Winter Blah's

We are in the thick of the wonderful winter! I fooled myself into believing that spring was coming early this year. The snow had melted, the temperatures were in the 40's and 50's, all the stores have their spring lines out, but then I woke up to fresh snow on the ground, ugh! I knew it was a pipe dream to believe that warm weather was on it's way;) So because it's winter and we have been cooped up I don't have too much to blog about. So far we have had a rocky start to the year. It started with bad news upon bad news and then small little bumps along the way. My prayer for this year has been that God would change me and that I would not be the same person when 2010 comes to a close. I was looking back on 2009 and realizing I continually fall into the same patterns of sin and laziness. I feel like He has been answering that prayer daily and using these trials to draw me closer to Him, and for that, I'm thankful! One of my favorite songs right now sums up my life with the lyrics:

this is my prayer in the fire
In weakness or trial or pain
There is a faith proved
Of more worth than gold
So refine me Lord through the flames

So, I'm hoping that soon I will be able to post more! In the meantime though, praying that I would be humbled and that Christ would be GLORIFIED!

Since I can't leave without posting pics..... here are some of the family pictures we had done when we were in California taken by the amazing Beth Armsheimer and her equally amazing twin sister Melany Klink

I love my sweet little family so incredibly much! :) They are such a blessing from God!

(mom, I'm sending these to you ;)

Where have we been?

I got very behind on keeping up with our blog and don't have the time to catch up. I have WAY to many photos from the last month so I put together a slide show to sum it all up. I will try and be better and posting on here but can't make any promises ;) This slideshow is mostly our trip to California and Christmas.

Swim lessons!

Ella had her first swim lesson at the YMCA today. They have a nice indoor heated pool that she will be able to enjoy once a week. She is taking the class with her friend Catelyn(so far it's just the two of them). It's so cute to watch the two of them together. Catelyn is getting ready to move to Indonesia with her parents to serve as missionaries with MAF! She will probably be able to use her swimming skills more often then Ella will ;) I forgot my camera so these are all taken with my cell phone.

Snow!

We let the kids play in the snow yesterday. We have gotten a few inches the last few days. Ella and Micah had so much fun! Micah wouldn't keep his gloves on so his little hands were freezing so Paul decided to tape them on ;)

Crafting Bug

I have been in a crafting mood lately. It all started last week when I realized Ella's outfit was missing a cute hair accessory. After spending some time on google I found a pattern for a cute fabric flower and set off to the fabric store. An hour later and.... viola! A flower hair clippy was made! I'm excited to make a few more of these to go with some of her other outfits. I also ordered this book last week and it should be here any day! I can't wait to start sewing some of the cute things in it.





my cute little model :)

Who needs toys.......

...when you can play in a box. Micah LOVES boxes any color and size, he's in them! He could play with a box for hours, just climbing in and climbing out. I think we need to make him a cardboard playhouse, he would be in heaven :)

Pumpkin Cookies

We had our 2nd annual pumpkin cookie decorating extravaganza! Ella was able to wear her cute apron and hat that she got for her birthday. Hopefully next year Micah will be able to join in on the fun. The cookies are super delish and I'm trying very hard not to devour them all ;)