Parties here, Parties there!

Along with everything else we have had Eden's school program, Claire's class party and our 15th annual Christmas party!

Eden's class were the stars and they sang "Behold That Star" and boy were we proud! She was such a good girl doing the movements and singing as best as she could! I love this picture of her - it's a glimpse to me of what she will look like when she's older.


Here is the video of our little star!

http://vimeo.com/33759033

Eden LOVES her teachers and can't wait to go to her red class! Here she is with Ms. Megan

And here she is with Ms. Myra. They are such a blessing to our family!
Eden and Mateo


Claire's class party was on the last day of school and I was able to go up and help out! They had a craft bell wreath, pin the nose on the snowman, a book exchange and a huge spread of yummy food!

We love Mrs. Lopez =)
Claire with some of her friends - Valeria, Maddie, Nina and Jasmine
Claire and her friend Connor ready for their book exchange
Most of her class!! Some were absent and some had already left
Then it was our 15th annual Christmas party that we host for our friends we grew up with and sang together in middle and high school. Can you believe it's been 15 years? The party has certainly evolved. We used to start late and go till the wee hours of the morning but now we start early and bring the kids (some of us still stay up way too late!!) Didn't get a picture of everyone but here are the ones I got!

Eric, Erin and Cora celebrating their first Christmas as a family of 3
Crystal and Julia
Kate, Jenny, Me, Beth n Lucy and Marie
The girls (Eden, Abbey, Lily and Claire) would come in every 15 minutes with a new fashion show! Lyla was there too but we didn't get a picture of her
Danny with Ali and Erin with Cora
Andy and Aubrey with Ali
Didn't get a picture of Tracy, James, Neil or J.J. but they were all there too! We missed those who couldn't be with us. It's so awesome to see that we are all still good friends even if we don't see each other all the time. We've started a playgroup this year which has helped some of us see each other more often and the kids to grow up knowing each other! We are so blessed with our long lasting friendships!

Christmas Fun!

In an attempt to get caught up I'm going to include all kinds of things in this Christmas fun post - crafts, caroling, baking, decorating... we have had a fun filled season! So here we go!

Kept things simple this year and only did the door!

We traditionally decorate the tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I just love decorating the tree and carefully unwrapping each ornament and remembering where we got it or who gave it to us. Every ornament has a meaning which makes it all that more special as we tell the girls all our stories =)

When I say these girls love to craft it doesn't even come close to explaining but these girls LOVE to craft in any way, shape or form! Here are a couple of these crafts we did (besides painting most every day):

Snowglobes thanks to pinterest! Just took a tiny figurine we found in our toy box, glued it in a baby food jar, added water and glitter and TA DA! Easy craft that they think is the coolest!

We also made salt dough ornaments, painted them, glittered them, sprayed them for preservation and gave them to family, friends and teachers!
Painting ornaments!
We also attached them to these super easy gifts we made for family thanks to my Aunt Barbara - cookies in a jar - just stack dry ingredients in a jar and they add the wet! The girls love measuring, pouring and taking turns. (we also made a TON of soda cracker toffee aka. Holiday Bark)
Play dough is also a favorite around here!
We also spent some time with friends - Here we are with Eric, Erin and Cora at a small beautiful wedding of some friends of ours from church - congrats Emily and Garrin!

Being a musician makes for a busy season of performances! We had two caroling adventures planned for our adult church group (one got cancelled because of weather). Here we are at the airport. What a great group!!

Our life group combined with a couple other young family groups to take the kids caroling at a nursing home. It was so sweet and I didn't get any pictures =( I had my studio recital and had 13 kids perform. It went so well!! We also had a lot of prep to get ready for our Christmas Eve service at church. I conducted a wonderful group that sang a beautiful arrangement of Coventry Carol and also took part as a caroler in the drama. It all went great! Now planning for Ladies retreat music and small group!

And I leave this post with one of the daily activities we do around here... building blocks!! The taller the better but the best part? Knocking it down!

Nutcracker

The last weekend of November my mom and I took the girls to the Nutcraker at the Majestic - my most favorite theater. When we sat down and Claire looked up at the "sky" she said "I wanna work here when I get older!" It was so cute =) This is Claire's second time to see the ballet but Eden's first. I was a little nervous about how she would do but she was excellent - she did ask me questions throughout the first half and wanted to be down but we were in the "kids" section so it really wasn't bothersome.
Eden doesn't look too excited but she really did love being there!
Her favorite part was the mice and Rat King scene which is near the beginning so she asked me throughout the rest of the performance "Where the rat king?" Such a funny girl!
A few days later my mom found this amazing rat king music box to commemorate Eden's first time to the show. It sat right next to the nutcracker Claire got after her first time. Eden wants to play the music rat king all the time!
And she hasn't stopped talking about it since! She asks to watch it every.single.day. and has to put on her "pretty dress" so she can leap and run through the living room. It's so adorable but Claire doesn't find it amusing to have to always start it at 29 minutes in when the rat king and mice part starts!



I've found one of my old piano books I played from when I was a kid and it has about 10 excerpts from the Nutcracker. It gives me such joy to have my girls dance and sing when I play!!

