Merry Christmas 2013!

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and celebrating the incarnation of our Savior!

Candy Cane Glasses

Daddy made Abel some "candy cane" glasses out of pipe cleaners. He kind of reminds me of "Where's Waldo." Abel thought he looked amazing and stylish - LOL! :)

Christmas Card 2012

Photo Card

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Baby Dedication, Christmas, and Hello 2012!

Abel and Belle were dedicated to the Lord on November 27th. My mother-in-law has some pictures on her camera, so I was waiting for those from her before I updated the blog. However, she has had some computer trouble, so who knows when I will get the pictures. More important, though, is the fact that we are aware of what a great responsibility God has given us in shepherding these little children to know Him. We pray that He would convict their hearts of sin and save them at an early age and that they might live for His glory early in life... and be spared the heartache that living in rebellion against God can bring. Please join us in praying that they would be saved as soon as God wills.

We flew to Memphis, TN for Christmas with the babies. They did great and had lots of love and attention from our extended family. They also got lots of toys - Yeah! :) Aaron and I long decided we didn't want to teach any of our future children about Santa Claus being a reality. They will still get gifts from us (though we didn't this year, because they are so young and got plenty from family), but will know that they are from daddy and mommy. They will still take pictures with Santa in the mall and watch the Christmas classics on t.v. We plan to teach them about Santa as a fun, fictional character (such as Mickey Mouse). Our heart in this isn't to be legalistic, but we want Jesus and His incarnation to be their focus and not fantasy.

Lastly, as a New Year's resolution, I have started Weight Watchers and exercising. My goal is to be back to my pre-pregnancy size and weight by the summer. Pray for grace.

As I reflect on this new year, I'm amazed and grateful for God's grace in 2011. 2011 will forever be a special year because it was the year that Abel and Belle were born. But, I'm excited to welcome 2012.

And for fun, I put them in their highchairs for the first time this morning!

Our First Family Christmas Card!

Stationery card

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Fun with Family!

Both Mimi (my mom) and Mama Niecey (Aaron's mom whose name is Denise) along with Aaron's sister, Bethany and her husband, Matt came down for a visit on Wednesday. Aunt Bethany took lots of pictures and unfortunately, mommy isn't too great at taking pictures regularly so we are glad for some new candids! The 2nd picture is Abel & Belle about to get in the car to head for Cracker Barrel with everyone and the 5th picture is Abel with Uncle Matt. Abel and Belle wore semi matching Osh Kosh shirts to Cracker Barrel with their blue jeans - Abel's was a snowman shirt in 6 mos size and Belle wore a Christmas candy cane/gingerbread house shirt in a 3 mos size. As you can see in the pics, Abel is much bigger than his sister. Also, notice our dog, Toby hidden between our legs for our family shot...yes, he came and got between our legs himself! Ha - we love our mini dachshund (aka our third baby)!

Oh and it is quite possible that these are the cutest babies ever!...Ok, we are admittedly biased. :)

Still Our Hope

This song "Jesus Came to Earth" is from the Sovereign Grace Music's Children album "Awesome God." I appreciate Sovereign Grace for teaching children (and adults) biblical doctrine throughout their music, rather than moralistic fluff.

Anyhow, I have to keep reminding myself that the Gospel is still our hope and not this pregnancy. I'm only 8 weeks today and I still struggle with fear this early into the pregnancy. But, then I repent of fear (over and over again), preach the Gospel to myself, and remind myself that if God should take one or both of them home to Heaven, then by His grace, our life will go on to His glory...simply because of the message of this song. All the while, I am also thanking Him constantly for making it to 8 weeks and praying to make it all the way to a healthy delivery! :)

Merry Christmas and please do celebrate the awesome truth that "Jesus Came to Earth!"

A Christmas Post Worth Rereading

Last year, Aaron wrote and posted "Christmas Thoughts About Embryo Adoption." I know we have some new blog followers this year, so I wanted to share it again with you guys. We often think of Jesus coming to earth as a baby (which He most definitely did), but before that, He came to earth as a human embryo! Please take a minute to read this wonderful post by my wonderful hubby!

Holiday Catch-Up

We greatly enjoyed our Christmas trip to SC last week...it was all too short (even though we were there 5 days!). Sadly, we didn't get any pictures of the festivities or with family...things were too busy to think about our camera, but we did manage to have one taken of the two of us in front of my mother-in-law's tree. Since we both had New Year's Day off, we used the day wisely and took down our Christmas tree, washed laundry, and got things back in order around our home from the holidays.

Toby had a blast seeing so many of his favorite people...he even got a Christmas sweater from his Uncle Chris and Aunt Bethany (which makes him look like such a preppy boy). :)

As you can see, he is not enthusiastic about his new sweater...don't worry though, we didn't make him wear it for too long!

Operation Christmas Child 2008

On Friday, Aaron and I went shopping for our annual Operation Christmas Child shoebox. Samaritan's Purse is a ministry that we respect and have faith in giving to and participating in their projects. We have been making boxes since before we met each other - For some reason though, we didn't make a box in 2007. We usually make both a boy and a girl box, but with money being tight for everyone right now, we decided to just make one box this year. We chose to buy for an elementary aged boy. Samaritan's Purse requests that if you are only going to make 1 box, then to do that for a boy because they always have more boxes donated for girls than boys. We bought items from LifeWay, Target, & The Dollar Tree...we had so much fun shopping together. Being with Aaron even makes The Dollar Tree exciting (Did I mention that I adore my husband?!) Below are some pictures of our box. :)

And just for fun...here's a picture of Toby...he enjoys fruit snacks almost as much as his daddy (for those of you who didn't know...Aaron is a fruitsnackaholic) Except, daddy ate all of the fruit snacks so poor Toby had to settle for the bag!