Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from us to you!

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: 

and the government shall be upon his shoulder: 

and his name shall be called 

Wonderful, Counselor, 

The mighty God, 

The everlasting Father, 

The Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6

Christmas Party

Food...

Caroling...it was freezing!

We had a reader's theatre of the Christmas story found in Luke.  Then, a holiday family feud game.


The gift exchange....

The boys made homemade ornaments for each other. We had swords, ninja turtles, minions and nerf bullets.  

The girls made homemade gifts for each other.  They always do such a great job really making something special for each other.

Even the moms exchanged names this year!

 A fun night together with friends!

All kinds of activity

Baking...

Tera is really getting into yeast breads.  Beautiful and delicious!

Speech competition....

Tera and Daniel were the only ones in their grade levels, so they both went to on to the regional level.  

Flute concert...

Daniel has had the opportunity and privilege to play alongside a wonderful group of ladies in the Silver Winds ensemble.  He has learned so much!  At one point before the concert, I was asking JP if I should go up there and see if Daniel had everything in order.  I looked up and two of the other ladies were instructing him, helping him and giving him advice.  He is now surrounded by a group of ladies mentoring him.  It's quite wonderful to see!  

Christmas pictures...

Volunteering...

Being together...

Favorite Christmas Tradition

It's an understatement to say we have a lot of Christmas traditions, but one of my favorites by far is collecting family ornaments.  Every year since we've been dating, we have purchased an ornament.  Not just any ornament...

The rules are you pick an ornament with one figure for each family member. When there was only the  two of us, they were easy to find.  Now, we have to be more creative.  My favorite part is hanging the ornaments and remembering.  

"This was our first year together..." 

"Our first year as a family of three..."

"Two little peas...and a family of four"

"Many years later and now our family is complete..."

It took me until this year to make last year's ornament!  

The newest addition....2015
 

Together since 1993 and still going strong!  Thank you Lord, for seeing us through! 

December 4-H

We are truly enjoying our first year in 4-H. Last week, our club had their monthly meeting with loads of Christmas fun and speech presentations. 

Michael's first speech entitled Ninja Turtles

Daniel and Tera both presented speeches to our local 4-H club.  Daniel's speech explored the influences on J.R.R. Tolkien's works.  Tera presented The Benefits of Chess.  They will compete at the county level later this week.

Fun times with presents, games and tons of cookies...

Photo Booth...