::: ~ It's Christmas Time! ~:::

Christmas Morn! ...

Santa enjoyed the treats! ... Getting excited to call a special friend and "see" her in Belgium! ...
Warm fuzzies ...
Surprise! Photoshop ...
A true fan ...
Already texting ... A happy pup with her Mary Moose-eltoe ...

Coffee on the deck with a new book ... The classic "Sleepy Christmas Morning Photo" The advent of our Savior's birth is here ...
... we await the day when we see Him face to face. May we all await with the faith of Mary ...

Mary's Song
"And Mary said: My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me - holy is his name. His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers." Luke 1: 46-55

~ ~ Merry Christmas ~ ~

:: Tag we're it! ::

Okay ... so my good friend JeanBean tagged us in a silly blogging game. According to her rules, once you've been tagged, you go to your sixth picture folder, find your sixth photograph and blog your memories of the photo. Well.... we have a sad computer story. Yep, I don't have a sixth folder right now. You see ... I was working hard on the cruise photo's (see former October posts) and we transferred all of my picture folders to an external hard drive. Well, me and the hard drive were sitting at the kitchen table, and ---bang --- it was knocked to the floor. And apparently, those external hard drives are very delicate creatures, because ours broke. So for now, I went to my first file folder and grabbed the sixth picture .... Christiana ... on her first ever volleyball team! She played this fall for the "Glowing Bananas" a MVSA rec team. Her coaches Missy and Christine, two local high school girls, guided the Glowing B's to first place. And when they played the end of the season tournament, they won! And so, our little one is hooked on volleyball. She tried out for their club team and made the 12 and under team. She is very excited about this new adventure.

So in my sixth photo - Christiana is posing with her volleyball, her first place medal and in her Glowing Banana uniform. :) We've sprouted out of the basketball shell! Maybe there's another "spiking viking" (my former high school team!) in the making!

And to continue this tag game ... I'll tag my buddy Maria over at Farmviewer to see what she's up to! And let's see if Judy and LeeAnne want to play too. :) Ladies, try to find the sixth picture file, sixth photo - and feel free to tag six bloggers.

Tag, your it!

: : Photo Shoot with Kristen : :

We've had many "happenings" over here ... Over Thanksgiving break, Kristen took pictures for us. She took a ton of pictures! We loved seeing them on her blog and loved them even more when she delivered them today! Yeah! She is an outstanding photographer and I can't believe almost five years has gone by since she first photographed the girls with her brand new camera as she started her brand new career. Oh my! Thank you Kristen for taking such great photos for us ... I've already picked out the Christmas card photo, some frames for the house and can't wait to pick some frames for Don's office. ...

These girlies have been pretty busy (and keeping us busy) as well ... Christiana is playing for the 12 and under MVSA volleyball team, Kimberly is playing for Coach Cates' CLS Middle School Cougars, Kendall is playing her first year of Varsity basketball for CLS, and Corinne is completing college applications - yes, can't believe it - oh my!

... So we really enjoyed this little break from school, sports, and life ...
... we had tons of fun, giggles and laughter, and we made more memories ... thanks again Kristen!
Psalm 100
A psalm. For giving thanks ...

"Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.
Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.
Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness
continues through all generations."

:: Happy Birthday Don! ::

To My Husband and Very Best Friend!

Have I told you lately that I love you???

How do I love you ... let me count the ways ...

1. I love you for your kindness
2. I love you for your faithfulness
3. I love you for your forgiveness
4. I love you for your humility
5. I love you for your integrity
6. I love you for your wisdom
7. I love the way you parent our daughters
8. I love you for your strength
9. I love you for your sacrifice
10. I love you because you are perfect for me
... and the list goes on ...

You're the sunshine in my life,
the hero in my world,
I love you very much ...

Happy Birthday!
"Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, wich yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers..." Psalm 1

It's the Fall!

A fun tradition is apple and pumpkin picking ...

And it's been our tradition to visit Rock Hill for apples and pumpkins. The girls have visited here on field trips, and we've come as a family to pick yummy apples!

Aimee went with us this year (it was her birthday weekend!) After gathering the Macintosh and Empire's we headed to the market to find a pumpkin ...
Too many to choose one ... After picking apples and pumpkins all these years at Mr. Biggs Orchard, we asked him for a quick picture It was a very fun fall day! "Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy." Acts 14:17

The Cruise - Finale

Our next stop was St. Maartin. We docked on the Dutch side of the island and took a water taxi into Philipsburg for a day of shopping ...

I handed the camera over to Kendall for the day and she captured some beautiful shots ...
We met Olivia and the gang shopping ... We loved these pointy brown shoes... Thank you Don for taking us shopping in the Dutch West Indies! I love the mischievous look on Pop's face ... and the love that you two share ... it was such a blessing to spend a whole week with you guys! After a day in St. Maartin ... we had another fun go-around with formal shots on the spiral staircase ...So after the fun formal shots ... Corinne and Kendall talked me into walking around the ship taking "funny formals" ... they had me cracking up ... I love how expressive Kendall's eyes are and Corinne, you're such a goof-ball! Here are some of the results :) The posing in the porthole shots ... The ever famous "mysterious Titanic" shot ... You silly sisters ...

Thanks for hanging out with your mom girlies!! xo

Each night our absolutely wonderful stateroom attendant, Carleen, would surprise us with a different "towel critter" ... we had so much fun finding these little guys on our bed after dinner ...
Our last day in St. Thomas we relaxed on the beach in Frenchman's Reef ... View from our balcony on the ship ... We played in the surf and went snorkeling ... thus the beach chairs are empty ...
These little creatures were a bit scary ...
No problems on our trip home ... just a wonderful direct, nonstop flight on United! We tried to get some studying in ... and we were very grateful for our spacious rooms when we got home! That's a wrap ... we had an amazing trip!

Old San Juan And a few final pictures of the Caribbean and West Indies ...

Breathtaking! " ... The Lord our God has shown us his glory and his majesty..."