Snow

There's simply no shortage of snow around here...good thing we have two boys to help with the shoveling!
And an added blessing to living here is that Mark has the privilege of using the plow truck from work to plow us out here...he's had to do it more than once in the last few days! :)

Christmas Eve

I took these pics after we got home from our Christmas Eve service. I don't have pictures yet from the program, but hopefully Tricia will blog them! The program was cute...Andrew did a great job remembering his two shepherd lines, and Jacob was a very cooperative Joseph!
My parents and two of my sisters came for the program, and intended to come down to our house for a late dinner. Unfortunately, the weather simply didn't cooperate...it was a horrible blizzard! We were not even halfway to the church when Mark seriously began questioning if we shouldn't turn around and stay home...I haven't seen it snow that hard and fast for a long time! MP ended up getting about 20" of snow that night, and we got at least that much (on top of the foot we had gotten on Saturday...no danger of it not being a white Christmas)!
It was almost comical...for some reason our regular plow guy for the church hadn't been able to plow out the parking lot, so all the guys were out in the parking lot helping to shovel, pulling in and out with a 4-wheel drive truck to flatten the snow, and then carry kids in as they arrived, and occasionally helping push cars in that hadn't been able to keep up enough speed getting up the slope of the parking lot!
But, the weather couldn't have deterred that many, as we ended up with about 70 people there. For those of you who have been to our church, you know that it's no small feat getting that many people in the building...and every Christmas we're reminded to pray for the provision of a bigger building!
So it was just us at home for Christmas Eve...had a late dinner, opened a few gifts, and got the kids to bed so we could do the wrapping and stuffing of stockings!

Community Santa

Every year at Christmas, MP has a community potluck and a visit from Santa. The Sportsmen's Club provides a budget, and a volunteer (my friend Willow), does an amazing job of shopping for every single child in our town.
We personally don't really do the Santa thing...the boys think that Santa is a nice man who comes to our town every year to give them one present. They simply don't understand it when people ask them what they asked Santa to bring them...a blank stare is usually the reply they get!
Anna was quite funny about it...she missed her afternoon nap because we had play practice at the church before the potluck, so she was quite crabby by the time Santa arrived. I had been sure that she would scream when she was put on his lap, but instead she was crying before she even got to that point. But when Mark put her on his lap, and that present with the big shiny gold bow was there, she stopped instantly and tried to chew on the bow!

Anna finally conked out after opening her present, and Papa gladly took her off our hands for a while! :)

Fetching our tree!

This year was the absolute latest we've ever put up our tree! We went up to Floyd and Li's after church on the 16th, but it sat out in our yard till the next Saturday...the 22nd! I just wanted to have every last box unpacked and everything all settled before we put it up. It was a tiring push to get it all done, but we did it!
(Fetching the tree was supposed to be a family affair, but Jacob and Anna both fell sound asleep on the short drive from the church, so we let them sleep. It only took 10 minutes for Andrew and I to go find the tree and then for Andrew and Mark to go chop it down)!

Moving Day!

We were so grateful for the friends and family that showed up to help us move! It certainly was a long day...we started around 9 a.m, and folks didn't start leaving our new house till about 4:30 that afternoon. My dad and mom brought the U-Haul over from Soldotna, and a friend of Mark's from town and a friend from our church filled their pick-ups with gear, toys, and tools from the barn and garage.
Most of our church family was there to help load, and their vehicles ended up nearly full, too! It's amazing how much stuff a family of 5 can have!
Mona had made soup and rolls for everyone, so we had a quick, late lunch break at our new place before unloading!
We could tell there were people praying for a smooth move, as there were no major mishaps!
(Andrew loved the dolly, and used it for moving things that were lighter than the dolly itself)! :) My friend Irene watched Jacob at her house all day, and Andrew went to her house for the afternoon, since he wanted to help in the morning. And our friend Rose from church was with us all day with the express purpose of caring for Anna! We are blessed to have so many great friends!

The next day, my friend Kindra watched all the kids while Mark and I went back to Floyd and Li's to finish up. Mark was putting their dishwasher and dryer back in, and I cleaned. We learned two things well over the past three months: huge houses need to be heated, and huge houses need to be cleaned! Both of the bathrooms had already been cleaned the day before, and the insides of all the kitched cupboards, and it still took me 7 and a half hours to clean the rest of the house! We wish we could describe what a blessing it was for Floyd and Li to allow us to live in their house...it was the perfect solution for our waiting game with the real estate market! Like I said...we are so blessed to have so many great friends!

Packing Up!

So many uses for boxes...(I think it was being a sailboat at the time).



















I was blessed to have Mona and Micah come on the day before we moved to pack the kitchen and pantry!















Andrew helped Mona with labeling the boxes!

Hot tubbing!

We had promised the boys that we would use the hot tub at Floyd and Li's house at least once before we moved. So, we finally did, the night before we moved!
We all had a grand time. Even Anna enjoyed splashing around!

We're alive, well, and settled in!

