Family members came home during Christmas vacation. Not only did all three of my boys make it home, but my 2 sisters and brother were also in town. The nieces and nephews bundled up a few times a day to go outside.

Travis recently finished his graduate degree and has decided to settle in Houston, TX...the main purpose being to pursue a future with a certain young lady. This weekend he brought Emily up to Wisconsin so we could meet each other.

Julie (Justin's wife) went on a missions trip to Peru about 16 months ago. Emily was in Peru for the summer as a translator for missions groups. They met and became fast friends. Emily flew to Wisconsin to see Julie and had a chance to meet Travis. I wasn't there but I guess something 'clicked.' Travis went to New Zealand for school and Emily returned to Texas as a middle school teacher. They communicated for 9 months and saw each other twice.

She is a sweet, kind woman. It's been delightful to see them interact and hear about the growth in their relationship. God is doing good things in their spiritual lives too. We will wait and see what happens (with a grin and raised eyebrows).

It seems making cut-out cookies is a part of every December. Let the kitchen explode with flour, cookie sheets, sprinkles, and frosting! We had invited our friend Rain to come and join the fun. She was a good worker. Rain's dad stopped by to help, so afterwards we played some games around the table .

Luke just went through an adventure. It involved securing a loan, buying a used car, the car breaking down, getting things fixed, the muffler dropping off, receiving estimates, and selling the car. It happened over a period of a few weeks. I was amazed with how calm he can be in adversity.

I first met Beth 20 years ago, when she was six years old. I've enjoyed watching her change from a timid girl to a vibrant, confident young woman. She's quite a world traveler, loves acting in the theater, graduated from Asbury College, and is a leader in her hip, edgy church. During this Thanksgiving weekend she made one of our living room chairs her vacation spot...reading, visiting, and playing Nintendo DS. It was great having her around. I went with her to paint pottery, she shared some craft ideas, she made me laugh, and she wins my affection when she says, "nobody makes pumpkin pies like Aunt Sarah."

Seeing their eye color sometimes makes me catch my breath. I remember describing Abe's girlfriend as having 'sparkly eyes'. Then he marries her and they have five kids. Three of the kids have blue eyes and 2 have (my brother's) green.

Two cousins vying to catch the ball. So much pushing, strangling, yelling, laughing. So much energy.

During our vacation in South Carolina, John and I toured an aircraft carrier. It was interesting to see all the parts of the ship, read about different duties that a sailor completed, see the planes (I never knew they 'folded up' the wings and lowered the planes into a lower level of the ship), and rehear John's story about his dad: Wayne was in the Navy and their ship was docked when the 'plane elevator' suddenly blew up. Wayne just happened to be on watch that night and was safe from the explosion. However, his buddies were asleep in the bunk room next to the elevator and all were killed. John's middle name is in honor of Wayne's best friend (William),who passed away in that tragedy. I came away from the museum with sadness for lives lost in all the wars, and a deeper appreciation for all our soldiers.

There must have been a pasture on our land, because there are fallen fence posts and some rusty barbed wire traversing the property. John and I did some cutting and bundling of the old stuff. A bit of 'excavating' was needed to find the four strands of wire amidst the brush and weeds.

A friend came to visit. I met her in 1988 when we were room- mates at a High School camp. Jennifer lives in Arizona but flew here to enjoy some fall colors, have some relaxation, and laugh about old times. She is a hoot! Jennifer can start laughing just THINKING about something funny, and keeps chuckling so she can hardly spill the story. It makes my face hurt from smiling so much. We ended up experiencing snow in the middle of October, which gave her a thrill.

My dear friend is also in the middle of her life turning completely upside down, so there were hours of talking, grief, tears, explaining, sadness, anger. I'm thankful that Jenn had this opportunity to 'get away' and reflect. I'm heartbroken over her pain. She is running to God and resting in His promises. It looks like a long road ahead.

A great decision was made when I chose to wake early and go see the sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean. God's majestic paintbrush was different each day. We enjoyed a week of vacation courtesy of my kind sister-in-law, and I relished the warm sunny days that South Carolina offered.

