Live Nativity Pageant

Does your family have Christmas traditions that you look forward to each year?

For 33 years the Live Nativity Pageant has been a family tradition for Todd's family. I have been a part of it since I was 15 and I have very fond memories of starting out as an Angel in my early teens  and then moving up to being one of Herrod's herom girls. Today I get to be Mary with little boy Jesus.

For the past 4 years I have had the priviledge to play Mary with each of my kids being little boy Jesus. This year was Jude's first year and while he was little boy Jesus this was Jadon's first year to be the Angel on the stable that Jesus was born in. I love looking back and seeing all the parts we have been able to play while telling the story to hundreds of people who come to watch.

When the Pageant started 33 years ago Todd was the first to be the Angel on the stable. Now it is so sweet to have our son be the Angel. Although, he almost didn't do it. He really wanted to and then as it came closer he wasn't so sure about doing it so he backed out. Then the girl that was going to replace him had to cancel a couple days before. So, it was offered to him again just in case he had changed his mind. I spoke for him without asking and said, "no." He informed me he did want to do it and so he did.

Saturday night was his night and it was the coldest night of the week, temperature of 15 degrees and windchill of 6. There was snow and awful wind. The wind being so strong they chose not to put his wings on. He did awesome and stood up there holding his hands in the air, only a couple times did he grab the the rail around him when big gusts of wind came.

Jadon in his angel costume.

Me and Jude with the Wise Men, Pappy was one of the wise men. 

Enjoying our hot chocolate and cookie between shows.



Oh Christmas Tree

Since we have been married Todd and I have put our Christmas tree up the day after Thanksgiving. Growing up my family always waited until the day after December 11. That was my Uncle Joe's birthday and my mom always wanted to celebrate his birthday before we put our tree up and decorated for Christmas.

The first year we were married I admit I thought it was silly to put the tree up so early. But I look forward to it now that we have our kids. This has become our family tradition. Put up our Christmas tree or trees as is the case this year and that evening we put in the movie Elf, drink hot chocolate and the kids sleep on an air matress under the tree.

We started last year putting up two trees, the one in the living room that matches our home decor, burgundy and gold. The other in the kitchen that the kids put together with the ornaments they have made or collected. Most of the ornaments end up along the bottom of the tree, but it is beautiful still.

This year Haven got to put the Angel on top of the tree.

Ten Years

In October Todd and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. We spent the weekend in Eureka Springs, hiking along the Buffalo River and spending time in downtown Eureka Springs. It was a perfect weekend, weather was beautiful and the time spent together was sweet. We came away with stories where we laughed so hard and stories of how God saw us through

Since having our kids we have never spent more than one night away. This was a very refreshing time to be just a couple again. We laughed a lot and spent time talking about our ten years. Like every marriage we have stories where we have laughed so hard it hurts and we have stories of how God saw us through difficult times. We both agreed that in our marriage this far the greatest trial we have faced together is the loss of our first daughter, Karis Rose.

Through God's grace we were able to not only survive through the loss of her, but our marriage became stronger and more dependent on God. Statistics show that 70% of marriages to do survive the loss of a child. Thank you Jesus for holding our marriage and not letting us fall into the 70%.

I am so thankful for the man God made for me. It is exciting to think about what is ahead and sometimes a little overwhelming. But I am ready.

Here are some hiking pictures of our weekend. We set out to find waterfalls with no luck. The first place we went found out after looking for it that a huge boulder had fallen and blocked it. The second place we went that was supposed to be an all season waterfall was merely a trickle down the side of the rock. I'm sure both were once very pretty. Oh well, the adventure was in finding them and we did find caves to explore.

Jadon's Birthday Pictures

Some pictures of Jadon's birthday party. He had a Star Wars party at the park and invited everyone from his class. They mostly played, but we had an asteroid hunt* and played with a catch with the Death Star**. Later that afternoon we had the family party at our house.

And here are a few pictures that Mallory took of Jadon.

I love this picture and his freckles, they show up so cute.

