Christmas Happenings

Our family had a wonderful Christmas this year! As mentioned in my previous post, we went to Leavenworth on Christmas Eve Night. The lights were absolutely beautiful! We browsed through some cute shops and adored the lights and Christmas spirit all around us. It was an evening very well spent!

For whatever reason we didn't take any pics of Dad and Josh :(

Christmas day started out with some delicious monkey bread, then headed off to spend a wonderful morning in church. We were able to finally get a good family picture! The picture in my last post was the best/most recent one, which is from Thanksgiving LAST year.  (I'm kinda the odd ball with my blue sweater, oh well!)

After church, we came home opened gifts and louged around for a bit. We decided that we would do the big meal for dinner instead of lunch this year. We played Scategories after dinner and even had a visitor via Skype play with us! Fun fun!

Monday evening we went with some friends and fellow church members ice skating, at the before mentioned ice skating rink. (On the way to ice skate I was wondering....we call the day before Christmas, Christmas Eve. What do we call the day after Christmas, Christmas Post?!) Anywho, just a thought :). 

 30-45 minutes into skating, right when everyone started getting there...BAM!!

IT happened.

What is IT you may ask?

I fell.

Face forward.

On the ice.

After getting up I quickly noticed something was wrong with one of my back teeth. It was cracked...grr. Aside from the blow and initial pain from it all I didn't know something was wrong with my chin until someone pointed out...she's bleeding

OH SUPER

With help from others I made it off the rink and mom came to examine my 'wound'. Then I heard it, those dreadful words that no one, I mean NO ONE wants to hear.

She needs stitches.

Grrrreat

I.do.not.like.needles.

There was a doctor on vacation who popped up and asked if we needed any help, he looked at my chin and confirmed it.

 After many phone calls, made even by kind strangers, no hospital was open or no doctors were available. We had to travel back home, almost an hour away to the ER. I took some pain meds, hopped in the car and began on our journey to the hospital. Oh the joys of small towns :)

So, all this to say I am now the owner of 7 stitches on the underside of my chin. The first two days were the worst, but today I am feeling much better. Plus, I was able to get my tooth fixed yesterday, so all is well. 

Praise the Lord. Thank you all who knew and were praying, the assembly of the stitches went so smoothly. God is good. Despite my dislike of needles, God allowed it to go SO well and really, truly not as bad as I had imagined. I think maybe, just maybe, I am not as scared of needles because of this experience.

Here is the good news/things to be thankful for:

1. I get my stitches out on Tuesday (Lord willing it heals up nicely, Mom says its looking good..), just two days before Kali and I hop on a plane to visit our friend
2. The tooth that cracked was in the back of my mouth, not the front. Big Blessing.
3. My 'wound' is on the underside of my chin, so SO thankful it was not directly on my face. HUGE blessing.

My family has been teasing me about my stitches. At the right angle it looks like I have the starting of some dark facial hair underneath my chin. That's ok...accident's happen and you just have to laugh! :)

~Christmas Time Is Here~

These past few weeks have been pretty busy with Christmas preparations. First, we had our Christmas program at church that went very well. Several of us adults sang, kids recited Scripture, a group of kids sang, and also did a little scene of Joseph, Mary, the Angels and Shepherds gathered around baby Jesus. They all looked so cute with their little costumes on!

We have received/baked so many yummy treats this year. I have orange-almond biscotti in the oven as we speak, errr, as I type. There are plans for a 3-day sour cream cake and a black bottom cheesecake for Christmas day! Yum!! This is when I am thankful we have two men in the house to eat all these sweets up! Self control concerning sweet stuff is not my strong point :)

Our family has been trying to do fun/Christmasy-related things on the weekends. Last saturday we went to an outdoor skating rink! By the time we got there it was later in the evening, as we pulled up no one was on the ice. We were quite puzzled and were wondering if they were open. Upon speaking with the worker we found out they were open just no one was there. SCORE! Our family had the entire rink to ourselves for the remaining hour it was open. It was such a fun time we had together!

Tomorrow (Christmas Eve) we are heading to Leavenworth (a little-touristy-old-log town). They always go all out for Christmas, lights galour with all the shops! We are looking forward to it! I'm sure you all will see pictures later :)

Christmas day is just going to be us five this year. Honestly at first, I was a little bummed it was going to be just us. After thinking about it more, I think it will be nice. We are trying to spend all the time we can together (just us five) before Josh moves in February. Of course, we are planning the big ham meal with fixings and such. YUM! Looking forward to the day centered around our Saviour and His birth. It is truly an awesome thing to celebrate!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

FROM OUR FAMILY TO YOURS!

Shout it from the housetop

I like to talk.

Sometimes I talk too much.

Far too many times, I speak without thinking.

This morning I was reading in Luke 12 and the Lord reminded me to gaurd my speech.


"For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known.

Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops."
~Luke 12:2,3~

Wow.

Can you imagine every little thing you have told someone in secret, good or bad, shouted to everyone from a housetop? That really causes me to think more about what I say. How many times have you heard people say, "Just between you and me...."? It can be so easy to say things to people when you think they are the only one listening.

I think we can all admit that too often than not, we speak without thinking. Say those words and later wish you could have taken them back. It doesn't even have to be mean or hurtful words, it can be things you say that just aren't necessary.

You know that saying, "Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me." This is an utterly false saying. Words are some of the sharpest and most hurtful things. You can physically heal from broken bones, but words, oh, those words can sting like a dagger.

"The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times."
~Psalm 12:6~

The Lord's words are purified, seven times, the number of perfection. What if we did that? Instead of speaking hastily, think about those words, are they good, edifying, and words you wouldn't mind be shouted from a housetop?

"Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer."
~Psalm 19:14~

Washingtonians

YOU KNOW YOU ARE FROM WASHINGTON STATE WHEN:

You know how to pronounce Sequim, Puyallup, Enumclaw and Issaquah. You consider swimming an indoor sport. You see a person carrying an umbrella and know they must be a tourist. Your lawn is mostly moss and you don't really care. Your daily commute to work involves riding a ferry. Honking your car is for absolute emergencies. You're extremely picky about your coffee. You rarely wash your car because it's just going to get washed by the rain tomorrow. Northfaces are always in fashion. You take a heavy coat and a hat with you for a day at the beach. Half of your food is organic. You are a full supporter of one of Seattle's sports teams, even though you know they arent that good. You play the "no you go" at four-way stops. You can tell the difference between Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean and Thai food. You know what a Dick's Deluxe is. You wont go to Forks because of all the Twilight fans. You will never forgive A-Rod. You are a fan of all things green.

20 days left.....

Can you believe its only 20 days until Christmas?! Where has this year gone? THEN, it will be 2012!! *shudder* In prepartion for Christmas, this weekend was filled with a holly jolly time :) Saturday we went out in the hills and mountains, to find our Christmas tree. We did this for the first time last year and decided to do it again! Although, I have to say its ALOT harder to find a good tree and it takes up time, but its fun. We used to have such a hard time picking one out at the Christmas tree farm, imagine picking a tree with 5 people's opinions and tons of trees to choose from. *Eek!* We had a lot of fun and its definitely an enjoyable experience with our family. Once again this year, we have a large version of a Charlie Brown Christmas tree, oh well, beggers can't be choosers!

Braxton went with us! So cute!

Dad pulling in the tree

Braxy eagerly watching from the window

Last night, we had our traditional grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner, then we decorated the tree. I think all the rest of the decorations were put up today! It's beginning to look alot like Christmas..... *in a sing-songy voice*