MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY 2006 TO EVERYONE!!

I'll Be Home For Christmas...

Well...kind of. We are still going to be in Pittsburgh on Christmas morning. This is thee FIRST Christmas I will not be waking up at my parents house. Is that strange or am I the only one that is nearly 30 years old and always been there at the parents' house?! It seems strange to not be there, but soon we'll be able to do it every year..well not exactly staying at their house--but pretty close.

We have been sorting, cleaning, pitching, donating, and packing off and on for about 2 weeks. If you don't already know, we are moving back to Lincoln. It was tough to make the decision to leave, but we feel it is where we are to be right now. Joe is going to be the new Baseball coach at LCC and work in the Laughlin Center(athletic building). We are moving the last week in January and just typing that time makes me cringe!!!!! I hate packing but in all fairness I hate unpacking as well. We have tried to discipline ourselves as we go through boxes, dressers, and closets trying to get rid of as much as we can so we don't have to move it. We have been clearing out the attic and next is boxing everything up. Do you know how much stuff you can accumulate in nearly 5 years of marriage in addition to the combined ages of 66 years of life?!?! TOO MUCH!!!! I don't know if I ever want to own a house again because if you have the room you just keep everything--and we don't need everything. As we've cleared things out, we've thought about the memories that are attached to some of the "STUFF". Some good, so you want to keep it, and some bad so you want to get rid of it...

This got me thinking today about our New Year's Resolution System(sounds technical--but it's not). I think sometimes we should do this kind of cleaning to our homes every year, but "Why?" you ask? If we did this we would be clearing the way to starting the new year with a clean slate--or at lest a clean house. And doesn't a clean house feel great? Fulfilling? And just plain CLEAN? I then started to think how we tend to do this in our lives around the end of a year or beginning of the next. We want to start with a clean slate and renewed, don't we? For the first time in a quite a while Joe and I will be doing that. We are starting our next adventure at, or at least close to, the beginning of a NEW YEAR. We may succeed or fail at things, but it's where God has lead us and that makes it new and exciting.

After reading my brother's blog about the bests and worsts of the year I feel like doing some of the same...but of course not just like his, because I'm the older one and I will try to do it better!!!!

My TOP 6 Exciting Things of 2005

6. Getting nice, new carpet in our 100+ year old house--much warmer in the cold weather.

5. Getting a new computer and later high speed internet cable to get things done faster--because I don't like to spend an eternity just checking email!!

4. Our trip to CIY this summer was pretty great--we take a small group and it really lets us get to know each other more every year...

3. Having kids from our church here in Pittsburgh actually want to attend a Bible college and actually picking LCC!!

2. Being able to see my little brother meet, get engaged to, and marry the love that he has been looking for for some time now--and I finally have a sister in the family--welcome Sarah.

1. Watching my family grow. We had a great time as a family of three and now with four it is even better. Carissa has grown up so much and now I see even more how much as I look at a 1 month old again. Jocelyn has been a great blessing to us and made us an even bigger, better family. Joe has been a blessing to as, pretty much the most hands on Dad I've ever seen. I don't give him enough credit, but he's great and I love him more today than I did the day I married him...


Top 3 Biggest Changes

3. This was my first full year of being a stay at home Mom. I'm still waiting for my official paycheck, but it's been great to see the dividends in the form of smiles, hugs, kisses, trips to the zoo, trips to the park and story time at the library with Carissa. My days can be very long, but in the end I'm so thankful for the opportunity to be here for my children.

2. A decision to move on from Pittsburgh. I don't want to call it moving away, because we have promised to be back. How can we not come back? We have so many friends here and we don't want to lose touch...

1. Becoming a Mom to 2. This change pretty much was non-stop in my mind from about May-November. It's great to find out your pregnant, but to actually sit and think about the future can be scary. But as soon as I saw Jocelyn for the first time, I knew it was going to be awesome. Now, don't get me wrong...after my parents left and Joe went back to work after I had only been home for 3 1/2 days, I freaked out quite a few times. I think I'm getting a slow handle on it, but I know it will be different every single day!!

My weaknesses...

Watching shows like the O.C. and Reunion. O.C. will continue, but I can't stop watching Reunion even though Joe read that they are canceling it before they let the audience know who killed on the night of their high school Reunion!!!!!!! I'll never know, but I just can't stop watching.

Watching too much NickJr. during the day. I've limited the time Carissa watches, but there just aren't enough new episodes of Dora and Diego to go around.

My favorite hour long shows
The O.C.
Reunion
Lost
NCIS
Close to Home

My favorite 1/2 hour long shows
Two and Half Men
How I Met Your Mother
According to Jim (usually on repeats)
Yes, Dear (mostly the 11:30 syndication episodes)

So, there you have it--a year in review. I don't listen to enough music to care about buying many CD's but the occasional soundtrack. I don't get to go to movies, so the last movie I saw in a theater was HITCH--hilarous. We own it now and I laugh hysterically every time I see it!!

We wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year...

Sundays?!

Since Carissa was born I've probably missed 3-4 Sundays when she has been sick. That's pretty good considering she is now 2 years old. Today, we got up, started to get everyone ready and we knew the inevitable was going to happen. Carissa gets a cough and gets worn down with it. She was totally dressed and then started to cough and eventually just melted into a pile on the bed--crying. She wants so badly to go to church any time she can. Joe and I both, in our own times, decided it was best to have her stay home. I know this is best now because she is laying down on her Dora couch, barely moving(could be Tylenol-induced). She wanted so badly to go to church she was willing to get up and get dressed and then she must have run out of energy!! Why aren't we like this more as adults--wanting that badly to be at OUR FATHER'S HOUSE every single week? I'm just as guilty as the next person, and I realize the reasons Carissa wants to be there are different than ours, but she starts naming all of the people she's going to see when we say we're going to church. Also, as soon as we pull into the back parking lot, she starts pointing and saying, "Daddy's house! Daddy's house!!" Joe always stresses that it really is her "Daddy's House" but she really doesn't know the truly innocent statement she is making each time she says that.

Do we as Christians cheer with excitement, "Daddy's House! Daddy's House!!" every time we go to church, or do we make it some kind of mundane schedule interruption that we feel we "have to do" every week?

It gives you something to chew on and me too, since I am at home with the girls today. I need to think about what it means to be at church the rest of the times and really be aware of what I need to be for God, not myself...

5 1/2 inches of Snow Fun

Carissa and Daddy really enjoyed our first BIG snow...

Pure Joy

IF this is not a picture of pure joy I don't know what is...

Carissa is one GREAT big sister to HER baby Jocelyn. Life is so wonderful.