We were blessed to have special friends stop by this afternoon from the Chicago area.
Jason, Nikki and their son Ashton. What a great afternoon we had just visiting and
watching our two littles one play. Victoria couldn't keep her hands off their little guy
and here are a few shots of them at play.

Two little cuties

(hum...do I see a future couple here?)

Victoria attacking Ashton!
Ashton getting the heck out of there. . . .
Jason, Nikki and Ashton, one Beautiful Family!

"Nameless"
Brennan and "Nameless"
Victoria trying to crawl under the gate

to get to "Nameless"

WOW! its all I can say! Both Den and I were blown away by the love our kids
displayed to us this morning. We were completely taken back, speechless, and touched with the gifts they so lovingly gave to each of us.

A few days ago, Dave called me and was teasing me about the gift that he was giving me. Of course, I got excited because I just couldn't imgine what it would be that, 1) would last forever 2)make me cry buckets 3) never out grow! Well I found out first thing this morning. I was the first to open a gift and it was from all the kids. It was a beautiful gorgeous diamond ring. I can't even begin to describe how touched I was by their gift! Awesome. I absolutely love it.

Next, Den was the receipent of his gift from the kids. They gave their dad an envelope and inside he found the cutest picture of a new puppy, to be flown into the Grand Rapids Airport today, at 3pm. He was speechless and touched as well. Of course the younger kids had no idea what the boys had done and were all excited to see the picture of our new puppy.

Bry and Scottie left to pick up the dog and made it home about 5:30. Everyone rushed the door! The puppy, I must say (even though I am not the worlds biggest animal lover) is adorable, very adorable and it was so hard for the kids to not want to touch, hold and pet. Victoria wanted to touch him constantly and cried when she had to let go. We have yet to name him and it may take a few days as Den leaves tomorrow for a youth retreat in Florida. I know that everyone has a name they are thinking about but its up to Den to choose.

I just want to say a special thank you to my kids who are by far the best kids on the face of the earth. Not because we got such awesome gifts, but just because they think more about others than themselves. Last night Branden and Ben were in the study with me and were saying how they just couldn't wait for Christmas and I asked them if it was because they were excited to open their gifts and they both said it wasn't that but they were excited to have people open the gifts they purchased. Amazing. They both agreed that it was by far better to give than receive. The kids all drew names among themselves and I think that most of them purchased gifts for the younger 3 just because they wanted too.

It was so cute last night when we brought all the gifts down; Dave wasn't in the livingroom at the time and when he came in all he said was, "Wow, I have never seen so many gifts." Then he said I haven't spent a Christmas home in 2 years either, as he was serving with the Army in Korea and Hawaii. It was so cute to see his excitement get the best of him as he scanned the gifts pointing out his, Casey's, etc.

Well its now nearing bedtime, I am exhausted too. I have spent two nights in a rocking chair with a teething infant. I will post pictures of the new little member of the 12 arrows club tomorrow.

I hope you and yours had a blessed Christmas and to our precious family, who is also serving our country in the USARMY, in Oklahoma, we dearly missed you all today and love you more than you could possibly know!!!

Here are a few shots of our Christmas

morning. I failed to get all the kids

pictures on my camera but I know

that Scottie and Dave got everyone

on theirs.

We had a blast, and it took about 2.5

hours to complete our Christmas.

Victoria loved her doll!
Brennan and his new Vans
Blake got the watch he had been wanting!
Brett is just smiles!

Casey and Victoria

their "1st" Christmas Morning

Before Presents

After PresentsThis is the very first Christmas morning Casey has

ever had in her life! She is sooo excited, even bought

some special "Christmas PJ's" for the occasion.

Aunt Bev and Brett
Uncle Ken and Jacqueline
Grandpa, Grandma and Victoria

We had such a great afternoon today with Den's parents

and his Aunt Bev and Uncle Ken.

Here a just a few of the pictures I took throughout

the afternoon.

Victoria totally took to her grandpa, I think she spent most

of the afternoon and church time on his lap!

We had lots of fun laughing and dinner was soooo good!

