Our past two weeks.....

These comments were written by Barry and Vicki.

Ahhh, the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season has fully come upon us.  Usually that mean I'm sick and tired of Christmas around the 20th and just endure the rest of the holiday for the kids, while I eagerly await for it to end so normalcy can come back in our life.   BUT, I'm determined to not let this happen this year!!!  I want the true joy of Christ and love to be felt, not the stress and worry about getting everything done, every  jot and tittle accounted for.  We are focusing on what we can give this year...not what we want to get.
      We began this season with this wonderful service project.  We, along with a few of our other LDS homeschooling friends gathered to make fleece blankets that were donated to the local Christmas store (a place where low income families can shop for gift for their children)

 

Serving has been in full force here at home as the girls (mostly) have been carefully tending to the kittens needs.  They have to be bottle fed and helped with elimination needs  (their bottoms need to be wiped to pee and poop, it's interesting why this happens.  Definitely  a testament to me that God is the creator of all things.)  I've come to realize why we give service.  We come to love those we serve and when we have this great love we then are following the 2nd great commandment.  Which is why it hurt so deeply when this little furry treasure, Brooke, (pictured with Cailin) died.  Cailin and I were talking about why she hurt so very very much about her death....and those thoughts on service were all I could think of.  She gave such great attention, devotion and love to those two little ones that to have one gone really hurts.

 

And yet, during all the sadness, I've been so pleased to see how amazingly wonderful my kids have reacted in this crisis.  They are showing an outpouring of love, compassion, and forgiveness toward one another.In their sorrow they aren't snapping or yelling at each other.  I find them hugging and loving one another when they see someone in tears.  I never would want them to experience this again, yet it brings me great peace to see them not placing blame and rallying together to deal with this sorrow.  I'm soooooo glad that Pumpkin is still with us.  He's quite the cuddler too.  Much love and affection is being poured out upon that little fluffy creature, he's helping heal their pain!

Ahh, but the week didn't end there,,,,look at this cutie, if only we could get her to keep them on!

 
 On the 6th, Delaney participated in the Christmas Parade...I knew I wouldn't be able to get good photos of her on the truck so here she is with a few of her friends from class.

 
 We had some fun waiting for the parade to come past us.....we dared and double dared Cailin to run across a four lane road....Barry added the twist of sitting on the yellow center line.  I mean, when will you ever get the chance to run freely....yet it feel so dangerous, again.  Ahh, my kids and our simple sheltered lives.
NO Doubt that the Social Service Authorities will understand that we were only kidding when attempting to get Cailin to play in the road. Ah well, those folks have great senses of humor. I am sure that will understand.

 After the parade....while we were waiting for Barry to join us we got warm goofing around in the car!  My big bunch of sillies.

 
 On Friday, we spent some wonderful time with friends at our annual Christmas party.  It's great to see friends we don't see often, eat yummy food, play games, plus the kids get to do a bit of Christmas shopping. Moms bring some gently used or simple new items for the younger crowd to "shop" for.  What I love about this is that they get the chance to think of others and what they would want....not what they themselves want.  It made me smile when Cailin came joyfully telling me that had found the perfect gift for me.  She absolutely beamed!  Liam was so excited in his gifts that once we got home he unwrapped every thing he purchased and gave them to each person individually.  Perhaps they are slowly catching  the vision of thinking more of others rather than what they want.

Lastly, we've begun a new tradition.  At a Relief Society activity we made these daily advent gift bags.  The object is to open on each day.  Inside are treats or coupons for extra privileged (staying up past bedtime and such), plus a  scripture to read AND a daily service to share with someone--helping others with a chore, writing a secret note of affection, writing your testimony in your journal.  The kids are having fun anticipating they new quest, okay not really, the service part of this activity hasn't been grasped by them yet....what they really want is the candy!  But this treasure is helping us focus more on Christ and not the mas--or mess of the holiday!

The kids still can't resisted visiting with the jolly man....here's a few photos from our ward Christmas party.






Brianne wanted nothing to do with him...she would shrink away and scream at him!  However, in the safe arms of her Paw-Paw, she tolerated him coming close.

We also spent and evening celebrating Paw-Paw's  82nd....uhhh, I mean 28th birthday!

 My crime in my youth of announcing my dad's 50th birthday, when in fact he was 49,  in front of the congregation is something that I am likely not able to live down in my life time. If you look closely at this picture, you'll notice that the candles show his age as 28. He just turned 82. It would seem to me, especially now that I have reached the ancient age of 48 that my crime is small compared to tacking on an extra eight years on him now.

My dad's life has indeed spanned many years. As a teenager he watched bombers fly over his home on their way to the England. He participated in the Korean War where he patched up fighters like the F-80 Saber and F-86 Shooting Star. He has worked many jobs, most physically demanding, such as working in a cotton mill, working construction on I-81 and Virginia Tech. He put in about 30 years at the Army Ammunition Plant, then owned and operated by Hercules Cooperation. He has always been the quiet example of a flawless work ethic and a man unafraid of sacrifice in taking care of his family.