Happy Birthday Jesus!

We are finally recouperating from our Christmas travels, and it's time to catch up on blogging :) Just as a sidenote: some of you may have noticed that you didn't get a Christmas card from us this year. We didn't forget about you! We just didn't send them out this year. Things got kind of crazy, and it fell to the wayside, but next year we'll be back on track :) So even though Christmas cards didn't get sent out, we made it through the semester!!!! No more classes for me! Only a seminar and full-time practicum. The end is so near...and it is very sweet.

This Christmas was a blessing to us. We were able to go back to Iowa for a little over a week to spend time with family and celebrate Jesus' birthday. There's so much to share, so I think a quick list would be good....

• We made it through the snow storm! Even though Faith got her first ear infection since tubes on Christmas day. SO thankful that our doctor called in a prescription and Mom has 4 wheel drive :)


• In the midst of the Christmas Eve snow storm we (myself, Danielle and Mom) travelled in 3 hrs what usually takes half that time to rescue Aunt Kiki (Kristy) and deliver her safely home in time for Christmas morning. QUITE THE ADVENTURE!


• Nate got his first deer with his bow!!!!!!!!!! woo hoo!!!!!! So exciting...and even better was that he and Dan got to hunt together that day.


• Faith didn't bite Reagan! Faith has had some biting episodes throughout the past few months, so I was nervous she might bite Reagan. But, an answer to prayer is that she didn't (but, don't be fooled, they duked it out in other appropriate toddler ways :) ).


• Baby Levi (who is already 9 months!) is about ready to crawl. Such a sweet baby.


• We got to see alot of family, but still missed seeing some. Can't wait until we can get back and catch up :)


• My camera died midway through the week, and I didn't have the chance to get batteries....so not as many pictures as I would have liked :)
  

I think that about sums it up. In the midst of a busy Christmas season, we were constantly reminded of the many ways God has blessed and continues to bless our family--through each other, material provisions, safety, health, etc. But, most of all we are thankful for the birth, death and resurrection of our Savior. Happy Birthday Jesus!

Before we left, we had a little family Christmas...here are a few pics.

Faith's "big" present from Mommy and Daddy was an Elmo playset. Have we mentioned she likes Elmo?

She also got a bath set for her dolls. Here she is brushing teeth :)

More pics of Christmas in Iowa in the next entry!