Of course there were plenty of desserts with yummy TORTE

too!

I awoke this morning to find a package on our

table in the diningroom. I was trying to figure

out just who had dropped it off since I went to

bed on the late side last night, then it dawned on

me that it must have been sent home with Ben

from Megan's house (his girlfriend), and being

the curious "can't wait for anyone to open a

gift" person that I am, I opened the card first

and was totally floored, I then unwrapped and opened

the box and was brought to tears

at the overwhelming love this family has shown to

us by giving us this gift. (If you click on the card

you will be able to read it!)

I am totally floored right now of God's goodness, kindness

and mercy!

The love He shows to us and how He chooses to

bless us and encourage us, at just the right moment,

when we need it!

How do you thank someone for a gift like this?

How do you impress on them how God so

intricately used them to touch our lives?

WHEW! we have had quite the week! If it could go wrong it DID! I won't go into detail but I am sure glad its Friday! It seems like we hit these streaks where "stuff" happens beyond our control and it all hits at once. Today or this morning started off great. A pastor from our church called and said the Golden Gophers (our senior group) had some things for us for Christmas, could he drop them off. It wasn't but a few minutes and he was on our door step with bags and bags of paper products, laundry detergent, softener, dishwasher soaps, dish soaps, shampoos, toothpastes, deodorants, foil, wax paper, etc. You name it and we probably got it this morning. He also handed me card and gave me a hug and was off. The kids and I tore into the bags like it was Christmas. How could they have known that we had no more laundry detergent, haven't had napkins in weeks, on our last drop of shampoo, and of course we are always, always out of toilet paper? What an unbelievable blessing, and to top it off in the card was a generous gift of money to be used for needs for Victoria, and how could they have known that at that very moment we were down to two diapers? What an amazing way God has of blessing us just when we need it the most and in those blessings we find peace and comfort to hold onto during the times that the bottom seems to drop out of everything. As I was traveling home this afternoon from a nearby city I was on the phone to Den telling him how hard it is to trust God when the tough times come, when there seems to be no end to the testings, when you are down to your last dime, with no gas in the car, a car with a flat tire in the driveway, no $$ for food, and to top it off our main vehicle broke down on me as well! Its just been a week full of testings. . . . .I don't test well! I am not a good test-taker! and I am ashamed of my responses at times when they come. My inner soul wants nothing more than to thank God for them, that He finds us worthy enough to use these trials to move us, to refine us, to shape and mold us into individuals, a unit, a family that He wants us to be. I think its equally hard to deal with them when its "supposed" to be a joyous time of year, and that doesn't help with having attitude either. But as I sit here and think back over the week, not only did God place in our paths issues that we couldn't push out of the way alone, but we were also blessed in many ways as well. If I could be totally honest, we probably had more blessings than trials, it just seems like the trails are HUGE, yet just looking back a day or two and I am realizing that we got some HUGE blessings too! I am fighting within myself to choose the right way, the right path, the right responses; my heart wants to do the right thing, to have the right response but it doesn't always choose to come out in such a manner. It has taken a few quiet moments of reflection to realize I have so very much to be thankful for and in these moments to also as forgiveness for the responses that haven't been Godly.

As you begin this beautiful Christmas weekend may God grant you true peace in Him no matter what circumstances befall you, knowing that God works His perfect will in us.

Have a truly blessed Christmas celebrating His brith with your beloved family and friends. . . . . .

Letter to Santa

Dear Santa:

I've been a good mom all year. I've fed, cleaned and cuddled my children on demand, visited the doctor's office more than my doctor and sold sixty-twocases of candy bars to raise money to plant a shade tree on the school playground.



I was hoping you could spread my list out over several Christmases, since I had to write this letter with my son's red crayon, on the back of a receipt, that I found, in the laundry room between cycles, and who knows when I'll find anymore free time in the next 18 years.



Here are my Christmas wishes:



I'd like a pair of legs that don't ache (in any color, except purple, which I already have) and arms that don't hurt or flap in the breeze, but are strong enough to pull my screaming child out of the candy aisle in the grocery store.



