Snow time!

We finally received our long awaited snow- and it was perfect snowman making snow! Hooray! As our good friend Lauren said, "you can walk through the snow and a snowman forms in the snow that's kicked up." You can't get much easier than that!

Christmastime...

We have tried to change our focus for Christmas this year. Not just because we've had to spend extra on gas for our car search and a rental car recently, but we had planned it months ago. We knew we wanted the children to remember the things we did as a family for the holidays, not what they received. We also wanted to help them give to others. We've sent a special card to Hawa, our sponsored child through World Vision, and we are excited to send her a special gift for her family this year. Last year Katy and I volunteered at the local Operation Christmas Child drop off center, and we decided this year that each of our children would be given a certain amount of money and they were able to each fill a shoebox for a girl (or a boy, in Stevie's case) their age. They loved it! We keep talking about their new friends, and wondering where they are and praying for them. You can still do this with your family if you send it in to them now...



http://www.samaritanspurse.org/


'>http://

Instead of loading the kids up with gifts, we asked them to choose one gift they'd like to have (they also will get a book and a stocking with candy, etc... in it), and we will pick 4 toys to donate (or more, as the spirit leads...). I really love what Ann Voskamp's family does...

http://www.aholyexperience.com/2009/12/4-ways-to-celebrate-christ-in-christmas.html (see number 4)

We've also been doing something fun together each day to celebrate Advent- I'm hoping to do a Jesse tree next year, but I felt that was a little too stressful this year to make the ornaments with a newborn. Instead we are following an advent reading from an advent devotional each day, and we do an activity as a family- we've made cookies, snow fudge, candies, paper snowflakes, salt dough ornaments, eaten a pomegranate, made monkey bread, made tree decorations, set up our fisher price and playmobile nativities (and played with them!), compiled a list of people that we could surprise with a gift (of cookies or candy) that don't always get remembered this time of year (for example, we give cookies to our mailman, and we're going to drop some at the police station, fire station, the bank, a local nursing home, etc...). There's so many more things that we have to look forward to, also- I'll try to get pics along the way.

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving up in Lansing. It's always such a fun time! The Lansing Harlans were able to meet Rebekah, and Erin had her family bday party. This was the first time that we didn't have snow when we were up there for Thanksgiving... In fact, when I was loading up the van, I said that. Then Hannah responded with "Oh, no, Mamma- I'm quite certain that there is always snow on Thanksgiving in Lansing." Soooo cute!

After Thanksgiving things got a little crazy. We went to stay at Nate's parents for a few days because Nate was going to preach at a church near there on Sunday. One by one the children became ill- then Bekah and I and eventually Nate all were sick in one form or another. We're still trying to recover. We also had our transmission go out- lots of fun! We're still figuring out whether we should just get a new van or not. We actually drove up to Villa Park (a town right by where my mom grew up and that I grew up visiting my grandparents in) to test drive a van that was a great deal. It was over 3 hours to get there and they knew we were coming. Guess what? They couldn't find the keys and it was going to take them at least until the next day to get a guy in to make some more. At least we got to see the skyline at Christmas (Erin came with and absolutely loved it!) with all of the red and green lights up. I love Chicago at Christmas!

Gotta love those newborn smiles!

Bekah loves to grin- she is probably my most good natured baby. None of my children have really been bad natured- but she just is happy-go-lucky most of the time... we all love making her smile. Note the obnoxious way that Sadie had to end our taping. She actually got right up into the camera with her nose when I tried taping later in the day. Ugh.

Erin is Five!

I wrote this on Erin's bday but didn't get to add in the pics until now...

Our sweet Erin Grace is 5 years old today... time flies! It has been so neat to get out her old baby clothes for Bekah and tell her how she used to wear them (Katy and Hannah were born in warmer months so they had a different set of clothes for the newborn sizes)- she loves being a big sister to a little sister! Erin is full of questions and giggles and loves to sing... and she sings so well it's hard to believe she's only 5- she can belt out songs better than those of us with training! Our Gracie Lou Who (who is now 3 more than 2!) picked out her birthday dinner (my homemade mac n' cheese with mixed veggies, hot dogs (Hebrew National), "home improvement salad" (aka watergate salad), and an ice cream cake from DQ (she found a coupon from my mother's day cake that hadn't expired, and was so excited to pick out the picture on the cake- a beautiful pink and white castle). She spent most of the day outside playing horses with her sisters, and then we had some family time after dinner. We had a grand evening and can't wait to celebrate our Erin with the Michigan Harlans over Thanksgiving, too!

