I'll be Home for Christmas!

It was really neat to get to go home for Christmas! Last year we were on our honeymoon for Christmas which was totally amazing, but there's nothing like being home! Especially when you're surprising the family! I called Charise, my informant :-), and she got it all worked out for us to come unbeknownst (sp?) to our parents! I loved surprising them. The church was having a Christmas Eve service at my parents house and they were going forever. Dan and I were going to carol 'I'll be Home for Christmas' to them, but decided to call Daddy 1st to find out if they were done with the service yet. When he answered we knew that they were all just visiting and so we started singing over the phone to Daddy and then walked in the house while we were still on the phone singing :-) It was pretty cool! We had a wonderful time of fellowship. It was especially nice 'cause there was nothing else going on. I love coming home for church events, but it does make it harder to just be with family. It was a very precious time even if Daddy and Dan beat Mama and i in Rook :-) I can't remember the last time we had time to play a game when we were home! It was fun!


This is the fort that Dan helped the boys make!
It's on top of the huge snow pile that the plows made and goes
into an 'under ground tunnel' It's pretty cool!

The underground tunnel in the process of being made!

We all met in Mankato for lunch with the Streblows!
It was really fun, and of Course Dan really appreciated
real food :-)

Grandpa must have had quite the secret! :-)

It was Dan's idea to surprise my parents since it wasn't going to work to go to
his parents. It was really fun and it worked to! You should have seen their faces!!!
Thanks Daniel!

This is Mama and I trying to smile good for the camera and
well you can see how well that went :-)

Daddy and Charity!

Justus was so fun! We sang together at the piano! His voice is
maturing so much, it's really neat!

Not sure what they were doing :-)

Same for these two :-)

All of us at Old Country Buffet. (Daddy's taking the pic!)

I am so cool in Uncle Johnathan's sunglasses!

Daddy with his girls!

We Bought A House!

Here's some pictures of our house in Albert Lea, MN. There's a lot more, but didn't have time to post them. We have a lot of work to do to make it really nice, but I'm excited to watch it turn into our home.

Side/Front view!

Dining Room

Living Room

Marcus's Room. (Will be painting this one sometime)

Master Bedroom

Birthday Blast! :-)

Last weekend Daniel and I went home for the weekend and celebrated 3 birthdays in the family! My mom had her birthday Oct. 26th, Johnathan had his b-day on Halloween, and Kevin turned 1 year old on November 4th! So we had a big birthday party for all 3 of them! It was so fun to be all together. Aunt Darlene and her family came too. Family is such a blessing!

I sure love Aunt Darlene!

Aunt Doh-Doh is the best :-)

It was fun to see Charity again! She'll probably hate that I posted this one! :-) Hee, Hee!

Daddy reading Calvin and Hobbes! :-)


Isn't this an adorable picture! Kristin is wearing Seth's hat!


Fun with Grandpa!

Awww!!!

Charise, me, and Justus in the backyard!

I love this girl!

Yeah so there's a really funny story behind this tent! I will blog about it later though 'cause I don't have time now!

These two are so funny together!

So cute!!

At the b-day party!

Wont he make a great daddy? Look he's even puckering his lips to help Kevin eat :-)

Charity's House!

Last weekend I got to go up to Charity's for a Pampered Chef party. Unfortunately, half way through the garlic clove being pressed I started to feel really crummy so I didn't get very many pictures, but I did get a few gems, and I hope you like the cat playing with the mouse video :-)

Aww. . . I just love them!! These are two very precious people!

"Excuse me sir, but you are absolutely adorable!"

A not so happy Kevin. :-( Oh well! I tried to make him happy!

Just thought this was funny :0)

True Women

I had the opportunity to attend a Conference in Illinois on our trip back from out east. It was the True Woman conference sponsored by Revive our Hearts Ministries. Nancy Leigh DeMoss was the master mind behind the conference, and I have to say that I learned so much. There were 6,530 women present and it was an incredible experience. I was spiritually challenged, renewed, encouraged, rebuked, inspired, and convicted. It was neat to be brought face to face with my Lord and realize that all things come from His hand! Nancy said something in her session that really challenged me, she said, " When we resent or resist our present circumstances, we are literally resenting and resisting God Himself because all things come from Him!!!" What a challenge! Yes, even the hard things that come my way only touch me because God allows them. This provides both a confidence and a rest that His hand is in control and ought to make it easier for me to yield! Romans 11:33-36 has been such a challenge to me since this conference. God doesn't owe me anything, I owe Him everything! Anyway, I would encourage you to visit the website, truewoman.com and read about the conference. Read the true woman manifesto and if God so convicts you, sign it! 40 years ago a feminist group met in Chicago. . . that meeting began the widespread idea of feminism in a radical way! 40 years later in the same city 6,530 women met to determine what God's ideal of a true woman is, and just what would happen if we truly let this change our lives?!!

Nancy Leigh DeMoss is one of my spiritual heroes and I got to meet her in person. It was really neat, I got to shake her hand and talk with her for a minute! However, the thing that was even more amazing was the realization that things that are available to make Nancy Leigh DeMoss a godly woman are available to me! Nancy is just a person, but our God . . . How GREAT HE IS!

Creation Science Museum!

On the way back from the east coast we had a couple days off so we stopped to see the Creation Museum! It was amazing. Unfortunately my camera died so I didn't get to many pictures :-( But It was incredible! I highly recommend going. My favorite thing was the planetarium. It is so amazing to see how vast the universe truly is and to realize that even the vastness of our universe resides within God Himself! And the depths of God cannot even begin to be unraveled (sp?). The other thing I thought was so neat was to hear the workers talking about God! You don't normally go to a museum and hear them talking about the greatness of our God!!! This museum has a powerful message that can reach many who would never step into the doors of our churches!

This is right at the entrance!

This is in the garden of Eden.

The Serpent!!!

This is not an ordinary skull! LOOK very closely at it and see if can see a Bible Story!

This is outside of Noah's Cafe! I don't know what's wrong with my smile there, but I love Dan's!

This is me feeding the fish :-) We got a wheelchair for the day for $10.00 since there was no way that I could walk through all of that with the way I've been feeling lately. You pay $10.00 at the beginning and when you bring it back you get your money back! I tell you what though. I have a greater appreciation for what people who are confined to them go through. You are treated very differently!

They have beautiful outside gardens too!

I had the most handsome chauffeur! He was a very wonderful escort. As he always is.

Thanks for the fun time Dan!!!

New Jersey Beach!

We had a great time visiting some dear friends in New Jersey. Both Dan and I went to school with David Lore so it was fun to reconnect and get to know his wife better. We stayed there for 3 days and had a wonderful time of fellowship. They decided to take us to the ocean which was really fun and then Dan preached in their church on Sunday. He did an excellent job and once again I was very proud of him! It's so wonderful to be married to a man who is in love with God's word and can exposit it soundly, accurately, contextually, and under the influence of the Holy Spirit. Anyway, we had a great time with the Lore's and wish we could have spent more time with them.

There was a 2 and 1/2 mile boardwalk along the ocean. We walked there for a while and then went down to the ocean itself.

This is under the W!

David and his wife Becca.

Aww!! So romantic!

Muscle man! You all do realize he is holding 2 people right! :-)
I must say that I love this picture! What a blessing you are to me Daniel!

Friends are such a blessing from God. Thanks for the fun weekend!