Christmas 2011 - Harrisburg PA

Wonderful Counselor

Mighty God

The Everlasting Father

Prince of Peace

So thankful to celebrate the Birth of Jesus!

 Here are a few pictures from the past few days!

Maddy with her teacher, she is having a great year and we have enjoyed Mrs. Millar 

Maddy has hit it off with these two girls in her class. It was great to meet these girls that Maddy has been playing with this year. (The three of them remind me of Breanna, Sarah and Lacey)

We stopped by to meet the Librarian, Ms. Frank. Maddy has a way of wiggling her way into a few teachers hearts. It was a pleasure getting to know Ms. Frank as we talked for almost an hour after school (so much for the early release hehe)

Logan had a fun party at school. Logan and Titus stick close together and here they are cheering on their team during a relay race.

Logan and Titus had a play the week school let out. Very cute play and it was neat to see some familiar faces from football in the crowd of parents.

We headed out to Target to shop for family we "adopted" for Christmas. A very special family indeed, we first met back in August at the backpack event and have kept in touch ever since.

All the gifts wrapped and ready for the family. Billy and I had the opportunity to spend some time with mom and the kids as we dropped off the gifts. They were thankful as circumstances made it difficult to put anything under the tree this year. It was a sweet time with them and thankful for the opportunity to serve these sweet folks.

Okay, I just had to put this picture in...why?  Olivia insisted that we do school on Christmas Eve morning. She enjoys this structure in her day and we enjoy this time together. I think she will be just fine to start kindergarten this year!

Lovin' on Mrs. Shay when she came over for a visit.

Look, perfect timing to see some familiar faces come from NC on their way to visit family in Maine.

We also had another sweet family stop in earlier in the day. They have no idea how it blessed our family to talk and pray together for the ministry here in PA.

FRIDAY FUN DAY

 So we surprised the kids by going to Hershey Park's Christmas Candylane. The kids were all very excited and we had a great time! As always we didn't take enough pictures but trust me we had fun and closed the park down.

The first ride was the Merry Go Round....Christmas music blaring, lights twinkling, yes it is Christmas time!

 Olivia was so stinkin excited to ride the Merry go round in the dark! Most rides where open except for the roller coasters, it was ok though who wants to go 60 miles an hour when its 35 degrees outside?

The park was covered in Christmas decorations and lights, it was a beautiful night.

 The weather was not too cold UNTIL you got on the swings! BRRRR! We wondered why there was not a line! It was fun though!

We were watching the light show and heading over the bridge to ride more rides. Can I just tell you how much fun we had together??

 Look! We ran into some friends, Lesa and Brennan at Hershey!! So the kids drug Brennan on the frog ride. It was pretty funny I must say! Olivia did say this made her tummy feel scared and it was not her favorite. hehe...I just love how 4 year olds put thoughts together.

 Ohh yes! Can it get any better than pink cotton candy when it is past your bedtime????

CHRISTMAS EVE

So it's Christmas Eve and that is a big deal around our house. This year we shared some of our family traditions as we incorporated Advent into our weekly bible study on Saturday nights. 

We always have "Shepherd's soup" on Christmas Eve to remind us of the simple meal's the shepherds would have eaten and the kids usually dress up as shepherds or someone from the Nativity.  We eat, hang out and read the Bible.  This year we got to share our tradition with some new friends.

Olivia was carrying around baby Jesus for most of the evening and she dressed up like a sheep. So if you notice a pillow attached to her back...that's why. ; )

 Precious. sitting and taking it all in. Jesus, Jesus, its all about Jesus.

Gathered around listening to the Christmas story and praying for one another...Thank you Jesus for your gift that you have so freely give us.

Maddy and Breanna made this cake on Christmas Eve. I must say it was very good and I loved seeing them in the kitchen decorating together! They used fondant to make the people and animals.

 We enjoyed some homemade popcorn that some friends gave us.  We all hung out and spent a fun evening together.

 Another tradition we do with the kids is they draw a name between siblings and purchase a thoughtful gift for that person. This has become a very sweet, special time in our family. It's great to watch them wait in excitement for their gift to be opened. They seem never to forget from one year to the next what their siblings gave them.

Logan is waiting for Olivia to open her gift. They all want their gift to be opened first, anticipating the excitement their gifts would bring each other.

She was so excited to have a new coloring book and Dora bubbles.

Olivia picked out a jump rope and a Philly's baseball puzzle. Logan said this was perfect, an outside toy and an inside toy.

Maddy just squeezed Breanna

 I must say, Maddy had a running list of thoughtful things to get Breanna and she would have gotten everything on her list if she had means to do so. She over heard Breanna say she wanted these plum flats as Target, so she checked her size and off to Target we went.

 Sweet Sister Love!

 Nope, Santa didn't fall asleep before setting the gifts out. This year we had to wrap the Santa gift due to the new layout of our house. The kids go through the living room to get to our room.

CHRISTMAS MORNING

Breanna didn't really have too many surprises because she had a list of ideas, sizes and the online stores to shop with the cart already filled! hehe

 After our trip to New York visiting the American Girl store, we just knew what would keep our little Maddy playing with dolls a little longer! So sweet, stay a little girl my "Maddy bug"

Logan seems to be very excited each year but he asks for the same thing year after year. He said this is the best Christmas ever...I think he said the same thing last year. He is pretty easy, some sort of sport and a gun that shoots anything, he is good to go.

 Olivia has been scootin around on her little bike for the past few days. She was so excited to have this Disney bike and I am sure Target is happy as well. She always asked to ride this bike around the toy aisle at Target but just never thought that she could have one of her very own. We figured it was better than the pony she asked for. 
And yep, dad had to put that thing together!

Billy is cleaning his guitar to put his new strings on that the kids got him. He is concentrating hard! Now he just needs to learn how to play it.

Christmas morning we gathered around the computer to watch the Faith Baptist worship service. This gave something familiar from NC to enjoy on Christmas day. Thanks Pastor Brad for Skyping us in!

I was a bit tearful  Christmas Eve missing our family, our friends in NC, and the traditions that we had for years in Wake Forest. We are thankful to have some new traditions to add to our family as we are in a new state this year.  Thank goodness for technology as we were able to talk, skype and sent video recordings of the kids to our family and friends. Here we are talking to Nana and Papa. Even though this year was different not having our families with us, we are so thankful for the strong bond we see being knit within our family over the past 6 months.

God has been so faithful and we are thankful for His plan.

Luke 2

The Birth of Jesus

¹ In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. ² (This was the first census that took place while^[a] Quirinius was governor of Syria.) ³ And everyone went to their own town to register.

⁴ So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. ⁵ He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. ⁶ While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, ⁷ and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

⁸ And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
¹³ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
¹⁵ When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
¹⁶ So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. ¹⁷ When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, ¹⁸ and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. ¹⁹ But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰ The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

We sure hope you had a great Christmas and Happy New Year!