December 31, 2010
Once again I have neglected writing journals for a while. My New Year’s Resolution…again…write one every day! This year I wrote one every day until March, which I was very proud of! Maybe this year it will last until April!
Right now we are in Wisconsin. We have had a GREAT trip so far in the States. We arrived December 14 to Ohio and spent that week with my family there. We went sled riding one night with Jeremy and Katiera and the kids to Firestone. We went down the big hill once and MIcah had fun, but then he didn’t want to go down it anymore. He did however run up and down it each time Ryan and I went down. It was fun to take him there and share that part of what I did as a kid with him and Ryan. Micah loves playing with his cousins! And, we brought Tag home with us too, turns out he has mange mites so we’re getting him all better from that. He’s doing better than we thought adjusting to the cold too! Micah loves the snow now, but when we first got here he would say “snow too cold!” We were able to go to the Pfeister Christmas party. That Saturday Ryan and I met up with Unlce Ray and Aunt Bobbie and Aunt Becky and Katiera and the kids at the Salvation Army and we put together and passed out over a hundred boxes of food that we delivered to families. I love doing that with my family! I think it’s a great tradition! The next day, Sunday, we had the official party at Uncle Kent’s house. I was scared that I would spend the whole night chasing Micah around trying to keep him out of trouble, but I forgot that now there are tons of kids his age in our family! There were tons of kids which meant tons of toys for them to play with! It was so fun to watch them all play and open their gifts! I had fun catching up with my dad’s side of the family too. And Kari got to come with us to the party which was fun! The adults bought lottery tickets and exchanged them this year. We didn’t win anything, but it was fun, and Kari won some. After the party, at around 8:30, we left to drive to Wisconsin. It was a long night of driving, especially for Ryan and Kari who were pretty goofy by morning, but we got here safely. We have been having fun here in Wisconsin, but Ryan got sick and eventually had to go to the doctor. He’s better now though. The family gift this year was skis. We only got to go cross country skiing once so far. I am hoping to get better at it and maybe enjoy it more as time goes by. There is a lot of snow! Christmas was fun! We went to church on Christmas Eve, which was ok. RYan’s dad had to run sound though and his mom had Praise team and I had to take care of Micah in the nursery, so we didn’t get to sit all togather, but then for the next service I sat by myself in the loft because I read some scripture in the service. i was great to be able to sit through the service by myself though. They talked and sang about Christ’s love through the service, and since then I have been thinking a lot about the love of Christ through Christmas. Christmas day was fun too. I love that Micah had so much fun! He loved to open his presents and was excited about everything, even the clothes he got! I got some fun things for making jewelry and a Bible Study that I am SO excited to do, and lots more that I love! Micah and Ryan got me a necklace too! After present in the afternoon we went to Appleton to Ryan’s Grandma’s house. It was a long ride with Micah, me, Kari, and Ryan’s mom in the back seat with Micah’s car seat. we survived though. We had a fun evening with the whole family that night. We got the game Wit and Wagers that we have been playing a lot. It’s a really fun game! Micah had tons of fun playing with our cousins! THen the next day was Flunker Family Fun Day. They played football. We had high hoped of Micah playing, but we were left with only his tears and screams in the snow. Oh well, maybe next year. We watched the Packers that night and MIcah had fun sliding down the stairs with the kids and running around yelling “go Packers!” We left the next day after dropping kari off the airport. Ryan and I got to go on a date a few times, we went to a little diner one day for lunch, and Taco Bell one day too.
Micah has been having some bad dreams lately and he has been scared of the dark. I don’t like when he’s scared. It’s very sad. I have spent a lot of time laying with him and praying with him and explaining that he doesn’t need to be afraid because Jesus is always with him. Last night he slept good at least. He’s super duper adventurous! He will jump over things and onto things all the time, and he loves to up on the little trampoline! He jumps from one corner of the couch to the next with no fear! It scares me to death of course and I have to pray a lot that the Lord would protect him! He loves cupcakes, and says “cupcake” in a very funny low, slow voice! It’s the best! He still loves letters and he’s getting better at his numbers too. He can count to 14. And he knows all his shapes including a paralelogram and trapazoid, which we taught his yesterday. He’s so great! He loves to play games on the ipod touch. There is one where you make cupcakes and pretend to eat them. He actually tries to lick the screen! It’s very cute! He repeates everything you say!! Everyone has been having a lot of fun with that! He’s like a parrot. Some things are not so good though.
hristmas was fun because he learned all about the christmas story and could tell us all about Baby Jesus and Mary and Joseph and everyone else. I pray daily that he understands Christ’s love for him. He has been having fun with Ryan’s mom and dad since we’ve been here. He had fun making cookies with grandma (Mimi) and he feeds the deer with grandpa (Papa).
To tell you the truth, 2010 was probably the hardest year so far for us. I am glad that it’s over. But even through the hard times, the Lord has blessed us. I have the BEST husband, and the BEST little boy, and the Lord has held us in His hand and supplied all our needs, above and beyond. We have grown a lot this year, and we’ve come to know and love the Lord more this year. I pray that even through the hard times the Lord has used to to bring glory to Himself. And I am so very very thankful for all He has been to us, and has given us, that we do not deserve. His grace and mercy have been abundant! And, Praise the Lord, sufficient.
– Emily
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December 4, 2010
We had a good day today as a family. We rested a lot and all played together a lot. Ryan taught Micah that “tooting” is funny. Ryan would make a toot noise and Micah would crack up laughing! It was very funny! Tonight we’re reading “The Crippled Lamb” and glueing cotton balls on a coloring page of a sheep. I’m excited!
– Emily
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December 3, 2010
Today was the first day that Micah really colored with a purpose. Until today he really just scribbled when he colored, but this morning we were coloring and he colored in the little tree and bulb perfectly! Tonight I had this plan to have him color a picture, which I figured would take like 5 minutes, and then read The Legend of the Christmas Tree and do our Advent calendar. Well, it took him over an hour to finish coloring in the Christmas tree!!!!! He was coloring it with thin markers, and he tried his very best to stay inside the lines and cover EVERY part of the tree!!! He did a great job! But by then it was past his bed time. We still read the story though, and he loves to take the little nativity person out each night for our advent calendar, so we did that too. I love how he’s old enough to do more at Christmas now! Today he also was singing “Santa Baby!” It was cute! He went around going “Santa Baby, Santa Baby” over and over!
This afternoon we all went to the beach to search for sand dollars. Let me tell you, it was COLD! If I ever want to go to the beach in December again, talk me out of it! We didn’t even find any! I did however find lots of tiny starfish and a giant jellyfish! MIcah had lots of fun! He only time though that he came up to his knees in the water was when he saw a spider and screamed until I came in from the sand bar to get him. We had fun at least as a family even in the cold! And we got to bundle up in blankets when we got back to the house.
– Emily
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December 2, 2010
Ryan and I went north to pick up the mail today while Micah was a in school. Ryan’s mom sent a package with extra train tracks for Micah and he played with them all day. We had fun! And Ryan is teaching in Rock Sound these two weeks, so he had class in the evening.
– Emily
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December 1, 2010
Micah and I went to Pam’s today, and Micah wasn’t really being himself. In the beginning of the trip he said his tummy hurt, but then he said it was better. But when we were about 5 minutes from home he started crying and threw up everywhere! It was so sad! Ryan helped me clean him and the truck up when we got back, and the rest of the day Micah took it easy. He said a few times more that his tummy hurt throughout the day but he never threw up again…Praise the Lord! By the end of the day he was feeling better and back to his normal self. I think the gingerale helped…not so much for his tummy as much as his attitude..he loves “bubbles”!