Last Day

Yesterday was Eric's last day as the teaching pastor of Valley Church. It was exciting and sad all at the same time. You know . . . bittersweet. Exciting to think about the possibilities for VC, excited about the journey that lies ahead of us, excited to be entering a new season. Sad to leave the many people we care about, sad to think about not being here for what God has next for VC. I know it's really all good though. God has been giving me so much peace through it all.

The service yesterday was such a wonderful tribute to Eric, and to our ministry here. Toward the end of the service I was thinking about paying tribute and giving honor to someone. We should do it while they're alive. Don't say nice things about someone when they're no longer taking in oxygen and can't hear them! Tell them while they're still alive and kickin' and can know what an impact they've made! It feels wonderful to hear good things about yourself. It is sometimes the encouragement someone needs.

We are blessed to have such a wonderful VC family. We have been blessed by everyone's love, kindness and generosity. It just isn't possible to express our appreciation and gratitude for what we've been given and what has been shared. We are truly humbled.

So go out and tell someone how great they are--compliments are an amazing thing!

Snow!

I like when it snows! I like the hush that is created when it snows. I like sitting in the window watching the flakes gently falling to earth. I like to go out driving in the snow! I like how at night when I go to bed the room is brighter because the lights outside reflect off the snow. Snow is peaceful and beautiful and breath-taking. That's how I know it was created by God. I have found that many things in life that are peaceful, beautiful and breath-taking, all at the same time, have come from my Daddy--looking into the eyes of each of our babies right after they were born, aurora borealis (I haven't seen it but Eric has), watching our sleeping children, walking down the aisle to the love of my life, being in the undeniable presence of a Holy God, and looking out the bathroom window this morning to see this. Yes, I ran to get the camera and really did take this picture out the window of the bathroom! I need to be thankful for the 'normal' things, like snow in the winter, and see them as the beauty God created them to be.

Silent Monks 'Sing' Hallelujah Chorus

I've never seen it done this way but well worth the few minutes to watch!

Merry Christmas! Only 7 days-woohoo!

That's NOT how we talk about milk!

Early this morning Julian and I are the only ones awake (well, Eric's already at the gym). I'm busy working on some Christmas gifts, and I ask Julian to check how much milk we have for breakfast. He looks in the fridge and says, "5/8 of a gallon". What?! We're talking about MILK here! Who talks like that? So then I'm having to visualize how much 5/8 of a gallon of milk is because it is way to early in the morning for me to be on top of something like that. After a minute it hits me that I'm the one responsible for teaching him about fractions. Well, at least he's learning some of what I'm trying to teach him! And for this I should be thankful :0)

Hope you all have a great Thursday! Don't want to freak you out, but only 8 days til Christmas!

Getting started

Well, I've finally entered the world of blogging (online journaling)! You know, I just thought I needed one more thing on my plate to take care of--Rachael and Amy you better not be laughing at me! I'm starting this so that as we transition into Army life the people we care about can keep up with us. My blog will not be open to anyone, meaning you will need to be approved to view it. Makes it sound really exclusive, doesn't it?! I'm only doing it this way so I can feel safe posting pics of the kids online. If you haven't noticed, I don't post pics of our children on facebook or anything. Call me weird . . . you won't be the first and I'm ok with it :0) So, please bear with me while I'm learning what to do here. My chief technology officer will be going away for awhile, so I'll be on my own. Hope I don't blow anything up!