Tuesday, January 31, 2006

More Christmas


This is after Christmas. We kids gave mom a vhs/dvd convertor so she can have all our home videos preserved forever as dvds! :) But she was VERY confused when she opened it, cause she had no idea what it was! haha! But she was all happy when we told her ;) Jason and Jordan got their big man pants, and were showing them off. They were being so funny! Jules and I were in charge of cleaning up the after effects of Christmas - there was LOTS of wrapping paper, so we took a picture in it all :)

Our Family Christmas







This is our family Christmas. We celebrated on the 29th because that was when we could all be together. I'm SO glad everyone could be home - now that every one is growing up, those times are few and far between. We had a special Christmas dinner (Jenn made chicken fettucinni alfredo and breadsticks) and mom made dessert. Then we went in the living room and read the Christmas story. After the Christmas story, Jason and Jordan passed out the presents to everybody. Of course, before that, Julie had to get pictures of everyone! ;) She's our picture girl!

Shopping




We went shopping the day after Jenn and Jordan came. We all had some last minute Christmas shopping to do, and of course wanted to just go for fun. :) We went in the morning, and had lunch in the food court (which is where we took these pictures) and then did some more shopping! Jordan loved it best! ;)

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree!



Here is our Christmas tree! This year mom had to put the Christmas tree up all by herself. She was so sweet to have it all homey and cozy for us when we got home.
:( Usually Mom sorts all the Christmas decorations in the kitchen while Julie and I put the tree together, hang the lights, and then hang the ornaments after Jenn gets them all out. It was fun to be able to still come home to the house all decorated, all the fun presents under the tree, and mom's yummy cooking :) I love Christmastime!

Christmas Program


My first Sunday home was definitely a highlight! I was very excited that Laura and I got to come home in time for our church's Christmas program - I've never missed it! It was especially exciting to see that there were SO many people there! Mom had been keeping me updated over the phone of how many kids had been coming to the childrens' Wednesday night program, and coming in on the bus, etc...but nothing had prepared me for the 176 people that were there for the Christmas program! The church was packed! It was neat to see how much our church has grown even just over the one semester I was gone. I am thankful for our Pastor, and our church family that is so willing to minister and reach out - God has definitely been working and blessing our church through them. It was so fun to see everyone again - makes me want to go home again! Only 44 days till spring break, though. And until then, I am definitely enjoying college :)

Christmas Cookies



One of our traditions every Christmas is to make sugar cookies and then decorate them . We made them the Sunday afternoon before Christmas when Jason and Julia were at our house so Julia could help us frost them (weren't you so glad we waited for you, Julia? hee,hee! ;) We bring them to Sunday fellowhip, and parties, and eat them ourselves, of course. ;) We usually just make Christmas trees, but this year we made snowmen and Christmas lights, too! They turned out pretty cute :) We missed Jenn, though. Her and Mom are the master cookie frosters, and Jules and I have always been in charge of sprinkles. So it was a pretty slow process this year - Mom frosted about 3 in the time it took the rest of us to do one. haha!

Julie's Birthday Party!




A couple weeks before Christmas break, I received an invitation in the mail to a Christmas party at Julia's. Kasee, Julia, Christa, me, Jeanna, Tara, Kristi, Heidi, Charity, Laura, and Julie are all in the group picture. Julia made a delicious stew and awesome bread, and had a night of fun and games planned. It was also Julie's 21st birthday, so she made a pretty chocolate cake with white frosting and decorated it with chocolate shavings. So it was also a party for her! (Happy Birthday, Jules ;) It was so fun as soon as we got back from school to go to a Christmas party and be with all our friends - it's been a long time because everyone has been here and there at different colleges, getting married, traveling, etc...and it's neat how the Lord has brought so many back home in little Minnesota :) I hope we can all get together soon, girls! (and this time, you have to be there, Jenn!).

