Merry Christmas Eve!

This week has been so much LESS hectic than last week. It has been so nice to be able to slow down and focus on the birth of our Savior! I have been enjoying my boys and wrapping presents. Not much else besides the normal day to day stuff! Levi has gotten all his schoolwork done and is enjoying a few days off. Benjamin started reading Levi's Noah Webster's Reading Handbook from his schoolwork last year. He is doing great! I didn't know Ben was so ready to start reading! I am super excited which makes him that much more excited! I think we will have 2 kiddo readers in the family before long!

Anyways, I have been focusing on the reason we celebrate this time of year. Trying to sum it up into one word. The best thing I could come up with is LOVE. It was God's amazing love for us that that compelled Him to send His Son to live among us and eventually die for us. Amazing Love. And then there is the issue of commercialism this time of year. Not getting into the fact that a lot of people overspend and then that makes life stressful. Why did it get so commercialized in the first place? That too comes back to LOVE. No really, bear with me here. Is it not our love for our families that drives us to buy gifts for them that will make them happy? Now, I believe that we should not put ourselves into debt for this love. That is why many years we have given the boys a great Christmas but did handmade things or family pictures for other family. So, whether you are a Christian or not....the emotion behind Christmas will always be LOVE. I am thankful that both scenarios work for me....LOVE for God and His great sacrifice for me and Love for my family. Benjamin was starting to be a normal kid this morning and get into who got the BIGGEST present this morning....all I had to do is say his name and he quickly made this statement. "But I know what the BIGGEST present is mommy, it is Jesus....and do you know how He is wrapped??? He is wrapped up in my heart!" Wow, how do you say it any better?

Merry Christmas to all my friends and family out there reading this. May God Bless your Christmas and your New Year! I am truly blessed to have such dear friends.

I'm still here......

Wow, life has been crazy! I haven't had a moment to slow down! It kind of makes me sad a little bit because I really want to enjoy this time of year. Right now I am having fun despite of how hectic it is. The house is decorated and looks great. The boys love the fact that we went all out this year. We have had lots of fun making all sorts of ornaments! Coffee filter snowflakes, q-tip snowflakes and flour and salt ornaments! So much fun! Usually I am extra stressed this month because there is so much to do that Levi gets behind in his school work. The blessing this year is that Levi has been a self starter and hasn't really gotten behind! Thank you Lord! We have our Monday School Christmas Party and Play at our house Friday night and then Christmas Dinner with the people of our church Sunday afternoon. After that is all over with the only thing I really have to focus on is getting presents wrapped! I finally ordered Norman's main Christmas gift this afternoon! I know! It might not even get here before Christmas! He is sooooo hard to shop for, and I did try to get it done before now but had technical problems....Yeah, like $400.00 worth of charges pending on my account when the transaction didn't even go through! Thankfully the company I was dealing with was very nice and helped me resolve that one.....but I still wasn't able to order from them! Oh well, I found him something pretty cool that I'm not going to name on here just incase he decides to read this :) Anyways, if I don't get to post anything before Christmas I wanted to wish all my friends a very MERRY CHRISTMAS! Forget the happy holidays, I still believe that Christ is the reason for Christmas! Now that I say that I am a little convicted that I have focused on so many other things than Christ so far this season....Please forgive me Lord! I will try harder!

I'm so Thankful!

I don't know why but I chose to take a picture of our table right before we sat down to eat this year. Actually, Norman took the picture! We decided to stay home this year because we have been traveling so much this last month and the weather conditions weren't the best. I felt ok about it because I have seen a lot of my family lately....even though I did miss them when the time came to sit down and eat! We had quite a bit of food for 5 people!! I think I could have actually fed at least 20 more! We had a 20 pound turkey and cranberry stuffing, mashed potatoes, Second best sweet pototoes, Grandma' green jello salad, green bean casserole, homemade rolls, olive and pickle dish, vanilla pumpkin pie, and pecan pie! Whew!! We have been eating leftovers everyday since!

I am so thankful this year! I am thankful for my family and my husband. I am thankful that God has provided for our family every month this year. I am thankful that I get to stay at home with my boys instead of going to work everyday. Been there, done that, don't want the t-shirt! I am thankful that God has taught me what it is like to live without comfort zones concerning Him and what He asks me to do for Him. I have really stretched spiritually this year and hope that it continues....but I also know that THAT is up to me!!

Anyways, I know it's been awhile since you have heard from me....we've been dragging the boys around the state for the last month! I will try and post some pictures soon, but I'm not promising nuthin'! LOL!

I think I need to get into the postcard making business!

Vote for your favorite one.....Picniked and Photoshoped....I had a little fun this morning!

Soft focus

Lighting Effect

Pastel

My husband's favorite....Posterized

Chalk and Charcoal

As the Autumn Leaves Fall....

.....how much more does God's Grace fall on us each day???? I looooove Fall!!! Although this year it feels like we went from Summer straight to Winter....oh please fall, come back to me!! Well, lots of stuff has been going on...hence the absence of my writing on this thing! First we took a vacation to the Coast, my beloved hometown, the beginning of September. We had so much fun!! We were blessed to visit with many friends and friends that are like family! I got to see my Beloved Ocean!! And we had beautiful weather!!! I don't think I would change a thing about our vacation. And then, the day after we got back from vacation the boys and I packed up and went to Baker City for a week. We had a lot of family coming to town there that I hadn't gotten to see in ages! So it was like a week long family reunion! It was great! The only downfall was the flu bugs that we came home with from my mom's daycare...oh well, it was worth it! Should have pumped us full of Airborne but I did not think of it in time!

