Christmas Time … is Here

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Making the drive up to MN, there’s always two things you are watching: for the snow and the temp drop. We saw no snow in Missouri and really didn’t see any in Iowa on the way up. We had to get into MN to be able to see a bit of snow. This snow slopes I’m showing is a place you can go and ski/snowboard. I always went there at least once a year. Lot’s of fun. While we were heading up to Mn there wasn’t a bunch of snow in the forecast, so I was a little bummed. There wasn’t much snow on the ground either. But, the Lord brought us some snow while we were there and it was coming down hard. Lot’s of fun to see.

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For Christmas Eve services we went to my parents church. Had a great time in worship and a huge blessing to see my best friend from high school, Stephanie Erickson(Foster). I haven’t seen her for years so seeing her was a special gift to me. She and I would spend hours laughing and training and playing soccer together. Thanks Steph for waiting for me so we could get a hug in!

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I couldn’t believe how much time Nathan spent outside in the little bit of snow we had the first day. He was outside forever. The girls were the ones pulling the cousins around in the snow. They claimed their running counted as team running…LOL! Goodness the little cousins loved having older cousins to pull them around.

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After being outside for a long time, it was time to come in and cuddle with the kids and help out with inside games. Garrett led the 1000 piece puzzle making. He (and some helpers) finished it in 3-4 hours. That’s the picture of us putting last piece in. We enjoyed learning some new games with the aunts and uncles. There are so many cool games out there and unfortunately we don’t play them enough. Too much going on that we don’t carve it in to do it. Going to try to do better.

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One of the days we went on a sleigh ride with a couple of horses back in the woods. It was so pretty with snow all over the trees. Not going to lie, it was cold. But, with blankets and coats…. you just get used to it and it’s not bad. Scott even survived. Loved watching the kids running down the hills with the snow everywhere and just enjoying watching their little cousins enjoying the moments.

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We had fun at the Mall of America. However, it was very busy. So even if you want to eat at 1:45pm for lunch, there’s going to be a wait. We went to the Aquarium there and grabbed a couple cousins and my brother to go through it. Had a good time. It’s amazing to me how much they add on to the mall as time goes on. That thing was built when I was in high school. Pretty and fun at Christmas, as long as you aren’t in a hurry.

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It was a huge blessing to have two of my brothers living closer to my parents now. They were able to host a lot of what we did to give my parents a break. Plus gave us a place to stay. The kids were loud. Not going to pretend they weren’t! It was a race all the time around the houses. Garrett found that the kids loved him a bunch! He’s really great with kids and loved the hugs and chases, ha! Ashton and Abbey were always carrying a kid around and playing with the kids. They enjoyed their baby time and babysitting so my siblings and our spouses could go to dinner. Nathan grew up this time. He did a better job being the “older” person instead of wanting to be the youngest! With 18 cousins, so far, and 14 of them are under 7….it’s a crazy time!

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Abbey made those verses for each of my siblings. Did I mention that I have twin nieces now? What a sweet blessing for my sister to share with me. Such sweet girls. I pray….I pray that my nieces and nephews will love Jesus as much as I have been able to. When I was giving my little nieces and nephews a hug before we left…. I almost just broke down. We have no guarantee for tomorrow no matter what we are going through. But, I never spent a lot of time thinking about “my end”, until now with my diagnosis. I don’t think about it a lot, but it occurred to me, that I may never see my little nieces and nephews grow up. But, with cancer or not, that is that case for all of us. Each day, each hug, each smile, each moment is a gift and could be the last one. How would you want that to be? How would you want to be remembered? Life is short. It is. We spend too much time complaining and looking at how “bad” things are when we should be thankful and living the blessed life we’ve been given. I pray you take time to really live this way….You will be blessed. After all of this… we said goodbye to my family and headed home…..

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When we got home we went to Stuttgart to visit and have Christmas with Scott’s parents. And we got to see our only living grandparent for Scott and I – Nanny. She loves Jesus so much. I am thankful for that. I feel so blessed that she prays for me and has all of the people she knows praying for me. She’s never thinking about herself at 97. Thankful she will be spending eternity with me. That sunset….was so beautiful and such a blessing. It was a picture of joy, hope and love just all wrapped up. When we left, Nathan, Scott and I went to the house to celebrate New Year’s Eve and the older teens went to have fun with friends.

It was nice getting back to town and back to some routine. Saw some of my girls a couple times at the school. Getting ourselves ready for the soccer season. We start100% when we get back Monday! Please pray against injury for these girls and for the girls to develop as hard as they work.

I”m reading through the Bible with some ladies. I’m using a different Bible this year and using a couple of books to help me think through some things. As I was reading about Noah today, I was really reminded about how so often, we allow what’s going on around us direct us and lead us to places that we don’t need to be. Noah walked with God. No matter what was going on around him, he chose to follow the Lord. Even when he was told to build the ark, which took 120 years, he did everything God commanded of him. I’m sure his neighbors wondered and laughed at what he was doing, yet that didn’t keep him from following what God had told him. As the world around him chose to live a different way, he chose to follow what God said, no matter what happened around him. How often do we give in to others or our circumstances instead of fully relying on and depending on the Lord? Our natural self, will do what we want and what is “good for us”. And we will miss out on what the Lord has set up for us. Don’t allow your circumstances to bring you away from the Lord. Trust Him and Follow Him each and every day. Many Blessings to all of you…Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Prayer Requests:

• That I may feel prepared and ready to really get going on soccer and school stuff on Monday. I feel more behind this year.
• Pray that my energy level is high and my focus remains where the Lord has me
• For the Lord to continue healing my body and killing the cancer cells
• For us to help Garrett in his final college decisions and helping the girls as they choose where they may want to go and where they would want to play soccer.