2010 was the year...

2000 was the year Wade and I got married.

2001 was the year Isaac was born.

2002 was the year we moved to the duplex on Bel-West.

2003 was the year the twins were born, we moved to Wiser Lake Road and Wade began working in construction.

2004 was the year I barely remember, I think because I had three little boys under age 3.

2005 was the year Elijah was born and Derric & Amanda got married.

2006 was the year Wade and I started hiking together.

2007 was the year Kris and Jonathan got married and we moved to North Dakota.

2008 was the year we spent landscaping our new yard.

2009 was the year we continued landscaping, God healed Dad's cancer, and Kenner and Karen got married.

As I look ahead to 2010, I hope this year will be marked by being able to adopt, but I realize that many of the time-marking events of the past decade were not planned or foreseeable, and so I have to keep reminding myself to trust that God will make this year the year of whatever He wants it to be. So as 2010 unfolds before us, my prayer is that we will bring Him honor, glory and praise in whatever He has planned for us.

Happy New year, all!

Christmas Eve Dreams

White Christmas

I don't have to dream...

His favorite things

Isaac - "If you counted everything in the world, I think roller coasters would be my 50th favorite."

Me - "50th? What things do you like better?"

Isaac - "Legoland, Texas, war."

Me - "Why Texas?" (he's never been there)

Isaac - "It sounds peaceful and like a place girls wouldn't go very much."

This from the kid who puts war above roller coasters in his list of favorite things!

Silent Night-t-t-t

Levi's favorite song these days is Silent Night, thus that is the song the boys have chosen to sing for the Christmas program at church. After practicing it tonight, Wade gave Levi some tips on annunciation.

"Try singing it 'silent nigh-T, holy nigh-T...'"

Levi caught on right away and spent the next several minutes wandering the house singing "silent nigh-T, holy nigh-T, all is calm-T, all is brigh-T, round yon virgin, mother and child-T, holy infant so tender and mild-T..."

Christmassy

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, everywhere you go...."

This is our lovely tree which I kinda feel bad about cutting down, I mean it was really a well-established tree, but it was well established at a tree farm which makes it more okay, sorta.

We are celebrating Advent with a basket this year rather than a wreath, since my wreaths in the past have been pretty much needle-less by Christmas Day. This one stays nice and fresh looking all season long!

Meet Lazarus, so named because this spring after I pruned him back to about six inches high and completely naked, Wade said, "that thing is dead." Behold, he lives! I don't know for certain, but I think this is his sixth Christmas with us and it's certainly his most beautiful (some years I haven't had him turn red because he wasn't in nice enough shape for me to want to draw attention to him). I think the pruning did him a lot of good.

Double Take

Levi has gotten pretty good at doing handstands and loves to show them off for anyone who will watch!