Christmas and New Years

The last few weeks have been a whirl-wind! I can't believe Christmas is over and behind us... We Celebrated Christmas with Jordan's family the week before Christmas... It is always wonderful when we are able to be with them over the holidays! With Jordan's job still being a manager of a retail location, it makes it impossible right now to get away for Christmas... We are thankful for family that travels to see us! We had a great time opening presents, going down to St. Paul for lunch at Mickey's Diner and then the Children's Museum, and just spending time together.



Christmas Eve Jordan and I and the kids ventured out in the blizzard to a Christmas Eve Service~ my mom and dad met us there and it was a wonderful time to stop what we were doing and just focus on why we Celebrate Christmas in the first place! After the service, we came home and Jordan wrote a letter to "Santa" from the kids... Precious memories that we will cherish always.






Christmas Morning Jordan and I got woken up before 7:00am (while it was still pitch black out!)by Samuel and Serenity... They were SO excited to open up their stockings and presents! We had a wonderful morning opening presents and just being with our now family of five!





Later that evening my parents made their rounds~ first to Jen's house, then over to our house for dinner and games!...




The week after Christmas we spent with my whole family. Erik and Kristin flew in from Colorado, and we spent a great week playing games, going out to dinner, talking, singing, sledding, and opening up gifts. It was so great to have my whole family in one place!







New Years Day we celebrated my nephew Ethan's 9th Birthday by going to see the movie "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" (my 2nd time seeing it~ SO cute!)... However, after the movie we discovered someone had broken into our car, breaking our window, and stealing my purse.. This was a VERY long, draining, emotional day... Realizing all the things that were stolen and trying to get everything taken care of... Through my Fear, Sadness and Anger... I was glad that we had my whole family there to help us...

Today as I sit in a fairly quiet home, Jordan back to work, family back to their homes, and it's just me and the kids getting back to our normal life, I am thankful for such a wonderful Christmas this year. (even with our car getting broken into...) During Church yesterday the message really hit home to me about what is important in LIFE... And this morning I am clinging to that message. It is NOT about how much money is in your bank account (Thank-you Jesus!)... It is NOT about what title you have at work or in life...(Mine is at the moment just plain mommy)... It is NOT about what kind of car you drive, (or in my case, having no car at all!;) )... It is about how you lived your life. Did you LOVE your children? Did you LOVE your husband/wife?... Did you LOVE Jesus and take the time to tell everyone that came across your path about His Love?... This past year had been a hard one for us... And many times all we had was the strength to CLING to Jesus and not let go for one second... And yet while we were clinging to Him, there was no room for us to cling to anything else, we had to let it all fall to the way-side... We have realized (and are still realizing) the important things in Life do not consist of Job Titles, Mortgage Amounts, Pay-check numbers, or earthly possessions... It is Family. Friends. And Our Lord. 2010 may have it's struggles (this we have already seen played out!)... But our prayer is that we would do our best to remember what is important in life. That if we only had 30 days to live, we would not spend it worrying out all the other details of life, we would only focus on the things that TRULY matter... I know that it is MUCH easier said than actually done... But this is what I will be striving towards in the year of 2010... To worry less, and to Love MORE...