What a year this has been!

I hope and pray that you had a marvelous Christmas with your family and friends! I certainly did! I, however, did not get too many pictures of Christmas Day. :( It was a day of family and friends surrounding us, good food, gifts under the tree, entertainment by a 3-year-old, and lots of great memories! Remembering that amazing birth so long ago, in a town far, far away was the center of everything this year and Cole reminded me of that every time he looked at his own little nativity scene that was given to him by his friend, Faith. :) He also loved arranging and rearranging Mary, Kyle and Baby Jesus! :) He would then correct himself and say, "Oh no, no, not Kyle...it's Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus." He certainly loves his Auntie Mary and Uncle Kyle, although they are so very far from us now. On that note, I would like to post a very BIG congratulations to Mary & Kyle on the birth of their beautifully handsome son, Wyatt James, on Christmas Eve! Wyatt made his way into this world of ours at 3:14 p.m., weighing in at 6 lbs 10 ozs and measuring 18 1/2 inches long. Wyatt, we can't WAIT to meet you, little man. We are so thankful for you, your mama and your papa. :)

This year has been one for the books for me. It has had SO many ups and downs, highs and lows, and has been a constant reminder that I need to rely on the Lord to give me strength and hope. Although this year has disappointed me in so many ways, it has been so encouraging and wonderful. Knowing that God has me and my son in HIS hands at ALL times is wonderful! Knowing that things WILL be alright is encouraging! Knowing that my family is ALWAYS there for me, no matter WHAT comes my way is wonderful! Knowing that I have countless friends that will CONSTANTLY support me and PRAY for me is so encouraging! Thank you to those who have kept me and Cole and my family in your prayers...I do not have any way to clearly express how much it has meant to me. THANK YOU!!!!

How exciting that a new year is upon us! What will this new year bring? Who will it bring into our lives? Where will we go over the next 12 months? Only the Lord knows and we will just have to WAIT UPON HIM! I think the biggest test that I have had to go through this year is waiting. Waiting seems to be one of the hardest trials to endure, as there is no end in sight. You just have to wait for the answer and wait with patience, confidence and more patience! And with the right attitude and mindset. Isaiah 40:31 says, "Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary." I have certainly gained a new strength in this process!! Although I have needed some time to rest along the way, rest my soul, I have not grown tired and weary but have become energized by the Lord!!! I pray all the time that the Lord will continue to give me that strength to endure. 1 Corinthians 10:24 exclaims, "Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win."

I will run.

I will run to win.

Run with me.

Frosted Friday!

Pictures taken this morning in our backyard! :)
Let me know what you think...I love 'em! :)

What a weekend!

Wow...I'm glad it's over, but it was GREAT! Here are how things went down...

On Friday, we had our first performance of the SCV Candlelight Christmas Concert at Grace. I had my camera with me the whole time, so unfortunately, I have no pics of the choir and orchestra. We all did wonderfully, including mom with her bum hand, and afterward, we went out to In-and-Out with Cheryl, Zach and Emily. We had a blast watching my little man entertaining everyone with his stories and songs...thanks guys for making it out for the concert and hanging for a bit! It was a lot of fun!!! Now, home to study for a midterm at 8:00 a.m....

On Saturday, Which ended up being at 10:30 a.m. because my instructor's car broke down. :( But me and all the classmates ended up studying in the hallway and crammin' for the last bit of info. It worked and I pulled off a 96% on the midterm (which is 20% of my grade for the class!) WAHOO! :) The fam and I had lunch and then I had to get ready for the 4:30 p.m. call time for the next concert. It went very well again and Cole and I took some pictures...

Me and my sweet boy...
Mom, Cole and I...We, of course, needed to throw in a silly one!!! :)
And then we headed off to Aaron's Graduation Party at the Precht's home...Aaron graduated from the Nursing program at C.O.C. on Wednesday and there was a big bash for him celebrating his success!!! Aaron, I'm so very proud of you and can't wait to hear all your future nursing stories!!! Here are some pics from the party!
Aaron and I...
Sam and I...
Seth and I...
Samantha and I...
Jill and I -
Mom, TJ and Tyler warming up in the living room...
And Mom, Judy and Seth warming their buns up by the nice fire...
It was a VERY fun and very late night, so...

