Merry Christmas!

The preparations are just about done and we are looking forward to Christmas! The boys are winding up a bit more everyday. I thought I would share a few photos with you of how we have already been celebrating the season.

The boys were both in the church musical, The Next Noel, this past Wednesday. Joshua had a speaking part as Freddie, who also played a donkey. Kaleb was one of the wise men but much to his liking, he had no lines to say. The photo is of one of the last scenes, Joshua is the donkey in the bottom left corner and Kaleb is barely visible with his gold crown to the right of the angel, tucked behind another boy. Click on the photo for a bigger view if you'd like. The children did a wonderful job! Josh has come far from the days when he wouldn't even open his mouth on stage when they were singing in preschool.

We returned yesterday from visiting my brother and his family. They have a new addition, Logan, who is now just over 3 weeks old. Oh, is he a sweet baby!! Melissa looks great, hard to believe she went through labor just a short bit ago! Ethan, is the ever excited older brother now, talking up a storm. We managed to leave without getting a single picture of the baby, phooey!! But here a couple we did take.





Chris wanted to start a new tradition of hiding a pickle ornament on the tree for the boys to find. Whoever found it got a small gift. This is apparently a German tradition, it says so right on the box! I just don't think any real German knows about it, LOL! We called my mom in Germany while we were there and she had never heard of such a thing. Joshua was the finder of the pickle this year and his gift was a pickle ornament of his own. Now we can carry on the German, yet not really German, tradition.



Of course, there had to be outdoor play on the farm! The weather had warmed a bit so sledding down the big hill was out. Chris got out his tractor and plowed some Mogul hills for the boys to sled over while being pulled by the 4 wheeler. They had a blast!

Mom and dad are coming out tomorrow to join us for Christmas. That will help with some of the sadness I feel being in a new place for the holidays. Then next week the Harp fam is getting together with everyone in Rochester. We are looking forward to that.

We wish you a blessed Christmas where ever you are!!

Movin' Along...

These are busy days, the kind where you need more hours in the day and more energy to go with it! I find that I can get easily overwhelmed by my mental "to-do" list. When I get overwhelmed, I get a bit cranky. Ask my family. Actually, don't ask them, I am sure they would say "a bit" was an understatement! It is one of the things about myself that I rather loathe. Getting cranky doesn't serve me or my to-do list well at all. It doesn't win me any points with the family either. It is an ongoing battle for me and I know God is not going to let me off the hook in this area of my life. I am such a sloooow learner. But I plod forward. I am examining my list, what is essential and what is not. I really wanted to have my Christmas cards out early this year since most people on my list don't realize we have moved. It's not gonna happen. We just put our tree up yesterday, 2 weeks later than my mental calendar said we should. The hand stamped gifts I had hoped to make aren't even started. My mothers gift will never get to Germany in time. Baking, what's that?? Seriously, friends, my eye was twitching due to all the things that weren't getting done on my list! Sillyness I tell you! God gave us enough hours in the day and the talents he wants us to have to accomplish what he sets before us. He does not give me more than I can handle, I do. So now I am asking different questions. What, Lord, do YOU want me to do today?? How can set about accomplishing the tasks set before me? How can I let go of the things that are on my list but not on God's list? I know this, but need frequent reminders (because I am slooooow, remember?) that God's peace dispels crankiness. God's peace comes from time spent with him and doing what he has called me to do. Not more, not less. I get cranky when I am outside the bounds of what he has called me to. Why oh why, do I continue to step outside those bounds?? I used to think the Israelites must have lacked a nugget in their happy meal because it took them 40 years of wandering in the desert to get to the promised land. That journey could have been a 2-3 week trip had they gone straight and claimed God's best. But no....they went in circles and wandered aimlessly. They thought they had a better way. They got cranky. Now I know I am no different. My happy meal is short several nuggets, LOL! I don't want to wander for 40 years until I get it. Lord, help me to get it. When I pray in the mornings for God to pave the way for my day, to set his tasks before me and to give me the energy and desire to do those tasks, I have a great day. I am not cranky. I feel satisfied at the end of the day knowing I worked at those tasks to the best of my abilities. I amazingly, don't have guilt over the things I didn't get done. Oh that those days were greater than the others.

I wanted to share one of my favorite Christmas decorations with you. This is a nativity set that was given to us by Parkminster Church as a going away gift. It is even more special because Mary Jane Preston picked it out for us. It was made by hand from clay. Isn't it darling?? It is so precious to me. It sits near the 3 ceramic angels that we were given by a congregation member when we left the church in Florida. I enjoy memories of those people and places each year when we decorate for Christmas.