* For the asteroid hunt I took prizes (small toys and candy) wrapped them in aluminum foil and hid them throughout the park. The kids loved hunting them and then unwrapping to see what each other found.

**I took a balloon and put a small bouncy ball inside along with sprinkles (like you put on cupcakes) then the kids played hot potato with it. The ball and sprinkles made it feel and sound like it could "blow up" at anytime. You can also put confetti in the balloon, but being at the park I didn't want to try to clean confetti out of the grass if it popped.

Happy Birthday Jadon

Jadon,
I told you you were not allowed any more birthdays after your 5th. Well, I guess I wasn't able to follow through with that. I love you so much and even though a big part of me wants to keep you young forever the biggest part of me can not wait to see how God is going to use you.

I will always remember and cherish you as a baby while I continue to watch you grow into a young boy and enjoy every minute of it. You amaze me and I am so thankful for your life.

Love,
Mommy

What a Strange Little World

Our house lately has been a strange little world. Haven is going through the stage of pretend friends and pretending to be different animals and people.

I have to admit when she first mentioned her pretend friend I had a to pause and go through my adult do's and don'ts to see if that was normal or not. I remember thinking, "she knows she's pretend....right?"

It didn't take me long to realize that of course she is normal. Her "friend" spent several days with no name because "her mommy and daddy had not named her yet". She is also 3 years old because according to Haven that was the best year of her own life.

She repeatedly talks about when she was 3 and how she could suck her thumb and snuggle with her blankie and oh how she misses being 3. I can't help but laugh inside when the best thing that has ever happened to her so far in her 4 years of life was sucking her thumb and having her blankies.

When she is not playing with her pretend friend she is being a horse or a dog. We have had to come up with different names for her depending on what animal she is. If she is a dog, her name is Sally and if she is a horse she is to be called Princess.

She has studied the way horses and dogs move, sleep, eat, play and do just about anything. She stays in animal character no matter what she is doing. I am truly amazed at how she prances around the house on all fours.

The other night as we were praying I started to pray for her and was corrected when I mistakenly called her Haven when she was Sally. I had to finish my pray over her calling her Sally. I am so glad God knows all and all her names and characters and He loves her the same no matter who she is.

I find her imagination quite amusing, there are times however, when it can honestly be a little embarrassing.  Like tonight I was trying to talk to someone at Mama Jean's, Haven is sitting in the back of the grocery cart and as I am speaking I start to hear growling. She is trying to growl at the man I am talking to. He has no idea that she is pretending to be a dog, he just sees this little girl showing her teeth and making low growling noises.

My strange little world in my own little house being led by my very own little children. I couldn't imagine it to be any more fun.

So Proud

Last Friday was the first Tiger Pride Assembly of the year at Jadon's school. Parents are always invited and I had planned on going. I asked Jadon if it was okay for his mom to show up, he casually said sure.

Several days before I had received a letter from his teacher in an envelope, sealed envelope, that had written on the outside "do not let Jadon read." In the letter his teacher explained that at the Tiger Pride Assembly they were going to recognize the Student of the Month for each class. And for the month of September she had chosen Jadon for the honor.

I got a little choked up. I was so proud of him. What an honor to be named Student of the Month, as she explained she can only choose 9 out of her class of 16.

The reason for secrecy was she wanted it to be a surprise for Jadon. He would not know until his name was called by the Principal.

Awards were also given from the specials teachers (PE, Art, Music, Library, Computer) to the class in each grade that had shown good behavior for the month. Jadon's class swept all 5 awards. From the reactions in the room I don't think that usually happens. Way to go Mrs. D's class!

A Haven story before I close. Lately when we pray together at night before bed time we have been discussing prayer requests. I asked her the other night if she had any prayer requests and she said so seriously, "yes, I want to pray that I can become a Princess, get married and have a baby." She already has that desire to be a wife and mom. We spent some time praying and talking about allowing God to do all these things in his timing and prayed for the man God has picked out for her in the far future. 

Becoming a Princess, well she is already her Daddy's Princess.