Christmas Day

I didn't take the time to post on Christmas Day, but if I had, this would have been it! I love Christmas hymns. We taught Joshua and Abigail the first verse of Away In a Manger this year. We start out by singing everything but the last word of each phrase and let the kids fill it in. They catch on really fast...although during the catching on period things can get really funny. (We sing "The little Lord Jesus asleep on the..." and Abigail sings "bag" or "head"!)

Anyway, here is the text to one of my favorite ones.

Let all mortal flesh keep silence,
And with fear and trembling stand;
Ponder nothing earthly minded,
For with blessing in His hand,
Christ our God to earth descendeth,
Our full homage to demand.

King of kings, yet born of Mary,
As of old on earth He stood,
Lord of lords, in human vesture,
In the body and the blood,
He will give to all the faithful
His own self for heavenly food.

Rank on rank the host of heaven
Spreads its vanguard on the way,
As the light of light descendeth
From the realms of endless day,
That the powers of hell may vanish
As the darkness clears away.

At His feet the six-winged seraph;
Cherubim with sleepless eye,
Veil their faces to the presence,
As with ceaseless voice they cry,
"Alleluia, Lord Most High!'"

Christmas Lights

Here are a few pre-Christmas pictures! Christmas Day pictures to follow soon!


At the Christmas lights in Hopeland Gardens in Aiken, SC














Opening stockings at Grandpa and Grandma Evans' house














Grandpa and Grandma E. with the children
















Grandpa E. helping Baby Esther with her stocking















Family picture at Hopeland Gardens!

Winter Leaves

Well, it's been a nice, warm 75 degrees here for the past week or so. It doesn't exactly feel like Christmas! Joshua and Abigail helped Adam rake up the leaves in the front yard yesterday. They had a ball jumping (and being tossed) into the pile! I wasn't so sure that Abigail would like it, but she wanted to do it over and over!

The kids have all been sick for the past couple of weeks, but everyone is better now. Esther is sitting up really well now and has started to crawl a little bit. Abigail is talking so much! She's constantly asking "what's that?" and she repeats just about everything. Joshua is pretty much completely potty trained now. He hasn't had an accident for several weeks now. He's still in a diaper at night, but he woke up dry this morning! He's been just full of compliments lately. He tells me that I'm a "sweet one" and a "pretty one" and that I "look like a kangaroo"! (That's a good thing coming from Joshua!) He's always telling Abigail and Esther that they are pretty girls and he's declared both of his grandmas to be "sweet ladies" and "pretty grandmas"!

Here are some pictures...enjoy!

Parties, Repairs and Letters

Wow! Time really flies. I can't believe it's been almost a week since I last posted. Here are a few pictures from our week. It's been a busy one. Adam found out that he's been accepted to dental school!! That's a huge answer to prayer and we're really excited and thankful. Joshua and Esther have been sick. Joshua's much better now, but Esther still has a nasty cough and a runny nose...her first sickness. She's teething too, so she's been a little extra fussy. She's sitting on the floor beside me playing with a Christmas stocking while I type. :-) Enjoy the pictures!!



Adam with his acceptance letter!















Esther sitting up all by herself :-)



















Adam took Abigail to his office Christmas party last night while the rest of us were at choir rehearsal. Abigail was so excited about the "pahty".



















Abigail and Esther loving each other



















Joshua helping out with the ceiling repairs

Geneva Bible

Be sure to go have a look at the new Geneva Bible Pages that are for sale! These are really neat...they are individual framed pages from a 400 year-old Geneva Bible. They would make wonderful Christmas gifts for just about anyone! You can view and purchase them here as well as at the Vision Forum website. And while you're at it, go over and visit Kim C.'s blog. If you post about the Geneva Bible Pages on your blog (like she describes), you'll be entered into a drawing for a free framed Geneva Bible Page!!