happiest holidays

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays
        from our family to you!

kindness; it’s contagious

prayers

All day my prayers have been that the Lord would surround every parent, sibling, relative and friend who lost a loved one today in Connecticut. That He would surround them, hold them, and comfort them. That He would provide the best people to support them, grieve with them, listen to them and cry with them in the days, weeks and years to come. My heart and prayers have gone out to them all day and I am simply overcome with grief knowing many parents won’t be tucking in their little ones to bed tonight. Please join me in praying for all who have been touched by this unimaginable tragedy.

Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer.

 From the ends of the earth I call to you,
 I call as my heart grows faint;

 lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

 For you have been my refuge,
 a strong tower against the foe.

 I long to dwell in your tent forever
 and take refuge in the shelter of your wings.

Psalm 61:1-4

recently...

... we cut some paper snowflakes and checked to see how well they fell before we hung them up.

The boys get better each year as their finger muscles get stronger!

I decorated the front door. This might be my favorite so far.

We inherited a nice train set from my father and my husband set it up in the basement and added some of his trains that were passed down from his father. The kids have really enjoyed playing with it. Thanks, Dad!

We went for walks in the woods.

my husband making "hunting" spears for the boys!

sailing a boat

We took our family Christmas photo over the weekend. I really like how it turned out and I will post it later.

And we have already started baking cookies. We made Snickerdoodles on Sunday and they are easy and delicious! Check out the recipe here.

If you want to make your own virtual snowflake, check out this little link!