***Note to anyone who comes by here to listen to the music ...You will now have to scroll down to the player on the right side and press play yourself. This is to accommodate those who only come to read and are distracted by the music;}
He’s standing a little apart with his back to you…looking at that BIG SCREEN!
Yes!! We have a lamb’s head but no motions…not a single one. the entire time. just a dazed look…in his defense we missed the stage rehearsal because we were all sick and we’re a little scattered these days of travel and transition…
Sitting, though it took him a while to do that, standing when the others were sitting…someone had to pull him down!
There was even a little hoof wave to the people sitting by him…
And a smile too!!!!!!
And enough adorableness to make even the Scrooge smile:)
I was able to spend one of my first days home with my dear friends from the Bible Study that I was a part of in PA. I hadn't seen these girls in a year and missed them so! (Shelley--I missed seeing you!) Thanks for a great time Alyson, Amy and Rebs:) I can't believe we got a picture (sort of) with all of the kids! And, don't you love the "kids table"? They look a little like teenagers to me--if their heads were above the table a little more!
On New Year's Day, our friends, Robin and Mike, with their daughter Melanie, came to visit with us. Robin has been a mentor to me and they are dear friends of Jared's family. I taught their son, Matt, who is now married! It was a sweet time with them...thanks for making time to be with us! (note: Robin got a fleece for Christmas with what her soon-to-be-born grandchild will call her, MiMi. If I got the hint, I think our dear MiMi might like something like it!(wink))
Christmas Eve, I had a bit of a whirlwind morning, with great, but all-too-short visits with some really dear friends. Below is Sarah holding Susie...she put her to sleep--it was so sweet:) Thankfully, I had gotten to spend sometime for some "girl talk" earlier in the week with her. Love you Sarah!
Here is Jess in the center and right. She and I have a "funny" history. We went through 4 years at Messiah College without even meeting??, I don't think. We both knew of each other, but didn't become friends...however, when I moved back home after living in MA, Jess was engaged to Tim, and they were going to my parents church. We became quick friends and she was there for me in the hardest season of my life--when my mom was dying--, not only was she there, but she loved my mom and my mom loved her. She gave my Dad a hug the first Sunday he came to church after my Mom died and he still talks about it. Growing up, each of my sisters brought a "surrogate" sister into the family, but not me...until Jess. I was blessed to have her in my wedding...love and miss you so much Jess! Come visit me! Top left and bottom left is her sweet second born, Brooke. I think JJ has a crush (since she's older and a redhead!)
The next two are of my dear friend, Liz. We taught together and she just blesses my life so much. JJ spent alot of time with "Auntie" Liz and PJ and Michael in the first year of his life and he still remembers it...Love you Liz! You'll always be on my list!
As an aside, JJ looks a little "rough" here...I don't know if you can see the scab under his nose, but he had fallen down the stairs twice at Jared's parents' house and then at Liz's too:( poor guy, he looked so pitiful, but he unflinchingly declared he was "tough" after each fall. Another aside is that PJ is so big (top right) and just a great friend to JJ:) I remember him when he was little with chubby cheeks...oh how quickly they ALL grow up!
This is a good picture of the scene at my family's "Christmas gathering" this year...We've been getting together for "Keener Christmas" ever since my oldest sister got married, which I think was just 20 years this fall! (Wow Nea! I didn't make a big enough deal over this milestone for you and Glenn!) My Dad read from Luke 2 about the birth of Christ. Then, we sang some carols and the cousins sounded so good and WERE LOVIN' IT! But then, the adults (NOT ME!!) including my father, decided it was time to open gifts??!! Seriously, something's wrong with this picture!I think the kids could have sung for a while longer... This was also the first Christmas that we were without my brother, Jon, his wife, Sharon, and their seven children. We missed you all!
Below (top left) is Annika in the middle of the aforementioned singing...and maybe Chloe to with the Santa's hat on...maybe my Dad and stepmom, Marie, too! Don't we look like we're enjoying it!?
