Christmas Pictures

Here are some of our Christmas photos I wanted to share, I took so many over the holidays I had a hard time choosing just a few, but I finally narrowed it down.  Here is Drama Queen on Christmas morning with her new game. 

            Wanna play Yahtzee?

The babies intently checking out the contents of their stockings from Nana and Papa.

 Here’s Natalie modeling her new sweater!

Beth helping clean up the aftermath of  opening presents.

Phillip and Drama Queen playing her new Wii game.

  Here’s Joey trying out his new hoodie.

     Ashley enjoying the fun!

 Nana and her babies together Christmas morning.

Oreo’s more interested in chewing on his stocking than checking out what’s inside.

Drama Queen’s birth family, together for Christmas!  Holly, Marcie, Drama Queen, and Hillary.

God has blessed us so richly this past year, I can’t thank Him enough for our precious family, they mean the world to me.   There are no words to adequately express my gratitude for His mercy and grace.  He is more than enough!!

Have a wonderful night!

Love, Velvia

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Here Comes 2009

I’m a little early wishing you a Happy New Year, but since I haven’t blogged at all over the holidays I decided to get a jump on 2009.   My family and I have had a wonderful holiday season.  We were fortunate to have Ashley’s parents, and his sister and her son here for Thanksgiving, along with all our children and grandchildren.   

We were also able to get together for Christmas with our children and grandchildren.   Natalie, Joey, Cupcake, and Blue Eyes came down on Tuesday and stayed until Friday morning (they spent Christmas Eve with Joey’s parents).  Phillip, Beth, Spiderman, and Ladybug  joined us for dinner Tuesday night as well as Christmas morning for brunch.  It was more than wonderful,  I marvel  every time we are all together at God’s goodness to our family. 

We were also blessed to have not only our immediate family here Tuesday night for dinner, but to also have Drama Queen’s birth mom and sisters with us as well.  Her sister Hillary, came down and stayed with us Monday through Wednesday, and then Marcie (her birth mom), and her sister Holly, came down early afternoon on Tuesday.  They exchanged gifts and spent family time together, and then stayed and had dinner with us.  It was so much fun, it was great to celebrate the wonder of the season with the people we love.   I’ll try to post pictures tomorrow!

I’m looking forward to a wonderful year in 2009, despite the economic and other uncertainties we face as a nation, I know that God is in control and no matter what the future holds, I know He holds the future!  I pray you have a safe, happy, and healthy New Year!

God Bless!

Velvia

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Just A Few More Days

How did Christmas get here so fast?  I can’t believe it’s only six more days until Christmas arrives, ready or not here it comes!  Actually, I am ready, all my shopping is done, presents are wrapped, and my Christmas cards were mailed over a week ago.  We’ve never been ready quite this early and I can’t figure how we managed to do it.  What’s so wonderful about being ahead of the game is now we can sit back, relax, and enjoy the rest of the season.  I spent today wrapping the last of the presents and cleaning the house, it was so nice to have a whole day to get things done.  Today was our first official day of Christmas break from homeschool and we took advantage of it.  Drama Queen and I stayed in our PJs while we wrapped presents and watched a Christmas movie on TV.  We didn’t get dressed until after 11:00 this morning, I felt positively decadent! 

On a more serious note, poor little Blue Eyes hit his head on the corner of the door frame yesterday and our daughter and son-in-love had to take him to the emergency room.  The poor little guy had to have four stitches and he’s only fifteen months old.  They stopped by on their way home from the hospital and he was asleep in his car seat, it was so sad, his poor little head had a goose egg in addition to the stitches.  You know it’s inevitable that kids are going to get hurt sometimes, but it still hurts your heart when they do.  I’m sure he’ll recover quickly, he’s a tough little guy and like most kids he’s very resilient. 

Well, I’m off to bed, have a restful night!

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Making Room for Christ in Christmas

I haven’t had a chance to post lately, I’ve been busy with all the usual holiday activities, and honestly I really haven’t wanted to take the time to blog.  I want to soak up all the joy that the Christmas season brings, and to reflect on why we celebrate.  This year I don’t want to let myself get so caught up in all the busyness that I don’t take time to be alone with God. 

 I found myself outside looking at the stars a couple of nights ago, and I was reminded of the Christmas when I was 15.  I remember very clearly feeling  out of sorts and wishing I was little again and still believed in Santa.  The magic of Christmas was missing!  I went outside and was looking up at the stars wishing I could feel the way I had felt when I was a child.  I couldn’t understand what was missing, why did I feel so empty?  As I stood there looking at the stars,  I realized that the reason I felt such a void was because I had left Jesus out of my celebration of Christmas. 

 I wish I could say that I made a commitment right then and there to put Him first and that I had always tried to keep that commitment, but unfortunately, I was much older when I realized that even though Jesus Christ was my Savior, He wasn’t the Lord of my life.  Fortunately, that changed about 16 years ago and I have tried to keep Christ the center of my life ever since!  Everyday, especially Christmas, is sweeter with Him as the focus.

This was not at all what I had intended to post tonight, but for some reason this is what I feel led to post.  I was going to post about taking Cupcake and Blue Eyes to have their picture made with Santa, but I guess that will have to wait until tomorrow. 

I pray that we may all make room for Christ as the focus of our Christmas celebration, and that His peace and joy permeates every aspect of our lives this holiday season.  Merry Christmas!

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