Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve tradition: 

Dinner

Christmas Eve service

Look at lights

Open one gift (pajamas!)

Eat snacks

Watch It's a Wonderful Life

Go to bed

hot chocolate stand

 Andrew and Leah's Sunday School classes had a hot chocolate fund raiser after church on three different Sundays.  They offered hot chocolate and cookies for a donation and all the money raised went to a missionary who reaches children in Israel.
It was a great chance to serve.  They raised over $400!

Erik

As always, it is nice to have Erik visit!

Christmas Pageant

 Sunday night we headed to church for a Christmas Pageant.  Andrew and Leah had been at church all day getting ready- and having fun eating, baking, and watching a Christmas movie!

Micah was very tired...

Did I say Micah was tired? Here is the telltale sign- holding his ear!  I wonder if he'll still be doing that as an adult :)

The beginning sing a long with Christmas carols, the songs by the choir, the narrator reading the Christmas story, the kids acting out the true meaning of Christmas....made my heart so happy.

Club Hope Christmas

 Club Hope Christmas- an amazing event that showed me that I need help with event planning, stretched me in many ways, brought about a spiritual attack, demonstrated how the body of Christ works together, melted my heart, blessed children, and brought glory to God.

Matt and I have only worked as hard on event planning for Basketball Camp.  We had planned a simple Club Hope, but God kept adding to the equation and by the time we were done, we had 2 school busses, Toys for Tots, 22 News, and a clothing give away!

God is amazing- that's what it keeps coming back to!  As much as I know that I have a heart to reach the children, God keeps showing me that it is HIS heart to reach them even more than it is mine!  He brought Diane (a.k.a the Lifesaver) to Hope for Kids to organize and structure things in a way that demonstrates excellence and makes things go much more smoothly.  Without her help I don't think we could have pulled this off!  We had 50 volunteers from 7 local churches and 3 out of state churches!  We had 70 children and around 10 parents in attendance. (many of the moms that were there were actually a problem- praying for God's wisdom as we problem solve!)

We began with a meal that was donated by a restaurant and cooked by a competent team of volunteers.  There was then Praise and Worship (an incredible job done by Joe- I love how he involved the kids!), Bible time (mind blowing how many kids have never heard the true Christmas story), craft time, birthday cake for Jesus, gift opening,  and small group time (discussion of the Bible lesson, prayer requests, relationship building).  I loved watching the volunteers interact with the kids and the joy on the kids' faces!  The local news showed up and when we turned on the 6:00 news that evening- there we were!

After the event was over, Matt and I were still able to reach out to some of the families in need.  We delivered gifts to 4 buildings that are shelters, food to a family without, and gifts to another family who is in a very bad situation.  God keeps opening doors- and we are trying to walk through!  Matt was very clear when he left gifts with a couple of social workers to give to the children at a scattered site: "We want to introduce the kids to the only source of lasting hope- God!"  He told that to them and they nodded their heads in agreement.  We can only pray that God gets to their hearts too.

The 4s and 5s (the Koalas) had 24 kids!!

Registration team...invaluable.  Diane is in the middle :)

Grade 2 (the Penguins)

Birthday cake for Jesus

The Koalas making a craft

Praise and worship for Pre K- Grade 2

Joe and his "worship team" :)

Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift....Jesus!

lights and hot cocoa

We had SUCH fun the other night as a family!  It has been hard entering this new phase of life where not all my kids are home every night.  With Brianna and Cameron's schedules being busy, we aren't always home together as I've been used to in Christmas seasons past.  Last Saturday night, Cameron got home from work at around 8:00.  Caleb had to finish up an online chess game, and then I made hot cocoa, had everyone get in their PJs and we got in the van to drive around and look at Christmas lights.  The relaxation, laughter, and all around fun was the BEST!

 .
. and yes, we left with some dirty dishes in the sink!

tree

 It has been a difficult transition for me- going from a real Christmas tree to an artificial one.  But, with Leah's awful allergies, we have no choice.
The kids had fun decorating this one this year even though it isn't real!  I am cherishing every bit of ALL my kids being  a part of the festivities as I know that soon it will be just a memory~  Where does the time go?