Birthdays, Christmas, and Snow

We had our first snowy day Thursday - I was totally not expecting it, but it was beautiful. The finches were feasting in their little snow-capped restaurant. It snowed most of the day, which put a damper on the big plans I had for the day. But it was good to pull back and just kind of watch it snow. We had a record low during the night of -5 F and it was 0 degrees when we got up. It's mostly melted now, but it's supposed to snow again tomorrow. We'll see.





The babes are still in exploration mode. Don't worry, Tammy, I don't let them stay under there long enough to get into trouble - just long enough to snap a picture! But they certainly do keep me on my toes! They're not sitting up yet - which is kind of unnerving. The doctor says their hip muscles are very tight. But they are doing everything else - including growing 4 teeth each. Oh, Emma, where are you??

Katie is working on the steps already - yike!!

The decorating is complete - I'll share my nativity collection next time, as well as my angels and snowmen. The girls have 3 sets specifically for them to play with, but alas, Feisty likes to play with the mini ones that I put up high so they can't reach them. But where there's a will there's a way, and she manages to get them off the high shelf to play with them - I love listening to the girls play with Baby Jesus.




Here's my second tree - my "designer" tree.

Kristen had her family picture taken today for the church directory. I found the dresses at Wal-Mart. Feisty wouldn't take her sweater off and Hayley wouldn't let us curl her hair, but I think they're adorable.

Then we tried to take one for our Christmas letter - it was a fiasco, but it sort of turned out okay - Katie is pulling Feisty's hair.

The little rascals are 11 months old today - when we look back on the last year, it is unbelievable how fast it has gone, and how much has happened, and what joy they've brought to us. We have a new baby in our church who weighs twice as much as they did, and she seems so tiny - how can it be that we can't remember how little they were?? What incredible little miracles they are!

Kevin and Sema are going to Mombassa, Kenya right after New Year's. It's been 6 years since they've been back to visit Sema's home. They are unbelievably excited and we're so happy for them to have this opportunity. Please pray for them as they take this long journey, that they will be healthy and have a blessed time.

Tomorrow is Kristen's and Sema's birthday - we went to P.F. Chang's tonight and had such a nice time together - DC's sister stayed with the kiddoes. It was so relaxing. I was going to take a picture of the two birthday girls, but of course, I forgot my camera! If you could run over to Kristen's site and wish her happy birthday, that would be great!

As I was writing my Christmas letter, I realized how tough things have been this year in many ways for our country and the world, and many of your families. But I realized also how blessed we have been, and how much more we have than we could possibly deserve. I found this incredible passage from II Corinthians 4, again in The Message:

"So we're not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There's far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can't see now will last forever." Sometimes my spirit just cries out, "Even So, Lord Jesus, Come Again!"