Cami...ok, so, my brother-in-law, Don (Kristen's husband) is blessed with four daughters. And, we can remember when his oldest, Annika, was displaying her charms (long before Cami came to be) that Don looked into his future of fathering girls (let alone the four he has!) and said, "I'm *screwed*"(i.e. "I have no chance of making it with all of the guys that will come after these girls) Well, I look at Cami and her gorgeous eyes and I have to agree! Poor Don! We'll pray for you and maybe some time in your "free" time (wink, wink) you can write a book about it!
Precious "Panucka!" as my Dad calls her...if you click on this collage, you can see in the top right a sweet smile that my sister, Nea, is getting out of her.
Play-do...JJ was new to this, but seemed to like the fish shapes I was pressing out with the mold Sara had--she has all sorts of Play-dough gadgets and given her elementary ed/special ed background--knows how good tactile learning is for kids...hmmm...might have to start doing more things like this!
Ok, I don't know if you can see JJ's tears here, but he was "toast" from all of the travel and "Mommy Sara" (as he calls her--you know we're too alike to be Aunties) told him to sit in this chair until he could be happy...we joke that she has a lot of practice with "fragile emotional states" seeing as her twin was "Queen Emotional" growing up...and just like she did with me, she was helping JJ be "tough". So much so that JJ started saying "Mommy Sara help tough." before we left... It was so cute here though, because Owen was next to him and was reading a book (literally--he's four!) and this is what calmed JJ down.
Susie in the exer-saucer...she really did like it, but the one on the left is her tired face...I like to say she goes "0 to 60" in a milli-second;)
JJ with the twins, Judah and Layna. I have some video that I might post of JJ and Judah. Before we visited, Sara and I thought JJ and Judah would "hit it off" with the same interests in sports, etc. AND WE WERE RIGHT!!! They had their own inside jokes...it was so cute! They are kindred spirits, so to speak, he is Judah Jay, so another JJ:) I hope JJ is always close with both twins as they are only 7 months apart and depending on how things go, will probably be in the same year of school! Susie had some extra cuddles with Mommy Sara the morning we left...we are planning on seeing each other in June...but it is so hard to be away when our kids are so young... Miss you and love you sooo much!!!! Mommy Sara!!!!(and I won't forget Auntie Nea who is in NJ too...she is PLANNING to come and stay in April with her whole family! We can't wait!!!)
Definitely not in chronological order, but I decided I needed to "catch up" in a major way...so here are A TON of pics with Jared's family that I will do little to elaborate on...
MiMi and PopPop with the grandkids...how "real" are these pics with 4 kids 3 and younger! Aunt Judi(Jared's Dad's sister) and her daughter Denise from Lancaster to spend a couple of hours with us--we SO appreciate them!
Yes, this (I.E. TRAINS!) is what we do alot of these days and I LOVE IT!! (p.s. notice the Eagles...sorry they didn't end well, but the family remains "die hard" fans!)
Another round of opening...
and opening...
PopPop got Susie smiling alot--I LOVE seeing him with girls--it's the sweetest thing!
The three cousins on Christmas Eve...
Notice how Marie is touching JJ's blonde hair--she was mesmerized by it!
more presents!
Jared and his brother Jason = some of the best and MOST FUN Dads EVER!!!
Gotta Love MiMi's lap...and notice Marie with JJ's hair again!
Jason's birthday in early December, but we got to celebrate together when we came home!
Again, just, so, so sweet to see this...
MiMi had some catching up to do...as you can see, Susie loves her!
Thanks to Jared's family for a wonderful Christmas together--we ALL miss you!!!!!
So sorry that I have been such a slacker in "blog land" recently. All I can say is that I came back from our trip to PA pretty depleted in every way and then JJ was sick the week we got back...while I had time to get this caught up, I didn't feel up to it.
So sorry to my "blog friends" too as I'm behind in your blogs, but if you're behind like me then it may not be so hard to catch up with you! I do miss you and your lives I read on your blogs, so I'm hoping to get "caught up" soon!
