16 years ago... 

snow covered the ground...

candles were lit in the church windows...

I married my best friend...

It was a day filled with joy and sorrows...

My grandfather had just gone home to be with the Lord after an amazing lifetime of 101 years the morning before...

Just days before on Christmas, he had given us his blessing...

My hope is that his legacy lives on through generations to come... 

I think grandpa would have had a lot of fun with this crew as it has grown over the years...

Teaching them to play checkers, taking them fishing...

Making dollie beds...

Letting them snitch lemon drops from his candy jar...

I pray we will never forget His blessing...

 

16 years...

college graduations... graduate school... 9 moves... traveling to far off  places to serve the Lord... pregnancies, adoptions... times of great joy and times of deep sorrow...

To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, 'till death do us part.

I love you...

Happy Anniversary!

Wordless Wednesday... {First Christmas Home}

oops, I set this to post tomorrow but for some reason it is today and I can't change it:)

Thinking about 2012...

Christmas 2011 is a memory...

Many wonderful ones I might add...

I have started to think about 2012...

What are my hopes & dreams for the year...

I don't want to miss the tiny details that He has in store...

As I think about the new year, this quote comes to mind...

"Be assured, if you walk with Him and look to Him, and expect help from Him, He will never fail you." –George Mueller

 

I know He is faithful and true... my heart's desire is that I will be too.... 

so I look to 2012 with great expectations of what plans He has for us...

Trusting in Him to be with us each step of the way!

Merry Christmas from our house to yours...

May God richly bless you in 2012!

Wordless Wednesday

When they saw the star, they were filled with joy! Matthew 2:10

Sunday Snapshot {Small Town Christmas}

Combine Christmas Carols, lots of kids, a horse drawn wagon and the Christmas story and what do you have? One of my favorite evenings of the year in our small town! Last night was the annual Christmas program at church, along with the soup supper and Christmas caroling. The weather was amazing (in the high 40's), especially considering the blizzard blowing in today!

 The horses waiting for everyone to board the wagon...

 Eli with his songbook ready to sing...

 Singing as they go....

 

The horses heading home...

 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. Luke 2:4-5

 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born,  and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. Luke 2:6-7

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. Luke 2:8-11

 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. Luke 2:16-20

Treasured moments from the past week...

 Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

 Celebrating St. Lucia's Day and taking Bread wreaths to the neighbors... we had fun making crafts and baking the bread.

We also enjoyed Kristen's Surprise as a read aloud this week!

 Making yummy Christmas treats...

 Giggling together...

 Hugs from a baby sister sure do make a boy's day!

 Painting together...

 Morning Bible study and a cup of tea... I am going through Frappe with Philippians and loving it!

 What's better than snuggled up for a nap with your big brother next to the Christmas tree!

 Baking together...

 Science... Making invisible ink and secret messages!

Christmas, God's heart for adoption...

4 months ago today, it was already the 15th in China...

Each of us was waiting... part of God's plan in action...

WAITING... for her family to arrive...

 WAITING... for the first glimpse of their daughter...

Waiting... for our sweet Clara to arrive...

Our daughter, loved, prayed for and CHOSEN...
uniquely created by her loving Heavenly Father...
A little one loved deeply, though only known to us through pictures and paperwork...

 God knew long before we did that she would join our family...
The miracle of adoption is beautiful...
but comes as a result of a broken world and loss... 
Sometimes, adoption is hard...

 Adoption is close to the heart of our Father...
He promises not to leave us as orphans... (John 14:18)
He promises to be a Father to the Fatherless... (Psalm 68:5)
He sets the lonely in families...(Psalm 68:6)
He commands us to look after orphans... (James 1:27)

He heals the brokenhearted

and binds up their wounds. Psalm 147:3

So often since coming home with Clara, we have been ask why...

the cost is high... the journey long and painful at times...

In the world's eye, our daughter isn't perfect...
why would we choose her...

but we know in our Father's eyes, only His son was perfect...

and for us, in our daughter's eyes... we see what being part of a family can do...

there is hope & healing...

there is joy...

and there a there is one less orphan that goes to sleep each night waiting for a family to love her...

there is a daughter who's story is an example of the amazing love and redemption our Heavenly Father has for each of us.