On Sunday, Cole and I slept in and enjoyed a quiet morning. We had lunch together and then I had to get ready for the last Christmas performance. The Grace choir is certainly something special to be a part of and I'm SO very grateful to have been a part of it for 1 year! I started the first week in January and have been carried through this last year on prayers and support from my choir family. Thank you!

After the concert, Cole and I headed out to dinner at Stonefire with mom & dad, Emilie & Brice, Aunt Cheryl & Uncle Tedd, and Aunt Jenny & Uncle Rod. We had such a good time eating and chatting the evening away! It was super-loud in there, but we still had a great time. Good food, good family...how much better can it get??? :) We said our goodbyes and headed home....to my sweet bed! Cole and I had a fun night reading Christmas stories and snuggling up! :)

You've Gotta Check this out...

So Kandi's put this music video on her blog and you need to check it out...

Leave a comment and tell me what you think. Richardsons and Villaflors, be sure to check it out...you will definitely enjoy it. :)

Conversations...

Cole - "Hey Mom, do you know what an adult is?"

Me - "Yes, an adult is a grown-up."

Cole - "Yeah, yeah...an adult is a grown-up. Did you know we have to be so, SO very careful with grown-ups?"

Me - "Why do we need to be careful, sweetie?"

Cole - "We need to be care not to punch them in their face."

:)

Check out Summer's latest posting...

It's too cute for words...

Here it is...

Yup...they are WAY too cute!!!

Stitches, Thanksgiving, Terrific Tots and Christmas Cuteness...

So here are a bunch of updates that have happened over the last month...I know, I'm a slacker. The first picture may make you queasy...proceed with caution. ;)

My mom's stitches after the dressing fell off...it wasn't a pretty sight. She sliced her finger open somethin' fierce while trying to flatten a box outside in the backyard. Blood gushing...the whole she-bang. This all happened 45 minutes before Mary's baby shower for little Wyatt James a couple of Sundays ago. I immediately told her to just GO and get everything stitched up because there was NO way that wound was going to stop bleeding on it's own. Thankfully, she only missed about 45 minutes of the shower and we all just ate and chatted so she could join us for the fun stuff. :) It's healing pretty nicely, although when they took the stitches out, it was still just gaping...weird! She's playing in the Grace Christmas concerts this weekend against her doc's orders! YIKES! There are no replacements for harp, so apparently she just needs to suck it up. She'll do wonderfully!On to Thanksgiving Day...
Brice, Mom and Uncle Tedd (always goofing off!) getting some GOOD grub! :)
Thanksgiving dinner with the Duncans...MMMmmm! Thanks Aunt Cheryl and Grandma Vi for such a tasty meal and fun time with the family...we need to do that more often!
The cousins...Emilie, Kacy, Renelle and Philip...on Thanksgiving Day!

We all enjoyed playing a couple of rounds of Cranium after the big feast...here are some pictures from the games!! Kace reading "a question out loud and passing it to the team." :)Aunt Cheryl SO EXCITED that Brice was guessing the right thing!!!
The other team deep in thought, trying to figure out the question...
Brice and Phil had to act something out...together...quality laughs!
Time for Terrific Tots...
Cole's Preschool Christmas class picture!
Cole with Miss Laura and the one and only girl in the class, Morgan, having so much fun outside!
Auntie Emilie and I conducted Circle Time and sang "Holiday" :( songs with the kiddos...we sang The Twelve Days of Christmas, Jingle Bells (as pictured below) and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. It was a blast!
Cole opening his gift exchange book...it was a Kung Fu Panda book...he LOVED it!
Cole with Miss Anita and Miss Laura on his last day of Preschool in 2008! They are WONDERFUL teachers and we are both so thankful for them!Cole looking pretty cute (I must say) in front of our Christmas tree this year!
He even knows how to pose...I seriously didn't tell him anything...what a natural stud! :)
I have my first midterm for my Pharmacy Technician program this Saturday and would appreciate any and all prayers you can send my way! So far, the class is going very smoothly and I have a 95% in the class. :) YAY ME! :) I'd love it to stay that way and this midterm is 20% of my entire grade in the class...hopefully I'll do well. It's only happening on the most busy weekend of all for me with all the GBC Christmas concerts going on as well. I'm hoping to get some studying done today and tomorrow morning, then it's all up to the brain retaining and spitting it out at the right time. Next week, I'll try and post some pictures from the concert and Aaron's Nursing Graduation Party from this weekend!! Enjoy yours and come to the concerts if you can! :)