Friday, January 20, 2006

Update Attempt

Well, I was going to post pictures of Josie, and the snowman i made, and my last sunday at church, but I forgot to bring my memory key with me here to the library. Oh well. Jordan ordered a wireless card for me so I can have internet in my room soon after I get back to school. Hopefully then I will be a better blogger. Hee, hee! Tomorrow I'm going to the Swenson's, and from there we will head back up to Northland! This break has gone so fast, but that's because it was so much fun! I got to see so many people, and had so much fun with family and friends. And now will have more fun with family and friends up at school, too! I'm so lucky I have them in both places ;) Well, I would write more, but I'm at the library, and it is closing now.

Thursday, January 12, 2006

Special Christmas Present


The night I got home from college, Julie and I drove straight into Fairmont to surprise Mom at work. After we saw her, I went to Woodland (where i work) to visit my favorite residents (i try not to have favorites, but some of them are just so sweet, it's hard not to like them extra :) Ervin is the most special of them all! All you have to do is meet him, and you'll understand why. He is so sweet! His hobby is building puzzles - He builds them every day all afternoon, and ends up framing a lot of them. (In 1988 he built a 7500 piece puzzle - it's huge! he has it hanging on the hall wall outside of his apartment). Anyways, when i was in the hospital this summer he built this puzzle for me. It is a puzzle of Jesus, my Shepherd. It reminds me of the 23rd Psalm. I thought it was neat, because one of my favorite books is one written by Elizabeth George about the 12 promises of God from that passage. I had been reading that book again while I was in the hospital. One of my favorite verses is I Peter 5:7 - "Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you." The first promise in Ps. 23 is the promise of God's care: "The Lord is my Shepherd." "When fear regarding the cares of this world sets in, we must remember God's promise to care for us." - Elizabeth George. This summer I learned the importance of completely trusting God, and replacing the "seen" with faith that is "unseen." There was so much waiting involved with every decision that had to be made, and then to see if it was the right decision; and if not, there was waiting again. Waiting was definitely hard, but Jesus knows His sheep and what it takes to prepare us to walk along the way, and He knew that was what I needed - His way is perfect. Waiting creates an opportunity to learn to trust the Lord, and causes us to grow in patience until we are finally content to just be with the Lord, and it encourages us in God's presence (as there is much more time to be spent in it), and spending this time with the Lord energizes for what lies ahead. We experience fear when we try to imagine or anticipate future events, but the truth is that when we need God's grace, it WILL be there. "Valleys are merely passageways that bring us into greater closeness with our Lord. It is a great art to learn to walk through the shadowy places. Do not hurry; there are lessons to be learned in the shadows that can never be learned in the light. You will discover something about God's ministries you never knew before. Walk with Him through the dark valleys until you trust Him in the dark ever as much as you trust Him in the light!" I am so thankful for the promises of God my Shepherd. I truly believe He worked a number of miracles in my life this summer, and I am SO thankful for that, and for the example of unwavering faith and trust in God from both of my parents through past trials, and from mom as she spent EACH day with me in the hospital. The Lord has blessed me so much to have given me the best mom in the world!
So the puzzle is and will always be special because of the reminder it is of the promises of God, but also because it is from Ervin - who is always such an encouragement and blessing to me every day I come in to work. He is so special, and always will be :)
"The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul.
He leadeth me in paths of righteousness for His names' sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For Thou art with me.
Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. My cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Amen."

"We can thank God, our Shepherd, that
His care is unceasing,
His love is unending,
His guidance is unfailing, and
His presence is everlasting."
- Elizabeth George

Saturday, January 07, 2006

Will Anyone Notice?


Hey, everybody! This is an update on my blog for any of you who still visit! haha! This semester I'm going to try to get internet in my room, so then I can keep it updated regularly. Julie helped me get this new picture on. It's from this summer when we took her back to camp after Jenn's wedding. Today is her last day home before she has to go back to school, so we're having fun hanging out together. Jason left his x-box here again, so we've been playing that, and now we're going to go out on a date together. I had an awesome Christmas and New Year with the whole family home and together! We always have so much fun! It went fast, but time always goes fast when you're having fun :)