CHRISTMAS, PART I

Oh my! This one's a marathon. And I didn't even finish. I'm wiped out from all of this downloading so I'll finish the rest tomorrow. Christmas was really fun this year. I wanted those of you who sent us packages to be able to see how much the kids liked the gifts.

Peter handed out the presents to everyone before we began the opening.

Once all the packages were distributed, I took a picture of each child with his/her pile.

Peter's parents sent a lot of little things so we started opening theirs on Christmas Eve. Amelia got some books.

And puzzles

Will got a very nice all-wood game called Quartile. He's played it now several times and really likes it. It uses math skills.

Ben got a horse game and a puzzle.

Sam got a sketch pad with a nice large set of colored pencils.

Calvin got a sticker play scene. It didn't take him long to start.

Back to Christmas morning...Amelia got many board books from us.

Calvin is the only one in the family that started telling us what he wanted for Christmas this year. About a week before Christmas he started informing us that he would be getting a dump truck and a fire engine. Hmm. One week before Christmas is a little late to be giving requests. Lucky for him, God had arranged for a dump truck from Grammy and Papa (my parents) and Benjamin had picked out a fire engine to give to him. It's very sweet to see God gratify a 3 year olds desires. We were so glad that Christmas was special for him.

Grammy and Papa had arranged for a pogo stick to come for Benny.

More from Grandpa Jerry and Grandma Betty, markers and a hidden picture/find it book.

Sam got a very nice Children's Atlas.

Grammy and Papa's gift to Millie was this alphabet zoo bus. Hours of fun and great for pulling.

Peter's sister, Leslie, sent a couple of rattle-y baby toys for Cecily. :-)

Sam's gift from Grammy and Papa: A motor to use with his fischertechnik engineering set. So much more fun to build if you can make it motorized! Doesn't he look pleased? He's been wanting that since he got the set last Christmas.

Aunt Leslie and Uncle John sent some knight figurines for the little guys. (The older boys have some already).

This was Calvin's book from us. We thought it was funny that when he opened it he said, "Oh, it's Richard Scarry!"

This funny look on his face is actually glee. Will's book was Leepike Ridge, by N.D. Wilson.

Grandma Betty picked out a tea set for Millie. So cute.

She knew just what to do with it.

I didn't take very good pictures of Peter, but he was very happy with his gifts. This one is basement tapes from R.C. Sproul Jr.'s ministry.

And of course, books. If all he got was books, that'd be alright with him. My sister, JoAnn, drew his name in our family gift exchange and she got him 3 books that were on his list. I think this one was The Bondage and Liberation of the Will by John Calvin.

Watching others open gifts.

A little construction set from Grandma Betty.

We saved the best for last. The boys all got a rifle (toy for the little guys and BB air gun for the older boys) for their gift from us. Amelia's gift from us was the doll bed and Peter's sister got her a really nice handmade doll from Germany, which was her big gift to open at the end.

Taking the packaging off of his gun.

Trying it out. It's only about twice as long as he is tall!

Millie with her gift!

I was so excited about this doll!

In the bed with her other baby from Grandma Bethel.

Amelia was fascinated by the eyes that opened and closed.

Watching Amelia use her dolls and doll beds was a highlight for me this year. This is really our first year with a little girl and we all immensely enjoyed watching her participate in everything and get her girl toys and use them. So sweet.

Oh, and the doll came with a carrier. That was very cute too.

Hurray for girl toys!!

I, myself, got some Pampered Chef items that I wanted, some lotion and some audio series from Canon Press (The Pleasant Home, A Bible Study for Young Mothers and Mothers and Daughters, Growing Into Wise Women Together)(by Nancy Wilson). But my favorite gift of 2008 was definitely Cecily Mae. I was feeling grateful for her all day. Her Christmas gift was some headbands and I thought they looked pretty cute on her!

Our advent season was very joyful and our celebration was very much filled with awareness of the wonder of His coming. Praise God for the gift of His Son. As I hold Cecily, I can more tangibly feel the awe of our eternal and all-powerful God becoming a baby. One feels even more affection for He, who in His awesome strength, became feeble and helpless and therefore able to sympathize with our lowly estate.

From the Christmas hymn by Martin Luther, From Heaven Above to Earth I Come:

"Welcome to earth, Thou noble Guest,

Through Whom the sinful world is blest!

Thou com'st to share my misery,

What thanks shall I return to Thee?"

