Christmas

We had a very busy Christmas, but for some reason it did not seem as hectic as it normally does. I tried very hard this year to take it one celebration at a time, while still planning ahead. Kind of tricky, I know, but we spaced things out more this year, and that helped a lot.

Dressed and ready for church -
Aunt Sally gave Kate a new "princess" dress. Kate has done more twirling in the past 3 weeks than she did in the entire previous year.

Time with grandparents (How is it possible I have no pictures of the other ones?)

Christmas Eve (Will got all gussied up.) -

Can we come down and open our presents yet?

The annual cousins picture -

My mother-in-law says no more kids because there are no more steps. Haha.

Sunday Snapshot: Our Christmas Ornaments

I wanted to participate in last week's Sunday Snapshot, but because of the Christmas craziness, I couldn't get it together in time. Better late than never, yes? I wanted to share about our Christmas tree, but to do that, I need to give a little back story. (If I make some mistakes in the retelling, I hope my family will forgive me.)

My great Aunt Mary hosted Christmas breakfast for our family for years. And I am not talking about just our immediate family. I am talking about her 2 children, spouses, and grandchildren. Her 4 siblings, their spouses, their children, their spouses, and grandchildren. I am very close to this side of my family, and I honestly don't think I could count how many 1st cousins, 2nd cousins, and 3rd cousins were involved, not to mention the random precious friends who are counted as family and show up.

Many years ago (35?), my 2nd cousin came to Christmas breakfast, and upon seeing all of the presents around the tree, asked where her gift was. This broke my aunt's heart, and she swore she would always have a gift for every child at her house on Christmas.



Thus started our ornament tradition. Every year, my Aunt Mary and Uncle Bill make hundreds of Christmas ornaments for the children in their family and community. The deal is, you get an ornament until you have children, and then the children get their own ornaments. So I have over 20 ornaments with Amy on them, 4 ornaments with Amy & Tim, and now my children get ornaments with each of their names on them. Sometimes they are cross stitched, but usually they are made of wood and painted. There have been angels, stars, snowmen, bells, bears, and many, many others.


I love Christmas ornaments, and I love getting new, store bought ones each year, but none compare with the ornaments that were made by my aunt and uncle. So, thank you, Aunt Mary and Uncle Bill, for starting and continuing such a special Christmas tradition in our family!


(For the record, my cousin and his wife have taken over Christmas breakfast, but Mary and Bill are still churning out ornaments each year.)

Merry Christmas!

From our crazy house to yours, we wish you a very Merry Christmas!!!

More Ben...

Can I just tell you that I l-o-v-e getting comments? For my last post, I did a Sunday Snapshot. These are the brainchild of Stephanie at Ni Hao Y'all. If you post a Sunday Snapshot, she will post the link on her blog (which is v-e-r-y popular), and so I got lots of visitors I don't usually get. And they left comments, which is very fun because 1) I know people are reading this, and 2) I get to discover new blogs.

Anyway, since my last post, I got the pictures that Tara took weekend before last, and I thought I would share his handsomeness with y'all. (Don't worry, I have cute shots of the other two too, but you're going to have to wait;)

Sweet Ben

A month or two ago, Ben had the flu. The only thing that sounded good to him was chicken noodle soup. After all, what else do you want when you are sick? Being the culinary genius that I am, I pulled out the Campbell's condensed. Ben liked the soup, quite a bit in fact, but it started a conversation about the world's best chicken noodle soup. My grandmother, Ninnie, makes the best chicken noodle soup. Ever.
So the next time Ben saw Ninnie, he started in on her about wanting to learn to make it. Now, I had been trying to get her to teach me for awhile, but Ben has a certain charm that I just do not have.

This past weekend, he went and stayed with my aunt, and while there he visited Ninnie. Of course, she taught him to make chicken noodle soup. And of course, he took notes, just like his mama told him to.

And how cool is it that my son loves hanging out with his great-grandmother?

