It was a very sad day yesterday at our house, the Christmas tree had to go back into the box for another year. But it is not all bad news...
the reason I had to pack it up is because this is what our garage looks like!! It has all of our new windows that are waiting to be installed today. In fact, the guys just pulled up.
This is pretty exciting stuff when you become a homeowner!Here are a few photos from the last few days. I did not do a very good job documenting it all, so I will have to fill in a few details with words rather than pictures. Also, the pictures are in backwards order, but oh well!
I just thought this was a funny picture. Here are Tyler and James taking a walk at G&G's with their recycled shopping bags. They are actually walking from the barn back to the house with their bags filled with beef. 
This was my Christmas present from G&G. Yes, it is soap and yes, there is money in the soap. Our super cool Grandma (and Granddad) have given us money in a new and creative way every year and I think this may have topped all the others.
This was Granddad and Riley getting ready to head out for our walk to the barn. After I took the picture Granddad wanted to redo it after he put on his "better hat". I convinced him it was okay. 
Now onto my favorite part of our celebration. We took my parents to the Gaylord ICE exhibit on Friday and it was soo very cool. I would recommend it to everyone. I just couldn't decided which pictures to post, so here are a few. 
This was taken in the hotel lobby, everything was decorated so beautifully!
Here is the nativity scene in the ICE exhibit. It literally took my breath away when we rounded the corner and saw it for the first time. The picture does it no justice.
Group shot while walking through the hotel
Very cute picture of Mom and Day and a polar bear
That is us inside a gingerbread house made of ice. So cool!
Here is Dad going down the ice slide. James and I both flew down so fast Mom couldn't capture us with the camera
Just a picture of James and I on Christmas Day
This was at Russell and Sarah's apt on Christmas night when Mom and Dad got into town. Dad read The Night Before Christmas to Riley. It was very sweet and I have a feeling this is the only year Riley will sit perfectly still and quiet through the whole story
"Whatcha looking at Aunt Rachel?"
Mom and Dad
This was my Christmas present from Mom and Dad. It spells SILVESTER with snapshots of different objects. You must see it in person, it is fabulous. I LOVE it!!
Somehow I didn't get any pictures of Christmas with James' family. I think Sandy did. If so I will borrow hers and post them. I guess I better add "be a better picture-taker" in the new year (see post below) to my list.
What a blessed Christmas season this has been!
As New Year's Day is approaching I have been considering what resolutions I would like to attempt. I say attempt, because I have never been very consistent during the past 22 new years. Here is the conclusion I have come to: I need to exercise more, eat healthier, drink more water and less coffee, take my vitamin daily, spend more time in prayer, more time studying the Bible, show more compassion, volunteer more, be nicer to my husband, give more effort to old and new friendships and the list goes on and on and on. Wow! How will I ever accomplish all of that? Realistically, if I decide on January 1st that I am going to make all of those changes I will probably not make it through the first week without dropping them all. Then, I will feel like a big failure and be disappointed in myself. That is not the way I want to start the new year! Instead I want to begin this new year feeling hopeful and optimistic, don't you?
Here is my proposal to myself and anyone out there who would like to join me on this journey. I am going to make a new month's resolution from January through December. I will make one simple change each month and do my best to make it a habit before adding another change the next month. I won't be replacing a resolution, but rather adding it to the previous. Hopefully by the end of 2009, I will have made some serious progress towards the lifestyle I so strongly desire.
I won't put my first resolution on here until January 1st, but I wanted to post this early to give all of you some time to decide what your first resolution will be.
Merry Christmas Eve to everyone! I can't believe it is already here. I felt like October would never end and now I feel like I went to bed and woke up with both November and December gone. I just thought I would give everyone an update about whats been going on in our house.
I am extremely blessed to have 2 weeks off of work while the girls are on their school break. So far I have loved every minute of it. On Sunday, James' family came over to celebrate Christmas. We went to a yummy Mexican food place and then opened gifts. Nick decided to stick around a little longer and watch Dark Knight with us. I had not seen it yet, but was very impressed. I just need to watch it a few more times to make sure I caught everything.
James promised me that he would take off both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day from work (doesn't sound like a big deal to most folks, but trust me, it's a big deal for him), so we have been planning minute by minute our schedule. He was to be home from work about 4:15 yesterday and then we were free! Well, on his way home he called to ask if we had any cough drops and cold medicine. Uh oh! Yeah, so our plans may have to be tweaked. We did manage to go eat and were planning to see Seven Pounds after dinner, but he couldn't make it. We came home after dinner and he basically collapsed on the couch. I am now being as quiet as I possibly can so he can sleep as late as possible today. I want him to get better!
Depending on how he is feeling and assuming I don't catch what he has, we plan to go to Christmas Eve Service and then out to dinner with some friends tonight, celebrate Christmas together in the morning and see a couple of movies during the day. My folks are headed here when Mom gets off work tomorrow afternoon and then we will all go celebrate at Russell and Sarah's.
I had this wonderful plan of how perfect our few days would go and now I am reminded that I am not in control. Christmas time is not about time off from work, giving and receiving gifts, going to see all the new movies out, fantastic food or even time with our loved ones. Basically, Christmas is not about me. All of those things are wonderful and should be enjoyed, but as I get busy with those things I have a tendency to be consumed in myself. I forget that all of this should be for Jesus and his ultimate sacrifice. He should be the reason we are celebrating. We should be giving gifts out of gratitude for our many blessing that come from him. We should be savoring precious moments with our loved ones because he placed us together. I should be shouting praises to him at the top of my lungs for reconciling what was once broken and lost.
