Family Christmas

We had our family Christmas get together on Saturday, December 23rd, 2006. We had lots of fun with the family. A time of being together, eating finger foods and goodies, and a gift exchange. What a blessing it is to be able to spend time with family.

Seth received his "long awaited" mighty machines that he was hoping he would get.

Grandma & Auntie Dani.

Papa whistling along to some Christmas music.

Seth & Auntie Susie.

Uncle Jay (the one who never seems to want his picture to be taken).

Seth & Mommy opening a gift for the baby who will be joining us in April 2007.

Thanks to my dear husband who took all the pictures. Sorry we didn't get you in a picture. Thanks so much Dad & Mom for hosting it at your home. We all had an enjoyable time.

From Our Home to Yours . . .

May you all have a blessed Christmas and a wonderful New Year!

"Behold a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel . . . God with us."

Matthew 1:23

Girl's Night

Last night we had our annual girl's Christmas get together. Danielle & Michelle and my sister Danielle joined me at our home. We had a fun evening of finger foods, snacks, a gift exchange and lots of laughs!!

The 2 Danielle's

Michelle & I

The group of girls.

Thanks so much girls for coming out. It was a blast! And I guess it's next year at your home! Happy house hunting.

We returned it

We went to Toys R Us today and were able to return Seth's Christmas gift for a new one. And this one works. I am so happy! They took it back, no questions asked and no receipt either. So, now Seth has a Word Whammer that works and hopefully it will help him learn his letters and sounds. It will be fun for him & I to spend time going over the letters, words and sounds.

Christmas gift

We gave Seth his Christmas gift from us this morning. It was a Word Whammer. He was pretty excited about it when we showed him how it worked. The only thing is it doesn't work properly. It is supposed to sound out letters and spell words, but the middle letter says the wrong letter. So it will mix him up with the wrong letters and sounds.

The happy little guy, opening his gift.

I am usually organzied and keep all my receipts, but since we bought it some time ago when it was on sale, I threw it out. We are going to take it back to the store where we bought it from and see what they can do for us. I hope we can get a new one that works properly. It is such a handy learning tool. This afternoon Seth found the letters for mom and put them in the right spots. And it said "Mom". Then he looked at me and said, "That spells you, mom!". Then he gave me a big hug and told me he loved me. Such precious moments!

You knit me together in my mother's womb

Psalm 139: 13 & 14

"For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise You for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.

Let it snow . . .

Well, not really, but kids sure enjoy it! Seth saw the snow this morning when he woke up and wanted to go outside. So after breakfast, he was bundled up and went out with Daddy.

Seth & Daddy, getting ready to clear out the drive way.

Here's the big helper, shoveling the driveway.

Cleaning off the car. We sure have lots of snow here and our road is not high priority on the list so we are one of the last ones to get cleaned. Doesn't look like we will be going out any time soon!

Words of Comfort!

We had Oma's funeral yesterday and the Pastor spoke on Psalm 73. What words of comfort in this chapter especially for those who belong to Christ!

Psalm 73:23-28 says, "Nevertheless I am continually with You; You hold me by my right hand. You will guide me with Your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon the earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For indeed, those who are far from You shall perish; You have destroyed all those who desert You for harlotry. But it is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all Your works."

Another verse came to my mind, Revelation 21:4, "And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away."
In this life we have pain and sorrow, but one day, that special day when Jesus returns, we will have no pain or suffering and sorrow. And we have one person to thank, Jesus Christ our Lord, who took all these things upon Himself, for us. Thanks be to Jesus!

Thanks to all who sent their condolences. We appreciate your thoughts and prayers. It means so much to us!

our dear Oma

November 3, 1916 - December 3, 2006

Our dear Oma Van Dixhoorn passed away yesterday. (this is Paul's Oma, his mom's mom) The Lord had blessed her with 90 years here on earth. And after some time of suffering, the Lord called her home to be with Him. She is now with Opa and one of her children that passed away at a young age. She was a wonderful Oma & we will miss her dearly.

Just thought I'd share . . .

Just thought I'd share this with you all. Seth has been noticing that I have been taking extra pictures lately for our blog. And now, almost every little thing that he does, he asks, "Are you going to take a picture of me, Mommy?" I have to laugh every time, I just think it is cute.

A John Deere Tractor.

Last Friday, Paul wanted to take Seth shopping. So off the 2 of them went to TSC where they were having their Midnight Madness Specials. Paul wanted to buy Seth the John Deere tractor that was on sale. Seth was so excited with it and has been playing with it for hours.


Here's the happy little boy with his tractor. He just loves Mighty Machines and Tractors and all those things that little boys play with.

The Greatest Gift!

Even though we may enjoy the festivites of the Christmas season and the family gatherings, may we be reminded of the greatest gift of all. The gift that God has given to us as believers. The gift of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift!

Christmas Time at our Home!

We love the festivites of the Christmas season. It has been tradition for the last couple of years to put up our tree on the last weekend in November. We put on Christmas music and start decorating. This time Seth was able to help out a little with the decorating. We did have an ornament break in the process, but we still had fun.


Here is our tree all decorated. We even have wrapped gifts under it as well. We like to do our shopping early. Our goal is to have all our shopping done before December.

Farewell Brian!

Brian is leaving us on Wednesday for Holland. There he will work for 1 year and spend some time with his girlfriend Rebekka. We hope that you have a safe trip Brian and God will bless you while you are there. And may you return back here in 1 year. We'll all miss you!


Here's the group that gathered together last night to say farewell to Brian. We had a good turn out with 11 people. It was fun to get out all together.

Baby on the Way.

Here is a picture of my pregnant belly. I am almost 22 weeks along. We had an ultrasound and everything is looking good. We are so thankful to God for giving us this gift. The baby is due on April 3rd. We are all excited to have another little boy or girl to join our family.

Psalm 118:1

"Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.

Helping Daddy.

Here Seth is wearing saftey glasses because he kept going close to Paul's lawnmower.

Paul was going to cut the grass yesterday and Seth wanted to help. So here you see the 2 of them cutting the grass.

Food For Thought . . .

Attitude

by Charles Swindoll

"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than success, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church ... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past ... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing that we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10 % what happens to me and 9O % how we react to it. And so it is with you ... we are in charge of our attitudes."

A Hockey Fan!

Here is Uncle Jay and Seth posing for a picture after a game of hockey.

We have a Montreal Canadiens fan in our home (partly the influence of Papa and Uncle Jay). Now that hockey season is in full swing, Seth plays hockey. And if you are a visitor in our home, you will more than likely be given a hockey stick and be invited to play along.

Seth having fun in the leaves.

Seth loves being outside. So any chance he gets, he is out there.

Our Family

Welcome to our blog!

We have decided to start our own blog. We have seen so many and it looks like fun. Hope you enjoy!