For lunch today, we had the world's best chicken noodle soup, while Ben explained to us everything he and Ninnie did to make it. He told me that eating this soup was even better than watching Ben 10. He must really like this soup.

Ben has had us all charmed for the past seven years, but he has put no effort into it at all. He is kind, and considerate, and a complete joy. He loves to snuggle and cuddle. He just loves spending time with the people he loves.

He is crazy about his brother and sister (even if he does get a bit jealous from time to time), and honestly tries to be fair and kind with them. He reads them stories, makes them handmade gifts, and helps them with things that only big brothers can do.

Ben, you are a treasure. I love you more every day, and I look forward to going on more "dates" with you.

PS. Pictures are courtesy of Daddy John, who spent Friday at Ben's school helping him make the gingerbread house. Well done, by the way:)

"Once our eyes are opened..."

Last night I had the privilege of meeting an amazing young couple that I had wanted to meet for awhile. Meet Rob and Lori.Lori is the aunt of Will's best bud, and I had been hearing about her adoption from Guatemala. Recently I found out that Rob and Lori, along with their two beautiful children, would be moving to Guatemala to serve as missionaries to impoverished people in that country.

It all started with their beautiful son, Cohen. While waiting to adopt him, they were able to spend several months in Guatemala, where they saw first hand the needs of the country, especially the children. They met Christian workers in the area, and began to make connections that God would later use to His purposes. Lori shared with us that their theme verse has become Proverbs 24:12 -

" ...Once our eyes are opened, we can't pretend we don't know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls, knows that we know and holds us responsible to act."

Anyway, last night they came to talk to our youth group about their plans. They hope to move to Guatemala early next year, where they will join an organization called Catalyst Resources International. They will be working on a variety of projects, including construction, agribusiness, feeding programs, and hosting short-term missionaries.

But, of course, the one that grabbed my attention was their work with kids. They plan to be living and working at a place called Mimi's House. In Guatemala, only 10% of kids typically go past the 6th grade. Mimi's House is a place where girls aged 10-12 live and are able to continue their educations, going on to high school and breaking the cycle of poverty.

Would you join me in praying for Rob and Lori and their family as they embark on this exciting adventure. We pray for their safety, wisdom, and their faithfulness to what God has called them to do. You and/or your church might also prayerfully consider supporting their work financially. (They attend a non-denominational church, which means that they must raise their own financial support for the work that they will be doing in Guatemala.) You can sponsor a child, or a project. Also, don't forget to follow them on their journey at Compassion for Guatemala. Rob and Lori, thanks so much for allowing God to break your hearts for the things that break His, and for stepping out in faith and doing hard things.

Going Beyond

One of the people we are blessed to have in our lives is Kandice. At summer camp this year, she was challenged to pair what she loves to do with helping others, and so she threw a blanket party, where we made blankets for people in Zambia.

My kids think she is amazing, and so do I. Kandice, thanks for being someone who seeks God's own heart.

I'm Going Beyond - Kandice Kidd from thebeyondeffect on Vimeo.

Randomness...

As I was looking for soccer pics, I came across these random photos. These were taken in the car (obviously) because the boys and I accidentally got locked out of the house. (That's what happens when you rely too much on the garage door opener, and then your batteries die.)

And so no one is left out, cute video of Kate NaNa being... well... cute.

Soccer

I'm such a slacker. I just realized that I had never posted pics from Ben's soccer season. He played on a local YMCA team for 6 & 7 year olds, and it was a very positive experience. It was all about learning how to play the game and encourage your teammates. Thankfully the parents were all very well behaved, and it was a lot of fun. I had no idea how much I would enjoy watching little kids kick a ball.

(Ben being Spider-Man.)

These photos were taken during the last game of the season, in late October, and it was sooo cold. There were actually 6 other boys on the team, but they didn't make it to this game. In their defense, it was the middle of the H1N1 outbreak here. (And thanks to Grammy for the pics:)

These pics were taken much earlier in the season when it was still warm. Ben's favorite position is goalie. He got pretty good at it, too. I was very proud of how hard he worked at it:)