December pictures

When they are best friends, it warms the heart.  When they are screaming at each other, it's not so fun.  Here I caught a rare moment, both girls smiling for the camera!

 

 Morganne lost her first tooth on 12/16!! ! How can I have a daughter old enough to be losing teeth already!?!?

 

Morganne's Pre-school Christmas program...

 Unfortunately, she was in the back row so good pictures were hard to get.

 

Snow!  (and we are supposed to get A LOT more today...)

 

Yes, I have a cute, posed "cheese" photo of these two.  This is the photo that followed, and it's much more true to character!  Love this picture, makes me smile every time.

 

The Ufkes Christmas.  We were blessed that Becky and Ken got to come in this year, however because of weather they were delayed a day and then had to head back a day early. We were very bummed we didn't get to hang out with them longer.  This toy, from Aunt Becky, may serve as the most annoying toy for the year.  Precisely, the reason she got it for my girls! ;c)

 

Not the greatest pic, but I'm thinking he looks a lot like his brother, Mike, with the scruffy beard.  What do you think, Papo?!?!?  ;c)

 

More train cars to add to our train!  Thanks, Uncle Ed! The girls were so excited to get it set up.

 

 Unfortunately, it seems as though I'm cursed to lose Christmas pictures.  I lost all of my Grant Christmas photos in 2009.  It was horrible.  This year, already, I've lost all of the traditional pics of Nana and Grandad with the girls in front of their tree on Christmas Eve.  Somehow, I still had these.  Not sure what happened. 

 

The benefit to having Justin home and a few days off; down time in the morning.  I love my cuddle time with the girls and my Ripken boy.

 

Christmas morning!

 

Kaelynn's big gift this year was her very own baby doll.  We were so blessed with this gift, to give her.  An answer to an un-prayed, prayer.  I think she liked it....

 

One of the highlights of this morning was the girls finding their much desired puzzle pieces wrapped in their stockings.  They had them taken away a couple months ago as a form of discipline because they refused to pick them up.  I think it worked.  They were pretty excited to get them back.  ;c)

 

Morganne's "big gift" the Disney version of Guess Who?  She already has it mastered and really enjoys it.  Finally a game that doesn't take long to play and is fun for the adults too!

 

Also, we got the great news on Sunday, that our newest neice, Emmeline, had been born!  Since we were heading to Muncie anyhow, we made a detour and got to meet the beautiful little girl on Christmas Day!  What a blessing!

 

 

We didn't send out Christmas cards this year, so if you didn't get one, don't feel bad.  Hopefully we will get something out in the spring....

Merry Christmas everyone!

Live for Heaven

As I've stated before, this blog is often a way for me to write down my thoughts and experiences, keep memories, and obviously share family happenings with loved ones far away.  Today, I'm using it as a way to clear my mind.  I've been thinking about a certain blog post topic for a while and after yesterday's events I felt it was time to share. I hope you find some hope in my thoughts.  It is a long post, you have been warned. ;c)

 What does it mean to “Live for Heaven”?  This is a quote I once heard, and for the longest time I didn’t really put much thought into it. Yeah, sure, everyone wants to go to heaven someday.  If you know Christ and seek his love, then you will get there right? But then it hit me, I wasn’t really “living” for Heaven.  Not at all.   I just wanted to go there- someday.  You see, I’m a worrier.  I’m a planner.  I’m a doer.  I have certain accomplishments that I want to achieve, experiences I want to have, and things I want to obtain.  I was afraid of death, not because of the “unknown” necessarily (I am confident in Heaven being real), but because of the “un-done” that I would leave here on earth, the people I would leave behind.  I would not finish raising my children. I would not get that house that I’ve always dreamed for.  I would never be “out of debt”! I wouldn’t get to tell “that person” about Christ.  At one point in my life, it was that I would never get the opportunity to play in the Olympics! (Ok, I know that ship has sailed now and no longer yearn for this! ;c))  I never “lived for Heaven” because I was always too focused on looking for hope or reason here on earth!  Living for Heaven is a priority.  Simply understanding that the “best is yet to come”, totally changes your outlook on every situation.  Would I like to see my grandkids someday, absolutely!  BUT, understanding that Heaven is even better than that is such a life altering paradigm.  That the “things” in this life aren’t the true joy that I will one day see.  Or the horror in this life, isn’t the end of happiness.  Living for Heaven means making the most out of every situation.  Realizing that life is SO short.  We only have 60-100 years to make a difference for Christ while we are here on this earth.  That is not a lot of time!  Understanding what it means to “live for Heaven” also changes my outlook on the evil in this world.  A while back I was driving home from work and I heard an author being interviewed on the Christian radio station that we listen too (unfortunately, I have no idea who it was…).  At the time they were discussing the horrible aftermath of the 2011 Tsunami that hit Japan.  Thousands of men, women, and children had perished in what had to be a terrifying way.  The question came up of pain and suffering in this world.  I’ve known for a while that one of the biggest stumbling blocks for people coming to Christ is that pain and suffering exist.  “If there was a loving God, how could he let this happen?”  It’s such a hard topic to wrap our tiny minds around.  (In the Bible it explains several different reasons as to how Christ uses suffering to glorify him, and his heart breaks with our hurt too, but I won’t go into those here. Ultimately, sometimes we just have to accept that we just aren’t able to understand…)  This author went on to say, that when asked this question during a “secular” interview, she explained it like this: “…I can’t fully explain why God allows these things to happen.  We do not think the way God does and thankfully he knows more than we do.  What I do know however, is that the moment those children died, the very next second they were pulled out of that water by the father himself into the safety and love of his arms.” What better place to be.  Since hearing that, I have tried to think about Paul’s words in Phillpians 1 “²¹ For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. ²² If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! ²³ I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; ²⁴ but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.” I thought of this often yesterday.  In fact it was the only way I kept myself from getting physically sick over the whole ordeal.  When you become a parent and enjoy the blessing God gives us here on earth, the things that affect you change.  How they affect you, change.  I know, without a doubt, where each and every one of those kids are.  They were young, they got a free ticket to the best place NOT on earth.  Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me.”  They are home.  Our prayers of peace are definitely with those left behind, that will hopefully one day be reunited.  Christ WILL overcome.

There is no point in trying to reason or understand evil in this world.  It’s impossible, and it’s never going away.  There is no point in “seeking revenge” or saying that those evil ones should be tortured.  Believe me, they will get their due punishment.  There is nothing we can do to make this world a “better” place.  So, live for Heaven.  See this place as temporary.  Enjoy the blessings God gives us here because he loves us and understand that evil exists.  It’s not a kind world.  In fact, the battle is raging and the enemy is getting stronger.  That is why we can only hope that Christ comes back soon.  But, we better get to work.  Because, one way or another, we only have a short while left here on this earth.    

I love you all!