a feeling that one has seen or heard something before

2. something overly or unpleasantly familiar

SO... we are having a case of deja vu because we are moving yet again. Webster's definition will be all too true by the time this is over. We are excited to have a larger place again and extremely excited to have a fenced backyard, something Andrew has never experienced! Below are a couple of pictures. We will be sending out an email with the new address info.

God is faithful! And we are so thankful! He has been working in amazing ways these past couple of weeks. We are also very thankful for your prayers.

Funny Kid

Because we do not live close to any family, especially grandparents, they miss out on a lot of the funny things the kids do... so I thought I'd post a funny conversation that took place yesterday. If you are not one of our grandparents you may still get a laugh.

So, at dinner during conversation (I don't recall exactly what) I was caught off guard by something Davis was saying to Sydni about wearing 2 pairs of underwear.

I said, "What are you talking about? Why did you wear 2 pairs of underwear today?"

Without missing a beat, he responded, "So when Dad spanks me I won't feel it as much".

As Miles and I were holding back laughter Miles then asked Davis, "Did it work?"

With a little giggle, he answered quietly, "No."

Little Family Update

Last week concluded our missionary process with World Impact.

Although the outcome was not what we had originally hoped for, we are pleased that the Lord is directing us. For different reasons from us and them, the decision was "no". Miles will continue to be employed by World Impact, but we will be looking for a place to rent. Thank you for your prayers regarding this process and we still covet your prayers regarding what the Lord has in store for us. We are praying for patience and clarity.

After the time and emotion spent on this process we decided to get out of town for a couple days to refocus. Our wonderful friends in Guthrie, OK offered to watch all the kids for an entire night!

So Mommy and Daddy got to go on an overnight date in Oklahoma City... what a blessing!

We went to the Oklahoma City National Memorial for the first time. In the picture above you would be looking at the street and the front of the federal building.

The picture below is one of two gates that face each other with a reflection pool in the middle (where the street used to be). One either gate is a time engraved... one reads 9:01 and the other reads 9:03... the bombing happened at 9:02. What a wonderful memorial!

The chairs represent people who died in the building and they sit in the spot where the building used to stand. There are 9 rows, representing the 9 story building. Whichever floor a person worked on or was visiting is where their chair sits. And sadly, there are small chairs representing the children. Also another 5 chairs represent those who were just outside the building.
It was a great experience, such a wonderful memorial. If you have never been, we highly recommend taking the time to visit it next time you are in the area.

On a much... much lighter note
If you know Miles' past with U-haul then you understand why we took this picture!

Yes, that is a U-haul truck ON TOP of a very large building near downtown, now THAT is advertising!

We have been enjoying the lovely Fall days!

We are lacking pictures of the older kids because of being in school, which they are both enjoying and doing well in... look for more pics in the next post.
And finally, the biggest news of the house...

Yes! Lincoln is trying VERY hard to walk. He pulls himself up and walks along the furniture or whatever is close by. This walking toy won't last long!