Celebration

We had a wonderful time celebrating Jesus and His birth.  It was so fun to have Emilynn this year.  We had a wonderful time taking her to Christmas Eve service, getting her dressed up in a beautiful new dress made by her Obaa, reading her books about Jesus' birthday, and watching her open presents and try out her new things.  We were all a little sick over Christmas and are still recovering, but we still had a wonderful time.

Emilynn spent a lot standing and pulling up on EVERYTHING this weekend and last week.  She even cruised around her new activity table a little bit today.  She also took 4 1/2 hours of naps today.  I think she is making up for not napping well the last few days from being sick.  She has been sleeping 11 1/2 hours again.  Normally she is about 10 1/2 or 11.  She has also started to "dance" to music when it comes on and she loves to clap to it also.  It's so fun to see these new things...holy moments.  I can't believe that she will be 10 months in just a few days! 

Here are a few pictures from the last week or so...

just a few days before Christmas

Obaa and Emilynn

A few life group kiddos.  Love what a great big brother Drew is... keeping Lily safe.

The 3 girls

Family Picture

Obaa and Ojii with Emilynn

Just being cute

Isn't Emilynn's smocked dress gorgeous?...love those Christmas trees and the bright colors...Thanks, Obaa!

Emi opening her first Christmas present from Obaa and Ojii...

Hanging it on the tree...

A beautiful ornament that says "Emilynn's 1st Christmas"

Going to bed...Don't you love my Mrs. Claus cap? He He.

Christmas morning!

Sweet smiles for Ojii and Obaa

Emilynn's 1st stocking

Books from Grandma and Grandpa Pagenkopf... so fun!

Mommy and Emi

We went to visit Reba on Christmas day...here are the beautiful ladies

Eating Christmas dinner...fajitas, beans, and rice and a yummy homemade tortilla

Probably Emilynn's favorite gift :) Thanks, Obaa and Ojii

But her favorite toy wasn't any gift she got...it was my blocks from when I was a baby...she played with them all day!

Mommy and Emi again

This is Emilynn's first car from her mom and dad...don't tell her it will be the only car she ever gets! Just kidding. :)

One more post...

Here are the cake pops from baking yesterday...All packaged up along with the other goodies.  This is what we do for our neighbors every year.  We got to meet one new family tonight when we delivered them.  They are looking for furniture for their home... their house burned down in Houston, and they moved back to Fort Worth.  If you know of any decent furniture around, let us know...We look forward to this time every year.  Sadly tonight we found out that one of our neighbors husband died a week and a half ago.  It was a precious time to just give her a hug and encourage her.  Also found out that another neighbor's kiddo has overcome some hardship and is thriving in the Lord.  It is always good to be reminded that Jesus is here and needed in our neighborhood. 

On another note... I have been working hard at getting "organized" in life and not feeling so out of control every week.  So I'm on a week 2 of a new system.  I basically assign everything that "has" to be done each week (i.e. laundry, cleaning, vacuuming, 2 dinners a week (we eat leftovers), working out, etc.) a day or multiple days.  The goal is to stick the plan for the week.  I leave free days 2 days a week for things that come up.  It worked wonderfully last week.  I haven't been this "scheduled/planned" since college.  I am finding in this season, it is actually bringing a great deal of freedom.  This way I know why things are so crazy when I don't take initiative and do them...

Annual Christmas Baking with Mom

Emilynn and I went to my mom and dad's yesterday to bake for Christmas.  We had a fantastic time and made a ton of things... sugar cookies, gingerbread men, lemon puppy chow (thanks to Lori D), cake pops, vanilla wafer pops, saltine cracker toffee, pecan cookies...I think that is it... Everything turned out wonderful! 

Mary, mother of Jesus

There are so many songs on the radio these days about Mary.  I honestly don't think that I have ever thought about Mary as much as I have this Christmas...

A teenage girl...

pregnant...

on a donkey...

probably overdue...

knowing that this baby was the King of the world?!?!....

naturally laboring and birthing in a barn on a bed of hay...

looking in to the eyes of babe that she loved more than anything...

but He would one day save her from herself...

knowing for certain, He was not hers...He was Jesus, son of God, King of man, the great I am...

I cannot imagine being Mary.  I cannot imagine raising and being the mama to the man that would one day sacrifice His life for ours.  I cannot imagine celebrating every small accomplishment, only to see His biggest accomplishment be victory in His death on the cross.  She just might have to be the stongest woman that ever lived... She must have been the most humble and trusting woman that ever lived too...

Thank you, Jesus, for the example of your mama, Mary...who fully understood sacrificial motherhood...who trusted you and your Daddy more than anyone or anything...who loved you fully knowing full well that you would save her...who watched as the world hated, rejected, beat and murdered you...she was an amazing woman and mama...

So if you've ever asked me who I want to meet when Heaven fully breaks in...I want to meet Mary, mother of Jesus, and I want to have a cup of coffee and chat about being a mommy...a mommy to the King of the World....

My favorite song is You're Here, but Dancing with Jesus is great also...

