Big Plans!

So, I'm headed to my parents for Christmas! I'm very excited to see them and spend some great quality time with them.  You see, I simply don't get to see them often enough.  I'm taking all of next week off work so I'll get to stay for New Year's too!

Okay, I have to admit.  There is another reason I'm excited too.  You see there is this guy that's coming.  And he's going to be meeting my parents. And he's staying the entire week too!

So simply put, I'm going to be a very happy girl!

Just in case you can't scroll down and see a picture of the guy I'm talking about, I'll post another picture.  I'm sure it will make him very happy (insert evil laugh here).



He's not angry...the sun is in his eyes (just wanted to clarify). I think the picture looks a bit GQ. :)



Thanksgiving

I had a wonderful Thanksgiving with my family.  This past year has been so full.  It was a year ago this week that I left camp.  When I reflect on all that God has done this past year, I'm overwhelmed with thanks.

Here's a bit of a recap:

• God directed me to leave the camp ministry....difficult, but part of His plan.
• God gave me a wonderful three months of rest and time with my family.
• God provided me with a job before I even started looking.
• God led me to buy my first house....all by myself.....I was scared out of my mind.  It has truly become a home.
• God led me to a wonderful church family where He is allowing me to serve Him.
• Last, but certainly not least, God brought a wonderful man into my life.....see previous post if you missed it. :)

This past year has been such a growing time for me. He has truly blessed me and I'm thankful for all He has done.  I can't wait to see what this next year holds.

Here are few pictures of our family celebration this year.

Donna, Me, & Mom

Mom, Me & Dad

Scott, Autumn, Jamie & Ethan - time to load up on the yummy dinner

Ethan and Me - I love the look on his face.  He's such a ham.

Donna & Uncle Smiley (just gave him that nickname this week)

We also celebrated Christmas with Scott and his family since we won't get to see them.  Below are the gifts I gave the kids.  I love them, but I'm sure their parents might not like the idea of them playing with their food.  What can I say....I'm a great aunt. :)

Vacation Weekend

This weekend was spent with some of the most wonderful friends on the face of this planet.  These are the friends that you may only get together with once a year, but it feels like you were never apart.  These are the friends that know your most embarrassing moments and love you anyway. These are the friends that know your struggles and prayed with you through every one.  These are the friends that make you laugh till you snort. (I may or may not have done this.)  These are the friends that you miss the rest of the year and wish you lived closer.

We were missing two from our little college group...Bekah (in Japan) and Becky (had family obligations).  We missed you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We met in Galena, IL this year.  It's a beautiful, quaint town.  We did some shopping, some eating, some pool time and lots and lots of laughing.  I'm very blessed.

Me, Roxi and Mary Ann

Modeling some hats.......really, we're just goofs

Isn't that hat adorable on her?

Wrestling masks....I'm pretty intimidating, huh?

I think Mary Ann looks pretty scary

Roxi always has a smile on her face

We just can't seem to follow the rules.  This is U.S. Grant's home.  Wish we could have taken the tour.

  

We were on the phone with Bekah, so wouldn't totally miss out on our weekend. 

Here's a view of this beautiful little town

This is the not-so-pleasant part of our trip.  Someone banged up Roxi's car in the hotel parking lot.  They did leave a note and hopefully take care of the damage.

Weekend Vacation Part 2
Galena is only an hour away from my brother and his family and my aunt & uncle.  I couldn't be that close and not go see them, so I headed over there on Saturday afternoon and came back home on Sunday.  It was wonderful to hug my niece and nephew again and see how big they are getting.  It seems like only yesterday I was holding those little bundles in my arms.  I had a great visit with all of them.  My sister-in-law, Jamie, reads my blog, so this is my shout out to her.  Love you, Jamie!!!! (Scott too!  And Donna and Rog.....can't leave out anybody.)

Here's our goofy shot.  It's much better than the good one....it shows our personalities.

Ethan's Birthday is Nov. 14, and I gave him is gift early. This was his reaction...I think he liked it! :)

It was a great weekend packed full of wonderful people.  I'm very blessed with a wonderful family and fabulous friends.