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,  to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" Galatians 4:4-6


2000 plus years ago, people were waiting...
waiting for the Messiah to come... expecting a Mighty King... 
He was and is all of those things, but so many missed it then...
and so many miss it now... please don't miss the gift this Christmas...


As we prepare our hearts for Christmas... take a moment to ponder this question...

Why was Jesus born?

At Christmas time we remember the birth of Jesus Christ, the fact that God became a man. Jesus was born to die and redeem broken people so that we might be adopted into His own family. 
Does your heart cry out, "Abba, Father" for your adoptive daddy?


Stop by Simon and Amy's blog if you have a moment... 4 months ago while I was waiting for Clara in a Civil Affairs office, they were also waiting in another part of China. God blessed us so much by working out the details so that we would be in China at the same time... Amy has a beautiful post about their beautiful daughter, Gemma. 

And 5 years ago today, another bloggy friend met her daughter for the first time and posted about their adoption on her blog here...

 Christmas Traditions...

I love the Christmas season and all the traditions that come with it...

What traditions so you have with your families? I am going to share a few of ours but I would love to hear form you all too...

Advent is one of my favorite things to celebrate with our children. To walk through the promises of a coming Messiah and the events leading up to His birth are so encouraging to me. It has just been since we had children that we began to celebrate Advent so it was something new to me. We celebrate it in a variety of ways... we have daily readings that we do, this year we are reading through Tabitha's Travels as part of our celebration. Last year we read through Jotham's Journey, the kids love it that they already know many of the characters in the story and how they are intertwined.

We also have an advent wreath that we light candles on, it is beautiful and was a gift. It was made by Ann's son over at A Holy Experience. Ann also has a free and wonderful Jesse Tree Advent Family Devotion that you can download here. In the past we have also read through the book, The Jesse Tree. A few years ago, a sweet friend organized a Jesse Tree Ornament swap and included this book with it. We still have our ornaments and love hanging them on our tree.

A few years ago we also started celebrating St. Nicholas Day on Dec. 6. We have a couple of read alouds that do enjoy about St. Nick's life and devotion to serving the poor. We also still love watching the Veggie Tales video, Saint Nicholas, A story of Joyful Giving. We then leave out our shoes, this year under the tree and St. Nick slipped in a left a few chocolate treats for each of us!

So what about you? What are some of your traditions... I'd love to hear!

Saturday, many firsts for our girls... (Sunday Snapshot)

Saturday was our girls' first gymnastics meet since they joined the team the end of the summer. We were up well before the sun and headed off into the frosty morning. 

The drive was beautiful with the ice frost sitting like fairy dust on everything!

The girls were nervous, Lenna was so thankful when her favorite song- Courageous, by Casting Crowns came on the radio. We talked about needing courage to preform in front of the judges and others. Once we arrived, they began to relax a bit after the warmed with up their coaches. Here they are right before they got ready to begin the competition...

The girls each competed in 4 events- the balance beam, uneven bars, vault and a floor routine. They gave it their very best in each one and you could tell they were having fun!

(sorry some of the pictures are blurred a bit and grainy, I was a long ways across the gym trying to take pictures...)

The boys enjoyed the meet too... because they had Lego's to play with on the gym floor!

 The girls enjoyed watching the other teams compete as well!

 

 All the hard work of the last several months paid off! The girls' team took first in the meet and our girls placed well too!

 

As for Clara, she was wiped out and spent the awards ceremony like this... sound asleep!

(sorry the picture keeps flipping sideways!)

After the awards, we headed to eat, picking up our friend, M, to go with us. The kids had a blast with him, we appreciate his willingness to love on our kids! Praying for his college finals this week!

The ice fog still hadn't lifted in the afternoon so our trip home was still beautiful. I was the only one who enjoyed it's beauty though as all the kids slept the whole trip home! 

Needless to say, the girls can't wait for their Jan. gymnastics meet!