You're Here by Francesca Battistelli

Hold on now, I gotta take a deep breath
I don’t know what to say when I look in your eyes
You made the world before I was born
Here I am holding You in my arms tonight

Noel, Noel
Jesus our Emmanuel

You’re here
I’m holding You so near
I’m staring into the face of my Savior
King and Creator
You could’ve left us on our own
But You’re here

Don’t know how long I’m gonna have You for
But I’ll be watching when You change the world
Look at Your hands, they’re still so small
Someday You’re gonna stretch them out and save us all

Noel, Noel, God with us Emmanuel

You’re here, I’m holding You so near oooh oh
I’m staring into the face of my Savior
King and Creator
You could’ve left us on our own
Bbut you’re here, you’re here

Someday I’m gonna look back on this
The night that God became a baby boy
Someday You’re gonna go home again,
But You leave your spirit and flood the world with joy

You’ll be here, I’m holding You so near
I’m staring into the face of my Savior, King and Creator
You could’ve left me on my own, but you’re here… You’re here
Hallelujah, You’re here
Hallelujah, You’re here

Dancing with Jesus by Daniel Doss /Sam Mizel

A mother's watching her newborn
A smile of joy upon her face
She can't believe the day is here
The angel had proclaimed
Little eyes are opened and the baby starts to cry
She picks him up into her arms and sings a lullaby

Now she's dancing with Jesus, dancing with Jesus
She's dancing with Jesus, dancing with Jesus

A mother watches in despair
Tears well in her eyes
For the path of pain her son would take
The way He had to die
But standing underneath that cross
His life begins to fade
She reaches up and holds to hope
And dreams of Heavens day

Where she'll be dancing with Jesus, dancing with Jesus
Dancing with Jesus, dancing with Jesus

Glory hallelujah in the highest
Glory hallelujah in the highest

We'll be dancing with Jesus, dancing with Jesus
We'll be dancing with Jesus, dancing with Jesus
We'll be dancing with Jesus, dancing with Jesus
We'll be dancing with Jesus, dancing with Jesus

Santa and such...

So we have been thinking and talking about how we feel about Santa being a part of our Christmas.  It's been an interesting journey.  I was a BELIEVER as a kid.  I was devestated when my family shared with me that he was pretend....I had an overactive imagination, and I had believed forever that I had seen and heard him. 

One friend posted an article by Mark Driscoll that I loved and really helped me sort through my many thoughts...
http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/panelists/mark_driscoll/2010/12/what_we_tell_our_kids_about_santa.html

So it came down to a few things for us:

• Jesus is at the core of everything we are and do...our giving, our receiving, our celebrating (down to decorating)...He is our EVERYTHING and our ALL in ALL. 
• We desire for our kids to know the story of the real St Nicholas who was a generous man who gave to many in secret
• And while celebrating and enjoying the festivities of American Christmas, along with pretend and surprises, we want to be fully honest with our kids so that they always keep Jesus at the center of every holiday

So, with that being said, we took Emilynn to a Santa at Cook the other day.  They have an employee event where a Santa comes and then there are refreshments and then a spectacular light and firework show.  Emilynn did very well...this Santa is a pretty great one, so while we got no smiles, she was super cute studying the jolly man!

Who are you, Mister?

Not one crack of any kind of smile

All smiles after meeting Santa

She loved the fireworks later.  We watched from a parking lot across the street and she didn't have to hear such loud noises.  She thought they were great... and they were!  Beautiful! 

Yesterday I took a couple of pics of her after church in her reindeer dress...pretty cute!

Simple Days

We have had a fairly simple week with lots of simple days.  We stayed in the house most of the day on Monday and Tuesday.  Emilynn had a stomach bug of some kind that made the week a little different, but because of that, the cold weather, and the need to just get some things done at home, we stayed in.  It was good for us.  Emilynn is a little bored of playing in her same spot in the living room where I can see her from all directions, but other than that, we've had a good time. 

I am learning to really like these simple days.  I have found that it is so important for me to plan.  If I don't plan, the week doesn't go smoothly.  I need to plan what days we will go out...even grocery shopping...and what days we will stay in.  I need to plan the days I'm definitely going to work out.  Since I work in the evenings, I have to think ahead about dinner and get things put together in the afternoon.  I have also learned that I have a flexible, scheduled baby.  I know that sounds strange, but it's true.  She is super flexible, but she would really prefer to nap in her bed.  That is when her best nap is.  So I make the best attempt that she is at least home for a good long nap in the morning or afternoon, but the ideal is in her own bed for both.  She is flexible, but doesn't want to have to wait forever for her solid food lunch and dinner and snack to come.  I'm thankful for both of these parts of her...  I've learned that we can do a couple of crazy days, but we need a couple of not-so-crazy days to catch up.  I want Emilynn to learn balance early on in life.  Sometimes it's hard to teach and model something that you are still learning...:)  Thus, the forever story of parenthood I presume. 

9 months old :)

One sleepy girl for daddy one night...this is her wearable blanket that she found in the living room and started to cuddle with. :) Too cute that she knew it was for sleeping...

This is where I find Emilynn most mornings after I set her down to crawl around...
I think she will like opening presents this year.

A cute girl and her doll

I love her profile... so pretty...

Emilynn pulled up on the side of the bed for the first time today!
I wasn't sure when she would do it...She has stood there forever or gotten on her knees,
but this was the first time to pull up all by herself...

She's a little unsure how she got there, but her Daddy says she did it a thousand times tonight when she should have been taking a nap. :)

Love her!

Cheese and tongue...funny!