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Girls with their cousin Ella

It’s been a really good week!! Christmas Eve we spent with TJ’s big family where all The siblings and spouses were able to attend. We started with some amazing appetizers including cheeses and summer sausages and lobster dip. Dinner consisted of the biggest prime rib I’ve ever seen, along with some pretty incredible sides. I made a homemade green bean casserole, pumpkin pie and chocolate pecan pie.

Chocolate Pecan Pie

Pumpkin Pie

We picked names this year, so after dinner each family gave their gifts and watched everyone as they opened their gift! I was surprised by a present given to me by my sister in law Helen in California. I was handed her gift and when opening, saw that it was a brand spank’n new Vera Bradley purse!! That just so happens to match all the coral accessories and colors of clothes I’ve been acquiring! Probably one of my favorite and surprising gifts!! :-))

My purse from my sister Helen

I got some fun items from my mother inlaw (she picked my name). TJ got some new flip flops, Ava was ecstatic to receive a big book of princess stories, she sits and looks at it for hours. Penny was my favorite response, Aunt Leah made her two of the “spinniest” skirts I’ve ever seen, and she couldn’t control her excitement when she realized the extent of what these skirts can really do!! Very fun!

Sweet Penny

Girls on Christmas Eve

The day before Christmas I spent extra time preparing for Christmas Day so that I wouldn’t have to cook all day on Christmas, because in case you weren’t aware, delicious food is very important and necessary!! I made a few pies this Christmas and so I want to give you a tip. A few weeks ago I learned from TJ’s sister Leah how to properly make a pie crust, the key? At LEAST pea sized (cold, cold) butter AND cooling the crust in saran wrap for an hour in the fridge, before rolling out! I’ve always been lazy with just rolling it out right away and I’ve always cut the butter too small. It turns out these steps REALLY MATTER!! I now make the flakiest pie crusts I’ve ever had in my life!!

I felt giddy like a chilld for Christmas morning!! But more excited for my family members to open their gifts! Christmas morning the girls got up and snuggled with TJ and I, then we all came out to open our stockings which were full by the tree.

Stockings

Ava and Penny began pulling items out of their stockings, socks and princess underwear, Penny was so interested in what was going on around her she was forgetting to open the rest of her stocking and Ava was so anxious to go put all her new items “away”, we kept telling her to at least finish opening her stocking! :-)). Funny girls!

Christmas Breakfast

After stockings we ate a yummy breakfast consisting of my family Christmas crustless quiche, and Kristiana Kringler (a Swedish almond flavored pastry), and of course some delicious Trader Joes Coffee.

Family Breakfast

After breakfast we proceeded to open our gifts one at a time. TJ’s favorite gift was an aero press coffee maker and I was excited about my picnic basket and pioneer woman holiday cook book! It was fun to watch the girls open their stools TJ made for them, Penny then opened all her gifts while sitting on the stool, even if it was difficult she was either going to sit or stand on the stool to open her gifts!! 🙂
When all the gifts were opened Penny began to cry because their were no more!! I laughed a little because it just shows how spoiled we are as people who a truly blessed to even be able to give and receive gifts.

After our morning festivities we visited family, Ava and Penny’s cousins Ella, Django, and Evelyn for about an hour, came back, and put the girls down for a nap. We had a delicious dinner of cedar planked salmon, smashed roasted Thyme potatoes, bacon maple glazed brussel sprouts and asparagus, and for dessert a french silk pie.

Hi Family!

Christmas Dinner: Cedar plank Salmon, asparagus, boiled smashed roasted potatoes, and bacon maple glazed brusel sprouts.

Dinner

It was fun to have Christmas to ourselves this year. Usually we are with all kinds of people Christmas Day but this time we got to just be a family, I felt blessed!! It is also fun to think about having Christmas in Africa next year, probably with my brother Del and his family!

This past Sunday was our last Sunday in Romans, and our church has been going through it for a year and a half. There were a couple points that challenged me in my own life right now. Romans 16:25 the very first line says “now to him who is able”
And the question was asked: Am I absolutely convinced that God is able?
Gosh. . . . . . I don’t know!!
After experiencing the loss of my daughter and having to bury her in the ground and then asking God for a miracle in another baby and having him say no and experiencing not one, not two, but three more miscarriages, while asking God each time to protect and grow my baby strong and healthy!
(Just to clarify I’m not looking for pity here, just sharing my thoughts and heart)
I have several close friends who are pregnant right now, and I pray for them and their babies… The same prayer! But what is it doing? Do I believe that God is able? And so I reconsider, maybe I’m praying the wrong prayer. And as the sermon went on, more of God was revealed to me, it turns out it’s not what God can do for us, it’s how we can glorify him. Hhhmmmm… I have chills even now realizing what that means!

The previous question continued on to a different question: Do I believe God is able to strengthen me?
Yes I believe that! And all of the sudden, yes I do feel strong in him, able to walk through trials, able to give him glory not because of me but because He is in me and He is able to give me strength. Yes.

Rom 5:1 “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God ”
And to hear this one again was so good and always puts this life into perspective
Romans 8:18 “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”
{big sigh of relief}

I do feel like I’ve made a step forward in making an appointment with a doctor who may be able to figure out what is going on with my multiple miscarriages… Things I need to do, but are hard to do.

I am so thankful I know God!

Penny and Daddy hang’n out on the couch