An unexpected blessing

We had a rough 6 weeks or so before Bekah was born where things seemed to be breaking right and left... first the water softener, then the cordless screwdriver (that may sound like nothing, but I use it at least once a week or more!), the dryer caught fire (ahhh!), the blender (once again, it doesn't sound like a big deal, but I use it a few times a week for yogurt and fruit smoothies), the water pipes got clogged between our kitchen sink and our bathtub and it took Nate a couple of days to fix it, the dryer broke again, and finally, my breaking point...

At 9 months pregnant, you really are just trying to do the basics needed to survive so you can devote your leftover (ha!) energy to getting ready for the baby... and adding the extra stress of not being able to do laundry every day like I need to (when the dryer was broken twice and the pipes were being repaired) was not helping. Anyway, I was in the kitchen preparing food for our fellowship meal, and had been on my feet in the hot kitchen for three hours, when Katy's puppy Gloria peed in the middle of the kitchen floor. I asked Katy to clean it up, and she promptly asked Hannah to clean it so she could get back outside, and Hannah agreed to. I turned back to my carrot cake that I was mixing in my mixmaster, assuming the job was getting done. What I didn't know was that Hannah had been unable to find the paper towels (Katy had not brought a new roll up from downstairs like she was supposed to when she used them up). So Hannah decided to go out and play because she couldn't clean. Then Stephen decided to come RUNNING into the kitchen- when I heard his little feet padding in, I turned around- just in time to see him flying up in the air, literally with his feet up and his head down and then him landing on his head in the dog urine. Gross, you say! But I ran over and scooped him up anyway- thus getting it all over me, too. And when Nate walked in, there we were, both of us sobbing.In dog urine. But why were you crying, Colleen, you ask? Once I ascertained that Stevie was fine, it hit me that I had dropped everything when I saw him falling... including the scraper I was using in the mixer- and it was on! As soon as I turned it off and retrieved the spatula I tested the mixer and, sure enough, the timing was wayyyyy off (it had been off slightly before, but it was still useable)... and now there was no way to use it anymore. So it was the straw that broke the camel's back. Or the mixer that broke my spirit. Or whatever.
I only told 2 friends about what had happened- my friend Leigh, who I knew would sympathize with the craziness of it all and be able laugh at it with me, and my friend Dottie, who genuinely wanted to know what had been going on with us. Well, it turns out that Dottie's mom had just offered her her mixer, and Dottie had turned it down for lack of space. Dottie said how providential that was, and that she'd ask her mom if she could give it to me. Well, you can't imagine my shock when Nate walked in the door the next week with the mixer from Betty (Dottie's mom)... It was a Kitchenaid with a bunch of attachments- and she told me at church a few weeks ago that she hardly used it, so she's glad it'll be put to good use now. Boy, is it ever! Thank you Lord, and thank you, Betty!

I don't really have a name for this...

I love to see Nate with our children. With each new addition I have seen him growing more and more as a loving, godly father... it's wonderful to have someone with you every step of the way that is quite possibly more excited than you are (and believe me, I'm always excited about our children!) when you are pregnant and feeling miserable. There's a Caedmon's Call song that makes me think of our little family every time I hear it, and it makes me love them all the more...

Love Grows Love

you said to “put on a happy face”on a high school stage

but I read what you really meant

in your handwriting on a Bible page

you waited like you told me

though we knew it right away,

it took eight and a half more years

to finally say

I fell in love with you

and that love became something new

it keeps getting stronger

than we ever could have longed

love keeps growing more love

when we got the news

we had to call our families

and start painting the room

a nice, bright blue

our vows they started breathing

and they took on flesh and blood

and we held them in our arms

and tasted God was good

I fell in love with you

and that love became something new

it added a name and it added a smile

it keeps getting bigger every further mile

there on your bended knee

we sewed the seeds of our history

they’re coming up stronger

than we ever could have longed

love keeps growing more love