We come to Him as ragamuffins—dirty, bedraggled, and beat-up. And when we sit at His feet, He smiles upon us, the chosen objects of His “furious love.”
The boys were so excited about the snow on Christmas Eve! Elijah kept telling me for weeks leading up to Christmas that we'd know it was Christmas time when it snowed....well, he was unbelievably right! He kept saying, "I told you mom, I told you. " :-) We spent Christmas Eve at my sister's house and the boys played in the snow with their cousins.
Elijah and Jonathan jumping on the trampoline...probably not the safest thing to do in the snow, but...
Opening presents. I think Judah was excited about this one!
Judah with Kaki
The best family picture we could get - it was so windy!
Me and my beautiful 15 year old niece, Katherine.
Snowball fight!
Judah picked up on Santa real quick this year - everytime he'd see one he'd say, "HO, HO, HO!"
My nephew Andrew pulled Jonathan and Elijah around in this tub - they loved it!
Me, my brother and sister on Christmas Eve.
Christmas Day and Christmas in Gainesville pictures to come soon.
This post is very random and all over the place, but we've had several big events happen over the last week so I'm putting them all in one post. Last Thursday night was Elijah's first kindergarten program, a Christmas one of course. They sang a few songs and recited a poem. It was cute.
The poem was about getting underwear for Christmas - this is the box each child had made with underwear in it and at the right time in the poem they opened them up!
The next major event was on Friday night when Jason FINALLY walked the stage at UTA to signal his graduation. We were all really glad that he decided to walk - I think he was too. Elijah was really into it and very proud of his daddy. I am glad he got to witness that, and if I know Elijah at all, he will remember it forever.
Then on Saturday we went to San Antonio for Lori's 30th birthday. That signals that Lori and I have been friends for 20 years - WOW. Micah paid for 3 of her friends and their husbands to see The Lion King and it was really good! My mom kept the boys and we had a great time. We rode down there with Lori and Micah and combined had 10 hours of uninterrupted conversation - it was WONDERFUL. Thanks for such a great trip!
In other recent news, Judah is a MESS. In a time span of 3 days, he pulled the stocking holder over on his face which busted his lip, banged up his forehead and chipped his tooth. Then he ran across the floor furnace and burned his left foot. Here it is in all of its sadness... That actually looks better than it did. I felt HORRIBLE but thankfully we haven't had any accidents since. Also, he wants me to hold him all. the. time. Here is the face that I get to look at when I am not holding him. :-) Love this kid but he is a challenge.
Judah had some strands of hair that would get in his eyes occasionally. Actually, numerous people at the preschool threatened to take scissors to my child's hair while I wasn't with him. :-) So, on Thanksgiving Day I finally cut his hair for the first time ever! All I had to do was take about 3 snips to the front and WALLA - done! He did pretty good after I gave him my cell phone to distract him. :-)
I love my mother-in-law...and her camera. I love you more though, Debbie...promise! :-) We worked together yesterday and got some great pictures of our family and my kids. Here are my favorites. Hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving!
Coming soon...Judah's first haircut (if you can even call it a haircut...more like a snip :-)
Rehearsal, Fri night: Jason - preacher, Me - matron of honor, Elijah - ring bearer. Lots of jobs to do!
Isn't it gorgeous? The weather was perfect too!
Elijah and I practicing our entrance.
Me and my hunk.
The happy couple at the rehearsal dinner.
Wedding Day: Getting our hair and makeup done. Except Lauren - did I mention that she doesn't wear makeup EVER, not even on her wedding day, and her face was just gorgeous! Ugh, no fair. :-)
Then my little bug showed up with my mom.
The cupcake cake.
Kissing the bride. I think Jason was about to punch Matt in the face. :-) Just kidding.
Mr. and Mrs. Porter
Running to the car
Some of our family:
Nova took this. It's adorable and looks professional. I think I'll be getting a big one of this. Thanks Nova!
I love him!
Debbie bought the CD from the photographer so when she gets it, I'll have more to put up. She got some PRECIOUS ones of my boys together that I can't wait to get my hands on!
Lauren is married!!! We had a great wedding weekend...the fun started on Thursday night with her lingerie shower/ bachelorette party. I can't wait for the wedding pictures to put up - they are fabulous! When I get them, I will post them asap. Here are a couple of pictures from Thursday night:
------------------------------------------------- But here is what this post is about. On Wednesday afternoon, Elijah set up a lemonade stand, with cookies and brownies too. We had our huge harvest weekend at church yesterday and we had been talking to him about how he could raise some money for mission work and orphans around the world. He suggested a lemonade stand.
He made his own sign
And stuck with it for over 2 hours!!! He waved and smiled to people passing by, which of course prompted them to stop, and he was such a trouper. Never complained and was genuinely excited about it.
Anyone want to guess how much he made in about 2 hours??? 50 BUCKS!!! I was so proud of him and he was really proud to dump it in the wheelbarrow at church yesterday. I hope he always has a heart for helping others in the name of Jesus.
We love God, we love each other and we love our two precious boys, Elijah & Judah. We are open to God's calling in our lives to go where He leads us. We hope you enjoy reading our blog and watching the story of our lives unfold.
