A Season of Hope

Well, the "Season of Hope" that we had at our church on Wednesday the 17th turned out great. I was at the church in the morning helping with set-up, etc. and I was a bit bummed that we had gotten ice/snow the night before so we decided to set places for only 160 people.

I was really nervous to speak in front of a crowd that large, but knew my strength would ultimately be granted to me by God...I was able to go home for the afternoon and relax a bit before I needed to be back at the church.

Even with the snow and the sketchy weather, there were over 250 people there. It was an amazing evening!! Lisa, our emcee, was a great fit since Eva (our original emcee unexpectedly had to travel to Minnesota) and to top off the night we were all able to enjoy the voices of Holly and her mom...WOW, what a treat!!

If you were unable to come and would like a copy of the evening, just e-mail me and I will mail you a DVD.

(Pictured above Terri, Lisa and myself)

Tate helpin' out!!

Tate is my helper, and today he decided to shovel off the front porch and sidewalk. Rob always tells him that he is the man of the house when Rob can't be there, and I think he took it seriously today. Anyway, he wasn't out too long, but he was so proud of his accomplishment!!

Is that Santa in the tub?

Austin thought maybe he could pass for Santa because of the white hair and long beard? I think the baby face kind of gives it away....but it depends on who you ask, right?

Weekend in Chicago....

I was planning to go to Chicago last weekend with a few girlfriends and unfortunately one of them ended up in the hospital for 5 days with their youngest son, who was diagnosed with viral meningitis....

Rob left on Friday night with Kyle, Megan, Tate, Carly and Austin to go to Chicago, and was planning on hanging out with Chris and his mom and dad all weekend. By Saturday morning I decided I was going to join him so I drove in with his truck. We were hoping to get to the Brookfield Zoo for the much talked about Christmas lights display, but it rained all day on Saturday.....

Instead we took them to Odyssey World on Saturday night and Carol let them burn some energy while Chris, Rob and myself snuck away to our favorite restaurant...

Megan

Carly

Austin, Kyle and Tate

My days....

I need to post quick and let everyone know we are all doing well. Our lives have been busy, it seems this time of year brings many emotions. I promise when I can catch my breath and sit back and reflect over these past few weeks I will post soon.

Our first gingerbread house...

Tate and Austin were able to assemble (with the expertise of their Aunt Chrisy) their first gingerbread house....we had a great time and hope to do it again next year.

PJ day!!

We have been enjoying winter and had some fun "PJ days" since the weather has been getting bad. We have done it twice in the past few weeks and the kids just love it!! I always tell Rob we are having a "lock in" which means we get to spend the entire day in our PJ's, and within minutes Rob is out the door...he doesn't seem to enjoy our "lock in" like we do!!