Now that Joshua is older and understands things better, he has been very interested in birthday's and Christmas. Matt's family is big on Christmas... I should say they are big into the gift giving. Each person gets many gifts... also a stocking FULL of gifts. It can be quite overwhelming. I am very thankful that Matt's parents are so gracious and giving and like to lavish their grandchildren with gifts, but i fear that it will turn my children into present monsters and in turn turn them away from the true meaning of Christmas. On my search for a good way to explain Christmas to Joshua i found a book that explains Christmas to a preschooler SO well. It is called " My birthday, Jesus Birthday" written by Holly Davis. The book talks about a child's birthday and and how her parents had planned for her to come ect. and while it is doing that it explains Jesus' birthday and the events that surround it. It's well written and I highly recommend it. The only sad thing is that I didn't find any new books.. they seem to be out of print so i had to order a used one (which isn't bad). If you are looking for a good book that describes Christmas to your little one... look into it!
Upon thinking about how we want to establish traditions with our boys and really instill in them values and love for the Lord I think we have come up with a great holiday celebration. We celebrate our family Christmas on Christmas eve. SO every Christmas eve we will have dinner and then we will have birthday cake! A Happy Birthday Jesus cake... and then we will celebrate Jesus' birth by giving presents to each other. I'm super excited about this because i think that Joshua will really enjoy it and i think it will help to keep perspective into the holiday's for the boys.

For our anniversary Matt ordered me a new camera! It should be coming on Monday! Cannot wait to take pictures with it! Speaking of anniversaries... we'll be married 6 year now on the 19Th. time flies.

I've nervous and excited all at once. As you know i have been talking about a move to Minnesota. There is SO much to do... find a job, sale of home, ect... but i know that everything will happen in the Lord's timing. I'm just ready to move now... ready to start in a new place, make some new friends, find a new church and get much needed support.

WHY JESUS IS BETTER THAN SANTA CLAUS

WHY JESUS IS BETTER THAN SANTA CLAUS

(author unknown)

Santa lives at the North Pole ...
JESUS is everywhere.

Santa rides in a sleigh ...
JESUS rides on the wind and walks on the water.

Santa comes but once a year.
JESUS is an ever present help.

Santa fills your stockings with goodies ...
JESUS supplies all your needs.

Santa comes down your chimney uninvited ...
JESUS stands at your door and knocks, and enters your heart.

You have to wait in line to see Santa ...
JESUS is as close as the mention of His name.

Santa lets you sit on his lap ...
JESUS lets you rest in His Arms.

Santa doesn't know your name, all he can say is
"Hi little boy or girl, what's your name?" ...
JESUS knew our name before we did.
Not only does He know our name,
He knows our history and future, and
He even knows our hearts & how many hairs are on our heads.

Santa has a belly like a bowl full of jelly ...
JESUS has a heart full of love, grace, mercy & forgiveness.

All Santa can offer is HO HO HO ...
JESUS says "Cast your cares on me for I care for you."

Santa's little helpers make toys ...
JESUS makes a new life, mends wounded hearts,
repairs broken homes and builds mansions.

Santa may make you chuckle but ...
JESUS gives you joy that is your strength.

While Santa puts gifts under your tree ...
JESUS became our gift and died on the tree,
For you & for me.

It's obvious there is really no comparison.
We need to remember WHO Christmas is all about.
We need to put CHRIST back in Christmas,
Jesus is still the reason for the season.

Yes, JESUS is better,
He is even better than Santa Claus.

For Mom

Here is another video of Elijah's birthday party. As you can see Joshua doesn't like when people sing!

I love winter. The sparkling soft snowflakes gently wafting down to the earth. Ahhh.. peace and joy. I miss winter and snow. Here in the northwest we have rain in the winter. Lots of cold blustery days of rain. I do enjoy that rain, but i miss the snow. I'm so excited to move back to the midwest and have real winters. Minnesota, I can't wait to come home!

Elijah's first Birthday Party

Even though it's Elijah's birthday today, we celebrated it yesterday! Here are a couple of pictures and some video of him eating his cake! I actually had gotten some better video then this but Matt's parents only sent me this one.
(Matt's mom is talking in the background)

Ape Caves

Today we went to the Ape Caves (an old lava tube) near Mt. ST.Helens. It was my first time. Honestly, I don't like caves... wet, dark, rocks. I would much rather hike out in the woods. The boys did well and they enjoyed the little bit of exploring that we did. I think next time the caves will just be a daddy and the boys outing. After we went down into the caves we went on a hike to enjoy the snow! I love snow and we don't get it down here often since we live near sea level and so close to the ocean. Here are a couple of pictures from today. The first is of Joshua looking down into the caves before we went down there. I didn't get any more of the caves because i was to busy making sure children weren't falling into holes and smashing their heads into rocks!

a mostly successful family picture! It's hard when you have it on a timer to get a 4 year old, 3 year old and an almost 1 year old to look at the camera... but i think we did well. yay for a Christmas card photo!

This curious little boy will be one in a week! Time flies!



And this little boy is getting SO big!


on a different note...

How would you tell family that lives in the same town as you that you are planning on moving 3000 miles away?

My oh my...

So as some of you may know I've been having heart issues. For the past three weeks solid I've been very tired and my chest has been sore. I've been having issues with numb limbs and also shortness of breath. Yesterday the doctors hooked me up with an event monitor to see what my heart was doing. So an average heart rate is 70. when they hooked me up my heart rate was 90 and has been jumping anyway between the low 80's to around 235 (that's the highest I've seen it on the monitor). After the episodes of the 200's my chest is sore and my arms are numb. I know this sounds terrible but I'm SO excited to FINALLY know what's going on. My heart is going crazy (and mind you it does this random jumping around while I'm sitting and doing nothing). The doctor believes that it is SVT. Here is a link to the explanation to what SVT is.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supraventricular_tachycardia
I know some of you read this website.
www.mycharmingkids.net
(sorry i haven't figured out how to do that whole link thing yet!
It is the same thing stellan has. I can't imagine being a baby and having to deal with this. I'm not worries or concerned. I know that my life and heart are in the Lord's hands and i trust that my doctor will choose the best course of treatment for me... if SVT is what i am struggling with. (Which all the symptoms fit and my doctor believes that's what i have.)
So besides crazy heart issues. what's new here? Not to much... still thinking dreaming and working on a move out to Minnesota. I'm super excited to be closer to friends and family, but nervous about the process.
Anyway it's late and i need some sleep! I'll try to get on and post some pictures tomorrow! Night!