GOD

WOW! Is all I can say this season, this week, this day, this moment. I have been overwhelemd lately in seeing Gods hand working on our lives and the lives of others. It truly makes you feel so small in this huge world that God holds in His hands but yet still so important, so loved, so very cared for even in the small things. This "journey" of our lives never ceases to amaze me. Once I think I have it all figured out God changes the story line, brings someone new in our lives, brings a new circumstance, someone new to pray for- its always changing.

I am still learning!!!

By the way- I finally learned how to add multiple photos to one post (thank you very much Carly) and I even tried a couple of videos... Hopefully I will continue how to manuver around this blog- if Carly will keep helping me.... I love that girl!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Thursday evening about 5:00 is began to snow a bit. We were headed to basketball practice and couldn't even get down Columbia Pike because of the cars not being able to get up the hills. Sooooo whats a family to do but stop at Chilis, have some chips & salsa and wait until the road clears of traffic :) Then when we got home-----there was a great snow filled yard for the girls to play in. Of course, they ran right out (not really dressed for snow) but had a great time building a little snow man. The next morning, the snow was even more perfect for making "BIG" snowmen. It was great... What a blessing to get us in the Christmas spirit.

It's Snowing

Our First Snow

Isabella's Masterpeice

Isabella's Masterpeice
Originally uploaded by carlyg321

Carly's Masterpeice

Carly's Masterpeice
Originally uploaded by carlyg321

The girls & I spent Friday morning making gingerbread houses with our homeschool group. I should say the girls made the houses, Mommy just cleaned up.... I am so thankful that the homeschool group set this up because I probably would not have taken on this endeavor at home... The masterpeices created that day were priceless. A HUGE thanks to Valerie & Vanessa for setting this up!

Friends

Friends
Originally uploaded by carlyg321

Isabella & I attended the CHI Christmas party and met up with some "China girlfriends".... What happy faces when they get together....

Singing Christmas Carols

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Originally uploaded by carlyg321

Violin Lessons?

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Originally uploaded by carlyg321

Fun & Games

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Originally uploaded by carlyg321

Christmas Celebrations

We are so blessed to have an awesome Sunday School class and such wonderful loving people to "share life" with. This past Friday night we hosted a small gathering with food, fellowship & a competitive game of bible scattergories. What a blast. I am so thankful for these folks in our lives. We also are fortunate enough to have some musically talented people in the group who shared their violin with my girls and blessed us with their singing of some Christmas carols, along with Carly playing the piano, Lisa on the violin & Bill on the guitar. We loved having our home with with such beautiful music.

It's December !!

Well it is already December- the year is almost over. I cannot believe it has gone by so quickly. We are in full swing for this month of worship & praise and thinking of our heavenly Father and the great anticipation of Jesus's birth. Each year we say we are going to try and do all of the Advent ideas, bake cookies & candies and relax---well I THINK this may actually happen this year. Today was Carly's last day of school (except for 1 hour next week for her mid term test in Computer Science) so we are on our way!!

I actually got Christmas pictures done this year for our card and here are a couple of pics of the girls.

I spent the day cooking with a friend and we put 11 meals in the freezer- each..It was a blast and we were finished by 2pm (we even made a salad for tonight and all the dishes were cleaned and put away---I don't even get all of that done by myself :)0 Anyway, with meals in the freezer and Carly out of school early we are going to start baking next week.... I can't wait.

We have also started our nightly Advent devotion and Carly & I are reading Bartholomew's Passage (we did Jotham's journey last year) http://www.amazon.com/Jothams-Journey-Storybook-Arnold-Ytreeide/dp/0825441749/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222924353&sr=8-1

It is really nice to have something to do nightly to make us stop and think about what the season is really about.