Catching Up

I must apologize for my lack of blogging. I need to set some blogging goals....like at least two posts a week. Okay, ya'll need to keep me accountable. I'm trusting all of you, my blogging friends.

I have so much to tell you. First of all, my parents came for a visit last weekend.  They had been on vacation in Seattle and came to see me on the tail end.  It was wonderful having them here.  It was also Balloon Days last weekend.  My parents actually got to go up in a hot air balloon!!!  They said it was better than Seattle.  Here are some pictures Dad took up in the air.

We also enjoyed a parade for Balloon Days. I haven't been to a parade on over seven years!!!  It was so much fun!

Dad worked on some house projects for me while he was here.  He fixed up some of the trim the guy that laid my floors messed up.  He also replaced my deck steps and caulked some of the brick around my house.  I'm so thankful for all his help!

This weekend I went up to Ankeny for Annie's baby shower.  It was so much fun to see camp friends.  Annie looks so cute!!!  I can't wait to hold their little one when it comes in December!  Lynnae came with her little guy and I got to hold him...a lot.  I did share him, but only because I felt guilty for hogging him.

Lynn, a former secretary, rode with me part of the way to the shower and we had dinner together.  She introduced me to this fantastic place called the Hu Hot.  It was absolutely wonderful!!!  I was going to take a picture of my plate, but ate it all. Here is a picture of my empty plate though.

It seems I've been very busy lately and am thankful for all the things God has brought into my life to keep my busy.

Next week, my boss is sending me to Lansing, MI.  There is a CSR Convention at one of the insurance companies we write for.  I'm hoping to learn a lot. You can pray for me.  I get nervous going to things by myself.  I'm also going to be sharing a room with someone there.  Here's the catch...I don't know who. I'm really praying that God matches me up with the perfect roommate.

Thanks for being patient with me.  And remember, keep me accountable to write at least twice a week.

Almost Time

Well, the time is getting closer and closer. I leave for Creston on Sunday. Close on my house on Monday. And try to get unpacked and settled. My parents are then coming on March 8 to help with some house projects. Then I start work on March 15. It's happening very quickly.

Part of me is so excited and ready to jump in. The other part of me is a little sad to be moving away from my family again and missing my friends from camp and church.

I am, however, very excited to see what God has in store. There is no denying that this entire process and direction has been laid out by Him. I'm very thankful for the time I've had off to rest and recuperate. I'm also very thankful for the time I've had with my wonderful parents. If I had a choice in picking my parents, I couldn't have done any better than the ones God blessed me with. They have been so supportive and so generous. I am truly blessed.

Christmas Celebration

We had a great time being all together as a family. It's been a long time since we've spent Christmas with my brother and his family, so we were very excited.

Jamie made a terrific Christmas dinner.

The kids are growing like weeds and here's a picture to prove it.


Here we are below trying to take a self-portrait. Dad thought it would be funny to get a picture of us taking a picture of us. Was that confusing? I just read it again and thought it might be confusing. Oh well, I have a sinus cold...I'm allowed to be confusing.

By the way, did you know if you take the picture from up above, you look much thinner? It's true...no double chin from up above.

And here are the kiddos again. There was a Christmas Eve service at my grandpa's church and we all went. My step-cousin, Paul is the new pastor there, so we thought we would go offer moral support. You know, like make faces and weird noises. Don't worry, we didn't do anything like that. Paul did a great job.

He here I am with the kiddos.

And here is the entire family. We haven't taken a family picture in a long time. I'm so very thankful for such a wonderful family.

I hope you also had a wonderful Christmas celebrating the birth of our Savior.

I'm not going to share any New Year's pictures since I was home alone with a box of kleenex at my side. Not quite a picture sharing moment.

Tradition

Tra-di-tionnnnn...Tra-di-tion..da...da...da...da...Tra-di-tion. Sorry, that word just makes me think of Fiddler on the Roof. I got a little carried away.

So anyway when we would visit my grandparents (mom's parents), my grandma always made waffles. She made them because my dad absolutely loved them. She spoiled him rotten. He still talks about your waffles and how much he loved them.

