Holiday Happenings

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We have had some fun holidays this year.  But - we will ALWAYS ALWAYS miss Les.  Seems like holiday church services are what hit me.  He was always involved in some way - singing, praying, speaking, serving communion........ Those are such precious memories for me.

 We had a full table on Thanksgiving.  That's a bit unusual for us since we don't have a lot of extended family here.  This year was an exception and it was great!  My Alaska nephew Mark, his wife Sarah and their son Levi asked awhile back if they could visit over Thanksgiving.  Um, yes please!!  After they decided to visit, my Iowa sister (Mark's mother) also decided to visit.  Thankfully, it was my year with my kids AND my Wenatchee brother's year to be here at Thanksgiving.  We ended up with 23 at my table!  So fun.

Siblings

Alaska people

My girls and I had our third annual Christmas-shopping-in-Seattle weekend in December.  My niece Rachel lives down there, and she recently had baby Abby.  Our first stop was to meet baby Abby!  She was a chunk at 6 weeks old!  We missed Lily - she's in kindergarten - but had a fun visit with Rachel & Abby.  Come visit soon Rachel!

Seattle shenanigans - girls only, no boys allowed!!

A friend and I went out hiking on a nice day in December - prob the last sunny day before the rains came.  And now we have very cold temps and snow on the ground!  This is a fairly difficult hike but it's local and the views are stunning.

Raptor Ridge

For the Christmas holiday, my kids come on Christmas morning.  We have caramel rolls and open stockings.  Then we open presents.  Then its hustle and bustle to get Christmas dinner on the table.  My son-in-law Brett did a great job helping get the prime rib cooked up just right.  Such a treat!
Again, we had a full table.  We had Wiersma's,  Kooistra's, and some guests.  It was a busy day and I was pooped at the end of the day.  My heart is full tho, and I'm so thankful.

On the eve of Christmas Eve, I visited my friend Steve (and his wife Glenda!) who was recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.  We had a great visit - I can't wait to go back!  That same day I visited my friend Tom, who has ALS.  He was a good friend of Les'.  When we first met Tom about 3 years ago, he was walking and talking.  He was still walking and talking (although both were much slower) at Les' funeral.  Now Tom is in a care center and cannot move any of his limbs.  He cannot talk.  He uses his eye gaze device to spell out sentences.  (Weird thing - the eye gaze device SOUNDS just like Les' - brings back some memories!!!)  Tom is handling this disease very gracefully.  He and his wife Jen have two beautiful little girls, they are now 5 and 7.  Spending time with Tom is good for my soul.  It brings back many memories (feeding tube, suction machine.....) but it puts my world back in to perspective.  My devotional this morning worded it so well (from Jesus Always):  "My loved ones often fail to enjoy the riches I provide because of an ungrateful attitude.  Instead of rejoicing in all that they have, they long for what they do not have.  As a result, they become discontented."  And our sermon this last Sunday was on JOY.  Joy is not a giddy, excited feeling.  True joy is a "persistent gratitude of the soul - it staves off despair"  The good news of a Savior who is Christ the Lord is the source of this joy.  AMEN AND AMEN.

I will chose thankfulness and I will chose JOY.  Jesus is the reason for this season.