My Ebenezer

This time we managed to take a trip to the Fallons' AND get some photos of it! ;)  Here are a few pics from our great time with great friends.

I find it a joy to give gifts to my family.  For months, Noah had been asking if he could have a hat like Robin Hood's. (Think a felt hat with a feather in it).  Earlier this month I purchased a pattern and some felt, dusted off my sewing machine and brushed up on sewing basics (how do you clip a curve again?).  I then made a Robin Hood hat and did my best to make some shoes as well.  Here's a video of Noah opening that hat this evening.  He put it back on after this video and still hasn't taken it off. :) On this day when gift-giving is central, I'm remembering the ultimate gift of sacrifice given by our Lord Jesus in coming to earth to die for us.  God is so good to us, and if I'm tempted to believe God doesn't love me, all I have to do is remember that He died for me.  Point proven.  In addition to this greatest gift of salvation from sin, God is so liberal in His gift-giving.  He has given me a husband who loves me, and a son who is such a joy among ma

For those that did not get our Christmas letter in the mail, it is either because I don't have your address, have the wrong address, or forgot to put your address on the envelope.  And yes, I did that.  For example, I'm pretty sure I mailed Matt and Jen's letter with only their names on the front of the envelope.  No return address, no mailing address.   Yeah.  That's floating around in Postage Land somewhere. :) Anyway, here is our Christmas Letter and photo for those who wish to read it: Christmas 2011 “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits.” Ps 103:2 Dear            We hope you are counting the Lord’s blessings in your life, and are reflecting on His great sacrifice of love for you.  Would you believe this is our tenth Christmas letter?  Josh and I can scarcely believe that we are celebrating ten years of marriage this Christmas season, but it’s true.  Several gray hairs, a lot of experience, and boatloads of God’s grace later

So what did we do for our anniversary?  We dropped Noah off at Matt and Jen's and went to a local dinner theatre!  The Alhambra Dinner Theatre was performing Dickens' A Christmas Carol.   So, see? We did find something that was somewhere between a ballet or a monster truck rally. :) The food was outstanding, and the play was too.  We had been a little concerned that it wasn't going to be worth the money, but it totally was.  What a great way to spend our 10th wedding anniversary!  And here is a photo of what Josh got me to remember the evening by: Two dozen roses and a gigantic card which reads:  "Happy Anniversary, Joanna my wife, my one and only.  Here's to 10 years and forever to follow.  Love, Josh." Very special.

Josh and I have officially been married 10 years--how crazy is that!? In honor of our 10 year anniversary, (Happy Anniversary, Josh!) I'd like to post some pictures from "back in the day"--our early years dating and married.  Bear with me; my technological skills are such that I have to take a photo of the photo, and then upload it.  Scanning is just not in my repertoire.  If you're trying to think of what to get me for Christmas, perhaps a basic computer class would be called for. :)  Raise your hand if you think we looked young. Happy Anniversary, Josh.  You were my best friend then, and you're my bestest friend now, if that's possible.  I love you so much. I'm so thankful the Lord brought us together. Love, Jo

I'm beginning to think Noah was born wearing a gun pouch. Or a sword sheath. Or an arrow quiver. Point is, he's rarely without some sort of weapon-holder on his hip these days. Boys! :)

It's time for another book report of What's Going On Around Here. Exciting, I know! We're getting ready to send out our 10th (tenth!) Christmas letter/photo, and soon to follow celebrate our 10th (tenth!!) wedding anniversary. Stay tuned for fun snapshots of Josh and me when we were twenty-one and the world was our oyster. Followed by pictures of us now, when we're thirty-one and we're realizing how much we still have to learn. :) Side note about getting older: you know the haircut I posted about recently? Well, the hairdresser actually recommended that I start highlighting my hair to cover up my grays. I never thought I would hear those words. *sobs* Whenever Noah hears us talk about life before he was born, he'll say "where was I?" but he doesn't understand the state of not existing. He totally doesn't get it. To him, there's only "when I was a baby" and "now". There was no "before". And then try exp

It was inevitable. With my last haircut taking place way back in the foggy memories of August, it was either get my hair cut or cut it myself. If my hair grows much past my chin, I start looking like this, only not on purpose: It's what my hair likes to do when left to itself. Don't get me wrong, she was great in her day, but it's just not me. So this morning I marched myself to the hair salon (the bajillionth one I've tried in 8 years of living here--Josh commented to me that he doesn't think I've seen the same hairstylist twice. He's almost right!) and came out with this: *yawns* It's okay . But definitely not what I asked for. Again. AND! This time, the lady cutting it had the exact haircut I wanted, which I thought would make things super-easy. I basically told her, "I'll have what you have." And got something entirely different. Fine, acceptable, but different. SO. I give you an open letter to my sister-in-law: Dear Andrea,

Thank you to all who prayed for the second house to sell. IT DID!!! And amazingly enough, it actually closed a day early--yesterday! This is nothing short of miraculous in my mind. If you are aware what kind of market we are in right now, you see how impressive it is for the Lord to provide (1) a buyer (2) with funds (3) who wants to buy our buildings! Praise the Lord! I don't think I should be surprised that all of this happened literally in days rather than months, but somehow I still am. :) Now that the funds are in, we could move right ahead with IVF. Josh and I have decided to wait one more month though, and begin Lord-willing in January. December is already a busy month without adding IVF to the mix. Also, it would be better tax-wise to wait until the New Year (something that had never crossed my mind!), and Josh wants another month to prepare and keep praying for a natural miracle. SO we keep praying and wait to see what the Lord has in store for us! Thank you for