Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Pre-Christmas

We have been in full swing Christmas mode now for a few weeks.....  This means lots of fun and lots of happenings - Christmas truly is a fun, but busy time of year for our family and our ministry!




I was very pre-occupied this month with our annual Women's Christmas dinner for church.  It was a super fun and amazing evening, and worth all of our hard work - we had 100 women attend, more than double our previous years!  I have to be honest that it remains uncomfortable for me to step up for many reasons to lead in women's ministry and particularly these large events, but God continually burdens my heart for the necessity of it.  I am continually grateful for the leadership of our executive pastor's wife, Bethany (who also is a dear childhood friend) in this ministry - I could not, and would not, do it without her expertise and wisdom!
We also were blessed with a great team of women to help us pull off all the details, and I can truly say it was an honor to be a part of the event.  God gave us a last minute inspiration to write a monologue from the perspective of Mary that I can't believe we pulled off.  It was so crazy, but something I will always remember about that night.  

Anyway, back to the main focus of this blog.... Those two cute kids of mine....

Here is Aaron with his friend, Eli (Bethany's son), on one of the many mornings we were at church working....

Thank goodness our kids get along so well and entertain each other!!!  I wish so badly I had video of Mikayla, Bethany's 6 year old daughter, patiently teaching Noel ballet that same day.  It was soooo cute!

Anyway, some video of the live entertainment I am blessed with on a daily basis....
Big news also - Aaron lost his first tooth last week!
It was hilarious, because we had noticed that it was slightly loose, and I figured it would be awhile.  We were driving to school and Aaron asked me calmly and nonchalantly if something was wrong with his mouth.  I was driving, so I took a quick glance back and noticed some blood on his lip.  He told me that there was something bugging him so he pulled it out - turned out it was his tooth!  I was proud he was so brave!

I have enjoyed what Aaron is grasping and understanding about the theology of God, especially at Christmas....  We are praying that he continues to grow in the knowledge of Him!
And Noel is as sweet and sassy as ever....

Also, I wanted to put in some video of our house.  So here is a quick walk through for those of you that haven't seen it yet.....



 Also I have to brag about our bargain hunting and my husband's restoration skills.  Craigslists and garage sales have become our best friends these days as we try to make our house truly ours.  Here are the before and after pictures of a secretary desk Lee fixed up for me.
Before:

After:



Also, he refinished our dining room table and chairs....  I do not have a before picture, but it was just a  plain honey color with lots of dings and blemishes.  Now....


I love it!  It was like getting a new set for $100 worth of materials to fix it up! 

One of my garage sale favorite items - bar stools for a total of $20....




And one of my craigslist favorite items - cubby shelf with storage baskets, DELIVERED, for $30....

Next post I predict will be of our Christmas adventures! =)