Now I'm off to give, savor and praise! Merry Christmas to all of you!
Today while M (five year old) and I were waiting for her big sissy to be done with dance class, she was sitting in my lap just talking and then looked straight at me with a thoughtful face and said, "Rachel, you look like Penelope the Pig Lady". I said, "Oh really, what does she look like?" "She is a normal girl with pig ears and a pig nose."
Obviously this is nothing new. I've been told many times that I have a pig nose. I just hadn't been reminded of it since about 8th grade. Thanks M for yet again for making me laugh and reminding me to stop and enjoy the sweet smell of life, pig nose and all!
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What do you think?
Well, we did it! James and I successfully hosted our first large get together at our new house. The women in my family always make it appear so effortless, but it was hard work! We had a blast and I am just so thankful that we have the opportunity to have our loved ones into our new place. Thanks to everyone for making the drive. These pictures are in no order, but here goes!
Russell said Riley was boy and couldn't wear a bow, but it's Christmas! He sure is a cute boy with a bow.
He was very, very interested in opening his presents. It was alot of fun to watch. I'm sure as the years go on it will just get to be more and more fun to watch him during the holidays.
A snapshot Mom got of James and I
The tree with all the goodies underneath
A few of the guys playing football out in the street. For some reason every time guys get outside and play football in the street it warms my heart. They did it at Thanksgiving too. I guess it just reminds me of when we were kids and all the guys would play outside on holidays. Those were such simple times and I'm so glad that for a few days out of the year things can be simple for a few short moments.
We had a wonderful time everyone. Thanks again for coming! Now we are looking forward to our next couple of Christmas celebrations. It really is the best time of year!If you are married and wouldn't agree with that statement, just wait! If you have been married for more than 6 months, you would probably whole heartedly agree with that statement. As I've mentioned before James and I are participating in two separate marriage groups. We go every Wednesday night to what we call our Reengage group. It includes our mentor couple, us and 3 other couples. Then every other Sunday night we go to what we call our Foundation group. It includes our mentor couple, 4 other couples and us. Add all that up and we have a ton of people getting waaaay involved in our marriage. I'm going to be honest and tell you most of the time, it is a BEATING!!
I think that right now our marriage is even more difficult because we are having to deal with a ton of stuff that we would probably just roll right on past if we didn't have people bringing it to the surface. It is stinkin' hard, but we are thankful that we are stopping bitterness, resentment and hurt in its track. We are prayerful that we are building a strong foundation for our future family and the next generation. It's so hard, but I know that it will be harder if we allow it to fester. All that to say, I have been tired and busy. Tired and busy from working on my marriage. It is tough work, but when we reach a light bulb moment, WHOA!! It's so wonderful and so rewarding.
I borrowed the title statement from a guy in our Reengage group on Wednesday. We all got there and our mentor couple was going around the room asking how everyone was and what had been going on that week. They came to the last couple and asked how they were doing. "FINE!!" "FINE!!" As both of them sat with the arms crossed over their chests and giving the other the cold shoulder. Anyways, I'll spare the rest of the details, but let me tell you after about a half hour, I was sweating and had to take off a couple of layers it was getting so heated in that room. Not heated between the two of them, but heated due to the others in the room calling them both out for totally unacceptable behaviors. I'm only telling you this about them, because James and I have been in the hot seat a couple of times ourselves. We have been called out (in a loving way of course : ) )and told that we were absolutely wrong and better get it together.
It's horrible, awful, terrible, but what a blessing we have in that group. Both groups, but especially that one. After all the heat, we left and went to our mentors house for wassail and cookies. We talked and laughed for hours, with no hard feeling toward each other. Only love and gratitude for what we have all come to mean to each other.
I write this for anyone reading, but especially for my fellow "newlywed" friends out there. Marriage is hard, but I can promise it is soooo much harder when done in isolation. As humans we are created for relationships. Yes, some of us prefer more alone time and some of us prefer to be with people all the time, but I really believe that no one can really thrive in marriage without advice, support and encouragement from others. From others who have the best intention for your marriage in mind. I encourage all of you to find community, whatever that means to you. I know that James and I have conquered so many demons in our marriage with the help of our groups and the godly wisdom that they have shared with us. Now onto the next issue!!!
Today is James' 27th birthday! Wow, he is in his late twenties. I sure am glad I am a ways behind him! When you are that old, you can't really stay up late and celebrate on a weekday, so we did most of our celebrating on Saturday. We went bowling and had a blast! James beat me in the first game and then I came back and killed him in the second. Then we went to Outback and had all of our favorites. It was wonderful!
This is an example of why we don't take pictures of ourselves very often. Oh well!
We have had a good few days of celebrating his day. Thanks to James and Sandy for your part in bringing him to this world 27 years ago. : )'Cause I got alot to show ya! I'm going to let the pictures do most of the talking.
My day with Riley so far...
Sleeping (sorry it is sideways, I don't know how to fix that on blogger)
Looking like such a big boy!
After eating a little cereal.
Looking exactly like his daddy. And super cute!
A little reading.
Our tree is still a work in progress.
My stuffed turkey breast that I made for James' family. If I do say so myself, it turned out pretty well. 
Here is our spread. Yummy, yummy!
Aunt Diana and Riley. 
Enjoying good food and good conversation with a couple of my cousins.
Here is the crew outside during the prayer before dinner. You can also see one of the dogs that joined us that day.
And, finally we have pictures from Riley's baby dedication at church. He looked so handsome!!
They were discussing what an important day it was
The whole group
"What are you all looking at?"
The beautiful family. 