God's peace

The last time I wrote about our adoption two weeks ago, I was having probably the hardest time yet with our wait and our process. Those three days were so tough but you know what? God TRULY became my strength when I was weak and I'm so grateful in His persistence with me!! He brought people, songs, sermons, BSF lessons to my heart that really encouraged me NOT to give into the temptation of doubting God's power (David gave an amazing sermon on "lead us not into temptation". One of the many things I've learned and witnessed through our adoption journey is that spiritual warfare is real and among us everyday. And when we are feeling weak and not holding onto the promises of our Lord, Satan can really get to us. We have been in Acts and just finished Hebrews for our BSF study and what amazing words of encouragement about Jesus as our high priest and His superiority over EVERYTHING. This past week's lesson was so encouraging about faith. Trusting and believing in what can not be seen. Run the race with perseverance. And not just the race that is life but the "race marked out for us". Fix your eyes on Jesus. He endured the cross so let us not grow weary and lose heart Heb. 12:1-3. WOW!! What amazing truths that I need to constantly surround my heart and mind with today and everyday. Please pray for me to be diligent with spending time in the word!

Up until we hit the teens I haven't bought anything (except his caterpillar) or planned much for when our little guy comes home - just makes it a little harder when you have stuff around! Last month we painted some canvas' and this month look what came in the mail!!! 5 stockings hanging on our mantle!! His has reindeer on it and we will get it embroidered with his name next year because he WILL be home by then =)

One more thing I wanted to share!! This is the song that brought me to my knees two weeks ago - well I was driving, holding my coffee and sobbing so not literally to my knees but my heart was at His throne. I pray that this encourages someone who needs this today. The lyrics just hit me - I posted them below the video link!
http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=ZLPNNN8X

"Never Alone" by the Barlow Girls
I waited for you today
But you didn't show
No no no
I needed You today
So where did You go?
You told me to call
Said You'd be there
And though I haven't seen You
Are You still there?

[Chorus:]
I cried out with no reply
And I can't feel You by my side
So I'll hold tight to what I know
You're here and I'm never alone

And though I cannot see You
And I can't explain why
Such a deep, deep reassurance
You've placed in my life

We cannot separate
'Cause You're part of me
And though You're invisible
I'll trust the unseen

Breakfast with Santa

Our church puts together Breakfast with Santa every year and the kids just love it! Eden was so cute - up until the day before she was saying she would NOT sit on Santa's lap but as soon as we got there, she wanted to go right away. Nevermind the pancakes with candy and the craft (which boggled my mind!) - she had a one track mind so off we went. She sat with no problem but wouldn't look or talk to him! When asked what she wanted to pointed to me because she wanted me to tell him. It was really cute! We had a great time with friends, making the cutest hand print reindeer towel, sharing the memory with Grandma and
Eden's first time to sit on Santa's lap!
Eating with the Miller's

Claire and Leyna
Grandma with her girls
Maynard is such a sweetheart to all the kids at church =) The girls and we just love him!! We caught him on a break from an elders meeting!

The girls showing us their craft - what a great idea!

As much as I struggle with Santa it really is a lot of fun to see the kids get so excited to see him!

Santa

With all the Christmas decorations up and the anticipation of visiting Santa tomorrow at our church's annual Breakfast with Santa, he has been talked about a lot this week. Tonight Claire wanted to write him a letter she can take to him. This is what she wrote:







And a picture for him too =)

She was so excited to write it for him and has it sitting right by her door so she won't forget to deliver it to him. It's a childhood memory I'll never forget!

Honestly, I've struggled with this whole Santa thing. Of course you will hear Claire quickly say "but he's not the most important... Jesus is!" and "we're celebrating Jesus' birthday". Everyday we point back to the birth of our Savior so that our focus is on HIM and not the consumerism of Christmas. But when it's all around you, it's such a challenge to escape. We keep things simple with gifts - one thing from Santa and one or two things from us (then of course they get things from grandparents, uncles, aunts) but agian, it's not all about the gifts. I think our main focus is to be on others - loving people we know and those we don't know. Serving everywhere we are and being intentional. Spending time in the word by doing Advent readings. Caroling and praising Him with the songs of the season in the car, at home, at church.

I pray that the joy, magic, celebration and anticipation of this season is about our Lord Jesus Christ....that I can not only teach my girls with words but as an example of what is the number on priority in my life.

Eden lately

Our sweet and funny girl... don't want to forget a few things that have happened or said the past month:

- The last line of our traditional meal prayer at my parents house is "thank you Lord for daily bread" and Eden quickly put her hands up in a question and scrunched up her face while saying "I don't have any bread?"

- The picture above is of her bible she got on Sunday. She already has a couple and one with her name on it but when we picked her up from bible class she ran aka. galloped down the hall while waving it in the air. She then had to bring it into the restaurant that we stopped for brunch. She had such excitement and joy to have her bible! Oh what an example of how WE need to be excited and joyful to have God's word at our fingertips. Thank you Eden for your genuine spirit and pure heart!

- Her continued love for rolly pollies, villains, rocks and squishy amphibian toys.

- We asked her a question at the table (in the picture above) and she said VERY slowly "Hmmmm.... let me see...." and after 2 seconds of pause she put her pointer finger to her chin to "think" We laughed SO hard and the best thing? She laughed too!! She knew it was funny =) I love that she can laugh at herself and doesn't get her feelings hurt when we laugh. Claire had a hard time with this even at a young age and still does but that's what makes them each unique. My girls can be night n day!