Here are some pictures from the early Christmas we had the day before we travelled back to PA.
Love these pictures of JJ in and out of the tent we got him (there's a tunnel too! both are a hit!) Here is the play vacuum we got him...he loves to pull it out and vacuum with us!
Can you tell who the main "present OPEN-er" was this year. Usually more fun than the actual gift, but each got a "wow!" anyways. He's opening Susie's too--it will be a couple of years until she minds...
The adults exchanged gifts--though we kept it low key--I am holding mine;) Jared was surprised with an mp3 player that I had put lots of music on as well as scriptures that I thought he would like to have. You can do it free--here's the info!
Just decided to journal a little about our 24 hour harrowing trip home...
We began around 11:30 am from Orlando on Friday, December 18. My mother-in-law had told me the night before?? that they were calling for a snowstorm...it sounded like it might be "something" and it surely was.
We had the best driving conditions in Florida, but started to hit often heavy rain from Georgia through North Carolina with dropping temperatures. It was around 7pm when we finished our stop for dinner--letting the kids run around (we were caravaning with our friends, the Farr's, and thankfully so...) and then continued on. I kept looking at the temperature as it got dangerously close to freezing (we were still in rain at that point). Jared and I debate about whether the snow started in northern North Carolina or in Southern Virginia, but when it did, it didn't take long for the conditions to deteriorate. We wondered if they OWN a plow in the state of Virginia as nothing was plowed! We began to see cars spun out along the road (hundreds until the journey was done) and our speed quickly went from 75ish;) to 40mph (we were south of Richmond). We were able to travel like this for a while, though we were continually wondering, "should we stop?" Our friend, Jamie, decided the state of Virginia was the last place he wanted to get stranded, and we agreed--so we continued.
The kids had entered their "sleep time". Susie did amazing--sleeping the whole night as we inched along. JJ was awake after a stop at 11pm for a couple of hours (read: "watch dvd's") and "konked" back out, woke up, and konked again until this journey was done.
We travelled along 95 the entire time--never stopping but sometimes inching along at 10-15 mph or less even. Because, as you experienced snow drivers know, you DON'T WANT TO STOP in slippery snow! There were many points where lanes were indistinguishable, several times where we found a tractor trailer and followed it's tracks. Often, every car was spun out that I could see except us and our friends...We pushed through the exhaustion. JARED DROVE THE WHOLE TIME! It was too hard for me to take over when I would be going in "blind" and inexperienced in these conditions...But, I was quite a co-pilot;) I didn't konk out...MAYBE got a minute or two of sleep and rested my eyes. In retrospect, Jared says that the "tense"ness of driving in these conditions kept him awake...and of course, in all of this, it was the Lord's grace.
I did think often, with our two precious lil ones in the car: "if anyone who loves us would see what we were doing (i.e. parents!) they would YELL: 'GET OUT OF THIS AND TO SOMEWHERE SAFE!'"
But, there came a point when we had gotten so far, (like when morning came and we actually had LIGHT!) when the worst SEEMED;) behind us and even if we stopped the kids wouldn't sleep so neither would the adults...that we knew we had to finish what we started...
It is really comical now as we kept thinking we'd get "ahead" of the storm and get to an area where it hadn't snowed. We hit areas of lighter snow, but there WAS snow everywhere once it started and til we were finished we realize we truly drove THROUGH the heart of the storm! Cities like Richmond and DC and Baltimore had record or "historic" snowfalls!
The icing on the cake was when we finally reached my dad and stepmom's street and Jared COULD NOT get up the hill to their house. After all of this...as my Dad said, "Jared had no hills left in him!" So we went back out and tried to go around another way and Jared was talking to my Dad who convinced him to turn back the way we came and turn at the "second light". We tried to find the "second" light passing the one at his street but there was none. Here, he meant the light of the parallel street we pulled into to be the first and the second light was the same one we had come out of with the SAME HILL we couldn't get up the first time. When I told my Dad this, he said, "yes, that's right. Do it again." He was using a bit of hilarious reverse psychology on Jared who was UNDERSTANDABLY beyond "fried" in every way--to help him get past his wall. He told Jared to go faster and DON'T STOP! We did make it up that hill and were finished...AT LAST!!
