Christmas in Oklahoma.

Sunday, December 30 we loaded the van and took off right after church for the long drive to Oklahoma.  It turned out to not be so bad.  We made it to our hotel in Shawnee in exactly 12 hours.  The kids did great for the most part.  I mean, who can blame a 2 1/2 year old boy for wanting to get out of his car seat after 8 hours.

Monday morning we headed to my mom's house.  My brother, Kirk, and his family from CA along with my sister, Kelli, and her family from Michigan had come as well.  We enjoyed celebrating Christmas together.

The kids with their cousin Ezekiel.

Our fam with Gramma and Papa Bill.

Kirk and Tamra with their sons Kyle (16) and Ezekiel (17 mos.)

Kelli and her kids, Caleb (almost 17) and Hannah (15) with Gramma and Papa Bill.

Christmas in Michigan

We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with the Sheckler family in Sparta, Michigan.  It was a pretty relaxing time of playing games, going to the movies (well, Kevin and his siblings), eating and just hanging out.

Grandpa Sheck's tree.  Even at 82 years old he is so gracious to put up his tree every year knowing his grandkids will love it.

 How many can we squeeze around the table?  15 adults.

Kevin representing Michigan.

Game time!

Selah cuddling with her Grandpa Sheck.

 The Sheckler boy cousins.  Hmmmm...will Isaiah grow to be as tall as them....6' to 6'8"?

 The ride home.

Christmas at home.

We enjoyed celebrating Christmas at home before traveling to Michigan and Oklahoma.
Here are some pics.

Our gifts.

Our gifts.

Our precious children.

Amazing to think how God loved us so much He sent His son to earth.

As a baby.

To be the sacrifice for OUR sin.

Heartwrenching.

Loving.

Sofia (8), Selah (5), Isaiah (2 1/2)

Our handsome son.

Our beautiful daughters.

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Friday, December 21 was the last day of school.  What better way to celebrate than to host a birthday party for Jesus and that is exactly what we did.

Families from the neighbourhood and school joined us for a time of eating, singing, and reading of the Christmas story.  Many of the families were either born or lived in a different county so we had appetizers from Haiti, Venezuela, Poland and India.

The cake was multicoloured layers representing the gospel.  Brown for our sin, red for the blood Jesus shed on the cross for our sin, green for the newness of life we have in Jesus and white for the purity of Jesus.  Candies decorated the top for the sweetness in having a relationship with Jesus.  It was fun to see the kids not only eat their cake but look at it and hopefully gain a greater understanding of their/our need for Jesus.

Gymnastics, gymnastics, gymnastics.

Back in March or April I posted how Sofia had been asked to start training for competitive gymnastics.  She was training two hours, two days a week.  We were quite proud of how she was progressing.

Come August I took the kids to open gym.  The head coach approached me and said he would like to increase Sofia's training to four days a week.  And he also encouraged me to have Selah join the training team and begin coming two days a week.  Kevin and I discussed it and a couple of days later took the girls for a tryout.  Both girls were definitely ready for the appropriate level of training.

So since August, Sofia trains Mondays through Thursdays 4 - 6:30 p.m. and Selah trains Monday and Wednesdays 4 - 6:00 p.m.

(I will post later about how we can afford this.)

Here are a couple of pictures of the girls doing some of their skills.

Sofia's bridge.

Sofia's middle splits.

Selah's bridge.

Selah's split.

 And what does Isaiah do?  Well, after spending quite a bit of time in the waiting room with mama, as well as observing his older sisters at home, he has some skills of his own.  Ha!

Isaiah's splits.

Isaiah's bridge.  Actually a coach told me he does a very good "table top" for 2 yrs old.

Good bye, blue car.

This past Thursday Kevin said good-bye to his beloved and trustworthy Toyota Corolla after 13 years and 195,000 miles.  He bought it brand new in February 1999.

Our "blue car" was our only car from 2005 to 2008.  Our "blue car" brought home each of our children from the hospital.  Our "blue car" had been a great source of transportation for errands, picking up people for church events, and just getting Kevin back and forth to work everyday.  Being that we are a family of five, however, the "blue car" didn't fit us all safely.  Three car seats just didn't fit across the back.

