Peace to you

I've noticed a lot of us bloggers have been lagging in our postings the past few months...I guess it's due to all the crazy holiday festivities. In the Sunday comics this week, Family Circus features the kiddos all piled up on one bench in the kitchen, just staring longingly at their advent calendar. One of the little ones said "Don'tcha wish Christmas would hurry and get here?"...and the parents just seem exhausted already as they looked each other with pop-up thoughts of decorations to hang, cards to send, trees to decorate, meals to make, lines to stand in at the stores, and presents to wrap. Whew! It can get very stressful around this time of year. I pray you find peace during the whirlwind. I pray you find time to spend with your family, making memories to last a lifetime. I pray you find Jesus at the heart of your festivities, remembering what we are really celebrating here. I pray you are a light beaming brightly to your friends and loved ones.
May this be a week to remember for you and yours.
A very Merry Christmas-week to you!

Pics of the week

Cousins Will & Lucie...

they already seem to enjoy talking and playing together!

"Look at me dance"

"Will, you're so funny!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While I was in the kitchen, these two were playing loudly on the floor together....then suddenly it was silent. I found them like this :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Mommm! I said I wanted the ELMO stocking!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Watchman Will stands guard over the Christmas decorations...and his toys :)

I love having the fire going, and the tree and stockings up...and with this weather, it's even beginning to FEEL a lot like Christmas too ey?

First Snow!

Will saw his FIRST SNOW!!! The most ironic part of all is that although our city (no names) was having it's 1st and most likely ONLY SNOW of the year...my dear 9 month old was sitting in my lap, looking out the snow-covered window from the inside of a Boeing 757 airliner headed to Denver, Colorado (where there was MUCH MORE SNOW). He was such a trooper when the already boarded and full plane was delayed 2 hours because our poor city is not prepared for snows that large, and we were 8th in line for de-icing on the 1 and only de-icing pad in our cities major airport!

But he was so stinkin' adorable in his mohawk trapper hat :)

We had a nice time with Billy's company for their annual Christmas party! They are always very generous and treat us to a really nice weekend. It's great to catch up with everyone (since they all work from their homes in so many different states) and see what's new in their lives. We got to meet a few newbies this year, and had our most-excellent gift exchange (the bosses buy the gifts and then we all fight over them). It's a real treat and other than the altitude, it was a great place to stay too.

Will had a lot of fun meeting all the new people, and I think some of the wives wanted to take him home! I was so glad we had him with us, and he spent most of the trip like this:

 Which he doesn't seem to mind :)

It was 15 degrees when we came home on Sunday, and thankfully, we all had many layers to keep us warm. It was so cute, when we dropped the rental car off at the airport, Billy ran Will inside to keep him out of the cold...and as snow was falling down into the carseat, all you could hear coming from the little man was a bunch of really loud raspberries! His hat was a bit tosseled, but he didn't seem to mind the cold at all.

(See all the pretty snow behind him?)

Dog gone cute

The Rest of the Story...

We're IN!!!

MORE PICS TO COME! :)

The past 3 1/2 weeks have been a whirlwind of packing, moving, and unpacking! The day before we closed on the house, my FIL Larry called asking "can I come over?" Billy jokingly answered "sure dad, you can come on over"(from Cali)....but to our surprise he was serious, and was in the middle of purchasing a ticket to come! He and Billy had so much fun working on projects like "packing the moving truck" or "taking off the faucet fixtures" or "replacing the ceiling fan". They also enjoyed a few trips to Home Depot and Lowes. Then again, what guy doesn't? :)

My Aunt was such a big help, organizing, unpacking and basically helping me find a place for....
almost everything! Mom completely took care of Will so I could be in other rooms working, which was a HUGE HELP for me :)

Court and David took their turns feeding the boy, playing with him, and "homeschooling" him with lessons on coloring and reading (Courtney was so proud of Will that she gave him a sticker :)...then when they wanted to play, they just went out to the backyard and made forts out of our fridge boxes or sat in front of the washing machine to watch it work! Brothers Brian and Aaron joined in the efforts, and they were so great actually putting the boxes in the room they were marked with! That was SO HELPFUL. I officially have 2 more boxes to go through, which feels WONDERFUL to me.

and here's the rest of the story...

A few months ago, the Lord laid it on my husbands heart to pray for our son, Will. He was born growth restricted and due to slow g.i. motility, he had a hard time growing at first. We had been very concerned for his health, and felt it was time to truly lay it all down at Jesus' feet. We didn't know how long we would continue the fast, and waited for a release when God spoke it was time.

One day during the fast, the Lord reminded Billy of a small piece of unfinished business concerning our finances. Because of the time we had been dedicating to prayer, my heart was prepared to hear what Billy knew we needed to discuss. We had a productive talk, and felt released immediately from the fast. Billy told me that night, "I think God is about to do something very BIG and very FAST with our finances, because we obeyed and are taking care of business".

Who would have guessed that within a month, we would find and purchase our first home?!

During our meeting with the salesman, to turn in our earnest money, we were told the original discount on our home had been DOUBLED! The salesman didn't even understand it, especially since we were prospective buyers, and usually they wouldn't feel the need to discount in that circumstance. He said "they didn't ask if I had any serious lookers, and therefore I didn't feel the need to tell!".

That's not the end of it....

Over the past year, we had been experiencing some foundational shifts in our townhome, that kept us from closing some of our doors...we had asked for them to work on it, but it was going to be a big job, possibly re-locating us. Our lease wasn't ending until the 31st of January, 2010. When we bought our home, we expected to be bombarded with re-letting fees, IF they even decided to let us break lease. Billy spoke honestly to the manager about our situation, about finding a good home in our budget and the timing of our buy. The manager said "it's funny you are telling me this now, because the contractor is ready to start demo, and we've been trying to figure out what we were going to do with you". He said we could go early FREE AND CLEAR!!

For those in the apartment business (like my mom), you know that is UNHEARD OF!

We know God has opened all the doors for us to buy this home! We don't understand it all, but we know there is a purpose for us here. In the years to come, as we make new memories with our family gathered around, we will see and understand the unraveling of God's perfect will in this.

My cousin keeps teasing that now she needs to fast for a new place too, lol! I'll just say we know and have tested that it's true what God's Word says: Some things come ONLY by prayer and fasting. For us: a healthy son, financial freedom, and a new home! What more could we ask for? We are truly blessed and what a more fitting time to be here than this season of giving and thanks!