Whirlwind of Catching Up.

Blog-delinquent. Guilty as charged. Yes, had a lot of stuff happen around here and nobody to be my personal blogger to chronicle my life in photos and pithy sayings. So, I'll try to catch up.

Let's see, we left off at Lydia's birthday. Oh yes, okay, so the NEXT day was Philip's birthday (we're already going at lightning speed to get us up to the present!). Philip turned 5. He learned to ride a two-wheeler the day of his birthday. That was pretty cool. He's a fun little guy. When you ask him what he'd like for breakfast he often says, "Oh, I don't know. You decide." I like kids like that--they help balance out the more...particular ones. He and I have been enjoying some extended time doing his kindergarten work this fall. My mom usually teaches him twice a week, but given her heavy travel and guest schedule, I've been doing it. He's making good progress.

He's somewhat obsessed with dressing like Kevin. Simeon is obsessed with wearing his pajamas as day-clothes.
My mom's travel schedule took her to Hawaii in October, and took me to Fayetteville. I'm pretty sure I didn't get the good end of that bargain in regards to the scenery. I helped keep my dad company (because if you show up anywhere with 4 children, it's automatic company!). We did a few fun things like visit Yates Mill Pond (our favorite grist mill), and played in costumes.
Then we trooped off to the State Fair for my dad to get his farm-fix. He grew up on a farm.
And, in another farm-related activity, we took a hayride. Very fun!

Then we moved on to November and we had a break from school. That was nice as we got to visit with friends and take things a little easier. We had several car woes during that month, so that got expensive. And I began Operation Cookie baking. I volunteered to coordinate the cookie baking and gathering for my dear young friend's wedding on New Year's Eve.

Let's see we needed a few dozen, hmm, oh yes, 180 dozen cookies. I think we will end up with 172 dozen. But I think that will be sufficient. And then it sort of morphed into me helping coordinate the rest of the reception as well. So, that has been a real source of satisfaction for my bent on organization and project development. I am eager to see how things go on Saturday, 31st, and am praying for the Lord to bless the many hands that are making light work!

We shared Thanksgiving with my family down in Fayetteville. My parents have a young friend from their church who is basically like family. Or at least he considers my parents to be his own. And we just treat him like family: no playing favorites. He was there for Thanksgiving as well.

Also in November, I had the really fun experience of having an unplanned, but quickly planned visit with a dear, high-school friend who was in our area for a brief visit. We had a wonderful time of catching up. It was great!

December brought my sister-in-law Emily, and her boys Calvin and Owen and her sister Bethany, for a visit from Hawaii. Gareth is deployed again to Afghanistan, so it helps shorten the time for her to come to the mainland to visit. We enjoyed their company for about 10 days or so. And during their visit, Aunty Chris blew in with the west wind for her visit.

Here's a picture of Gareth during a training exercise. He's the guy in the back. I'm awful proud of him.

Calvin turned 4 in September.

December 20th was Aunty Chris' 70th birthday (although you would seriously doubt that she was a day over 58--really hoping I got those genes, but I'm thinking that 4 children has some subversive effect). Anyway, she was born during WWII and never had very elaborate birthday celebrations. So, she asked for a 7th birthday party. Boy, what a day.

We took her to the (free) student performance of the Nutcracker in Raleigh. We dashed out of there and went to my nieces' and nephew's school Christmas concert and then we popped over to Nicola's house for the 7th birthday party. The pictures tell the story.

And here we are, on the cusp of Christmas and a New Year. Life is so full, so rich. But as the children and I have been talking about in devotions, it is so broken by sin. We are walking alongside friends' whose father is dying of cancer; we have prayed after reading the blog of a little 7-year old girl named Lydia who died in November of brain cancer; we mourn with acquaintances in our town who, on Monday, buried their 17-month old Trisomy-18 baby. And we pray daily for God to enliven our hearts and make us flee our besetting sins. The brokenness of the world is crushing. Praise God for Christ who has undone the curse, and through whom, all things are being made new! Merry Christmas.