Christmas Loot - Thank you!

A few of my favorite things from Christmas...

The red plates (8) and cups are from Mom.
The red goblets (8) are from Bed, Bath, and Beyond, courtesy of a gift card from Stephen's parents.
The red serving set is from Dad and Nancy.



I would post a picture of me in my new coat(from Kath!), but Stephen never takes pictures of me.

And my prune bread plate (from Ken!) is safely ensconced in the cupboard with my platters.

And my teacups (from who else but Mom?) are still in their lined box awaiting a place to display them.

And my red frying pan (also from Stephen's parents, aka BB&B), still has hamburger grease in it, so would not make a very attractive photo. I can make 4-5 hamburgers at once now!

In Lieu of Webkinz...

Since the Webkinz site is down for very important maintenance, I have time to post to my blog.

Where to start?

Christmas was busy, fun, and relaxing all at the same time. Stephen worked REALLY late on Friday the 21st (I think he got home after midnight), but then he was completely off work until Monday the 7th. It was so nice to have him around for over 2 weeks. And we knew that the main objective of vacation was met when Kira wandered off to play by herself, because she'd had "lots of time with Daddy." So we had a really good mix of time with extended family, just the three of us, just the two of us, and individual time.

The last few days of vacation were crazy as we tried to work quickly to get things ready for our new unit at church. Although we were borrowing from a unit we had done in Jackson, it was our first foray into doing something new at this church, and we wanted it to be great! I don't know how impressed the kids were, though. One of the seven year old boys asked why we put so much work into something that lasted only 5 minutes. But a lot of our efforts were front-loaded and will carry through the entire 12 week unit. So, maybe it really will have been worth it.

Vacation was good to Jersey, as well. He stayed at Stephen's parents' for a week as we traveled to other family. He got to play with their dog, Stephen's brother's dog, the neighbors' dog, and have a great time! But when he came home, he was ready to be with his people again. He seems much more calm and obedient than he was before Christmas; he'll even get in his bed when told!

I will be starting my last class in just a couple of days! When we moved, I applied at Cornerstone for my final two classes. Only one was offered that semester, the other was offered every other spring. So, I tried to register this semester for Middle School Ministry, but that course has been dropped! The alternative class, Philosophy of Youth Ministry, meets my requirements, but doesn't sound nearly as interesting. But at least I will be done with school!

I know there is more going on, but I am tired and starting to ramble. So, until next post...