December 31, 2012
For the last few days we have done nothing but rest and spend family time. It’s been sooooooo great! Ryan and I have had a last Ticket-to-Ride tournament. And we have slept in every day and rested. It’s been the perfect way to end 2012! Praise the Lord for rest and family time!
– Emily
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December 27, 2012
Well, after so many great days in a row, today was sad. Kari and Jimmy had to leave. Micah was sad the whole day.
– Emily
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December 26, 2012
Happy Boxing Day! We went to Spanish Wells today for the races. Micah raced in some of the races. He had fun, but he had trouble with the potato sack race. He fell and cried. It was a hard time for him, and it took him a while to get over it. It was a good teaching experience though. We had fun seeing all our friends there! And on the way back we saw dolphins in the Harbor! What a great day!
– Emily
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December 25, 2012
Merry Christmas! I woke up super early this morning, too excited! I woke up MIcah and everyone else because I was too excited to sleep anymore =) We had a fun morning opening presents. I got Ryan and mandolin! And he got me cooking stuff, and other fun things! MIcah got lots of toys, including what he asked Santa for, which is a Belle train from Thomas the Train. Micah also got a favorite present which is a desk from our friends in Spanish Wells. He loves his desk! It’s so cute! Then, after we opened presents MIcah got to Skype with Santa!!! Jimmy’s dad is Santa! It was great! He knew what MIcah got for Christmas, and he asked about Arf, which amazed Micah! It was fun! After presents and breakfast casseroles we went in the canoe (yes, all 5 of us!) to Windermere Island. We played over there for a while, and then came back for a delicious turkey! It was a great Christmas!
– Emily
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December 24, 2012
Christmas Eve! It was the perfect Eleuthera Christmas Eve! We went to Sky Beach with Kari and Jimmy. We had lunch, and the crazy ones went swimming (it was chilly brrrrrrr!) and we walked on the beach and played on the palm trees. Ryan and Jimmy climbed to the top of a really tall palm tree! We had a greta time playing on the beach! Then tonight Ryan read the Christmas story from the Bible, and we had a fun evening.
– Emily
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December 22, 2012
Micah sang “Away in a Manger” by himself in church today! Well, I helped him a little, but it was super precious! I was proud of him! The Packers played this afternoon and Kari got Ryan and Micah jerseys. They were cute! Kari and I made tons of cookies today too! I mean tons! And we had a fun evening playing games. We played Ticket to Ride and another game that I forget the name to right now, which is silly. It was fun though! I love our Christmas decorations!
– Emily
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December 20, 2012
We all went to JC today and Kari and Jimmy got to see the land, and we passed out Christmas cards to lots of friends. It was a fun day!
– Emily
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December 19, 2012
Big Day! Kari and Jimmy arrived today! Yeah! And it was the last day of school, and we had our class Christmas parties today. I am so relieved that break is here. I can’t wait to have a fun Christmas and rest!
– Emily
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December 18, 2012
I spent the morning in Governors waiting for a boat. Our wonderful friends from Spanish Wells sent MIcah a gift. They are great people! I had a nice time waiting for the boat. MIcah was with me, and we had lunch and had fun together.
– Emily
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December 17, 2012
Today was our Christmas Program at school. It’s a busy day for me because I am in charge. I was so proud of my class, especially my little 5th grade girl, who did a great dance! The program went really well! We did Minute to Win It games in-between the acts. I am glass to have it over with….less stress!
– Emily
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December 16, 2012
Power went out in church today. I love it that we don’t need electricity to have church! We read the candy cane story in Childrens Church and made ornaments. Then, after church, it was Packer time! Ryan told Micah that if Jesus played football, He would play for the Packers. MIcah thought that was funny! And Micah’s new phrase is “I like sweetness!” He says that when he wants candy or something sweet.
– Emily
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December 15, 2012
Last minute I get to watch Levi this weekend! Dale and Lisett went to Nassau. Micah is being so so good with Levi here. He is helping me with everything and he is being so sweet to Levi! I love watching Levi! It’s fun to have a baby around the house but it’s extra fun to have Micah helping!
– Emily
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December 14, 2012
Today was the staff Christmas party. We had lots of fun! We had lots of food and we had a Christmas gift exchange which was a white elephant and everybody had lots of fun! We work with a great group of people! God sure has blessed Windermere!
– Emily
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December 13, 2012
Ryan’s home!!!!!!!!!!! Hooray!!!!!!!!!!!
– Emily
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December 12, 2012
Micah calls Snoopy, “Snoofy”. It makes me smile! And he laughs and laughs at the Snoopy Christmas movie! Eccept when they say “stupid”, then he gets a grimace on his face and says “mom, they said stupid! Stupid is not a nice word!!” That makes me smile too! Today was a cookie baking day. Lots of cookies to be made for parties!