The week after we came home from my Mom and Dad's I went to a Woman's Retreat at Ritter Hotsprings! So much fun!!! We had the whole place to ourselves! And the Guest Speaker was Your's Truley!! Yep! God did a little stretching on my heart! I have always said I am not a speaker, I like nothing about getting up in front of people and talking! But my God is sufficient for ALL my needs and when he asks me to do something In His Name, he promises to provide. Well, as it turns out....God spoke through me and all the ladies said that they couldn't tell that I was nervous at all. And guess what......I didn't speak once.....but twice!!!! He is soooo GOOD!

Then the next week we spent a few days in Redmond getting the house ready for winter! Fun fun!!!! Last weekend Norman's best friend and wife and kids came to minister at our church. Even though it was a short visit, it was so much fun! The kids led worship and did AWESOME and Norman's best friend delivered the message! God is good to us! I thank Him so much for the blessing of wonderful friends! Anyways, so sorry about the length of this! I am going to post some pics of our vacation......hope you like them! Sorry there are so many pictures but I couldn't pick just a few!! There were so many good ones! And FYI they go from the end of the week to the beginning of the week in order :0)

Me and my Bestest Friend Linda Lou at the Scrap store! We spent all day there scrapping together! It was so much fun!

Death of the "Ducky Shoes"! Did you know that when heated these shoes do not melt, they shrink!!

My proof that "Yes, I was on this vacation too!"'

It was 80 something degrees at the lighthouse and the flies were horrible! I kept swatting them off of me and Sammy but when you stop for one second this is what happens! It was so gross!

Lighthouse....sorry for the sideways pictures...forgot to turn them before I posted!

This is my artsy picture. Lighthouse with woman painting it. I can't wait to make it cooler in Phootshop!

Levi with his BEEnoculars! :0)

A visit with my friend Sheila!

The family building a sandcastle on the beach...we had so much fun!

Sammy splashing!!

Levi took this pic of me and Norman on our anniversary!

Yaquina Bay Harbor

The boys imitating the Sea Lions

My MAN! ;0)

Sam was afraid at first to be on the dock so he peeked at the Sea Lions through a hole!

Benny Benners!

Oops! I got the blurry one! Oh Well, he is still a cutie!

Sam had just woken up

Benny

Another Benny shot

Sam....look at that face!! We must be camping!

Oh my!

New friends

My friend Alison and her son came to the beach with us for a visit....wish we had more time together!

The art of builing sandcastles.....Alison makes part of a wall and Sam knocks it down....over and over and over and over.....it NEVER got old!

Learning how to make sandcastles

Goofin off around the campfire.....probably not the smartest thing!

My handsome boy!

Good buddies! Oh, and the ducky shoes before they died!

A gathering of friends!

Superheros

Thank you Christie for introducing me to Picnik!!! I have been having soooo much fun! And I really enjoy that I can save them to my computer and print them myself! I've been having a blast! Here is the first one I did....the pictures are a little old but I thought they were fun anyways! If I keep this up I may have to upgrade to the premium package!

Our week at Camp Elkanah

This last week we have had the pleasure to serve as staff at Kiids Camp 2009 at Camp Elkanah. We had a BLAST! Levi got to sneak in as a camper and Ben and Sam were there with us also. I was privilaged to serve as kitchen help in charge of the salad bar. It sounds easy, I know, but you have to understand we were serving roughly 300 people! And boy could those kids eat!! Norman got to be a cabin inspector. The kids were rewarded each day if their cabins were clean and up to par. He also helped out in a lot of other areas. God was so amazing and did some awesome things in kids' lives this week. We were able to grow relationships with several of the kids and leaders and Pastors. It was so neat getting to know more people. Highlights of our trip were the trips to the LaGrande swimming pool, the red hooded sweatshirt song that I now get to hear my boys sing at random during the day (Ben loves to sing it in the bathroom!) thanks to Pastor Dan!, the giant slip-n-slide! (Sam actually went down by himself several times!), and the many new games and songs we learned. Even though we returned home exausted, it was well worth it. Sam met a girl at camp. I know what you're thinking, he's only 2, right?? Well, you can't stop love at first sight! Sam met McKayla and loved her instantly. Now when he see's her picture on Facebook his face lights up and he says "My Tayla" Well, as it stands Sam is McKayla's main squeeze right now. Although she does not promise that she won't meet someone else and get married. But she has promised that Sam will always be her main squeeze. I love it! She is an awesome young lady and we are glad to call her part of our family. You can never have too much family, right? So I will have to post pictures of camp later because I didn't have my camera with me and will have to bum pictures from a friend. The pictures of Sam below are the only pictures I have of camp and these were taken by McKayla while she was playing with Sam on the playground. Can you see the love in his eyes??

Pics from our 4th of July trip

Here are some pictures from our 4th of July weekend. I don't have many pictures of our activities because I didn't want to take my camera by the water. I hope you enjoy the ones I did get!

Somewhere between Omak and Tri-Cities

Between Coullee City and Soap Lake

The long road home

Sam getting tired of Levi and Ben invading his space!

The three amigos

The Grand Coullee Dam

Sam by The Grand Coullee Dam

Silly Ben by The Grand Coullee Dam

Spiderman Levi by The Grand Coullee Dam

The Soyster Family by The Grand Coullee Dam

Grand Coullee Dam

The Grand Coullee Dam

Why do these thing amaze boys??

The Grand Coullee Dam......again!

The back of my sister-in-law and one of her 5 yorkies

My hubby