Special Congratulations!

I would like to congratulate my niece Jessica for learning to tie her shoes last night! Every accomplishment that my niece or nephews have done is a big deal to me; so I thought I would share it with you all as well. Congratulations Girly!! :0) I'm so proud of you!

Christmas

Jeffery working with his new tools

Jessica and mommy playing her new American Girl game...I was playing too

Nana helping sew the Build-A-Bear

Uh Oh... Jerrod doesn't like opening presents just yet... LOL

Jeffery, Jessica and Jerrod in their new "tent" with a "working" fireplace

Christmas Program Pictures

Our Program Crew: The Angel Gabriel;Mary and Joseph; 3 Kings; and our "Heavenly Host"

Tyquaen (One of our Wisemen) showing off his muscles LOL

Jamesha (an angel with an attitude) LOL

Our backdrop and props...

Due to the fact that I was directing the program as well as leading songs I could not get any pictures during the actual program... My husband couldn't either because he was helping to cue the shepherds and wisemen...therefore all we have is before and after pictures! UGH Oh well, at least we have those! :0)

Christmas Update

Now that we're married, things are obviously done differently around holidays and so on...So...since we spent Thanksgiving with luke's family; we spent Christmas with mine. I don't have the pictures ready yet but I will be putting them on soon. It was fun watching the kids open their gifts...however, not so fun when you get to be the one to put them together and get them unpackaged! LOL My niece, Jessica, got a do-it-yourself build-a-bear...so guess who got to help her with that? You guessed it! Aunt Joanna because, after all, I worked at Build-a-bear! :0) However, they make you sew the whole thing in those kits not just its back! GRR LOL But we got it done and it looks halfway decent at least. LOL Jeffery spent his time with all his new "power tools" that he got... even trying to use them to put Jerrods new jungle gym together! LOL Kids are a hoot! Jerrod just ate, slept and entertained us all...LOl Boy are they all growing fast!

Early Christmas

We had our Christmas together early this year because we won't be home on Christmas day. Plus, today and tomorrow are going to be very busy days as we prepare for the Christmas program that is this Sunday night. So, we had our Christmas last night...My dear sweet hubby got nearly everything on my list and I told him he could just pick what he wanted to get me from off of there...well, he wanted to get it all I guess! LOL He's so cute...so he gave me: gift cards for Bath and Body Works and Christopher and Banks; the "lambie" blanket from B&BWorks; the puff vest jacket I wanted; a Presto Griddle; and my favorite aloe infused socks from B&B Works! (If you don't have a pair they are a must! ) ;0) Anyhow, so I got nearly everything on his list as well... He received: Glenn Becks book The Christmas Sweater (although I ordered the audio cd...long story...); Noise reduction headphones; Zabmondo: Would you Rather?(A game...); and I promised him that he could get the commentary he's been wanting if he doesn't get it from someone else...(I have no clue how to pick out such things...) LOL Anyhow, we had a nice Christmas with just the two of us... Today will be spent calling on our kids and reminding them about program practice in the morning... Oh my... I'm so ready for this to be over...

Gotta do what you Gotta do...

Oh this was so funny I just had to share it... we have been searching for crowns for our 3 wisemen to wear in the program on Sunday and couldn't find them anywhere. So finally I decided we'd just have to get them from Burger King... When I asked the lady for them she looked at me when I got up to the window and said "Um..you wanted 3 crowns?" I could tell she thought I was a little loopy because it was obvious that we had no kids with us! LOL But I got my three crowns and they actually look pretty good! he he he

Last Minute Shopping

Well our shopping is finally finished...except for one tiny thing... We went up to Fredericksburg last night since that's the closest major mall to us (1 hour away!)... Anyhow, so while we were going to be in the area, we called Hodak's from our church and met them at Vinny's for supper. We had a nice visit with them; and then we were off to finish our shopping... Actually, Luke was finishing HIS shopping so I had to stay in the car. LOL All in all, we didn't get home til around 10:30 last night. Oh well, I think things are winding down so they can wind up for the weekend! LOL Our Church Christmas program is this Sunday night and the practice is Saturday morning... I'm sure we'll be a little crazy by the time this is all over! LOL

Twas the Week Before Christmas...

Whew! This week has been busy so far... All the last minute Christmas shopping and all the hustle and bustle... I think I finally have luke's presents bought and almost all of them wrapped and under the tree! I bought the last one last night. He still has something to get for me I think but we need to go up to Fredericksburg for that (which I think we might do tonight...). It makes it much more difficult to buy for someone you're constantly with! LOL Oh well... I hope I can at least surprise him with one thing! LOL Happy shopping!

Happy Birthday!

I just want to say Happy Birthday to my mom and brother...Mom's birthday was yesterday, Dec.14; and my brother's birthday is today, the 15th... I wish them a very happy birthday! I love you both!!

Youth night pictures

Here's all three...Danielle, Cindy and Darius

Danielle--our faithful Church attender

Cindy

We thank the Lord for each one of them. They are a blessing to us; and we trust that each will make the decision to let God have His way in their lives...

Youth Night

Darius

Here they are at the table

Playing "Rats" while we waited for the pizza rolls to get done...

The penguin centerpiece

Here's our winter table...

Last night we had our young people over. After a devotional, they played games and had a snack. We had a really nice time with them. It was encouraging because one of them hasn't been coming for a really long time but ended up coming this week. Pray for our young people as they go through this challenging time in their lives. The devil really fights our young people and its up to us to hold them up in prayer.