I woke up Christmas and had an epiphany. I should make Dad waffles! I asked my Aunt Donna if she had the recipe and lo and behold there it was. So we whipped em' up and surprised Dad. Well technically, we all enjoyed them.

Here's the recipe:

Grandma Wirth's Waffles
1 1/4 cups sifted flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sugar
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup melted shortening
2 beaten egg yolks
2 beaten egg whites

Sift flour and other dry ingredients. combine yolks, milk, melted shortening and add to flour. Stir to mix. DO NOT BEAT! Beat egg whites until they form peaks. Fold into mixture. Add an extra egg when doubling the recipe.

All Done!

It's all packed up and ready to go. "Go where?" I'm glad you asked. I have no idea. But it's ready to go where ever God leads me next.

My parents got to my place on Monday evening and we dove right in packing and sorting. I must say, my parents are amazing at packing! I think they have done this a few times. It would have taken me a month to do what they did in two days.

We left yesterday morning and got to their home early evening. I got everything that I brought with me unpacked and in it's rightful place last night.

Let me introduce you to my professional packers.



This one is better. If you ever move, I definitely recommend hiring these two. They'll have everything whipped into shape in a jiffy.

Love you guys! By the way, it's their 38th anniversary today! Happy Anniversary!

Fun with Family

During my time off, I was able to go to nortern Illinois to visit my brother and his family. I don't get to see them often, so I was amazed by how much my niece and nephew have grown. We had such a fun time. Even though my time with them was short and I don't see them nearly often enough, I'm thankful for the time I did have. I'm very blessed with a wonderful family.

Here we are baking some brownies. They are great baking assistants!

Here I am with my favorite big brother.

Yep, he's a goofball...but you gotta love him.

And here is my gorgeous mother. My dad doesn't seem to be around when I have the camera out.

My time off has been very restful. Lots of naps, lots of time with my family and time with my Savior, which is the most important.

Growing Up

My sister-in-law emailed me these pictures tonight. I can't believe my niece started her first day of Kindergarten! But I guess I have to since there are pictures to prove it. My nephew was in pre-school last year at the their church, but this year he is going to the same school as Autumn. This school happens to be where my brother started off his school years. My mom also went to school there from K-12 and my grandma taught 4th grade for lots and lots of years. I guess there's a little bit of history there.

Seeing these pictures made me think of my first day of school. I remember it quite well because my dad got me to the bus stop late and had to take me in himself. Yes, I was late for my very first day of school. It has scarred me for life. Maybe that's why I still hate being late and have to be early everywhere. Hmmm. Don't worry...I forgive you, Dad.

Christmas with Family

I thought I should share some more Christmas pictures. We did do more than just bake. There is a family that has become precious to us that moved from Harlan to Pana soon after my parents did. In fact, the girls call my parents Grandpa and Grandma. They joined us for Christmas day and we had such a fun time. Here are some pictures.


I realized that I have a lot of pictures with my mom, but not many with my wonderful dad. So here he is. Isn't he a handsome devil. Well, since he's a pastor, I guess I shouldn't call him a devil.
Next we decided we wanted some shots of the three of us. Well no one else where there and Dad has the longest arms, so he was the designated photographer. Here are the results.

Not too bad.

A little worse.

Hey, where are going, Dad?

By this time, we had the giggles.


And now we just composed ourselves after a good belly laugh. It was silly, but created a great memory. My parents are truly wonderful.


We prayed in a circle holding hands. When we were done and looked down, our feet just looked so cute, so I had to take a picture. Yes, my dad sometimes wears white socks with sandals. I love him anyway.


The girls gave their grandpa a kiss because he agreed to play games with us. He hates games, but the rest of us love them. He gives in at least once a year.

And here is the Birthday cake I made for Jesus. Notice anything about the colors?

I hope you each had a fabulous Christmas. Although I loved spending time with my parents, even that is not the reason for celebration. Jesus Christ made a way for us to have a home in heaven and have a personal relationship with Him. Millions of lives have changed because of His birth.