Things around the house are movin' along. We asked the man who installed the septic system back in 2001 to come tell us about maintaining it. We have never had a house with a septic. He was a nice man with colorful language but he was quite helpful. One of our concerns is a huge willow tree in the back yard. My brother immediately thought it could be an issue for our septic and since he knows water, we made mental note. Mr. Septic told us he had advised the homeowners at the time to remove it. The shallow roots of a willow can be very destructive to your pipes. Their response was to let the next homeowner deal with it. Seven years and 3 homeowners later, I guess it falls on us. It is a lovely, shade providing tree, but taking it down seems way better than the $15,000 it would take to replace the septic system. Greg will tackle that job in the spring. Mr. Septic will return in the spring to empty out our tank and dig up the tree stump if we'd like.
Last night I was in the basement and discovered a leak coming from the main pipe going out to the septic. When Greg got home he took a look at it and discovered that there are holes that have pitted through the copper pipe. It's a big pipe too, at least 3" diameter. It's a big job I am sure, not just a leaky joint. We are waiting until the morning to call a plumber. I am glad that I found it sooner rather than later!

I hope you all are well and preparing for the celebration of Christ's birth!

It's Snowtime!!

Snowy greetings from Ransomville!! We woke up this morning to about 6" of snow. So much for all the talk of this area being the Miami of the north! Now I wonder what else they told me that wasn't true, LOL?! But it was a perfect backdrop to the Advent sermon series PB is doing called, Christmas in Narnia. As most of you know, I am the only one moaning about the snow in my family, the guys are all outside romping in it as I write.

Greg is excited to use the $50.00 snow blower he purchased. Remember my post way back when? I was hoping the mere purchase of a snow blower was my insurance that we wouldn't need it! It did need a part and Greg just got it back this past week, so he is happily taking care of the driveway. The boys of course did what they thought best, made snowballs and had a war with each other. Oh they fun!

We traveled back to Rochester yesterday. It was Greg's first time back since we moved. They drove with me so I could co-host my annual Ornament Exchange. For the last 8-9 years, I have had an ornament exchange to kick off the holiday season. Even with all the moving we did in Rochester as Greg changed churches, there is a core group that has been there from the start. Each year I have included some new people so it has been a neat time of sharing with old and new friends. I wasn't exactly sure what was going to happen to my tradition when we moved here but I have wonderful friends who figured out a way to carry it on. Jackie co-hosted it with me, providing us a place to have it. Everyone brought a dish to pass. It was strange for me to host something that I hardly had a hand in. I am used to decorating, baking and cooking and doing most, if not all of the preparations. But the most important part was being together and it was wonderful. I took my camera and after everyone left, I remembered it so I have no photos to share with you. When we decorate our tree every year, the ornaments I have gotten at this event are some of my favorites to hang. It is nice to think back to the person who gave it or some of the funny and serious moments we have shared in our time together. Many tears and much laughter have taken place over this simple sharing of ornaments. I am so grateful to my friends for making sure we carried on the tradition. And I have a beautiful glass ornament to add to my tree this year.

We have baby news to share, well, not "we" exactly, but my brother. Chris and Melissa welcomed their second son, Logan Daniel on Thursday, 11/29. One day before Chris' birthday. All are doing well, we can't wait to meet him and hug him for ourselves.

And there is a bathroom update. Boy, is that a funny statement??!! The plan was, and I think still is, to just give it a new coat of paint. The wallpaper is all down. Greg removed the vanity, medicine cabinet and toilet tank so he could access the walls behind those items. And as with most jobs, it is never quite what it seems so to be. He found wet drywall behind the vanity as a result of a leaky pipe. And he found what I think is black mold or at least really bad mildew behind the toilet tank because the tank was right against the wall and the wallpaper must have trapped the moisture from it. The drywall spackle he used was bad or cheap because it bubbled up and caused pits everywhere. Now he has to re-spackle those areas. And since this is all happening in his "spare" time, we are without the use of the bathroom and will be most likely for some time to come. We did momentarily consider buying a new vanity even though we said we wouldn't but it appears we may not be able to do it anyway. The placement of the pipes in the wall prohibit us from using an off the shelf vanity so we would have to custom order something. Not likely to happen. And moving the pipes is even more unlikely to happen!! It was only supposed to be a coat of paint!

Well, that is enough for today. Thanks for stopping by and sharing a moment with us.
Blessings on your week.