– Emily
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December 11, 2012
Today is one of those days that I will look back on forever and remember that God is faithful. Even when we lack faith and are totally undeserving, He is good. Ryan went for this tests today. He was really nervous, and by the grace of God I was still peaceful about the whole thing. But there was a time today when i had to leave the classroom to cry, not because I was scared though, but because Ryan was going through all this without me. I couldn’t be there for him, and that broke my heart. I wish I was there.
Waiting to hear the results was super hard. But it was worth the wait to hear them! Ryan sent me a text “the doctor’s exact words..”Ryan everything looks perfect.”” I also cried when I read that. The doctor said that his heart looks great, in fact, it hadn’t changed since five years ago, which is awesome! God is soooooo good! I am just so humbled by His grace and mercy! Let the celebration begin!
– Emily
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December 10, 2012
Today was a hard day but it was also really good! We got to see God’s faithfulness as Ryan went to the doctor the doctor said that he thinks that his heart is actually just the muscles around his heart and not his heart ,and that he looks good! He does have high blood pressure though so that will be something that will have to get fixed. I am feeling peaceful still, and even more now that I talked to Ryan. The tricky thing though is that he has to go back tomorrow for a stress test, and this test will be the one that determines when he will have to have surgery. God is faithful, and now we wait.
On a lighter note, Arf was eating ice cream when Micah woke this morning! And lately Micah and I have been talking in the car a lot about God. The car seems to be Micah’s thinking place, and he always brings up the subject of the Lord. I love that! He asked me today if Jesus ever got scared when He was on earth, and if God ever gets scared. Then he asked if anything can hurt God. What a tough question! I explained that nothing can hurt God, and in return he said in his own little Micah way “nothing but nails, right mom?” That sentence stopped my breath for a minute. I love teaching Micah about the Lord, and I love what Micah teaches me about the Lord. I am so blessed to have Micah in my life, he is a special gift from a God who is kind, loving, and gracious!
– Emily
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December 9, 2012
Today Ryan went to Ohio. I dropped him off early this morning at the airport. We were sad to see him go but it’s nice to he is in God’s hands and that He has him in His care.
– Emily
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December 8, 2012
Today was a really really good day. The bad news is that Dr. Gibson talked to Ryan tonight and he wants Ryan to leave in the morning for the United States for his heart so we’re praying and trusting that God has in his hands. The good news is that today was good! We went as a family to Sky Beach today and it was the most amazing afternoon. We had a great lunch and we walked along the beach and we jumped on the palm trees and climbed on palm trees that had been knocked over from the hurricane. We climbed way high and jumped up and down on them. It was really really fun! Arf had a fun night last night. This morning he had gotten out the bandaids and he was covered in Band-Aids! Silly Arf! Tonight Ryan and I sat in the back of the white truck on the seat and watched the stars for a while. It’s amazing how it takes something like having heart problems to just sit back and relax and just look at the beauty of God’s creation. We never take time to do that anymore. I am surprisingly at peace about Ryan having to go to the States tomorrow. So much that I have to pray that God will let me know that its okay to have peace, that it’s from Him. I feel like I should be more worried. It’s nice to know that people are praying! Times like these I can feel the effects of prayers!
– Emily
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December 7, 2012
Ryan is having chest pains today for some reason so he is off work. He went to the doctor and the doctor gave him four days of work so that’s good. The doctor doesn’t think that its his heart, he thinks its stress and maybe he strained the muscles around the heart. My school kids have been being crazy crazy crazy today!
– Emily
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December 2, 2012
Church was good this morning, MIcah was really wel behaved, and the Praise team sang Christmas carols. It was great! And I taught about why we put up Christmas trees in Children’s church. I was suprised (I don’t know why) when i asked the kids why we celebrate Christmas and most of them said because Santa brings us presents. It made me sad that even kids who go to church think that that’s why we have Christmas. And we talked about the shepherds a lot of them didn’t know about the shepherds. This is wrong! We should be teaching our kids these things not only in church, but at home! Today for our advent calendar with Micah we read “The Crippled Lamb”. It is such a special story! I had such a sweet time reading it to Micah by the light of the Christmas tree all cuddled up. Another good thing about today is that it was restful. I actually got to take a nap, and Micah did too.
– Emily
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December 1, 2012
We got to start our advent calendar today! I have a story about something about the Nativity for each day. Today we put up a shepherd and read from one of MIcah’s Bibles about the shepherds. I am so excited to be able to teach Micah about the birth of Jesus! It’s one of the many blessings of being a mommy!
On the not-so-spiritual side of things, Arf T.P.ed our living room last night. He was found rollong in a roll of toilet paper on the living room floor in the morning! Silly Arf!
– Emily
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