whirlwind Christmas

We had a wonderful, busy Christmas, but we are still waiting for enough snow so that the kids can go sledding! We got about an inch yesterday and the kids immediately ran outside (well, they waddled outside after taking 20 minutes to put on all their winter gear) and did they best they could with the small Indiana snow. They tried to make snow angels, "Mommy it's not working!" "Well, I guess it could be a grass angel!" Lorraine even tried to make a snowman with tiny snowballs and birdseed for decoration. She gave up on that pretty quickly.

Eldon is crawling like crazy now and loves to rip and chew paper. Of course the kids have been having fun enjoying their Christmas presents, but other than that everything is pretty much the same. I will post more pics and funny stories as I can- just wanted to say a quick hello and a belated Joyful Christmas! (Hey, it's still what I consider the Christmas season!)

And above, see my favorite recent video - Aggie at Kid's Commons. When I remember how sick she was last year at this time, it makes me appreciate those sweet, hilarious Aggie moments even more!

Grandpa's favorite hymn

He giveth more grace as our burdens grow greater,
He sendeth more strength as our labors increase;
To added afflictions He addeth His mercy,
To multiplied trials He multiplies peace.

His love has no limits, His grace has no measure
His power no boundary known unto men;
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus
He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again.

When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources
Our Father's full giving is only begun.

Fear not that thy need shall exceed His provision,
Our God ever yearns His resources to share;
Lean hard on the arm everlasting, availing;
The Father both thee and thy load will upbear.

Michigan adventures

We are having a great time up here in Michigan! The kids absolutely love the snow, and all four of them were quite brave when we went sledding in Nana's back yard! The wedding was beautiful and we are having fun getting to know our new family member, Theo! Welcome to the family, Theo, and we wish all the best for you and Amy!

Here are some of the highlights!

quick update

Josh and his dad are just a couple hours from home- Larry's sister and her husband arrived last night to be with Grandma and so they headed out yesterday evening. After I force them to sleep, we are going to attempt our trip to Michigan for the wedding.

In other news, Aggie has had a good week and is now officially off of her Trileptal (one more med to go!)

Gotta get back to packing and cleaning up messes! Sure is a much slower process with all these monkeys to watch... Like, for example, Marcus found a small bottle of brown paint yesterday, carried it around, fell on it, exploded it all over himself and Seth, tromped with Seth through the basement a few times, then through the tunnel, then they finally decided to come upstairs to tell me!)

RRGGHH!!

Grandpa

Grandpa Cook was called home to be with the Lord this evening. Josh and Larry (Bump) are staying with grandma for now as they begin to make arrangements.
Josh says Grandpa was ready and left this valley of tears peacefully.

"Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." Psalm 116:15

Christmas joy and sadness

What a weekend!

Some of our friends shocked our socks off by throwing Josh and me a surprise birthday party on Saturday night! It was SO much fun! Josh thought he was babysitting the kids so I could go to a "girls night" at Mary Anne's house, so he already had them in their PJs! I don't think they will ever forget partying in their PJs all night long!

Sunday the kids were exhausted and wanted to sleep in a bit, but we made it to church. Aggie had one of those "was that a siezure or is she just acting strange?" moments during church, so of course I am watching her much more closely this week. She will be completely off one of her meds on friday... assuming she's not having seizures again. It's hard to tell what exactly is going on with her much of the time. We are glad we do not have very long to wait until our next appointment at Cleveland (January 11-12) where she will have a full workup again: EEG, MRI, etc. The EEG will tell us if her brain still has a tendency towards seizures or if removing the tumor completely solved the problem. To be honest, we will be very surprised if the EEG shows no more epilepsy. The concerns for her still remain, but we are so very grateful for how well she is doing right now- It has been just about four and a half months seizure free (or very close to it!) and compared to pre-surgery, she is still doing fantastic.

We finally got our first snow here in Indiana! It was just a dusting (see the picture above) but it was SO beautiful! I had to take a picture of it right away, because it was completely gone by afternoon. Sounds like my dear friends and family in Michigan are having a much harder winter!

We are greatly anticipating going to Michigan this weekend for my sister's wedding. I am going to pack snow things for the kids so they can play in the real snow up there! I can hardly believe my little sister is getting married!!! Christmastime is such a beautiful time to start a life together- many prayers and praises are being said for you, Amy and Theo! May God richly bless your marriage, increase your love for each other daily, and bless you with many years together celebrating life in Him!

Christmastime so often seems to be great joy mixed with intense grief. This year is no exception for our family. Josh's grandfather had a two heart attacks yesterday, and so he and his father left in the middle of the night last night to hurry down to Florida before they take him off life support. Grandpa is 87, Grandma is also in her 80s and will need the support of the family very badly during this time. Please pray for their safety, that God will provide for the needs of the church and the family while Josh is away, and that He will comfort the grieving family. May Grandpa be taken quickly without suffering, and may Grandma and the rest of the family be given strong faith to get them through this time. Jesus, please hold them close.

As we celebrate Advent even in this gloom, we remember God's promises to His children. It will not always be this way.

O Come O Come Emmanuel.

Happy December!

Wednesday was definitely NOT the best chapel service we've ever gone to, in terms of the kids behavior. First, we got there a little late and so tried to inconspicuously find a seat in the balcony. As we got up there, the school kids had all filed in and were silently waiting for the service to begin. Marcus saw the crowd below and immediately hollered "HI GUYS!" just as loud as he could!

THEN Seth, normally my angel in church, decided to drive his car on the balcony railing. "Seth, don't drive there!" I whispered. Two minutes later he was doing it again, so I told him no again. He proceeded to look right at me, and put his car on the ledge again. Two seconds later it fell. Seth got a look of terror on his face and began whimpering "I'msorryI'msorryI'msorry!"

Nonetheless, we have had a happy first week of December. We just love getting out all the Christmas stuff and doing our favorite holiday activities!

Marshmallow snowmen!

(The best we can do with no snow!)
And of course, painting!

Happy December everybody!