Back when the nieces and nephews were here, John and I invited Isaac and Claire to our house for an afternoon. After playing with Legos & Polly Pockets and eating lunch, we walked to the river and jumped in to swim. Well, THEY jumped in. John and I cautiously waded out and flinched when our tender feet crunched on pebbles.

Mom has a milestone birthday in October, and Rachel suggested the three of us celebrate by attending a Women's Retreat at a nearby camp. There was beautiful weather, so we did a pontoon cruise, trap shooting, biking, climbing wall, rowboat and hayride. It was a refreshing time to meet other ladies, hear encouragement from the Bible, eat yummy food, stay overnight in a tiny cabin, and bask in God's gorgeous creation. Some mother/daughter chatting encompassed most of the weekend too.

Because of too much flower munching, we've been trying to trap rabbits and relocate them to a new area across the river. John has caught three, but the latest animal was a possum. He definitely played dead in the trap, but then would not leave no matter what angle or shaking John tried! We were laughing. The opossum would clutch the edges of the cage with his whole being, not willing to enjoy freedom. We ended up propping open the trap, leaving it at the park, then coming back to pick up the empty cage.

Another visit to our favorite camping site. Simplicity is fun. Fun to cook food over the fire. Fun to wash the dishes in a bucket with minimal water. Fun to climb into a tent when darkness descends. Being on vacation gives me permission to sleep-in, spend hours reading on the beach, and exercise in an outdoorsy/casual way. We experimented making "fry bread", stayed at the deserted campground during a long rainy morning, and biked 22 miles to enjoy lunch at a restaurant. Of course it's always great to get home, clean up with a long shower, and sleep in our own comfy bed.

Zeke usually just does his own thing, until he hears the 4-wheeler start up and then he drops everything and runs. His favorite word is 'no', except when it's time for sleeping...he easily comes into my arms, says 'night-night' to his siblings and sighs as he lays down in the portable crib.

Lucy is a sweetie who loves her bottle, crawls forward to grab a toy, is in the midst of starting baby food, and smiles when you greet her after naptime.

Isaac is the oldest in his family. He's starting first grade next week. I loved seeing his inquisitive mind at work. Once we were sitting eating lunch and he asks, "how does it go from day to night?" and another time he had built a tall tower with legos and asked, "how do earthquakes happen?" He can ride the bike around the house in 24 seconds, he can give smiles to his baby sister, and he can figure out lego structures fast by easily following the directions.
(Note the dirty feet. Mom's house took a beating!)

My brother's children are staying in town with Grandma and Grandpa. So that gives me oppor- tunity to drive out and play with them. Here are Claire (5) and Madalyn (4), two sisters who like to chum together: in the bathtub, at the fair, and at the picnic table.

We had a big fun (busy) weekend enjoying a Reunion with my mother's four siblings and their extended families. It was great to catch up with cousins and aunts and uncles, plus interact with all the kids. We had a large amount of youth ranging from 2 to 20 years old. My uncle recently lost over 50 pounds, my cousin is restoring an environmental nature preserve, my other cousin's family is living with Celiac disease, my sister participated in a triathlon Saturday morning and placed second in her age division, another cousin is on home assignment from their mission work in New Guinea, my aunt told me that two cousins are expecting babies, another aunt shared the differences of living in Singapore, and my parents courageously hosted the picnic.

Our church helps send Hmong students to a week of Christian summer camp. This was my third year in helping to organize the ministry. God allowed 14 Junior Highers and one High Schooler to attend. After camp one of the boys wrote: "God changed me by making me focus on God more and also I started to pray more and more each day and learning more about God, His powers and what He can do to be able to change my life." Another guy wrote: "My heart really opened this week to Jesus because He was the one who paid the price...So thank you Jesus!"

All the kids had a great time at camp. Jesus was spoken of, love was shown, friends were made. I am praying that some of these kids are 'good soil' and God will be glorified through them.

Hot air balloon rally this past weekend. We stopped by in the early morning to see some of these beauties inflate and lift-off. Must be beautiful up there, in the fresh air and quiet breeze.