Merry Christmas!!

Well, ok it's past Christmas but its still the season, haha! Christmas Eve and Christmas day was spent with my family cozy in the house eating Christmas munchies, watching Christmas movies, making sugar cookies, and playing in lots and lots and lots of snow, oh and the power went out for two hours but thankfully came back on!! Yes we had a full 14 days of snow and a white Christmas :)

Snowed In

So today we are snowed in, well for the past week we have been snowed in, haha. Sarah and I walked to town yesterday and met up with our friends Tiffany and Melissa! It was so great to see them and have coffee and walk around Molbaks together :) We then went to the store and had about 4 bags of groveries to carry back up the hill - oh man was that hard, but we made it :)

Being snowed in was a little crazy, and Sarah and I spent most of our days playing in the snow. We went sledding with friends, made two snowman, lots of snow angels and a snow fort which later turned into a snow cave. One night we managed to put Christmas lights on a little tree in the front since it looked so pretty in the snow last year with lights. After that we started hitting the snow off the trees with brooms sice the branches were touching the ground with the heave snow. It was crazy fun and I managed to get a broom stuck in my neighbors tree twice, oh man...haha!

The Bishops Wife

Tonight my family and I watched a Christmas movie, The Bishops Wife. In the movie the Bishop and his family are visited by an angel. It's a great story and in the end the angel ends up writing the Christmas Eve sermon for the Bishop. I liked the message and wanted to share it with you. Here is the text of the sermon:

"Tonight I want to tell you the story of an empty stocking. Once upon a midnight clear, there was a child's cry, a blazing star hung over a stable, and wise men came with birthday gifts. We haven't forgotten that night down the centuries. We celebrate it with stars on Christmas trees, with the sound of bells, and with gifts.But especially with gifts. You give me a book, I give you a tie. Aunt Martha has always wanted an orange squeezer and Uncle Henry can do with a new pipe. For we forget nobody, adult or child. All the stockings are filled, all that is, except one. And we have even forgotten to hang it up. The stocking for the child born in a manger. Its his birthday we're celebrating. Don't let us ever forget that.Let us ask ourselves what He would wish for most. And then, let each put in his share, loving kindness, warm hearts, and a stretched out hand of tolerance. All the shinning gifts that make peace on earth."

Snowman Fun!

Last night Sarah and I built a snowman!! As I woke up this early morning it was dumping snow! It's so beautiful, and what a way to wake up :D

Let It Snow!

Today the snow has come and is still falling!! As I see it stick to the trees and all around, I'm taken back at the beauty that it creates - God is so creative! I found this quote on an e-card I was looking at tonight and thought I'd share it with you...

"Every new snowflake comes to the earth as a picture of our saviors birth, because they are sent from up above and remind us of God’s care and love. Each on is so intricate and small because Christ sees the details of us all, and just as two are never the same the Lord knows and calls us each by name. Snowflakes gently cover the world in white and hide what’s unlovely from our sight, showing us how He covers our sin and gives us His grace when we come to Him So may every snowflake bring Christ to mind and in every bit of white may you find a reason to celebrate anew and a reminder of His love for you."
~ Holley Gerth

This is a picture taken in last years snow - more pictures to come for this round on snow!

Happy Birthday Max & Bailey!

Today is Max and Bailey's birthday!

They are 5 years old, 35 in doggy years :D

They are such a cute blessing in our lives and always full of loves!

Crazy Clouds

Here is a picture of Mt. Rainier today - kinda' crazy what wind can do!! These are called "lenticular clouds."

Photo courtesy of: http://www.komonews.com/weather

Singing in the car

So today while I was running some errands, I was sitting at a light listening to some Christmas music on the radio, and I started singing - I think it was the sleigh ride song. I was singing right along when I happen to look over to the car on my left and a lady was singing and dancing to the same song! It was hilarious!! So there we were both singing happily along while waiting for our light to turn. I love how Christmas music brings so much joy, and when you see other people joyful it just puts a smile on your face! Anyway, I hope that you too will enjoy the fun of Christmas music this holiday season! :) I love carefully listening to the words in Christmas songs, especially the traditional ones that have many verses to them sharing the reason for the season – Jesus Christ. Sometimes I find myself in tears of joy or just plain awe at what Christmas is all about. Growing up I always knew that it was baby Jesus' birthday, but as I grow older, it means so much more.

(Photo courtesy of: http://www.allthingschristmas.com/pics/snowmen-carols1.jpg)

This Baby Was Jesus

Happy December 1st!

Every year around Christmas, I hear the song "This Baby" by Stephen Curtis Chapman, and I'm always encouraged by it...

Jesus came into this word just as a baby, just like us, yet he was God's son in human form. I love how simple it is to understand, God with us. God wanted to be with us and have that relationship with us. The only way to do that was to send His only begotten son to become flesh like us, live a life that demonstrated what we are to be like, and to die on a cross, bearing our sins so that we may be purified before God. Christ shows us how we are to live and that our lives are not complete without Him! He came to change this world! "Joy to the world the Lord has come!" Are you changed because of Christ? And if you are, are you living a life that reflects Christ and sharing His love? I pray this Christmas season is a sweet reminder to all of us, including myself, that we as Christians have a beautiful gift from the Lord - the gift of a relationship with Him, and we can share it with with others who are lost and need Christ in their lives!

This Baby

Well He cried when He was hungry
Did all the things that babies do
He rocked and He napped on
His mother's lap
And He wiggled and giggled and cooed
There were the cheers when He took His first step
And the tears when He got His first teeth
Almost everything about this little baby
Seemed as natural as it could be

But this baby made the angels sing
And this baby made new star shine in the sky
And this baby had come to change the world
This baby was God's own son
This baby was like no other one
This baby was God with us, This baby was Jesus

And this baby grew into a young boy
Who learned to read and write and wrestle with dad
There was the climbin' of trees and scrapin' of knees
And all the fun that a boy's born to have
He grew taller and some things started changing
Like His complexion and the sound of His voice
There was work to be done as a carpenter's son
And all the neighbors said He's such a fine boy

But this boy made the angels sing
And this boy made a new star shine in the sky
This boy had come to change the world
This boy was God's own son
This boy was like no other one
This boy was God with us

This boy became a man
And love made Him laugh And death made Him cry
With the life that He lived And the death that He died
He showed us heaven with His hands and His heart

'Cause this man was God's own son
This man was like no other one
Holy and human right from the start
This baby made the angels sing
And this baby made a new star shine in the sky

This baby had come to change the world
This baby was God's own son
This baby was like no other one
This baby was God with us
This baby was Jesus!

John 1:14 (NIV) "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."