Some (well maybe a lot) of My Favorites

These have been some very photo-heavy posts; too many pictures are taken during the holiday season in this wonderfully digital age!

Brian has been wearing may of his new clothes:

Any caption suggestions for this one?!

Elizabeth and I got to attend Disney on Ice

with Jenny and Frankie;

oh the anticipation!

The vacation snowfalls were perfect for playing!

I love this little guy in his snowpants.

And I think this is a classic, because when I was growing up, video games were more of a "boy" thing. I knew girls that played, and played well, but the boys were the gamers. How times have changed!

Credits: The really good photos were taken by Colin with the superior camera. Can you guess which ones? Hint: there are 3.

Today

This afternoon I, along with many from church, will attend a memorial service for one of our covenant children who lived a brief 3-week life. My friend, Kit, posted this, and I believe she summed everything up so well, about what an experience it is for our church family and our women's group. I couldn't attempt to do better.

Please continue to pray for this family. As our pastor's wife reminded us yesterday in prayer, our great God knows what it is to lose a son. He alone can be their comfort, sustain them, and enable them to cling to His promises through these dark days.

Isaiah 65:17-25

New Heavens and a New Earth

¹⁷ "Behold, I will create
new heavens and a new earth.
The former things will not be remembered,
nor will they come to mind.

¹⁸ But be glad and rejoice forever
in what I will create,
for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight
and its people a joy.

¹⁹ I will rejoice over Jerusalem
and take delight in my people;
the sound of weeping and of crying
will be heard in it no more.

²⁰ "Never again will there be in it
an infant who lives but a few days,
or an old man who does not live out his years;
he who dies at a hundred
will be thought a mere youth;
he who fails to reach ^{a]" style="line-height: 0.5em; ">[a]} a hundred
will be considered accursed.

²¹ They will build houses and dwell in them;
they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

²² No longer will they build houses and others live in them,
or plant and others eat.
For as the days of a tree,
so will be the days of my people;
my chosen ones will long enjoy
the works of their hands.

²³ They will not toil in vain
or bear children doomed to misfortune;
for they will be a people blessed by the LORD,
they and their descendants with them.

²⁴ Before they call I will answer;
while they are still speaking I will hear.

²⁵ The wolf and the lamb will feed together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox,
but dust will be the serpent's food.
They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,"
says the LORD.

Come, Lord Jesus.

Christmas #3: December 28, 2009

This Christmas was celebrated with my parents via Skype, thus there are not many pictures. But there are photos of the kids with their new treasures, of course!

Elizabeth received a cookbook that was my mom's as a child, along with an apron her great aunt made for her. E got to preparing something right away. Seriously, she spent like 1/2 an hour getting lunch ready: taking our orders, cutting veggies, making sandwiches.

Her first suitcase!

There were also some inaugural Barbies involved in Christmas #3. Spoiled, you say? Most definitely!

Brian got some new (much needed) clothes.

Here's one of his new sweatsuits!

Little People dump truck from my brother's family.

Thanks!

And the craziness-inducing, new, BIG dump truck

that came with mega blocks and makes noises.

Colin and I also receive gifts from our parents, but none as exciting as what the kids get!

The best thing about holidays, however, is getting a chance to be together:

relaxing,

playing,

and having fun!

Christmas #2: December 25, 2009

Christmas morning, I lit the Christ candle

and kept it lit most of the day,

(when Brian wasn't endangering himself

by trying to get at the flame!)

For Brian, Christmas started just like any other day,

watching the Little People.

It was a while before he noticed his Santa gift.

When Elizabeth got up, she filled him in

on what you're supposed to do with a stocking.

Santa gave her the coolest stocking stuffer ever,

a GIANT peppermint stick!

And Brian perceived right away what the chocolate was for.

After the stocking fun had worn off,

Elizabeth sat by the door and waited

for Grammy and Grampy to come over from the hotel.

The big excitement from Grammy and Grampy

was Elizabeth's amazing new doll house!

For Brian, it was a Little People zoo toy

that he'd played with at my friend Kim's place back in October.

Later in the day,

we enjoyed a fine and filling Christmas dinner.

And we wrapped up the day with some reading.

It was a very merry Christmas day!

Thanks, Malcolm and Gladys, for coming up to be with us!

Christmas #1: December 20, 2009

Sunday, December 20 it snowed, and snowed, and snowed. Colin made the wise decision that we should not try to venture to church. I was grumpy about this. I hate missing worship on Sundays; my week never quite feels right without it. Spending the day being grumpy seemed foolish, and Colin was right to recommend staying home, so I thought maybe we should open our Christmas gifts to get me out of my funk and since 4 days later grandparents were arriving with bags and boxes galore! As I mentioned in an earlier post, I wanted Elizabeth to be able to know where each gift came from and enjoy them a little before opening more packages. (We opened gifts from Colin's family Christmas day and my family the following Monday. This worked out quite well.)

By the afternoon, the roads were clear enough for us to attend Elizabeth's ballet recital. But for the morning, we were inside:

having cookies as a mid-morning snack

and opening gifts.

Christmas #2 and #3 posts coming soon!

Ballet Recital

Elizabeth's friends joined a ballet class in the middle of the fall and invited E to join them. She LOVED it! She was particularly excited that they danced to part of the Nutcracker.

She took the class at The Dance Complex in Central Square. I highly recommend the dear teachers who took such good care of our girls and maintained their delight in dancing.

Elizabeth's Holiday Job

Our neighbors across the hall have a lovely little rabbit named Toulouse. Rather that take him home with them to Montreal over Christmas and New Years, they asked Elizabeth to care for him.

Toulouse

The first several days, we went to their place to take care of him, but then decided to have him come to live with us until they return. Elizabeth takes her job very seriously; she never forgets that we need to take care of Toulouse. And he's such a good rabbit, we can let him bounce around the house without worrying he'll make a mess or chew things up.

The young rabbit-sitter

Brian can't get enough of the poor rabbit, screaming at him (in pure delight), giving him things on top of his cage, and trying to pick him up & poke his eyes out. The things Brian's "given" Toulouse include: condiments, cars, & dvds. Brian will be devastated when he goes; Toulouse will be relieved!

The very young rabbit-torturer