I'd also like a waist, since I lost mine somewhere in the seventh month of my last pregnancy.



If you're hauling big ticket items this year I'd like fingerprint resistant windows and a radio that only plays adult music, a television that doesn'tbroadcast any programs containing talking animals, and a refrigerator with a secret compartment behind the crisper where I can hide to talk on thephone.



On the practical side, I could use a talking doll that says, "Yes, Mommy"to boost my parental confidence, along with two kids who don't fight and three pairs of jeans that will zip all the way up without the use of powertools.



I could also use a recording of Tibetan monks chanting "Don't eat in the living room" and "Take your hands off your brother," because my voice seems to be just out of my children's hearing range and can only be heard by the dog.



If it's too late to find any of these products, I'd settle for enough time to brush my teeth and comb my hair in the same morning, or the luxury of eating food warmer than room temperature without it being served in a Styrofoam container.



If you don't mind, I could also use a few Christmas miracles to brighten the holiday season. Would it be too much trouble to declare ketchup a vegetable? It will clear my conscience immensely.



It would be helpful if you could coerce my children to help around the house without demanding payment as if they were the bosses of an organized crime family.



Well, Santa, the buzzer on the dryer is calling and my son saw my feet under the laundry room door. I think he wants his crayon back. Have a safe trip and remember to leave your wet boots by the door and come in and dry off so you don't catch cold. Help yourself to cookies on the table but don't eat too many or leave crumbs on the carpet.



Yours Always,



MOM...



P.S. One more thing...you can cancel all my requests if you can keep my children young enough to believe in Santa.

(this was taken off another blog and I thought it was so cute and so "true to life")

Brennan, Jacqueline and Colson

just before leaving for their

Christmas Program

Victoria all set for church

(the headband didn't last long)

THE SHOW MUST GO ON. . . .

amidst the snow storm of the season

we still had our

Childrens Christmas Program

at Church.

The kids did a fantastic job

they sang 4 songs several with hand motions

and played several songs with bells.

As always, it was adorable!

Beautiful program, beautiful decorations,

and beautiful snow!

Yeah, no school today due to snow! Can you believe it? We actually got a great snowstorm yesterday and school was called off today! We are all excited and now, we will have beautiful snow for Christmas. My family is in heaven playing in the SNOW!

A few weeks ago Colson brought home a flyer about a Christmas stocking his school was going to raffle off. I bought $2 worth of raffle tickets and never gave it another thought, that is until today when I picked him up from school. He came running into the library with a huge stocking dragging the ground beside him. He called out, "mom, come help me this is soooo heavy." I was shocked that out of 600 kids they drew his name! I would have loved to seen the expression on his little face when they announced his name over the PA system. He is so expressive when he gets excited and its rather infectious! He could not wait until we got home to pull out all of the goodies that were in there. I took a before and after shot so his daddy could see it before he tore into everything.

Its been an exciting few weeks around here as we have been on the receiving end of some of Gods blessings. Seems like we were in such a dry spell, a valley, for so long and it warms my heart to see God give us something like a Christmas Stocking to keep us looking up and trusting.

COLSON MADE IT THROUGH! Yea!!!!! Whew it was one long day. I told Den as we were driving home that we could have driven to BBC in the amount of time we sat at the hospital today. We had thought his surgery would only last 3 hours but it took the full 6 hours. It was hard, long and exhausting, but he made it through with flying colors. He is home with a bit of an upset stomach but managed to eat a small piece of pizza. He was so cute the first two things he wanted to eat were super frosted sugar cookies and superman ice cream. So far he has had the cookie, but the ice cream will have to wait a day. I am so thankful for all of you out there who prayed for Colson, and Den and I. I so appreciate your prayers. The first nurse we had in pre-op was a sister-in-law of some good friends of ours (also a Christian), then in the surgery holding area we also knew one of the nurses, her son is one Blake's (our 10th grader) good friends, then to top it off our dr is also a Christian. God certainly blessed us throughout our day today. I am going to try and figure out how to download a few photos I took from my cell phone today. Mind you I am no techno-geek, but I am going to give it a try. Again, thank you all from the bottoms of our hearts!

