Happy New Year!!

“O Love Beyond Compare,

Thou hast loved me before the foundation of the world,

     and in love didst redeem my soul;

Thou dost love me still,

     in spite of my hard heart, ingratitude, distrust.

Thy goodness has been with me during another year,

     leading me through a twisting wilderness,

     in retreat helping me to advance,

     when beaten back making sure headway.

Thy goodness will be with me in the year ahead;

I hoist sail and draw up anchor,

With thee as the blessed Pilot of my future

     as of my past.”

~Valley of Vision

Christmas visits

A few days after Christmas we enjoyed some time with my family - minus our dear Florida Gillans who are in the midst of a 6 month chemo treatment for my sister in law Becky. We missed them so much and pray for the Lord's hand to be on them in healing and perseverance and courage and joy. 

Here are a few pics from our time. We also had a quick lunch with our friends the Zollinhofers from Richmond! 

Merry Christmas!

"A weary world rejoices!"

Merry Christmas! 

December fun

We had lots of fun preparing for Christmas this year. Advent becomes a more special time each year for me and as a family we are able to engage with it more and more each year. We love remembering the story of Gods work of salvation from creation to redemption again each year.

Here are some luminaries that we made when we were talking about Jesus being the light of the world. And some candy canes remembering he is our shepherd and his blood(red) was shed to wash us and make us whiter than snow(white). 

We got to see part of The Nutcracker that Lucy's friend Abby Jayne was in. 

A new family tradition - we saw Andrew Peterson's Behold the Lamb of God concert. 

Hershey Sweet Lights. 

Christmas cookie baking with our friends the Hopes. 

Snow hill

Who knew when we bought our house that the backyard would be a perfect sledding hill!!??

Three!!

Our sweet Lucy is three years old!  We had a great time celebrating our little girl with a new bike, pink cake, family and friends. We are so thankful for how God has taken care of Lucy the last three years and entrust her to his care for many more years to come. Lucy is a joy and delight. She loves to read books with us, color, and do puzzles, she thinks all animals are cute and she loves and adores her brothers. She is sweet and feisty. We thank God for her!

Oh Christmas tree...

We kept our artificial tree in our storage room this year and cut down a real tree!  On the Saturday after Thanksgiving,  we found a Christmas tree farm around the corner from our house. It was so fun to bring back a tradition from my childhood with our kids! It was a great tree. The front room was renamed by Baxter as the Christmas tree room for the month. It is always neat to remember various people and trips and times if our life when pulling out the ornaments putting them on the tree. God has been so good to us! From homemade ornaments the boys made in preschool to a Hershey ornament bought for us by dear friends when they visited and ornaments made by Gramma. Lots of memories and reminders of His faithfulness.