New Year's!!!

For the second year in a row, I was blessed with the opportunity to spend 5 days in Kansas City, MO at the Onething conference! It was such an awesome time!! This year the conference had an emphasis on End-times, which proved to be beyond interesting! We headed out Dec 28th & came back Jan 1st. I believe there were 18,000 in attendance - it is always so awe-inspiring to be amongst such a large number of like-minded people!

For New Year's Eve, we had 2nd row seats on the left side...so we were pretty close to the stage. The people in front of are the "dancing" section.

My camera didn't want to take very good pictures. Plus, I'm so short, I couldn't get a good view of the arena.

I stole, ehem, borrowed this picture from the IHOP facebook site. It's a clearer shot of the stage & attendees....from about 1/4 of the way back from the front! It was packed! The worship & teachings were absolutely amazing (as always)! And the time we spent as a group, fellowshiping with and ministering to one another were beyond words!

Christmas with my boys!!

Amanda, Jeremy & the boys were at her parents for Christmas. We had to delay our get-together because of the slick roads. But I did get to see them before I left!

It was too cute! As soon as Aunt Meredith got there holding a bag of presents, they knew what was going on! We told them they had to wait until Judson was up from his nap....so they spent a good 20 minutes telling Amanda "I really think Judson wants to wake up right now"! Too adorable!

I'm not strong enough, though...I caved. (Or maybe it was Amanda, but probably me!) They got to open their individual (non-sharing) presents before Judson woke up. Josiah is 5, so he's a pro at this Christmas present opening bit!

Jonathan got a Cars shirt that lights up. I didn't get a picture, but I'm pretty sure the shirt went about within half an hour after opening. It was a big hit! My favorite thing was hearing him say "I think...it's another box!" I'm sure that was a learned phrase either from Daddy or an uncle......hmm....maybe Grandpa.....


Finally, they got to wake Judson up to open his presents (and the shared presents). I'm convinced that I only need to get bags filled with tissue paper until the 3rd Christmas! I love watching kids open presents!


Ah, I did get a picture of the Cars shirt! They got books to share, as well as a puzzle book that they played with. They each got clothes. I really wasn't being cheap. They're moving to Brazil within the next few months, and I was honestly thinking of shipping prices for their mama!


I'm so thankful I got to spend time with the Tylers this year at Christmas! Especially since they will most likely be in Brazil by the next one. Hmm...do I sense a sub-tropical Christmas trip coming? Possibly! No, really, I have an invite from Jeremy - to the jungle...he wants to take me where I'll get be-headed. Amanda said I can come 2 times - in the city & the jungle. She must want to spend time with me before the be-heading! It's good to have best friends that go way back! :)

Christmas!!

I believe it is official. I love to take pictures, but am really the worst person to take pictures at gatherings. I get too involved talking (I know, no one can believe that! haha) and I forget to take pictures! So here's what few I have...

I think I went a little overboard on the goodies for no more people than we had. :) But it was fun! I really liked the white chocolate/peppermint fudge recipe!

Here was our true entertainment for the evening! Parker! It's been a LONG time since there were little ones at our house for Christmas. Jen & I are close in age, then Chelle follows by 2 1/2 years. So, yeah, it's been over 25 years since we've had a baby at the house on Christmas! He is such a happy baby and was so much fun! I'll have to get a copy of the pic where he & I are playing a piano duet!

Jeannine, Aunt Peg & Jen are all modeling their new scarves & hats. I got a loom this fall and had a blast! They all look so cute!

And the tradition continues....We actually open presents on Christmas Eve night. So when everyone else leaves, we clean up quickly, then pile all of our presents to one another under the tree. And this is the last picture I took - not a single picture of present-opening. Guess I was just too excited!!

Mom's retirement party

OK, so it's been a long while coming, but Mom had her retirement party on Columbus Day - even though she officially retired on September 1st. She was really fairly weak here, but it seemed strong to us at the time. I am so thankful that God doesn't let us vividly remember really bad and tough stuff sometimes. I don't want to relive those months for anything...and I know Mom doesn't either.

The girls in Mom's office know she's a big Christmas person, so she got tons of snowmen stuff & a really pretty Thomas Kincaide clock that plays a traditional Christmas carol every hour. It provided lots of pretty musical entertainment for us!

In this picture, on Mom's left is Judy Walsh. Mom & Judy are old-school nurses who worked together at the hospital WAY back in the day - before all us children came along! Judy hasn't been really well for a while either, so it was a huge surprise to see her there. Mom was SO surprised that she came, I think she almost cried! It was really sweet.



Rita, one of mom's co-workers in Respiratory, got Mom the singing snowmen from Hallmark! Another big hit at our house through Christmas!

For your retirement, the hospital counts your years of service, then you pick an item out of a catalog that matches the amount they spend for however many years. Mom saw this painting in the catalog and decided it would be hers. It's entitled "Sunday Morning" and it is really pretty - very peaceful and serene.
Mom's retirement was a strange moment for me. When it was all said and done, my mother worked at Clay County Hospital 32 years out of the last 40. She started working there in high school, went to nursing school, left a few times haha, but always went back. This time she had been there I believe for 18 years.
CCH seems more like a part of our family than actually family members sometimes! My mom worked there forever. Daddy worked there - that's how he & Mom met. I worked there all through high school and college. And now my sister works there. So we've made and maintained many friendships throughout these years!