closing out the first month of a new year...

It is hard to believe that January is all ready coming to a close. Many things took place this month, but mostly it was a quite month with lots of family time. Here is a glimpse of some of the things from our month:

A tooth was lost!

A room was painted (and a new painter was trained).

Projects were made!

(Sadie started a pottery class this month, more projects will be shared as she brings them home!)

Fern was held...

by both the girls!

Thanks Samuel for letting the girls hold your girl! They were delighted!

We continue to be encouraged by Pastor Matt's faith and we continue to pray for his healing and strength!

Read the newest article regarding Pastor Matt: http://www.thetowntalk.com/print/article/20100130/LIFESTYLE/1300301/Enduring-faith

Hear an update from Pastor Matt:
Week 3: Video Update from Matt Chandler

We look forward to many fun updates to share in February. We hope that the first month of the new year has brought you much joy, healthy and happiness!

His Glory

Faith enables us to turn from the approval of the world and seek only the approval of God. If God is glorified by delivering His people, He will do it. If He sees fit to be glorified by not delivering His people, then He will do that. But we must never conclude that the absence of deliverance means a lack of faith on the part of God's children.

Happy New Year

Snapshots from Christmas

Merry Christmas

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

Isaiah 9:6

Merry Christmas from our family to you, may this day bring you a renewed understanding our Creator and his love for us in giving us His one and only son!

What is a friend?

A friend is a person of great understanding
Who shares all our hopes and our schemes,
A companion who listens with infinite patience
To all of our plans and dreams.
A true friend can make all our cares melt away
With the touch of a hand or a smile,
And with calm reassurance make everything brighter,
And life always seem more worthwhile.
A friend shares so many bright moments of laughter
At even the tiniest thing -
What memorable hours of light-hearted gladness
And pleasure this sharing can bring!
A friend is a cherished and precious possession
Who knows all our hopes and fears,
And someone to treasure deep down in our hearts
With a closeness that grows through the years.
by: Katherine Davis

We are blessed by these friends!

Christmas crafts

Each year the girls do crafts for their Grandparents and Aunts & Uncles. This year I struggled with ideas for Syrah as I don't want to duplicate anything Sadie has done in the past. So, I came up with a great idea that turned into a huge flop! I had all ready purchased many of the items needed and since we are on a budget I didn't want them to go to waste. I finally thought of a way to use most of what we had purchased and found a craft that also taught a lesson.

Here you can see the front idea of the craft. The Christmas tree is stitched on a piece of card stock paper and then glued to either a backing or to a card (we only made one card). You can find the Christmas tree template at the site Skip to My Lou (one of my favorite crafting sites)!

The idea is to make them into cards - similar to what Syrah did for Valentine's Day. However, I had purchased all these charms and beads and intended to use them in the first craft, so we attached them to strings and glued them between the two card stocks to make an ornament.

On the back we placed this card which explains the meaning behind each charm, bead and the evergreen tree.

Syrah did a great job working on these (99.9% all her own work) and it was fun to go from something that didn't work to finding a solution that did!