We had big plans to head to the mountains and find the best sledding hill there. In our attempt to avoid the craziness of going to a Snow Park, we opted to drive around until we found a hill of our own. The trade for avoiding the crowds and having to pay to sled is to drive around for 3 hours. The first 2 hours were OK, it was still an adventure. Hour 3: the natives were getting restless. Namely, Josh. Just as was getting to his fifth plea that we "just go home already," we found a side road that was not gated and did not lead to private property. At the end of this road was a perfect area to sled. In the immortal words of Josh, "FINALLY!"
I immediately got out my camera to capture the beautiful, feather-like snow crystals.
Truly amazing.
I could not get enough of their sparkly beauty. When I touched it with my gloved finger, the crystals would stick to my glove and there would be tiny, shimmering feathers hanging from my finger.
After lying in the snow and experimenting with my camera settings, it was time hand the camera over to Shad and do some sledding!
He took this one of me. I kind of love it.
The munchkin.
This girl is so beautiful. This could be my favorite picture of her ever because it highlights her sweet demeanor.
This one, on the other hand, shows her crazy, wild side! It always comes out when she is with her dad.
It happens to Bethany too.
We're so cool.
We caravanned to the mountain with our neighbors and they brought their 6 month old baby, Jade. Or, Baby Jade, as we all call her. She was a major trooper out in the cold. Hannah spent a lot of time pulling her around on the sled and made it her job to keep Jade happy. Again, her sweet side.
This dude could not be stopped! He was soaked and cold and loving every minute of it!
After sledding down the hill several times, Shad decided it was time to go extreme.
It looks cool.
No big deal.
Whoah...
WHOAH!!
Smooth, like butter.
I love this picture of Shad. It may also be one of my most favorite pictures of all time.
Then he found an even better hill...and sent Josh down.
"Yes! I made it!"
"Oh no! I didn't make it!"
I love this one of Bethany. She just laid back and enjoyed the ride like a ragdoll. She would lie there for a second after the sled stopped and then jump up and say "woo hoo!"
We had the privilege of having Shad home for 4 straight days over the New Year holiday. I loved having all that time as a family.
We have big plans and much anticipation for 2016. We surprised the kids by telling them that we will be taking them for a week in Maui at the end of February. (I get a giddy feeling just writing that!) We are all so excited for that and the kids and I spend a lot of time planning everything we want to do there. Our main intention is to relax and have some quality family time together. We have never gone on a non-camping, non-road trip vacation together. This is a very big deal and so special. Shad and I have been scheming for a couple of months. You see, 2016 brings some big milestones. It actually started on December 16, 2015. Shad's 40th birthday! It's true, he's been an old man for 19 days now. (Did I mention his knee has been bothering him since his extreme sledding?) Fast forward to July 13, 2016. That day marks the 20th year that Shad and I have been husband and wife. (Kind of a BIG DEAL!) And then there's October 23, 2016. Another adult in this family will also turn 40. 3 guesses who that is...
As for anticipation, this one is HUGE! May 2016 marks year 2 of being registered to adopt a 0-2 year old boy or girl from Bulgaria. YES, THAT IS STILL HAPPENING! This could be the year we get matched with our Bulgarian Baby! While we are patient with the process, we are also SUPER excited for the day we get the call from our agency saying we have a referral!!! Because of all of the excitement and potential excitement/life changes/family growth/craziness of adding another member to our family/big birthdays/big anniversary, we decided some family time to bond, grow together and enjoy each other was necessary. And, since we don't know when the referral will come and because summertime is horrible for Shad to travel because of work, we decided sooner was better than later.
There are other things we are doing to grow as a family and as individuals. Each one of us has made one or two goals for the new year and we are all asking God to help us accomplish them. And as we work as individuals to move towards our goals, we are also working together as a family to encourage each other and pray for each other through the process. We are also being intentional to do family devotions 3-4 times a week. This month we are going along with the theme at Sunday School and learning about self control. After we do our devotions, we all pray together, for God to help us with our goals, for some specific friends that we met in Haiti and for our sponsor son, Berkat, that lives in Indonesia. I love hearing the kids pray for kids they don't know and seeing their outlooks on life change as they look outside themselves and their lives. I think it's been life changing for them and for Shad and I.
I want to mention one more change that Shad and I have made. This actually started about 6 months ago. We have gone through a TON of personal and marital changes since June. God has shown us that we had a good marriage, but there were some changes that we could make to have a great marriage. They were not huge things, but they were huge things. So, one of the ways God has shown us how to have a deeper intimacy with each other and Him is to start praying together in the evenings. We have both always prayed individually and together with the kids, but not just us and for us. We pray for our marriage, our relationship with each other and God, our sex life, our attitudes, our kids, how we spend our time and our money, for Shad's work, for our families, our friends, Haiti, Heartline and what ever else we feel needs to be prayed for. Praying together has been MARRIAGE CHANGING! It opens us up to a greater emotional intimacy that we have never experienced before. This is probably the most important marriage change we have ever made.
By the way, if you want to be stretched and learn about having an extraordinary marriage, then you need to read this book.
Read this book WITH your spouse. Do the study questions and discuss them TOGETHER. It will be hard and scary at times and it will stretch both of you. But they are all for the good of your marriage. We read this book with our small group and it was HUGE for Shad and I. Consider it. It could change your marriage and you!
It is with excitement, anticipation and a little trepidation that I say:
Welcome 2016!
1 comment:
hi mom nice blog.
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