Kayden's Ballet Performance

The girls and I went to Kayden's, Chloe's friend, ballet performance last night. She has done ballet since she was small and is so graceful. Chloe loves to watch her perform. Kayden's mom, Amy, is a great friend of mine and the girls have been sweet friends too. It is sweet to see them making friendships at this age. Thought I would share some sweet pictures of the girls together.

Christmas with my family

This past Saturday night we had Christmas with my family (Mom, Dad, Kevin & Fam, Lisa & Fam) at Kevin and Robin's house. We had a great time together. Robin is always a great hostess. She decorates so sweet and sets the mood for us all. We had a good time of games, presents and fun. Today is Kevin's birthday. Happy Birthday Brother!! Love you! :)

Amanda, my neice, looks so cute. She is close to 20 wks pregnant now and doing great. She announced on Saturday that I will be a great aunt to a neice. It's a girl!! :)

Chloe's School Christmas Performance

Tonight was a fun night. Chloe was in her school Christmas program. She has always been on the timid side, at least with groups of people, so we were quite shocked that she was interested in doing the waltz for a portion of the program. I am proud of her for stepping out of her comfort zone. She did a good job. Here are a few cute pictures. The program was really fun with some rap-style songs too.

Church Christmas Dinner

We had a fun night of Christmas celebrating with our church at the local Chicken Restaurant. We are so blessed to have a great church. The people are loving and supportive. And we get to be in church with some of our family. I am so glad our girls get to go to church with my parents.
Here are a few pics.

Annual Seasons of Joy Church Ladies Luncheon

Today was a busy but really great day. We had our 6th Annual Ladies Luncheon at our church. We had about 60 ladies total come and fellowship. This luncheon was designed to minister to the specific needs of women. The goal is of course for all to come to know Jesus Christ and grow in character. Basically, several ladies in our church volunteer to decorate and host a table of 6 ladies. We can base our table design on a scripture, inspirational song, etc. It is a lot of fun and quite a challenge. There are also 3 judges assigned to vote on the tables and appoint a 1st and 2nd place winner. All the ladies that attend vote for the "People's Choice" award. We always give out lots of door prizes, have great food catered and have a special speaker. Our speaker was Reda Cowart from OR. She and her husband do ministry in some of the ranches out west. She is a cowgirl at heart. She has been our speaker since the inception of the luncheon and is a really funny Godly woman. We had a great lesson today on being the woman God created us to be and not trying to be someone we are not called to be. It is really easy as women to look at another mother, wife, etc. and say "boy, I wish I could be as good as her at this or that". Yet God created us each with a unique personality and special gifts. It was a good reminder to relax and focus on what really matters in life: Continue to grow in the Lord through the word and time with him, walk in the gifts he has given me, and serve my family and friends. Here are some pictures of today's lunch. Love you all!

Table Theme: "Be still and know that I am God"

Table Theme: "Only Believe"

My Table Theme: "His eye is on the sparrow"

Christmas Parade

Last Saturday night we went to the local Christmas Parade with my friend Amy and her family. It was cccoooolllldddd out but the parade was nice. The Duggar family's float (a local family with 17 kids, you may have seen on TLC) won 1st place in the Religious section. It was a great float. I have put a picture below for you to see. All of their kids were dressed as though in Jesus' day, with the nativity and live animals. It was really sweet. The picture doesn't do it justice. My aunt and uncle drove their classic car in the parade but I didn't manage to get a picture. I wasn't aware they would be participating and it took me by surprise. It was cute to see them with their great grandkids in the car.

The Duggar Family Float

Thanksgiving Day

We had a nice Thanksgiving as I hope you had as well. We got together with my side of the family on Thanksgiving day to chow and enjoy each other's company. Mike's mom and sister were in MO for Thanksgiving day with his sisters in-laws so we didn't meet up with them, however, we were able to get together with Pam, his sister in Goshen, on Friday to visit. Holidays are nice reminders of how much we need each other. Love you all! :)