Happy New Year!

Another year is dawning,

Dear Father let it be,

On earth or else in heaven,

another year for Thee.

-Frances Rilley Havergal
Hymns for a child's heart: By Bobbie Wolgemuth

a visit to Kansas city

This weekend we went to visit our family in Kansas city. We had a lot of fun together ice skating (pictures #1, 2, and 3), shopping at the mall (picture #4) and posing for pictures at The Plaza lights display (picture #5). I love you Rachael! :)

Grandma Kathy's Rag Rug

I made a Rag Rug to give to my Grandma for Christmas this year. I was so excited to give it to her, and she was so excited to receive it! Here are a few pictures of the finished project.

How would you feel if today you discovered the Jesus is your brother? He is, of course if you've chosen to be adopted into his family. He's as real a brother as any human boy could ever be. And this means that his father is your father as well. Doesn't that make Christmas a bit more meaningful? It's not just another birthday, it's your brother's birthday! Shall we celebrate?

-Jotham's Journey By: Arnold Ytreeide

Merry Christmas Friends!

I hope you all have a blessed Christmas season, celebrating the birth of our savior Jesus Christ!

sledding

Last weekend Elliot, Dad, and his friends went camping together. They had a lot of fun! After the compassing class, they all went sledding. These are some funny pictures. :)

finished baking!

We finished all six of the Christmas cookies we planned to bake! Chocolate dipped sugar cookies, stained glass sugar cookies, holly berries, peanut butter chocolate kiss cookies, chocolate swirl graham crackers, and chocolate dipped pretzel rods (oh and dad made caramels)!



Today I wrapped all the cookies in tins with blue cellophane to give away to the neighbor. I'm very happy with the way they turned out!

Yesterday mom and Elliot made graham cracker houses together, they look great (I'll be putting up another picture soon)!

cookie exchange

This week Mom and I made 12 dozen cookies! Half of them were sugar cookies dipped in chocolate and rolled in different types of goodies, the others were peanut butter cookies with chocolate kisses in the center. :D Very yummy! Thank you friends for participating in our cookies exchange.

Happy Birthday Mom

This year for Mom's birthday I made her a scarf. :D She really loves it! Thank you to all who voted for which color you liked best. Happy Birthday mom, we love you!

A voice of one calling: "In the desert prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God" -Isaiah 40:3

Seven hundred years before John the Baptist was born, this prophecy in Isaiah told how he would come and wander in the darkness to announce the arrival of the Messiah. God wanted there to be no mistake that the Messiah was coming, and so sent John before him to "prepare the way".

Today, God sends his Holy Spirit to prepare our hearts for receiving the good news of salvation. Even before we ever heard the name of Jesus, His Spirit was in us, testifying to us his great love. God wants to be sure that every soul has an opportunity to know him personally.

Advent is a time of looking forward, of preparing the way. Each of us should take this time to examine our hearts, to see if we're truly ready for the celebration of Christ's birth. God has prepared our hearts to understand and except his Christmas of unfailing mercy and unselfish love, We'll know we're ready for Christmas when we start living that message in our actions toward others.

- Jotham's Journey, a story book for advent
By: Arnold Ytreeide

Sammy in the snow

Sammy loves to play in the snow. Yesterday we were outside and he was so happy that we were with him that he kept running around and digging in the snow. Eventually he would find a chunk of ice and then carry it around in his mouth. :) I think it is so cute when he has snow on his nose!

finding the right Christmas tree

Today we went to Santa's woods to find our Christmas tree. We brought Sammy along and we all played hide n' go seek together. It was a lot of fun except the snow made it difficult to walk let alone run. The first picture is of me by a tree (not the one we brought home), and the second one is a lovely of picture me right before I fell on my face into the snow :). Notice, how deep the snow is where I am standing (perfect tripping depth) and poor Sammy kept falling through the drift. :)

a Christmas poem

I am the star
that shines in the east,
I light the stable
for man and beast.

I am the donkey,
soft and gray,
I carried his mother
from far away.

I am the ram
with my curly horn
I guard the stall
where the child is born.

I am the ox,
strong as steel,
before the only son
I kneel.

We are the shepherds
who watch the sheep,
tonight a holy watch
we keep.

We are the wise men,
gifts we bring
for baby Jesus,
our newborn king.

I am Mary,
the mother mild,
how I love
my tiny child.

Sammy's golden birthday

Today was our dog Sammy's birthday he turned 10 on the 10th of December. Mom made him a cake and we bought him frosty paws (ice cream for dogs). I could not get a better picture becuse he was moving around so much. :) Dad gave him a big rawhide bone as a gift and I got him a box of milkbones. Sammy is a great dog, we are so happy to have him! Happy birthday Sammy!

lots of snow!!

Because of the snow (notice Sammy in the top picture, he can barely walk in the snow because it is so deep) and very cold temperatures we have stayed home lately and I have been working on making cards for friends. Here is a picture of just a few of the cards that I made.

a blizzard

Wow, it's very cold and snowy here. I think that we have 10+ inches of snow on the ground. Tomorrow it's suppose to be 6 degrees, and really windy. oh boy.

a Christmas book

Right now I am reading A Dog named Christmas By: Greg Kincaid. It is a very good book for all dog lovers, I'm really enjoying it (and I'm only on the first chapter). Here's a review, that I did not write. :)

In this heartwarming novel Greg Kincaid tells the tender story of how one very special dog changed the lives of his adoptive family-and an entire town-forever.

Enjoy!

holiday decorating

It's a hard life for dogs like Sammy, who lay around and chase squirrels all day.

We've had this wooden Christmas tree for a few years now and I decided that it was time to put it to use. So today I chose a few colors of yarn (red, blue, white, yellow, and green) and wrapped them around the tree in a few different ways. I put the tree on my dresser in my room. Please leave a comment and tell me if you like it!

Jack

This week I went to babysit Jack. We had a lot of fun together! He showed me his Chinese writing (picture #2), and we baked cookies together! Jack was The Star of the Week at his school, Good job! Jack is looking forward to to next Saturday when I come over again. :D

pictures with friends

A few weeks ago I was at the park with some of my amazing friends Hannah, and Leah. Hannah's amazing picture-taking brother took some very cool pictures of us. Here are some of the one's that Leah edited. Enjoy!