NEW YEAR'S EVE

Look closely at the couch. This is Cecily watching Dial "M" for Murder on New Year's Eve. :-)

TURTLE FONDUE

This isn't the greatest picture. We don't have a fancy fondue pot/set. We've actually never even tried to make fondue before. I found a recipe for a turtle fondue with chocolate, caramel and toasted pecans and decided it sounded like a fun thing to do to surprise the kids on New Year's Eve. Well, it was a huge success. We gave them each a bowl of their own to dip in and an assortment of pieces of apples, bananas and pears and a bamboo skewer. They had a ball and got all covered in chocolate and just couldn't believe that such a good thing existed and they never knew it before. Peter and I enjoyed it throughout the evening after they'd gone to bed and decided we'll definitely have to do this again. A great treat for a special occasion.

21 CHILDREN

Last Sunday we had two families over for lunch after church. One of the families has been attending our church and has six children like us (the Oldlands). The other family was visiting the Oldlands from Alabama and have 9 children. Add it up and you get 21 children and six adults. Wow! It was really something. Lots of fun. :-) We were so honored to be all together at our house. (There are only 18 kids in this photo, somehow 3 of my children were missing.)We put 2 card tables in the living room.

And we had two full-size tables in the kitchen and dining room. I think we did end up with a seat for everyone.

CHRISTMAS EVE

I'm trying to catch up on my pictures so here's a big group of what we did on Christmas Eve. In the morning, we let the kids open their gifts from my Grandma Bethel. Amelia got this little doll in this blanket carrier that Grandma made. You can see how much she likes it! And she knows just how to hold a baby. :-) Such a great gift, Grandma.

She loves the baby!

The boys each got a little flashlight that was colored in camouflage. That was a thoughtful and appropriate gift. They love them. Kids really do love flashlights.

I just like this picture.

The boys with their flashlights.

The kids spent the morning playing with the flashlights. Yes, all morning. Around lunchtime we let them open their gifts from some aunts and uncles and that's what they did for the afternoon. My sister, Joy got them each a work/activity book that was appropriate for their grade level. They sat at the table and did pages in them and did some coloring all afternoon while Peter and I did various preparatory things for the Christmas dinner and for Christmas day.

Picture of a wiseman that Samuel colored.

Amelia joined in, of course.

Calvin got a book that had a magic marker that made the colors appear on the picture from Peter's brother and family and he spent a couple of hours just coloring away.

We had our Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve this year. We thought we'd try that so that we could just have leftovers on Christmas Day and not have to do any heavy cooking. It worked out very well.

We had turkey since we didn't cook one ourselves at Thanksgiving.

We all enjoyed the food a lot, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, sweet potatoes and rolls.

Her meal is done and she's all ready to head to bed for a Christmas sleep.

This is pretty scary, but here we are after midnight when all of the stockings were filled, the gifts were wrapped and under the tree and the dinner was all cleaned up. I think we look tired.

Voila! Christmas 2008. So nice when all the preparations are done!

DAY AT THE CARPENTERS

This day was actually a few weeks back and I'm posting probably way too many pictures of it. It was just so much fun though. The Carpenters are a family who live over 2 hours away in Webster County but have been attending our church the last few months. They invited everyone from church to come down to their house for the day to see where they live. They served us a marvelous lunch and then we headed outside to do some sledding. They live on a farm in the middle of the woods. It's the kind of place that you have to have 4-wheel drive to get back to their house. Once you're there, it's just beautiful. In the following picture, everyone is waiting outside to head over to the hill for sledding. Josh Stedman is in the front, making a snowball.
Here are my kids, getting their snow gear on.

This is Joshua and Kristin Stedman, newly married in May and expecting their first baby in February.

This is John and Sarah Moss and their son, Isaac. John leads the music at church, designed the church website and is just a lot of help with a lot of things. They are expecting baby #2 in May.

In front is the Carpenter's horse and behind is where we went sledding.

This is the view back towards the house from where we went sledding.

The brave sledders.

William, at the end of his sled run.

This is Peter, hitting Josh Stedman with a snowball.

Several of the young ladies. From left to right, Tricia Moss, Sarah Moss, Hannah Moss, Shaela Carpenter and Shanna Carpenter.

And here they are with 5 of them on one sled!

Calvin with Josh and the Carpenter's new puppy. Josh is the one who had a severe head/brain injury from a bike accident a few months ago. His recovery has been so much better than we expected. So many people prayed and he is doing remarkably well.

Pulling the little ones around.

Calvin enjoyed saying hello to the friendly, fuzzy cow.

Amelia, dancing with Mr. Stedman.

Marlene Moss with her grandson, Isaac.

In this picture, Matt Regar, Shirley Carpenter and Sarah Moss (seated).

The hot cocoa rush after sledding.

I really, really enjoyed the cozy Carpenter home. The kitchen had dried corn and herbs hanging up and lots of rustic and old-fashioned utensils and decor.

This is the living room and it was very conducive for conversation.

The young adults were playing some cards as we were heading out the door to take our tired little ones home. We felt really warmed as we drove home thinking of our day with our fellow saints, enjoying fellowship and God's good gifts.