On Thursday we were able to give the "blue car" to a single mom in our church who was in great need of a vehicle.  And how were we able?

A couple of months ago a family in our church gifted us their used Chevy Tahoe.  It needed some work but we were fine with it and very grateful.  The "black truck" is definitely wide enough for all three kids to sit in the back and it is a great vehicle for Kevin to use when helping people at church such as moving.

God is so good in providing EVEN BEFORE we knew we had a need.

Big boy, big bed.

It finally happened.  Honestly, I didn't know if it would ever happen.  Isaiah just had no interest at all in climbing out of his crib.  Not that it was a problem.  It actually was wonderful.  Every night we put him to bed with no troubles of him getting out.  Each morning upon waking, he would call out to us for us to come get him.

Then a trip to Grandpa's took place over Thanksgiving.  Isaiah's usual sleeping spot at Grandpa's was a pak-n-play.  This time around Isaiah was just a bit too big to sleep in it.  This meant sleeping in the big bed with daddy and mommy.  Isaiah loved it!  He even slept in the big bed all by himself during his nap time.

Upon returning from Grandpa's I figured why go back to the crib.  So, even though his sisters were in a big bed by 18 months and 2 years old, 2 1/2 year old Isaiah now has his own big bed.

The funny thing is, he still calls out to us each morning for us to come get him out of bed.  And that is okay by me.

Better spent $70

In the previous post I mentioned that Kevin and I just couldn't justify spending $70 on a tree this year.  Today God showed me exactly why we weren't to do so.

Each Christmas Kevin and I enjoy giving Christmas goodie bags to the many people who serve in Children's Ministry.  We do so in hopes that each person will know how much we appreciate them.  Serving in Children's Ministry isn't the most glamourous or most popular place to serve in a church.  Think crying babies, diaper changings, wiping noses, active preschoolers, and somehow trying to sing, pray and read Scripture in the midst of all the activity.

This year we tallied 85 people who faithfully serve in at least one area if not multiple areas weekly or monthly. Areas of service are Sunday School, nursery, children's church and AWANA.

This morning I put together my recipe list and the needed ingredients for the goodie bags then headed to the store.  After filling up my basket and checking out, what was the total amount?  You got it.  $70.  Well, $72.16 to be exact.

God is so good.  He provides.  He reveals what is important and what isn't.  And when it comes down to it, people, HIS people, definitely override a house decoration.

In search of a Christmas Tree

It is December 1 and you really wouldn't know it by the weather.  Today is almost 60 degrees.  In the 7 years that we have lived in Illinois, it is the first December 1 that it has not snowed.

For the past five years we have put up a fake tree.  This year I wanted a real tree.  So being that it was such a nice day, we decided to go in search of the perfect Christmas tree.

 And search we did.

But alas, all found were some great photo spots.

 Due to this year's summer drought, the farmer said that the supply was limited.  They did, however, have some BEAUTIFUL pre-cut trees for sale for the pretty penny of $70.

Kevin and I looked at each other and just couldn't justify spending $70 on a tree when we have a perfectly good fake tree at home.

So home we headed.  We left without a tree but we did have a great time as a family running through the trees, drinking hot chocolate, and enjoying the fresh air.

Eight is great!

Today our Sofia turns eight years old.  Pretty amazing.  She has definitely brought much joy into our lives.  Sofia is a second grader who loves gymnastics, school, friends, and family.    

It isn't very often that you catch her without a smile.  And where does her smile come from?  Her heart. A heart that is growing in its love for Christ.  A heart that is learning about the world and its need for Christ.  A heart that expresses her inner beauty.  A beauty that surpasses her outward beauty.  

We love you, Sofia Jane!!

Can't complain.

The other night Selah and Isaiah were tasked with the job of cleaning and setting the table for dinner.  Here is a picture of them hard at work.