Honestly, although I'd NEVER want to repeat this trip, the Lord in His goodness showed us so much more of Himself. We knew people were praying for us and I was continually asking the Lord to impress upon people to "keep praying..." When I think about other journeys we might need to take, I know I will go back to this one and how the Lord gave us His strength beyond what we could have imagined to "make it". Truly, we defied human capabilities, I think, or at least our own perceived abilities.
I thought it was so amazing how my dear Mor Mor who has journeyed with the Lord these 96+ years put it. She said, "I guess there came a point where you had decided to go on and you continued in faith trusting that the Lord would protect you as you journeyed on." And isn't this what we are always called to as we "press on toward the upward call..."
Here are some pictures of this snow...
I love this one--Jared was very proud of it too!
How can something so beautiful be so dangerous to drive in?
The same night that we were in the town of Celebration with the Farr's we found this store--I didn't even catch the name. They had tables and you could get a little artist's pallet with a cookie (or they also had pretzels or other kinds of cookies--we all chose chocolate chip and they were awesome!) and you could pick different toppings to decorate it with. We chose melted chocolate, m & m's and sprinkles.
Beyond that, what is so amazing is that JJ got so interested in decorating he forgot that it was all "Good Eats!" (also the Food Network show I am watching as I write this!) He was so focused using the little spatula to put the chocolate on the cookie. Then he started with the sprinkles and then the m&m's--and even though I told him he could eat them, he was still very focused on putting them on the cookie. It was sooo cute!!! And gave me great hope that he doesn't have ADD, and will be able to focus well on tasks like this without getting frustrated. Ok, so now, he's getting it and EATING! I broke the cookie and gave him a quarter to a third of it. I had the other part not wanting him to eat so much...then, at one point, he gave the part he was eating back to me, "here go mommy!" and promptly took the larger portion for himself. It was yum yum good!
Here is precious Devante. He is a foster child that Jamie and Anita have had in their home and he just went to a different home today--which will hopefully be an adoptive home. Please pray that he will be adopted by this family or another soon--the perfect family for him and them, and that they would be believers. (I'm wondering if the Lord used Devante in Jared and my life to really open us greatly to one day adopting children like Devante who are in the system, ready to be adopted, they just need someone who is willing to make them their own...)
Brandon and Abby--this is just about the sweetest I have ever seen them. They had a cookie to share (unlike JJ who had his own because Susie is not big enough yet for any cookies!) and decorated and ate! it without any arguments and even with Brandon offering Abby the first bite and keep on offering bites...IT WAS JUST TOO SWEET!
Yes, you read this right...Last Friday evening, we went to the town of "Celebration" (only in Florida!) with our dear friends, the Farr's, and their kids where, during this time of year, every hour on the hour it SNOWS! It was a really fun atmosphere and actually refreshingly cool high 50's and we are so thankful for this great evening with friends.
This is where the snow comes from...little boxes that look like "birdhouses"...
JJ was actually scared ('cared') of the snow! I thought, "what happens if he sees real snow in PA??!!" Maybe it was the artificialness of it?
Ok, I would just like to say that I married a CUTIE! especially with his baby girl in tow:)
Jamie and Anita...fun-filled as always! We are so thankful for them!
Daddy and Susie: he was protecting her from the chill as she was still pretty congested with her RSV (more on that in another post)...but she was "cozy as can be" with her Dada:)
JJ starting to embrace the idea of this crazy snow coming from birdhouses!
Crazy for Christ
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t was around 9:00pm as I went into the grocery store. I saw a young man
pass by and felt like maybe I should talk to him about the Lord, but
instead I cont...
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