Merry Christmas 2011

Merry Christmas!

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. (7) Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this." -Isaiah 9:6-7

I hope your Christmas is as wonderful as ours has been!  We've had parties and plays, baked and ate so many Christmas goodies, looked at lights while enjoying hot chocolate and Dunkin Donuts, watched White Christmas and the Nutcracker, watched Jason take part in an AMAZING Irish Christmas concert with Keith and Kristyn Getty and had a visit from grandparents.  We're looking forward to a visit from Santa tonight and then church tomorrow as we celebrate the birth of our Savior.

Little Ballerina

Emily had her first ballet/tap class yesterday!  Last year we tried gymnastics, but Emily has been begging to take ballet since she could say ballet.  If you have never been to a ballet class with four- year-olds, you've missed out.  It is the cutest thing. I'm fairly sure I need to video her classes, so that when she is older and we have to deal with teenage issues, I can look back and remember how cute and sweet she was.  Emily loved the ballet part of her class, but was less than thrilled with tap.  I'm not sure, but I think it might be because her teacher had to tell her not to stomp, just tap!

Back to school

We've survived the first week of school!   The serious look on Lauren's face gives you a clue to what the first couple of days were like.  For the last few weeks, Lauren has been insisting that she was not going to school, and if she did go, she would only stay for part of the day.  What?!?  Meet-the-teacher went well and I was so impressed with Lauren's teacher, but that night Lauren cried for over two hours, begging me not to leave her at school.  Though tears were shining in her eyes when I walked her to her room, she didn't cry, and when I picked her up, Lauren said, "First grade is great!"  The next day, Lauren had a sub because her teacher took her daughter to college.  The first words out of Lauren's mouth  at pick up were, "That sub was a witch!"  Apparently we've read Miss Nelson is Missing a few times too many!  Yes, we had a talk about not calling anyone a witch, no matter how we feel about them.  Thankfully, the last two school days have been good, and there has been no more talk about not going to school.  We've had some sweet moments on the way to school, praying over our day. 

Emily has absolutely loved Lauren being back in school.  She loves the one-on-one time and doesn't want to leave my side, following me wherever I go, trying to help with whatever I'm doing.  She'll start back to preschool in a couple of weeks and for the first time in a little over six years, I will have alone time.  I think for the first couple of days I'm going to revel in the silence!

What a difference a year makes!

A couple of weeks ago we reached the one year mark in Memphis!  As I look at my calendar and all the stuff we have going on, I can't help but think back to this time last year.  Every time I would leave our little apartment, my stress level would rise.  What if I got lost?  What if something happened?  This is Memphis - what if someone robs me or tries to still my car.  Ok, so the last thought was totally irrational.  Though Memphis has some dicey areas, I don't live anywhere near them.  Germantown actually has the lowest crime rate for any city its size in the state of Tennessee, but the security guards who patrol most of the store parking lots in town stressed me out a little.  Would the girls make friends? Would I make friends?  Would this ever feel like home???  Scared as I was, I was determined to make our move work.  I was not going to be one of those wives who said, "I hate it here and we are moving home or else."  The Lord has been so good to us and I am so thankful for how far we've come in a year.  Though I do miss people in Nashville, the beautiful rolling hills, Green Hills mall, fruit tea from Bread & Company, and the list could go on, this has become my home.  I love Germantown.  I love being surrounded by horse farms and having a Target a mile away and a Panera two miles away.  I love my church and my pastor who encourages me to memorize and pray Scripture.  I feel fairly confident when I go places now and I've made some amazing friends - the kind of friends that will be my friends for life.  I love that when I go to the pool at our club, I almost always see someone I've met this year. I love that when I look at my calendar, I know I can't commit to much more or I will be overloaded.  In just a year, my life has become full again and I am so glad!  This year has not been without its struggles, pain, and heartbreak, but I'm so glad that the Lord has brought me through it the way He has and I'm so glad that we made the move even though sometimes it was so, so hard.  I think my song for the year would have to be You are my Shield by Hillsong United. I especially love the chorus:

You have made me glad, and I'll say of the Lord:
You are my Shield, my Strength, my Portion, Deliverer,
My Shelter, Strong Tower, my very present help in time of need.

My very present help in time of need.

Happy July 4th!!!

Hope you are having a wonderful summer.  I can't believe that in a little over a month Lauren will be headed to first grade!  Our summer is going by too quickly.  We kicked summer off with our beach trip and then had an amazing week of VBS.  I knew that this VBS was going to be different from any other I've been part of when the call went out for 40,000 cookies.  No, that it is not a typo- 40 thousand cookies.  It takes a lot of cookies to feed 4000 4-11 year olds and their teachers!  The girls had a great experience and I loved teaching.  It was my first opportunity to serve since moving to Memphis and I'm looking forward to getting plugged into regular ministry in our church's preschool department soon.  Since VBS someone in our house has been sick, primarily Jason.  It is no fun when Daddy is sick and not available to help.  The upside about being stuck in the house because somebody is sick is that we have racked up the hours with summer reading at the library.  The girls are so proud of their summer reading shirts.  We've also done two weeks of swim lessons, and though the girls didn't love the lessons, they love swimming and would spend everyday at the "big pool" rather than the zero entry preschool pool that I prefer.  We're excited about seeing my immediate family in July.  The hardest part about our move continues to be the distance from my family, so I'm going to savor every moment!  Emily took the last picture in the group above.  She was so happy to get her little hands on my camera and wanted to keep clicking away.

Budding photographer

We gave Lauren a camera for her birthday last week.  Day one with the camera - she took about 400 pictures, 200 of which I deleted that night.  Day two - she took about 300 pictures and would have kept snapping away, but the batteries died.  Her subject matter was anything she could point her camera at, from sandcastles on the beach to the ceiling fan in her room, nothing was safe from Lauren's lens.  My mom asked how she could take that many pictures in such a short time.  Easy, she just started clicking and didn't stop!

Goodbye K-5!

Lauren had her last day of school and kindergarten celebration on May 13!  We left for the beach on May 14 and now we're home getting into the swing of summer vacation.  I know it won't always be this way, but for today the girls are playing well together, being kind to each other, and just enjoying being home.  I wanted to post a picture of part of my year-end teacher gifts. Along with petunias that I wrapped in tissue paper, I picked up cute reusable cold cups and tucked Sonic gift cards inside.  I thought I'd share just in case you need a new idea for a teacher gift!