 Yeah, I can't complain.  They accomplished their task and they did so working together.  As for the feet on the table....we'll work on that at a later date.

Storybook Character Project

Sofia was assigned a project due October 24th.  The project was to create her favourite storybook character out of a vegetable/fruit.  Along with her creation she was to write a book report about the storybook.

So who was Sofia's favourite?  No surprise....Nancy Clancy, better known as Fancy Nancy. This summer Sofia read the first chapter book about Fancy Nancy.  It was "Nancy Clancy:  Super Sleuth".  And why is she her favourite?  Fancy Nancy loves mysteries.  Fancy Nancy likes to solve mysteries.  Fancy Nancy likes fancy things.

I enjoyed watching Sofia go about accomplishing the project.  First of all, she made a list (much to her daddy's delight) of what she would need.  I then took her shopping for the components.  A gourd, googly eyes, yarn, jewels, cloth and pipe cleaners.  Then she set about creating with her glue gun and materials.

Sofia was so proud of her creation.  Fancy Nancy in her fancy sleuth jacket with a jeweled-magnifying glass for solving mysteries.

Shining Her Light

It is our prayer for Sofia and the words that daddy says to her most mornings before she heads off to school, "Shine for Jesus!".

A couple of weeks ago Sofia shared with us that something special had happened at school that day.  She shared that some of the lunch teachers noticed that she enjoyed helping Vanessa, a special ed student, on the playground.  The teachers asked Sofia if she would think about eating lunch at Vanessa's class table everyday because Vanessa was the only girl out of 10 students.  Sofia didn't even have to think about it.  She   answered the teachers right there and said she was willing.

We as parents are so proud and thankful for her heart.  It didn't surprise us when she shared this development because last year she had volunteered to be the helper for Yvonne (a little girl in special ed) in gym last year.

Sofia's willingness to help someone who may not think, act or look like all the other students is definitely a way she is shining her light for Jesus.  

Chicagoland CBU Alumni Dinner

California Baptist University is not only Kevin and mine's alma mater but a place we both worked at for many years.  It is a very special place to us.

According to the Office of Alumni and Parents, there are close to 50 alumni who live in the area and there are 10 current students from the Chicagoland.  Who would've thought?  I mean, Chicago to So Cal is quite a distance but hey, when you know it's a great university you go, right?  :)

Anyway, we had a great time at the Chicagoland CBU Alumni and Parents Dinner.   There were 10 alum and one parental unit in attendance.  Interestingly, 4 of the 5 guys are pastors and being that all their wives were alum as well, it made pastor's wife the most popular role of the women alum.   Another interesting thing, I graduated the longest ago (not sure how to state because I wasn't the oldest age wise).  However, being that we worked there for so many years, we already knew the other alumni.  I had actually been the admissions counselor for a couple of them and a couple of the others I was the Director of Mobilization when they served on an ISP team.  Of course, they all knew Kevin as the postman.

Here's a couple of pictures from the evening.

From left to right:

Standing:  Jacobs family (son Sam current student) - Alex Huerta ('09) - Mike Parsio ('96) - Mark Rogers ('02) - Nathan Brown ('96) - Keri Sheckler ('92) - Kevin Sheckler ('03)

Seated:  Lisa Blough ('07) - Jen Parsio ('96) - Stephanie Rogers ('03) - Danielle Brown ('99) 

  FUTURE LANCERS!!!!

It was a fun evening remembering the old cafeteria, swapping stories of certain professors, laughing at stories of pranks, asking who knows who and where they are nowadays but most of all it was a time of giving thanks.  Cal Baptist for many of us was a place for us to figure out what we believe and why.  It was a place that introduced us to our spouses.  A place that gave us lifelong friendships.  Thanks, Cal Baptist!

We'll try again.

All I wanted was a picture of my kiddos in the beautiful fall leaves.  Unfortunately Isaiah did not wake up from his nap in the greatest of moods.  And with the trees about bare I'm not sure I will get a perfect ideal picture. Ha!  That's okay.  This is life. 

The girls, however, were more than willing to pose.