Williamsburg

Today we had unseasonably warm weather for this time of year (71 degrees); so we decided to make the best of it! We went to Colonial Williamsburg and took in all the holiday decorations... and of course we forgot our camara at home! UGH I hate it when I do that... Oh well, maybe next time we go I can get some pictures... Anyhow, then we stopped at the Yankee Candle outlet on our way home... If you've never been there its really a neat place. Its more than just candles, its a whole little "mall" of sorts. Other than that though its been an average day! ;0) I guess our good weather is supposed to continue throughout the whole week (if you can believe the weatherman that is...) LOL I'm hoping so!

Christmas Decorations

Our Christmas Tree

This was given to me last year by my secret sister in my home church...thoughtful!

Our Nativity Set

I had fun this year decorating for the Christmas season... I wanted to do some things outside too but I think we're going to wait til next year to do all that... But i thought i'd share with you some of the decorations that I did put up on the inside.

Christmas Greeting Card

Just thought I'd post the picture that we ended up putting on our Holiday Greeting Card that we sent to friends and family... Our card said "From our home to yours".

The Reason for the Season

On the way home from Thanksgiving I tried to use my time wisely (instead of wasting 8 hours just sitting and looking at the scenery fly by...LOL)...So I typed our Christmas letter. My dear husband helped me put stamps on them and get them ready to go last night before heading out the door for Wednesday night prayer meeting. So today I got them put in the mail and hopefully will get the rest of our Christmas mail out by the end of this week! However, last night was class meeting so James Garis had the service. He brought out the thought of when Christ came as a baby to this earth there was "no room" for Him... Even today in our society there is still "no room" for Christ. People have tried to take Christ out of Christmas for years...We must remember and keep in mind the reason for the season... It is Christ's birthday and THAT is the reason we celebrate! Let's try our best to keep our Christmas celebration focused on Christ this year...

More Thanksgiving Pictures

Here's Jerrod looking worried...LOL

Nice and relaxed now...

Jeffery and Jessica-the big brother and sister!

Here's more pictures from our Thanksgiving up north with family....

Thanksgiving Week

Uncle Luke with the three munchkins!

Aunt nana, Jessica, Jeffery, and mommy jen in the background

This is the kids at the LaVan (on the Andrie side) family gathering

One of the huge tables at the family gathering

Mom and dad LaVan

Wow! What a week... We left to go up north on Tuesday morning and got into luke's parents house around 5 I think. We spent tuesday, wednesday and most of thursday with his family. On Thanksgiving day we went to his aunt Lois' house and had a huge meal with almost 30 people! By huge meal I mean...they fixed 42 pounds of turkey ok?! Does that give you a clue? Later that night we went to the LaVan side of the family and then left for my parents house. Friday we went to the mall with my sister and her three kids (3 yr old, 6 yr old, and a almost 3 month old). What were we thinking? It was an adventure for sure! :0) The kids were really good and we had fun. Then saturday we headed back home... My house is still a wreck from all the unpacking and so on.. but I hope to get that all straightened out today before I go completely crazy!

Thanksgiving Thanks

Since its Thanksgiving this coming week I thought I'd list a few things I'm thankful for... First of all, my relationship with my Savior...Without Him there would be no real purpose in life. He has blessed us so much and I can never express how thankful I am for that...Also, my wonderful husband who understands me and puts up with all my craziness; my awesome family who is so supportive (both in prayer and otherwise) and loving(that includes both of our families); our precious church people who have been a great blessing to us over the past months; Great friends who have been there when we've needed to chat and pour out our frustrations...and the list could go on and on...we have so much to be thankful for don't we? Why do we wait until this one time of year to express it?! I'm just as guilty as the rest...but hopefully I'll be giving thanks a whole lot more frequently this year... The Lord is so good! ...... "Oh give thanks unto the Lord for HE IS GOOD!"

Our Tree

Our Tree

Trying to grin and bear it! LOL

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Ok, so last night I thought it would be a good idea to take pictures of us in front of our Christmas tree just for fun...well... for those of you who know my husband you know that did NOT sound like fun to him! LOL He HATES getting his picture taken... But.. he was a dear and did it anyways.. although I didn't really get a smile out of him... LOL Oh well... such as they are here you go...

Thanksgiving Highlights

My Thanksgiving pumpkin on the front porch

Our Front Door wreath

Our Beautiful Autumn Foliage Before it disappeared!

Our Church with the Leaves in the background

Our Flag with the Autumn Backdrop

Ok, so enough about Christmas I guess for a little while... let's get through Thanksgiving first! LOL I took some pictures around the house the other day and thought I'd share them with you...

The Christmas Bug Has Bitten!

In my family it has always been my dad and I that have put the Christmas tree up and dragged all the decorations out. If ANY decorating got done it was due to my enthusiasm and dad's willingness to help me. LOL Well, now that I'm married things haven't changed much in that regard! LOL My wonderful husband drug (I don't know if that's proper english but...) all the Christmas decorations down from the attic for me and helped with putting the tree in place and then... It was up to me from there! LOL So we have our tree up and half decorated (I need to pick up a few things to finish it off) and all the other decorations are out. I really wanted to decorate outside too but I don't know if we'll get that done this year or not. I might wait til all the stuff goes on sale and buy up for next year. It's pretty cold today and they said we might get some snow flurries some time this week... maybe it will "begin to look a lot like Christmas" in Virginia after all! :0)

More Pioneer Retreat...

Bro and Sis Marshall and Shayla Blowers

Bro Marshall and Shayla

Bro and Sis Marshall

Luke and Me

Us Again!

Pioneer Retreat

Our table in our room

View of Amish Country from off our balcony

Also from off our balcony

The gorgeous staircase in the lobby all decorated for Christmas!

This is the main floor lobby

Ok I promised pictures in my last post so here they are...