Wishing For Pine Needles

Enjoying: Time To Celebrate!

:So grateful we all could be together to celebrate Papa's 60th the move and realizing how these gathering might become fewer and further between...

:Thinking about how it is that my parents, sisters and I spent so many years together under the very same roof and how that will soon change to four different states....and wondering where the Lord will lead my own babes someday...

:Looking ahead to a month that will include many gatherings and goodbyes to friends whose paths we were blessed to have crossed...

:...and missing them already.

:Still in disbelief that a month from now I will be writing from New Hampshire....

:...and how much there is to do between now and then!

:Thankful for my wonderful husband and children who help me daily to hold it all together...

:and our wonderful Saviour for without whom this life would be meaningless.

:Wondering how many boxes I can pack today and how much food I can use up from the pantry and how many boxes I can send to charities...

:Thankful for this space but seeing the need to post as little less in the coming weeks as we enjoy our remaining time here. 

Wishing you all a happy, happy May! 

Birthday Girl

Could it be that our favorite big sister is ten?

This little lover of books, crafts, jump ropes, history, musicals, piano, ice cream, nail polish, Little House, and butterflies is quite the leader of our pack, and a well-deserving one at that!  We couldn't ask for a better role model than this sweet girl.

It's been a wonderful decade, Rylen!  Happy, happy 10th birthday to you.      

We love you so!

and a New Chapter begins.....

These pictures of from a little mid-winter trip we took a couple of weeks ago.  Can you guess where?

New Hampshire, anyone? 

The reason we traveled 15 hours to the northeast in March was not for some ultra cool skiing/tubing/snowshoeing weekend and not even entirely for a vacation at all.   Well, we did have our fair share of fun while we were there, but there was a bigger reason indeed for our jaunt up north.

You see, we are moving there.  (Wow...it even feels strange to type the words!)  Dan has accepted a position in the very place in these pictures, and we will be living locally there.

Beautiful isn't it?

We are topsy-turvy around here at the moment.  Excited, sad, busy, nostalgic, adventurous, scared....and sometimes all at the same time.  Scrambling to sell one house and find another, packing boxes, sorting, purging, and organizing our belongings, keeping up with daily chores, work, church, school, activities, all while being extra conscious to enjoy these last moments in a home and community we've come to know and love for the past almost nine years.  For us, it's clearly not where we are going, but what we are leaving behind.   And the many, many people we love so dearly.

One thing we do know for certain (in a life that seems to change faster than a blink) is that God is completely and utterly in control and we trust Him.  He will be the same in up there as He is right here.  There is amazing comfort in that!  We're praying now that He will bring just the right people into our lives and show us opportunities to serve Him in a new and different place.  First and foremost, we want to be useful to Him and give Him the glory!

I will update this space as often as I can in the coming weeks, however inconsistent it may be.  In the midst of the busyness, we will be spending as much time as possible reveling in the last little bit of our chapter here. 

So onward to us....this time to New Hampshire.  The granite state.  The northeast.  New England.  Who would have thought?

the Falls from Canada

Have you ever heard that Niagra Falls are way better from the Canadian side?

 

(Well, it's true!)

Our Christmas in Pictures

One beautiful little thing about this blogging gig is that it makes an instant family scrapbook.

So without further ado....our 2011 Christmas memories!

 

Phew!

Our Twelve Days of Christmas....Sleepover!

Today was spent recovering from our annual sleepover by the Christmas tree.  There was even a time today, albeit brief, that all four children were napping at the same time.  It's true, I tell you!

Sleeping over all cozied up in the family room has become one of our very favorite Christmas traditions, and last night was the perfect night.  Yesterday was the last day of school for this year, there were no practices or lessons to wake up for this morning, and Christmas is in the air all around us!

I'm so thankful for these sweet and cozy times, the memories we are making, and the ones that have already been made.  Isn't Christmastime just the best?

8 more days!

It's Christmas!

Are your halls decked yet???

(Happy Merry-Making to You!)

the Holiday

 

Hoping your Thanksgiving holiday was a happy one!

 

 

(and that your week is off to a good start!)

the First Two Weeks

The first two weeks with our new girl we picked out FOUR pumpkins!

We carved them....

and displayed them.

We trick-or-treated!

But most of all, we just stared.  Or I just stared.  At this newest miracle that has me completely under her spell.

And I thank God over and over for yet another blessing.

(Re-introducing this sweet pumpkin as Lena Jane...a re-naming of sorts after spending just a couple of more days with her.  And let me tell you, she is undeniably a Lena!)

Introducing ...

Lena Jane

8 pounds, 10 ounces
20 inches

Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward.
Psalm 127:3