The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

I LOVE Christmas! I love it for what it means... for understanding that God came to earth as a baby to save me from my sins so that I can have eternal life! wow! Thank you Lord!

Our Christmas Tree and My Grandmother's Nativity she made.

I also love it for family. It has always been such a sweet time with my family, immediate and extended. It's one of the times of year where everyone tries to get together and catches up on what's been happening throughout the year. It's always encouraging to see how God is working in their lives and to share what God is doing in ours.

This year we had decided to head to the mountains of NC for Christmas. Since I have had nausea problems traveling in the car we really didn't know how far I would make it... so we chose the closest relative! My mawmaw!

18 " and counting!

Michael and I in our snow in WV!

Bambi & Cambi, our twin deer!

Bambi, Cambi and the mama deer in the snow.

After receiving 18+ inches of snow in WV we packed our car for 3.5 weeks away and hit the road. It was great to get there before all the crowds arrived and spend time with her and some Aunts, Uncles, cousins and even two second cousins! It was a great time of recouping and catching up. I think Michael slept in for the first time in FOREVER! So that was nice.

Michael enjoyed spoiling my mawmaw by completing her list of chores! (o:
and once some of the other men arrived they even put in a new shower door and cleaned out the entire garage for her! hopefully soon she can park her car IN the garage!

On the 26th, some of my family arrived from FL! My parents, sisters, Jessica and Melissa, and Levi, Cooper and Micah, and bro-in-law Mike. It was so fun to see the boys react to the snow! They loved it! They were busy exploring and the grownups were busy catching up.

Then on New Years Carrie and Eric drove up and surprised everyone by picking up Jennifer and Cheyenne on their way! (It was fun to see Eric see the snow too because he had never seen it before!)

It was SO sweet to be able to see all my sisters and niece and nephews! I didn't think I would get to see them all and then one by one they decided to come! yeah!

Although I did not participate, we even enjoyed some sledding and snow boarding! (I took pictures!)

Here are a few:

Michael opening his presents from me Christmas morning.

My presents from Michael Christmas morning.

Our lamb nursery has begun! We received lots of lambs for the baby!

Uncle Barry reading the Christmas story from Luke, a family tradition.

Jessica and I watching the snow sledding!

Melissa and Copper being silly.

My love and I.

Princess Cheyenne wearing my scarf like I wear it!

Carrie and Eric.

Mama and I.

Can't hardly believe it, but my mom braved the hill with my Aunt Martha!
(The video is hilarious!)

Micah figured out how to get a ride back up the mountain!
Hitch a ride with his two Uncle Michaels!

L to R: Dad, Melissa, Jessica, Cooper.

Micah after my dad hit him in the face with a snow ball... AND AFTER we tried to get him back!
Oh the tears!


Watching with the baby.

Michael had a great time playing with the nephews.

Being silly with some of my dad's winter gear!

The boys love their Papa!

Cooper conquering the mountain at Mawmaw's.

Levi conquered the mountain at Mawmaw's too.

It was such a wonderful time and we feel SO blessed by family!

Highlights over the last few months...

so I was going to try to catch up with everything that we have done here, and it is just WAY too much!

So here are some highlights to share of our wild and wonderful adventures here in West Virginia:

SEPTEMBER

Dr. Davis gets his white coat!
We really enjoyed being able to see my cousin, Tyler receive his white coat! What an awesome and proud experience!

Dr. Davis!

 

Tyler, Mom, Me, & Michael

So Proud!

 

My love and I.

Michael, Me, & Tyler.

 

Me, Mom, & Mawmaw trying to take a pic of ourselves! 

 

Aunt Martha, Nate, Tyler, Uncle Ron.

While there Michael enjoyed a car show!

 

We did some cloud surfing...

 

 My nephew Cooper called us while we were driving and we tried to figure out if we were

seeing the same clouds!  (in west virginia and florida!) it was so cute!

I saw a whale! and the big one did look like a BEAR before i took the picture!

Cooper said he saw the bear too!

OCTOBER:

We loved visiting with family in NC! It is always nice to see family and catch up! We got to hear a lot of Uncle Mike's (at that time) upcoming mission trip to Africa! We are so excited to see what God does!

We also got to spend some time catching up with my cousin Perry, hearing about the old ladies at the YMCA... he had some funny stories!

Uncle Ron and Aunt Martha drove down from a long day of work... catching up and hearing about family and new jobs.... we feel so blessed to have such an awesome family! We enjoyed every bit of it!

And while we were there we got to see the quilt show that Mawmaw (aka. Granny) had entered some of her quilts in! The pictures do NOT do them justice! They are truly AMAZING!   .... and she won! We are so proud of her!

Mawmaw with her "mystery quilt" she made for Carrie!

 

She should've one 1st!

(I even found a mistake on the one that had won 1st place... there was a spot that was not quilted and it clearly was supposed to be! Obviously they didn't have me as a judge!)

A baby quilt!

 

Mawmaw and I by the baby quilt.

... I am 6 weeks pregnant in this shot!

...for those of us who are dying to have one of Mawmaw's masterpieces,

she currently has a surplus of baby quilts... so lets get crackin'!  (o:

I also was able to see my GREAT college/seminary friend Sarah and attend a baby shower! I had wanted to go and see her and celebrate with her, and the timing worked out perfectly! We were headed to the NANC Conference in Spartanburg, SC and they live about 45mins from there in NC. She also was happening to have a baby shower that weekend, so I got to go and see all her goodies! We had Sunday off and really enjoyed sitting in a service together.  It was a great visit!

 

 Sarah & I at her shower!

When we got back, our GREAT friends from Louisville came to visit for the weekend. We had a WONDERFUL time catching up with Jeff and Courtney. We spent a LOT of time just relaxing and talking. They braved our airmattress in our living room and were great guests.

At church on Sunday Michael announced to the congregation that we were expecting. It was great to have Courtney and Jeff sitting next to me when he made the announcement.

... and I am glad Courtney had some tissues!

Courtney & Jeff

Courtney and I at Valley Falls

Courtney, Jeff, Michael, Me.

Family Fun in WV!

July- Aug 2009

So excited that michael's twin brother, Samuel, his wife Sylvia and our nephew Caleb and niece Katherine came to visit!!! We had a great time visiting some parks, seeing some wild animals and hanging out and catching up. We hope they will come back soon!

Here are some shots we got from their visit:

Welcome to WV!

Caleb at the Blackberry Festival

more festival fun!

he loved the slide!

Michael with his twin brother Samuel, and Katherine.

Michael and Samuel enjoyed some fishing time!

Michael's fish he caught!

Caleb sticking his head through the fence just like the sheep!

Valley Falls State Park

Samuel and Caleb.

Samuel Strackeljahn Family... Caleb, Samuel, Katherine, Sylvia.

Katherine's first solid food! My cinnamon apples!

Helping Auntie Laura with the brownies

Cutie-pie Katherine.

Caleb loving on Katherine. He's a good big brother!

Our pet deer... as Caleb called them.

It was so great to have them here! we want them to come back soon!

we went to the wildlife preserve and saw some wild animals!

 

Michael and I at the wildlife preserve.

Caleb told me the owl was his favorite.

The big black bear.

Samuel and Caleb checking out the bear cave... I was happy hanging out with Katherine.

All of us at the park.

Caleb, Samuel, Katherine, Sylvia, Michael, & Me.

beautiful world!

Michael and I.

Katherine is precious!

The Strackeljahn's again. Caleb, Samuel, Katherine (asleep) and Sylvia

Family photo.

Beautiful natural stream in the road.

Come back Samuel, Sylvia, Caleb and Katherine!