Goodbye 2008 ~ Hello 2009

Sooooooooooooo Thankful for:

Family

Friends

Sobriety

God's presence & provision

Our home - more than just a roof over our heads

Our Cars - that all run right now!

Food on the table & in our pantry

Indoor plumbing (hot & cold running water)

Luxuries like climate control (Air conditioning & Heating)

Church family & home

Health (mental, emotional, physical)

Growth (mental, emotional, physical)  

Business opportunities

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION?:

To remain grateful in the face of ALL that God chooses to bring my way in 2009.

To have these lyrics be true not just externally, but internally all year long, moment by moment:

"Blessed be Your name

When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's 'all as it should be,
Blessed be Your name

Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name"

THANK YOU GOD!!!!

Pacific Life Bowl

Grampie took Jade, Elle, Lando, and Em to the annual Pacific Life Bowl game.

Elle & Jade & some weird guy

Em & Lando

Happy Birthday dear Mom-my!

After a day of shopping and seeing "Yes Man", we picked up 

Miss M and went to the Melting Pot for dinner.

We had fiesta cheese, salad, we chose the Mojo cooking method with steak, chicken, shrimp etc., and bananas foster chocolate dessert... YUM!

Mom & Dad

Mom & Miss M

The 3 of us!

HAPPY 39th BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!!

Merry Christmas '08

Christmas morn'.

Our lovely little tree.

Bijou's stocking.

Devo's snowboard.

D's snowboard.

Carving the standing rib roast.

Flying helicopters.

Grampie playing Wii golf.

Cheers!!!

PEACE ON EARTH

Ahhhhhhhhh! What a lovely, musical Christmas!

This is Lando singing "I Heard The Bells ON Christmas Day" by Casting Crowns.

Drummer Boy

Here are Lando & Deevs performing "The Little Drummer Boy" at the new Fuse service.
We'll try to get an even better copy and post it later, if we can (We have footage of them doing this in the Sanctuary which is nice).

(Thanks Jade for filming with your Flip!)
xo

Visions of Sugar Plums

Tonight we trekked out into the country 

to the Christmas tree farm 

to pick out the Christmas tree 

which we picked out a LONG time ago, 

when it was just a wee sapling.  

Bundled up in our scarves and mittens, 

we trudged through the snowy field and found it, growing in its winter wonderland.  

D wielded a trusty axe and felled our fir with a few swift chops then he & Lando hoisted it onto their brawny shoulders 

and carried it to the car.  

Afterward we sipped hot chocolate and nibbled fresh-baked cookies.

Ahhhhh... traditions to savor!

****************************

Ok.  So it wasn't QUITE like that.

We trekked 2.4 miles to Home Depot and trudged through the parking lot surrounded by chain link fencing

Miss M, Lando, Stoop (girlfriend), Deevs, Mom, Dad

and picked out a tree we spotted seconds before.  We got to call it our own for a mere $59.99.

OK.

So we weren't exactly "BUNDLED" up.

Some of us wore a jacket.

Some wore a beanie or hood.

Some wore... ahem... a tank top.  

D & Lando DID carry it to the car. 

 

Nope, no cocoa or cookies either (fresh baked or otherwise), 

but we DID go to the Club with Grampie for dinner.

Ahhhh... Memories.

Football Ends

We (or should I say "Lando") played in the semi-final CIF game last night.  

We (or should I say "they") dominated the whole first half and were up at half-time.  

You could tell by the energy between the 2 crowds that both we & they actually believed we might win.

A few BAD calls and a few missed conversion opportunities later and we were neck & neck.  It was CLOSE to the bitter end.  Yet in the end, it turned out that we couldn't overcome all those bad calls and missed chances and we lost 27-22.  

And we are out.  

And football is over.  

It was a one year wonder for our family and we loved every minute of it!

Deevs' Teeth

After a long couple of years, Deevs got his braces off.

His snaggletooth grin is no-longer.  It has been replaced by a straight, gleaming set of pearly whites.  

BEFORE

AFTER

Thanks Dr. H!

(1 down, 1 to go... If Miss M will wear her elastics, she too will be straight & smooth.)

Home Safely

Thanks Ann for pointing out that I haven't posted since vacation.  It DID kinda look like we maybe decided to never come back.  

So I owe a few posts. 

We flew home safely from STT via Puerto Rico.  

Puerto Rico to LAX was 8 hours.  That was a little long for our backs, but we made it.

Good to be back!