Tomorrow is Colson's dental surgery. I am very nervous and apprehensive about this, yet I know he needs to have this done. If I could ask please remember him, and the doctors in your prayers, and also peace for Den and I. The surgery was moved up to 9am instead of 11am as I had previously stated. I will blog when we are home and everything is fine! Thank you so very much.

Our Christmas Angel!

A ROUTINE DENTAL VISIT. . . . .

The past few months the kids have been visiting the dentist. When it was Colson's turn we found that he needed to be referred to a pediatric dentist. Upon visiting her we were informed that he would need extensive dental surgery, 6 root canals with stainless steel fillings plus one minor filling with silver, thus taking us to Hurley Hospital for a 5-6 hour procedure. We were given a surgery date of January 25, 2008. I mentioned to the doctor that I just didn't think Colson could wait that long as he was experience very painful toothaches on a regular basis (Halloween was a bust for him as he was not or is not allowed to eat anything loaded with sugar until after surgery), and she said that she would place us on a cancelation list and we would be the first they would call. Two weeks into November we got a call on Friday that they would be able to perform Colsons surgery on Monday, unfortunately Colson's astham was kicked up so we were not able to plan it. Yesterday, while out shopping, I received a call from the nurse, again asking if it would be possible for Colson to have his surgery done on Wednesday, December 12th, as they again had another cancellation. This time his asthma is under control and he will be able to finally get his teeth taken care of. I have to take him to our peditrician today for a surgical physical then next Wednesday, at 11am he will undergo his dental surgery. I am very apprehensive, yet I know that this is the only way to fix all of his teeth. The dentist that will be doing all the work is very sweet, loving and best of all, a Christian. Other than getting tubes in my little ones ears from time to time, none of my kids have had to go under with anesthesia at this young age. We would really apprecaite your prayers for Colson as well as Dr. Eboda as she takes care of his teeth.

We received this beautiful fruit basket last night from a good friend of Branden and Bryan's. It was a thank you gift to him, Bryan and Den, for taking the time out of their schedules, to visit him while he was in the hospital for a few weeks. What a wonderful surprise. We don't eat fresh fruit very often, its just way too expensive, and one bag of apples are gone in one day around here. I had originally thought the fruit was just on the surface but when Den started taking it all out of the basket it was completely full! Oranges, apples, Kiwi, bananas, tangerines, grapes, candy and grapefruit and a big fresh pineapple! WOW!

God has an amazing way of showering us with blessings just at the very moment we need them!

Seems like I just haven't had time to sit down and blog in such a long time. My kids keep telling me that its time to update. . . . .most of my morning "chores" are done for the time so thought I would try and catch my blog up-to-date.

We had an awesome blessing this week, actually a very early Christmas gift. We were given new livingroom furniture by our older boys! What started out to be a Christmas gift for their dad turned into a room full of new furniture. I was so extremely touched by their generosity and love for the family! I had so much fun shopping with them and picking it out. Bryan and I had fun taking out the old furniture and moving it around the house and getting the livingroom ready for the new stuff. Den and the boys went and picked it up on Wednesday. Everyone was waiting anxiously for it to arrive; when they drove up in front of the house you could here several of the kids yelling, "the furnitures here, the furnitures here!" I think all of us were waiting in the entry way for them to pull it out of the van! The boys got the wrappings off and put the legs on and off they were arranging it all in the livingroom. I must say our livingroom has never looked better! We are so enjoying it and rocking is now a real pleasure for both Den and I, no more stiff necks!!!!!!

David called me on Thursday morning and asked me how I liked our new furniture. I said, "oh my gosh its just so beautiful." He said something to the effect of us having awesome kids to take care of their family that way; and I mentioned that he was surely right! I know how hard our kids work for their money (sometimes too hard and sometimes they are taken advantage of too) yet they so graciously and joyously gave to all of us out of their bounty! We are definitely blessed and touched by the love they show not only through the gifts they buy, but the way they support, love, care and participate, in our family, with their dad and I.