Little Blessings

Yesterday Jacob came home really upset and angry. I asked him what was wrong and after an hour of trying to get to the bottom of it he finally told me he was having problems with bullies at school. He then proceeded to ask me out of the blue if daddy would give him a special fathers blessing. I began to cry and told him that he would have to ask his father that. After we picked up Josh from work Jacob asked him for a blessing. I was so proud of him taking the initiative of asking for help and feeling comfortably enough to ask. I can see the way church has helped him and given him the confidence he needs to be a good strong church member, and how the Lord has blessed his life for the better.

What was even better was that Jacob came home today and told me the blessing worked cause the bullies left him alone. I am so proud of my little man.

bad hair cuts

On Saturday I decided to get a hair cut. Meagan then proceeded to tell me she wanted one as well, so off we went to great clips. I decided, to save time, to both go at the same time. What a huge mistake on my part. Meagan told the lady she wanted her hair to be about the length of her chin. Which is fine because she has had that kind of a hair cut before. So off I went to get my hair cut. Well while I was getting mine done the lady asked Meagan if she wanted layers. Meagan had no clue what that was and was to afraid to say no so she got layers and it made her hair really short. Lets just say that she was very upset with the outcome.


So I decided to help her feel better and asked her if she would like it if I got the same hair cut. She said yes, so i went back to the lady and asked her to cut my hair even shorter to match Meagan's hair.


Lets just say that we both hate our hair, but we hate it together. The only good thing that came out of our hair cutting experience is that I was able to donate my hair to locks for love. Oh well, I just have to keep reminding us that hair does grow back.

Happy 10th Birthday Meagan

Yay, Meagan is now double digits. She had a great day full of fun. We played games and watched movies and had friends over for cake and ice cream.

She got all that she asked for, especially a la la loopsy. (a very popular doll)

Time to blow out the candles!!

Happy Birthday Meagan, you are growing up to be a very wonderful girl.

Surprise!!!

Well, Christmas is almost here and we got an early present. My parents came to visit for a few days. The kids knew nothing about it. They woke up to my parents sleeping in the living room. They were so excited to have them here. We got to do lots of fun stuff with them like playing games and going to the science museum (which we learned was not as fun for adults as it was for kids).

Thanks, Mom and Dad, for coming and having fun with us. We loved it.

Sarah

Piano Recital

Meagan had her piano recital and she did very well. Her video is here.

Meagan has been taking piano for about a year. She really enjoys learning and practicing her music every day. Her teacher is a good friend of mine, Ellie Robinson.

Winter Wonderland???

Well we finally got some snow here in Texas.

Oh, and by the way they delayed school for tomorrow and said that there is a good chance they will cancel it. This is all the snow we got. Hmmm...

Sarah

Christmas time is here...

Here in Lubbock, our local church congregations have begun putting on a multi-day nativity event at the beginning of December to help kick off the season. It is called O Holy Night (website here). There is a large display of miniature nativities (both traditional and multinational), paintings, Christmas decorations, activities for the kids, a live nativity outside (those poor people - it's 34 degrees and misting out), live ambient music, and a choir performance every night. The choir was phenomenal.

Our church choir sings every night and they are extremely talented. What really struck me, however, was that we were able to host a Baptist choir yesterday, and the Madrigal chorus group from the local Coronado High School tonight. Those kids had some serious talent. I am not easily impressed as far as choirs go, but the performance tonight by both the High Schoolers and our church choir were exceptionally powerful.

As we toured the rooms housing the nativities, I took some pictures of a couple of the ones that impressed Sarah and I. The international ones in particular were exquisite and all have a theme particular to that region of the world. Enjoy!


This one is from Germany. I find it interesting that every decoration of this type (not limited to nativity scenes) from Germany in particular that I have ever seen has some form of moving part. Many have some form of turning wheel like what you see at the top.



The above scene is from Peru. As you would expect from a region in South American and one that is predominately Hispanic, bright color is everywhere (as with most of their art and architecture). I am not sure what the hats are for, but the scene at the top is very typical of the art style of the area. There were several of these at the display - this one was just the brightest and most detailed.


Inside the main exhibit, what immediately caught Sarah's eye was a table full of snow globes with pastoral scenes. The photo does not really do it justice. Some of them were absolutely breathtaking.


They had an area for the kids to make their own nativity ornament with peel-and-stick foam stickers. You can see Meagan and Jacob above making theirs which now reside on our "tree" (you have to see the tree to understand the "quotes" - there ARE downsides to living in an apartment).


Lastly, there was an area set up for "live" nativity pictures. Shown above (left to right) are Jacob, the Sheep; Meagan, the Angel (we'll let you decide for yourselves if the costume "fits"); Sarah, as Mary; and Josh, as Joseph.

The turnout was exceptional. the chapel and half of the gymnasium were packed with chairs. People were standing in the back and in the halls listening to the concert. Based on what I've heard, yesterday was at least as well-attended and I anticipate that tomorrow will do well also. Tis the season...

Josh