Merry Christmas
and
the Lord's blessings as you begin 2009!

Woo Hoo . . . . .

NATE COMES HOME TOMORROW!!!!
HOORAY ! YIPPEE! CAN'T WAIT!!

Pink Dinner

We had our "pink" meal on grandparent's night. It didn't make it in the picture, but we were right next to our pink tree. My folks were in Texas so it was quite a small table.
















We didn't really get around to pink food. But everything else was pink except the beautiful Moroccan tea cups. (thank you Najah) You can see them here, they are green and gold. Very different from our tea cups, and yes . . . . they are for drinking hot tea. They were used this time for egg nog.



Oh it was fun to get out all the pink.




















One year during Christmas when Matthew was about three years old, he kept asking for "lap dog". We couldn't figure it out and he was sooo frustrated. Finally the connection was made and the riddle solved. He was asking for egg nog!

Hope that you all take some time to enjoy some "lap dog" even if it's not served in Moroccan tea cups.
=)

In the mood

Church Christmas Celebration

Tomorrow night is our fellowship's Christmas gathering. Each family works on something to present to the whole group. It's great to see everyone's creativity. We had so much fun last year with the hand bells that we decided to try some more.

This year we are missing Nate, Gretchen and Kyle!! YIKES!!!

There are only four of us to divide up the bells. Oh Boy.

I've heard a rumor that Matthew and Haley may attempt a song on their own. Imagine, just two! This ought to be fun to see.

If I can figure my camera out, I'll go for a video. =)

4 days until the return of NRS

Counting down the days . . . . .

Do you know how many days left until Christmas??

We are counting down until Christmas, but for a different reason than most folks.

Nate comes home !!!!! Hooray!




Can't wait to hear his stories and see his pictures.



















It was bad enough to have to decorate the tree with out Nate, but lets get real. How will we ever get our Christmas presents properly wrapped/disguised??




Can't
wait !

See you soon Nate, we are saving all the present wrapping for you.

We are thinking Pink!

You know how each family has their quirky little traditions . . . . .

Well this is the quirky tradition that we girls in our family started a few years back. The guys all left us for a trip to South Africa early in December. (They should have known better!) We were decorating for Christmas and we came across this scruffy, really scruffy tree that the kids used to put up and decorate themselves. ( One year it was decorated with beanie babies!)

Since I have a small collection of pink decorations, we put it up in the dining room and used all pink and gold!

Since it's grandparents night tonight we just have to get our pink china out. Hum I'll have to come up with a menu worthy of all this pink. What would you serve??


PS Our family is thinking pink on a lot of different levels. "wink"

Behind the Scenes with Filmweavers

Nate's been in Wisconsin with the Filmweavers group shooting their latest movie, The Penny.
He is the sound recordist for the project.



He has really enjoyed getting to know and working with everyone on the crew.





They started out shooting all the outside scenes before the snow fell.



















This translates into 18 hour
days . . .

. . . . . and nights. Many of the night shoots were in windy below freezing weather. Frost would form on all the equipment and it was COLD.

Feeling cranky Nate???

Warming up!

Rumor has it that they became familiar with

"Rockstar" drink in an effort to remain conscious during those never ending days and nights.



I heard tell of two scheduled shoots that extended back to back into 28 hours straight filming for the crew. Nate said that they are a great group of people to work with, good thing huh?

This is some homeless guy Nate said they met while filming. "wink"

The sound cart.
(I don't know if that's what it's really called.)

Is all that caffeine getting to him or is this really a slasher movie????

Nate won't be home until Christmas! We can't wait to see him and get another installment from behind the scenes at The Penny. Please continue to pray for Filmweavers and this project.

The Penny

At Thanksgiving, Nate brought us some great behind the scenes pictures of the making of "The Penny".















I hope to get them up soon, but like the movie industry I thought I'd post a teaser. "wink"
















Although we are missing Nate terribly during this holiday season, we are thankful that he is having the opportunity to do the thing that the Lord has laid on his heart and planned for him.

"Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders which Thou hast done,
And Thy thoughts toward us;
There is none to compare with Thee,
If I would declare and speak of them
They would be too numerous to count."
Psalm 40: 5

Yippee!

Thanksgiving Memories

This morning as I was standing at the sink, I was thinking about our Thanksgiving. The washing machine and drier in the next room were humming, stuffed with sheets and towels, dishrags and dish towels. (You know, there really is a wonderful smell of clean clothes drying. )

I was thinking of all the things I have to be thankful for after the Thanksgiving weekend.

I am thankful for piles of dishes that needed to be washed the evidence of family and friends with strong bodies and healthy appetites.















I am thankful for those who were willing to give up the comfort of their own beds to stay with us. I love to see sleepy faces emerge from bedrooms and fresh clean shining faces coming out from the showers to eat breakfast together.



















I am thankful for full bedrooms, mattresses on the floor, portable cribs with napping babies, warm quilts and soft pillows.


















I am thankful for old friends, new friends. Favorite foods. Leftovers.


I am thankful for the sounds of laughter, Bible discussions, teasing, catching up and prayer.

Our Cats

Hi Therese D. ( from Oakland)
These are for you!


















How do they keep their white feet so white??

Young Adult Conference

We had a great time!! Last weekend was ICHE's Young Adult conference. There were so many fun things that went on, so many new faces and so many friends that had come for years.

Jeff Lewis, Timothy Botts & Ken

We began the day with singing and the beauty of God's word. Timothy Botts the well known calligrapher came and did our theme verse as he led us in devotions and testimony. It was so encouraging and amazing. He is truly gifted by the Lord. Timothy shared from all the twists and turns in his life, (starting even at 6 yrs old) how the Lord had orchestrated each and led him along God's path for his life.

This is a bit dark but if you select it you can see his amazing artistry. He explained how his art is intended to display what he thinks the scripture means. He chooses his colors and fonts to express those meanings. Notice the compass as the underlying image in yellow.

This was our theme verse:

You will show me the way of life,
granting me the joy of your presence
and the pleasures of living with you forever.

Psalm 16:11 (New Living Translation)

We had more sessions throughout the day featuring Tim Boyer. Unfortunately the pictures I took turned out very grainy so I don't have any to put up.

After a goofy introduction session, we had lunch. Everyone brought their own.
By now we were starting to get to know each other.

Scavenger Hunt

We needed to move around a bit so after another session, we had an "in church" scavenger hunt. There were 60 things on the list that your team could try to find, or accomplish. We only had a short time so the competition was to get as many as you could.



Afterwards we girls separated off and had a class in flower arranging demonstrated by Becca and Martha Johnson. I Loved it.

They put together 4 arrangements. Watching them work was like watching a different kind of artist. We learned so many things to help us on our own. They also gave us a handout of helpful tips and ideas.

Becca used these beautiful and unusual flowering cabbages!

April was one of the winners of the arrangements. She won and got first pick!

Becca's second arrangement.

Martha's second arrangement. Yes it's done in a pumpkin!
Gretchen won this one and gave it to me!! I am enjoying it so much.


After the split session we had a delicious catered lasagna dinner, games and fellowship.

Some folks chose to play volleyball . . . . .
others watched.

Melissa brought the quilt top that she and her girls made while the men were away at the Father/Son camp. I had wanted to see it. Isn't it beautiful? I love the colors they choose. What do you think Emily? She's a pro now. I hope to see more quilts come from her creative hands.

Even us old folks made new friends and were encouraged to stay in the race. I left the conference thinking how beautiful and varied the Body of Christ is.