Christmas '07 and update

At Mission Inn in Riverside
The boy's "Loot". They were SO excited!

3 little happy faces

Our Christmas was a relaxing and interesting one. If I were to be honest it was not great and not necessarily bad...it just WAS. You know what I mean? Christmas Eve we went to service at our new church and enjoyed that very much. The only damper was that Johnny's hacking cough returned as soon as we entered (it may have been the artificial tree in the room that set him off again). So Jim and Johnny ended up standing outside until Johnny's cough was back under control which never happened so they missed almost all of the beautiful service. We almost didn't make it to service at all because as we were getting ready for church I burst into the tears I had been holding back all day and cried out to Jim "I miss our kids!" Waaaaaaaaaaaa. It took a little while to get that back under control and touch the make-up back up before rushing out the door. I spent the rest of service fighting back the tears that wanted to come again but was able to spend some of the time really getting focused on the fact that Jesus was sent to this earth to pay for our sins and set us free! It is possible to have that joy burning inside of you and a heartache at the same time--who would have thought? After service Jim got a phone call that kind of changed our Christmas plans in a strange and unexpected way. Suddenly we had NO plans for Christmas. We rushed over to the grocery store to at least get food for our Christmas Eve and Christmas Dinners and some snacks and decided to have a quiet Christmas at home together of games and Christmas movies. It was very emotional knowing that this was the last Christmas with our family as it is and expecting it to be really grand when it really was just what it was. We had some really great moments together laughing over games or curling up and watching great Christmas movies.

One of the movies we watched was Christmas Do-over and it was actually pretty funny. Well, we get a Christmas do-over tomorrow as Jim's parents are coming to spend some time with us! It will be so great to see them again. They are bringing another gift that the boys will flip out over as well as wonderful gifts from other family members. It will be like having another Christmas day when they get here!!

Jim's vacation days are flying by but action packed: Saturday- Shopping and strolling around to look at the lights at Mission Inn that many people told us we just "had to see". I think it was one of those things that everyone built up so much that we expected something really big and spectacular so when we actually got there we were kind of like "This is it? Are we missing something? We don't get it." Sunday we got to go to the home of one of Jim's best friends growing up. That was SO fantastic. They have been friends since they were little kids but had not seen each other in 7 years so imagine our surprise to find out they live only 45 min. away from us now! We had a great time with them and meeting their children for the first time and hope to have many more hang out times with them. Then Mon. and Tues- Christmas Eve and Christmas. Today we have some errands to do, woo hoo! And then tomorrow is Christmas Do-over day!! ;)

For our Children in Haiti-- They are no words for how much we miss you!

For our Family-- We hope you had a wonderful Christmas, missed you all, and hope to see you soon!!

For our Friends in Texas-- We knew how special you were before we left Texas but have been reminded even more now that we can't see you of just how much love and fun you added to our lives. You are so very missed!

To our New Friends in CA-- We are grateful for the gift of your friendships, hope you had a wonderful Christmas with your families, and look forward to seeing you soon.

Next big events: Host a New Years Eve party and then Date 5 of 10 on my birthday!