Sunday blessings

This Sunday morning we took the long (2 1/2 hr.) drive up to CVP for church. I must say that it was worth it! The fellowship and teaching is so wonderful, encouraging and convicting! I should have come home tired and worn out from the early morning and long drive, but I didn't. Physically I was tired, but spiritually and emotionally I was awake, encouraged, and feeling very blessed!

On our way home Rob decided to see if we could stop at the German Restraunt that we had found on our last trip to CVP (but had closed just before we arrived). He called to see if they would still be open at our estemated arrival time.... They informed him that they would be happy to stay open a little late to accommodate us! The evening turned into such a wonderful blessing for us (and I hope to the others too!). When we arrived and were seated there were a couple of Grandmothers sitting at the table next to us and we talked to them for a bit. Then while waiting for our food Miss J started wishing everyone a "Happy New Year", to which someone said "what about Christmas?". That prompted all of the kids to sing "We wish you a Merry Christmas". We enjoyed continued chit chat with the owners and the one other guest as we enjoyed our wonderful meal.

As we finished our meal one of the owners brought a bag of cookies to the table--- one of the grandmas we had been talking to had purchased these cookies for the kids before leaving and could they have them? What a blessing! The kids had their cookies and then the family shared two slices of apple strudel. Rob went to pay.... Another blessing! It seems the grandmas enjoyed visiting with this large military family and wanted to bless us by paying for half of our meal! After a bit more chit-chat we headed out the door. One of the owners commented that she had no idea that staying open late tonight would be so much fun, and to please come back!

We left feeling so blessed and encouraged! It was also a wonderful chance to talk to the children about how they can be such a blessing to others by their good behavior and kindness.

Yummy lotion!

I recently ordered a bar of yummy smelling Au Chocolate hard lotion. It smells just like dark chocolate, and feels so good on my hands (that tend to be very dry from all the hand washing I do all day long). Well, it seems that Miss C got her hands on the tin, and got it open. Miss C is a great eater, she tends to go for the more complex "adult" flavors, but is very good about not putting other things in her mouth....

She took several bites out of my lotion bar! It seems that it must not only smell just like dark chocolate, but taste like it too! (There was an adult on duty, I'll let you guess who.) I love that though these lotion bars are not intended for oral consumption they are safe and natural! No worries of the poor baby being poisoned! Every time she sees the tin now she says "num, num" and tries to get it!

Gingerbread house

We do a gingerbread house every year. It is just one of those fun traditions that brings our family together for some extra family time in this season. This year I purchased a book for Miss E on designing your own Gingerbread house. Since she likes to bake I thought that maybe this would be something she would enjoy taking over. She did a GREAT job with it!

After reading the book she planned out what she wanted the house to look like and what she would need to purchase for that design. She made the pattern by following the directions in the book (this involved pulling out the pencils and ruler to enlarge the pattern pieces that were in the book), made up the dough, rolled the dough out and cut out all of the pieces. My only responsibility was to put it in the oven, and take it out! Miss E made up the icing and Rob put the house together for her. I'm so proud of the great job she did on her first gingerbread house!

Everyone enjoyed covering the house with plenty of candy, and eating some too!

Advent

Other than the regular advent calendars we've never really done "advent". This year I purchased the book "Jotham's Journey," which takes the reader(s) through advent by way of a story of a young boy's journey in the days before Jesus was born. We are enjoying reading of the prophesies of the Messiah and our own need for a Savior through this story.

We received these pretty ornaments from some very thoughtful friends recently (there are several more, all with different words/sayings). I intended to put them on the tree, but Mr. R had a great idea that we decided to go with. He thought it would be nice to have them hung up around the house in areas that we would see them regularly. The light switches were chosen as a place to hang them, and I must say that it has been delightful having them all over the house! I love the reminders of what we are celebrating this season!

Setting up the nativity- home school style

Miss E enjoyed setting up the Playmobile Nativity that G'ma and Grandad just sent.
Notice the shepherd in the field, with the angel bringing news of great joy?

The wise men are quite a ways off, since they will not be arriving for two more years. ;)

JOY!

This past week-end we went up to visit our dear friends the Joneses. We went up so that I could attend the "Woman's encouragement brunch" that CVP was putting on, but that was really just a good excuse to go up for a visit! The theme for the brunch was "JOY." The whole visit was a time of joy as we all shared some sweet fellowship with the Jones and "R" families who have become so very dear to us!

The visit started out with dinner and moved on to cupcakes!

The kids all had a great time playing together.

The moms took off in the morning for the brunch. Rebecca was one of three speakers at the brunch. She spoke on choosing the right words. The entire brunch was so encouraging and convicting. It was such a blessing to be able to participate with this wonderful group of ladies!

The dads held down the fort and put the kids to work while we were gone! Judging by the reports and the pictures they had a GREAT time!

We had some more sweet fellowship that evening including a time of singing Christmas Carols.

Getting ready (or waiting) to go to church in the morning.

Clips!

Thanks for another wonderful visit!

St. Nicholas Day

As long as I can remember my family has been celebrating St. Nicholas Day. I think it was something my Great Grandmother passed on to the family (who knows how long her family had been doing it! ;). I love seeing all of the shoes lined up!

The kids enjoyed finding their shoes filled with treats this morning.

We watched the veggie tales St. Nicholas DVD, it was OK. We also enjoyed reading a book about St. Nicholas. It was fun to compair the DVD and book; to talk about how it can be hard to compile an accurate history on a person. We talked about the common elements that seem to run through most tales of St. Nicholas. The main point- he was a man that loved the Lord and shared God's love through giving. We enjoy learning about him in this season of giving as we celebrate the greatest gift of all, Jesus!