Christmas in Pix... and CHANGE!

This year Christmas was so fun and so full of surprises!

It's no secret I waited till the very last minute to shop, for multiple reasons.

But it all worked out just fine.

We've been giving three gifts for a while now, representing the gifts given to Jesus.

This year we changed it up a bit.

Everybody still gets three gifts ~ something they want, something they need and something to give.

I barely got the two gifts each, but me and Amazon have this thing and ...well, everything arrived by the 24th ;-)

This week we will go shopping together for the gifts the kids have chosen to give.

This is one of the gifts Kenzie chose for our 'dirty santa' drawings...which she strategically entered into the one she would surely claim and bring it home - which she did!

The girls made a gingerbread house which Kambry ultimately snacked on throughout the week.

We enjoyed noodle lunches, mostly as a result of Mom's procrastination.
Kuyler came home! They really were excited, despite the I-need-a-nap expressions.

Friday evening we had a huge surprise!!! Santa and two of his helpers showed up!

This was such a huge blessing!!!!

Everybody from the biggest to the littlest had gifts personally chosen for them!

There were even sweet treats for the Sweets!
And these adorable outfits sported by all the girls on Christmas Eve!Even the Personal Trainer in the family gave Santa a hug.
That was Friday.
On Christmas Eve we baked our traditional sugar cookies.

Dad clowned around, as usual :)
We hosted my brothers' families and Grandma. What a blast!
Hello Kitty with a twist.
Words not necessary ;-)
Then Christmas morning...

the kids slept in and literally had to be woke up so we could make our next destination.

Some of them would've preferred to stay in bed...

But me...boy, was I surprised! Blown away really! I knew something was up, but I had no idea it was this big. Dad and the Krew presented me with a double-decker gift. The box on top contained cherry chocolates...and under them was... a book??? Enter confusion...
...but then I opened the book and found this! They got me a Kindle Fire!!!!!! I LOVE to read!!! This family of mine really spoils me! (Kuyler and Kenzie spent 30 minutes cutting this out)

The littlest girls have been cooking up a storm since receiving this! I'm off duty - ha!
And the kids were all benefactors of each others' creative shopping...Just what he needs!

What could it be?Adorable!!!Then we got a herd of kids ready and drove to Norman to celebrate CHRISTmas with my aunts and cousins.
And this is how the story ended...
What's the CHANGE I've referred to?

Ya'll have made me giggle with your speculation. And to be honest, adoption is always on our hearts. We have no idea what the Lord has in store for our family, but our prayer is that we would always respond with "YES"!

But we have other plans for the immediate future. On January 9th I will return to college! I'm stoked...and maybe a little nervous.

I'm enrolled in 13 hours this semester toward a degree in social work.

The recruitment office worked tirelessly to get a plan put together over the past few weeks so I could start in January.

For several months I've been asking the Lord to reveal a new 'career' to me. I've been a freelance court reporter for 22 years, and I've enjoyed it. But I feel it's time to move on. I will continue to work as much as possible with my school schedule, and I'm not sure when I'll actually attain my degree, but I plan to take classes full time until I'm finished, Lord willing.

I could probably use your prayers :) No, I could really use your prayers! I don't want to neglect my duties as a wife and mama.

So that's it, that's the change. I'm looking forward to big things from my big GOD!

Disturb Us!

Prayer of Francis Drake, 1577

Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when
with the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wilder seas
Where storms will show Your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.

We ask you to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push back the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.

This we ask in the name of our Captain,
Who is Jesus Christ.