Sorry for such a long hiatus from the blog! I have many justifiable reasons, but the main one is that I've done it again...lost yet a second camera cord im the process of moving. Two moves, two losses. I simply can't explain it. The first time, I didn't use the cord regularly because I used the card reader on my computer. Now that that's shot, I had been using the extra cord my dad had. I "remembered" specifically packed that cord in a box I was sure to open soon, had other important stuff in it, etc. I have opened, emptied, and put away the contents of every box in this house, and no sign of it.
So, dad to the resuce again. (Isn't that what dads are for?) :) He'll bring me a new cord tomorrow when they come down for Christmas Eve, and then I'll get some pictures out.

But, what you may really be wanting to know...
Our move went wonderfully! We had tons of help from family and friends, who all put in a very long day! I'll share more with the pics, but suffice it to say that everything made it fine, we love this house, and it fits us very well! I've been really pushing to get settled by Christmas, and I think we've made it...never mind the fact that we just put up our tree on Saturday and it's still not entirely decorated! Just an fyi: In case anyone ever asks you, and then gives you the option on if you want to move just before Christmas, the prudent answer is "no." ;)

So, I'll sign off for now, and try to post the day after Christmas. Merry Christmas...have fun celebrating Jesus and the new life he brings!

Moving Day...signing off!

Well, moving day is tomorrow! There's still a bit of "flotsam" floating around that needs to be thrown in boxes, but we're basically ready. My dad is driving a uhaul over, so we should be able to get everything in one trip. If everyone who said they would come help comes to help, we should be in great shape!
Soooo, I'm signing off for a bit! I'm ambitiously hoping to be back online by Wednesday, but we'll see! Prayers for quick loading, safe travel, cooperative weather, etc are appreciated!

Tot Time

Tot Time, the weekly gathering in the school gym of moms and their kids not yet school-age, has been a major part of our lives since Andrew was a baby. Our group of moms in MP has been my circle of friends, and all of our kids have done so much together...from playing weekly at the school to putting in miles and miles and miles together either hiking in the summer or skiing in the winter!

Last week we made it to Tot Time for perhaps only the second or third time this entire school year. It' s just been a whole 'nother ball game with home schooling, not to mention moving in and now moving out of a place. I wish for Jacob's sake that we made it more often, but even the kids closer to his age aren't able to come anymore, due to preschool scheduling conflicts. Andrew loves it, but the toys and the kids around him are just getting too small! :) There are 3 other homeschoolers that still come most of the time, due to their younger siblings...so with some planning on my part, I can prep an activity that keeps them occupied so that they're not tearing around running over the babies and toddlers!

At any rate, they enjoyed it this past week! Jacob did a great job of tooling Anna around (nice and slowly!) in the walker that is kept with the toys!

And don't you just love her little pink suede boots? :) (Thanks, Mom M.!)

Glorious

This was the glorious sunrise God treated us to one morning last week!

If they fit...

If the hat and shoes fit, then wear them!

It's Official!

Well, we are officially homeowners! We closed on the house yesterday, and it recorded this morning! It's kind of a surreal feeling...part relief and excitement, part fear and trembling! :) Hard to believe we just found out about this house on October 20th, and now it's ours!

Soooo...the big moving day is Saturday! It's been just crazy around here, trying to get packed, but at least we're making good progress. We're just filling up the guest room with the boxes as we pack them. I have the school room completely empty, and after I clean it this afternoon, I'm going to shut the door and know that I have one less room to think about! The boys have very little left to play with (but enough!), and we're rotating through the same few clothes over and over, as the rest are packed! A friend from church is going to come Friday to help pack the kitchen, and then it looks like we'll have plenty of help on Saturday. Friends and family are especially wonderful, aren't they? :)

Special Outfit

Anna is named after my dear Gramma, Anna Virginia Uenas. She and Papa were not actually related to us, but our families made wonderful adoptees for each other! Gramma was a beautiful woman of God...always gracious and gentle, faithfully loving and serving those around her. When you think through the list of the fruit of the Holy Spirit, there is not one that did not characterize her life. "Anna" actually means gracious, which was so perfect for Gramma, and we pray it will be a perfect description of our Anna.

It always makes me sad when I think about the fact that Anna and Gramma will never have the chance to know each other on this side of heaven...Gramma passed away while I was pregnant with Jacob. Andrew and I were able to go back east to see her in the hospital before she died, which was so special.

We actually knew her as Gramma Ginny...she and Papa had always gone by their middle names when they lived in New England. When they moved to New York, they were frustrated with themselves for introducing themselves as Henry and Ginny (middle names they'd always gone by due to influence of extended family) instead of starting fresh and letting everyone know them as Daniel and Anna!

But this outfit is one that Gramma sent to my sister Kimberly when my niece Mykenna was born...a year before Andrew was even born! Kimberly had saved all of the baby clothes for me, (since we didn't find out ahead of time if Andrew was a boy or a girl), and while I didn't hang on to all of the girl clothes through two boys, I did save this one, knowing that if ever I had a little girl, her name would be Anna. The size and season didn't match up, but I put it on her once for pictures!