A REALLY white Christmas!

The real reason for this Christmas season...

Luke 2 (The Message)

The Birth of Jesus

^1-5About that time Caesar Augustus ordered a census to be taken throughout the Empire. This was the first census when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Everyone had to travel to his own ancestral hometown to be accounted for. So Joseph went from the Galilean town of Nazareth up to Bethlehem in Judah, David's town, for the census. As a descendant of David, he had to go there. He went with Mary, his fiancée, who was pregnant.

^6-7While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. She gave birth to a son, her firstborn. She wrapped him in a blanket and laid him in a manger, because there was no room in the hostel.

An Event for Everyone

^8-12There were sheepherders camping in the neighborhood. They had set night watches over their sheep. Suddenly, God's angel stood among them and God's glory blazed around them. They were terrified. The angel said, "Don't be afraid. I'm here to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for everybody, worldwide: A Savior has just been born in David's town, a Savior who is Messiah and Master. This is what you're to look for: a baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in a manger."

^13-14At once the angel was joined by a huge angelic choir singing God's praises:

Glory to God in the heavenly heights,
Peace to all men and women on earth who please him.

^15-18As the angel choir withdrew into heaven, the sheepherders talked it over. "Let's get over to Bethlehem as fast as we can and see for ourselves what God has revealed to us." They left, running, and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. Seeing was believing. They told everyone they met what the angels had said about this child. All who heard the sheepherders were impressed.

^19-20Mary kept all these things to herself, holding them dear, deep within herself. The sheepherders returned and let loose, glorifying and praising God for everything they had heard and seen. It turned out exactly the way they'd been told!

Goin' Fishin'

Popcorn

I always wanted to try stringing popcorn, but could not figure out where to put it once it was strung (I'm certainly not putting it on the Christmas tree!) So, this year, we decided to string popcorn and put it on the bushes outside for the birds to eat. Aside from the finger pricks, it was a good time.

Merry Christmas

Now we wait for Christmas Day.

More winter weather...

This time, we received little snow, but significant sleet. Now it's raining, and the temperature on my computer shows 32 degrees, so most likely the rain will also freeze going into the evening. School for the children was canceled this morning, and Jason chose to stay home since the roads were very slick. The temperatures did not rise enough to clear them, unfortunately. So everyone was home today, looking for activities to keep them occupied, and most likely Julian and Kathryn will be home again tomorrow.

Since they are only allowed 90 minutes of electronic time per day, they have been struggling a bit to stay busy, leading to bickering at times. Jason spent some time with them, engaged in his newest hobby, painting. Below are pictures of the artists. I did not join in today, but have posted some of our recent work.

I'm glad the evening is coming on, and it will soon be time for dinner, baths and bed. This has been a loud day when I've gotten quite used to quiet time in my weekdays. And although unlikely, I can still hope for school tomorrow.

Snow

This weekend, we had the first snow of the year. Unfortunately, the children were away with their grandparents, so they were not here for it. For this reason only, I hope we get another good snow when they are home and both feeling well. I took a few pictures to show the kids when they came home, since it melted quickly, as it normally does here.

Our new "pet"

Ok, so it seems we now have a kitten for a pet. Unfortunately, we have not been able to find a home for the cat that showed up at our house this summer. Since Kathryn was a baby, she has asked for a cat, and we were never open to the idea; Jason and I are definitely not what you would call "cat people". We are, however, "Kathryn people", and she has become very attached to Kitty (original and creative, isn't it?). So we will continue to care for Kitty, although he will be an outside cat. We do let him eat inside, since there is another free cat in the neighborhood that keeps stealing his food when we put it out, but that is as far as we will go!! (please let that be the farthest we will go!) He is awfully cute, and very sweet ... for a cat:

Kathryn

Kathryn has become quite the performer. She has always had an affection for music, and I hope she continues to.

This video shows Kathryn playing Jason's mandolin. She learned this so quickly, and no doubt will learn the last part of the song equally quickly:

Thanks for visiting Courtney, Billy and Jackson!

(And thanks Julian for taking the picture of us)

Halloween

Kathryn, the Kitty Fairy
Julian, the scary skeleton (he actually did scare a little girl at the church function we went to!)

Ballon Festival

Today, we went to Statesville to the annual hot air balloon festival. This was our first time there, and we didn't know exactly what to expect, but it was definitely disappointing. Don't get me wrong, the finale - the balloon glow - was really great. I'm glad we stuck it out to see that; it was the highlight of the night. But the rest of it was very, very frustrating! First, the last 3 miles of the trip took 2 hours! Yes, it took us 2 hours to travel 3 miles to park. Each time I thought we were there, we came around a curve or topped a hill, and we saw how far the cars stretched in front of us. So, we missed the balloon launch. Then we entered the airport where the festival was and there were SO MANY PEOPLE! We had to wait in line for almost 30 minutes to use the portapotties. Then we got in line to get some french fries to hold us over until dinner - and when we were about 5 people from the order point, the employee told us she would not serve fries from her line - only funnel cakes. Although her sign said funnel cakes AND fries AND we had already waited 20 minutes or so to get near the front of the line just for her to tell us the young man in front of us would be the last one she served. Ugh. I am ashamed that I lost my temper and said something unfriendly to her. We decided at that point we would just skip the fries and wait for dinner. So we went to the kid play area and were told it was closing. Closing! The man was nice and let our kids go through one blow up, but at that point I was about to go postal on all these people! So we found a spot to watch the balloon glow, really the only positive thing for me about the trip. Definitely NOT worth the 2 hour wait in traffic or the unfriendly booth attendants. I'm glad we tried something new, but I will not be going back next year. Anyway, here is a video of the balloon glow - they are "twinkling". Pretty cool.

More soccer

Pictures from our last 2 soccer games, including Kathryn's team picture from last week. Julian's will be this weekend. (Of course we bought pictures too, but everyone else was taking pictures with their cameras along with the photographer, so I did too!)

The kids have learned so much this season, and they have also made some good friends, so Upward soccer has been a success for our family. It will be nice to have our evenings back to ourselves again though (right now, Friday is the only evening I/we don't have somewhere to go!) 3 more games and they will be finished for the year....

(Oh - Evan was able to come visit us Friday evening so he could watch the soccer games Saturday morning. Dad and Sherri were able to come too, as well as Hilda and Robert, so our kids had quite the cheering section!)

Our furry friends

We recently had some company. Of the canine variety.

Dad and Sherri went on a 2+ week vacation, and we took care of Minnie and Nina while they were gone. It was definitely an adventure! No, really, I enjoyed it most of the time - it was just a bit of pet overload when they were here. We are still getting used to a cat being around the house, and then to add another 2 animals IN the house, and it was a bit stressful. It seems everywhere we stepped, there was a child or an animal!

They were a lot of fun, though, and I hope they come back to visit again next year once we have settled in to being a 2 pet home...they've been back at their home for about a week now, and Kathryn already misses them!

We didn't get lots of photos, but here are a few.

Soccer

Today was the first soccer game of the season. The upward program is different than other sports programs, and the goal is having fun and learning basic skills instead of beating the other team. Both kids did have fun, and I was really proud of both of them. I have not gotten to see Julian play since his practice is while I'm in class, so I was surprised and pleased to see how hard he tries and how much he has learned in just a few weeks. And, of course, Kathryn did well too and even scored one goal. So, for the next 6 weeks, this is where we'll be - at the soccer field...