Christmas and Snow

With one more Christmas dinner to go, the season is winding down.  And it was a good Christmas.  The snow we had, even though small amounts, set it apart from other years and we made lots of good memories sledding many times over Christmas break.  Having the snow over Christmas and having Montana family here, helped Rod and I to set a 'Christmas tone' of making memories, spending time with family, and embracing God's blessings, verses it being all about presents. Not saying we were totally sucessful, but i think we were able to speak their language a bit. 
We had no plans Christmas eve and Christmas day.  The boys sledded till 9:30pm Christmas eve.  and we enjoyed a day at home Christmas day. 

I actually surprised Rod this year!  a cat's meow of our place..

Clay's new guitar.  Somehow it must sound better when you stand inside a trash can. 

Making gingerbread manger scenes...
(we cheated and used graham crackers and hot glue!)



An idea from Pinterest..

 

Smoker Christmas dinner, just enough snow for some sledding on a great hill..

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas campfire

Friday night rod and i had a little campfire/christmas carol sing here.  We opened it to our family, church, and friends in the community.  We were impressed with the 130-140ish people who braved the wind and cold to join us for this.  We were happy with the responses we received and hope to do it again next year.  The past 2 years Rod and i took the boys to the church down the road for their annual campfire carol sing.  We thought really highly of it and that's what inspired us to do this.  Kinda felt like what they would've done in the old days, very simple yet meaningful :)

The twins shared a song that night, that they learned this year- "Do You Hear What I Hear".  I like the last line of the last verse....."The Child, the Child, Sleeping in the night, He will bring us Goodness and Light".

 

Thank you Jesus!  Merry Christmas to all!

the Beef Project

This weekend we butchered the calf.  I say this weekend because it took almost the entire weekend!  We did the whole process ourselves, with lots of help from wonderful family and friends!  It would have been completely overwhelming to do by ourselves, which i believe we were naive enough to do at one point. 

If these pictures bother you, just remember i have worse ones that i decided not to post :)

Rod with Butch-Bullseye

Caleb and Rod with Butch-Bullseye

 

Next day, the cutting, canning, and freezing!

the girls table (as adam says), cutting chunks off the bone to can.  And saving the fat and bones to boil for yummy broth.  

 

some of us were having too much fun

 

Adam was a big helper for almost an hour.  He really just wanted to play with a knife i think.

 

Got some steaks and roasts for the freezer

and 28+ quarts of meat canned, plus some broth!  (i never said it was pretty)

And last but not least you have to know about the wonderful babysitting service offered the entire time!

 

I really enjoyed learning more about this process, and so grateful for the quick and easy meals to come!   

 

Far away friends

Meet Gedieon and Gosaye...

Gedieon (17) has been our Compassion international child for 10+ years now (left).  He and his brother Gosaye (22) recently 'friended' me on Facebook.  Yes i'm serious!  They have Facebook in Ethiopia!  We always have written to each other over the past 10 years.  But now that we are facebook friends we chat quite a bit.  Gosaye knows English quite well.  They are genuine young men, who have had Bible teaching through Compassion and from what i gather, are Christians.  They always ask about the boys by name which i think is so sweet.  Their father died when they were young.  They bring us such joy and we've never even met them.  I would love to meet them one day.  They will have to come to me though, as i am not going to Ethiopia :) 

Nothing special to say here, just wanted to jot down all the things that Clay got into today.  I'm sure there were more...and most of these he was into multiple times throughout the day. 

* Markers
* Hand soap, his favorite
* Bathroom cleaner
* Cookie jar, another fav
* Mousse, he knew what to do with it and his hair smells good
* Rabbit food, he didn't eat it
* Dish soap, he DID eat that
* Peanut butter
* Sink water
* Holly
* Telephone
* Anything his brothers had in their possession 

I don't remember him playing with a single toy today!  There is a reason why i like to go out and do errands with him verses staying home! 

Think i'll go to bed now so i can wake up and do it all over again :) 

11 years

Dec. 1, 2001

 

Dec. 2, 2012