At 7:00 on Christmas morning, as Matt and I were recuperating from a late night of wrapping gifts, this is the first quiet little voice we heard. Andrew had tiptoed into our room not with “Let’s open presents”or “I wanna go downstairs and get my stocking” but instead he whispered this innocent and remarkable realization that our Lord had come to Earth to save us 2,011 years ago! This was the only Christmas gift I needed from the boys. That this was a day to celebrate our Savior and his ultimate sacrifice to leave his perfect heavenly domain and reside with the sinfulness of man in order to spend eternity with us! WOW! Imagine leaving our warm, cozy, familiar homes to live in the cold, blistery tundra; or to burn in the 100+ degree days of the Sahara. This must be a micro-example of what Jesus knew he was in for, but he did it for us! And for a split second on the biggest present day of the year, one of His children understood the importance of this day! Now I didn’t murk up Andrew’s innocence with explanations of how Jesus has always been and always will be, NO, this was how he understood it, and this was pure understanding! So, now, when Matt and I get frustrated homeschooling, or tired of making a 35min drive to church, or question if the boys heard any of their Bible lesson, I know it is all worth it because in the light of pure toy fun, our boys had Jesus in their heart!
Now of course, within 5min, they were both itching to get down those stairs and open their gifts, they are kids you know!
The Beginning of December…
For the first 2-3 weeks of December, we were all (except for Lily) sick with strep throat which spent up a huge part of the Christmas decorating and planning time, so we kept it pretty simple this year out of necessity.
The boys had their first basketball games and did great! They look forward to every practice and game!
Ryan in action 
Andrew in action 
And we took lots of pictures of Lily…these times go so fast! We took so many of the boys but I still wish we had more!
Here are Daddy’s favorite pictures of the little bit!
Andrew helped me bake…from a box!
And we got to go to Catch Air…a really fun jump,bounce, play place for Andrew and Ethan (the twins) 5th birthday!
Ryan LOVED the ball pit!
Andrew too!
I liked the, uh, whatever this was!
Lily played but was tired!
And Daddy loved the baby!
Once we got home, it started with Andrew and ended with me! Two weeks of no fun SICK! We lived with bed head and flushed cheeks and were so happy to get better!
Not quite ready for the Bumbo….nice try though!
Is this your idea of fun guys???????? Not cool!
With VERY careful, adult hands, we put up the fathead…did I mention VERY carefully?
The boys helped with the smaller stickers…
And wah-lah…
Lily found a GREAT new toy, already holding the football!
Yummy
Once we were feeling just a little better, the dining room basketball games started again!
Go Irelands!
Lily got another vantage point.
Yes she’s on top of the fridge!
More PICS:
Coming soon…Christmas!
