Christmas '07 Recap...

Even though this is a little late...here is how our Christmas was spent:

This is our Christmas Card we choose from a previous post

(of course it was cropped and had a decorative border)

So Christmas with family "officially" began on Saturday, December 23rd with a trip to Papa Bill and Grandma's house out in the country (Daniel's mom's parents). We woke up early in the morning because we knew we had long day ahead of us. Here are a few pictures (provided by my mother-in-law) of our trip to the farm.

After spending the morning and afternoon there, we said our goodbye's and drove to Georgia to see my dad's side of the family.

We spent Saturday night celebrating the birth of Christ (yes it was early) and eating great food, having satisfying family time, and of course opening presents.

Sundy morning we woke up (at our cousins house), drove to our aunt and uncles house and had a delightful brunch with the family one last time before we had to hit the road. We left Georgia around 2:30. When we got home, we quickly changed and got ready for more family time with Daniel's dad's side of the family.

Monday morning...well we slept in! Yeah...our activities did not begin until that night. On Christmas eve night, we went to my grandparent's house (mom's side) to enjoy time with them.

After time at my grandparents house, we went to my parent's house to open gifts since we would run out of time with them on Christmas morning...i forgot my camera so I don't have any photo's...sorry:(

Then on Christmas morning Daniel and I woke up and had a very sweet and special time of reading the Christmas story and singing happy birthday to Jesus followed by praise and prayer. Then we got up, and exchanged our gifts to each other...here they are

preface..please excuse the way I look...i literally rolled out of bed!

My PIANO from DANIEL!!!

Daniel opening his gifts...I wrote him a poem

more poems...

its A....IPOD TOUCH...yeah! He loved it!

opening Madie's gifts

*there will be more to come on another post...keep watch because I know you can't wait! :)

Reflection

As I was reading in Hebrews this evening, I was struck with this verse:

 "For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating as far as to divide soul, spirit, joints, and marrow; it is a  judge of the ideas and thoughts of the heart. No creature is hidden from Him, but all things are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him whom we must give and account." Hebrews 4:12-13.

The author of Hebrews is intriguing...although I know his writings are inspired by God, his writing style is interesting.

The One True God!

I am a person who does not like the unknown...meaning what will I be doing in 10 years, will I have kids one day, how old will I live to, even small things like where and what time will we be going to Atlanta for Christmas this year. I am such a planner and want to have things on my calendar ASAP! I don't know why God created me this way (another unknown) but He does show it to me in the strangest ways.

With Daniel and I preparing to go to the mission field, there are alot of "unknowns" for example when will we go? How long will we be there? where will we live? Are we going to have kids while we are there? What language school will we attend? and so on (I think you get the point). Through this God has taught us to COMPLETELY rely on Him...because that is all we can do! Daniel and I (being the planners that we BOTH are) have maped out exactly when we will do what for support raising and the training we need. Then out of no where (or what I think is no where), God comes in and says WAIT! I am in charge here, you are suppose to seek my guidance and my will for your lives. Daniel and I immediately panic because we are no longer in control of our plans--this happened today by the way.

So...here is the point of my whole post...I was preparing the 4k/5k lesson for this coming Sunday (I have been putting it off for 2 days) and right after our plans got thrown off of wack I sat down and this is what I read...Jeremiah 29:11 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” And then I read this little excert...God's purposes for us are beautiful. Maybe something in his plans does not make sense to you right now. Ask for help, and God will show you in time just how perfect his plans are for you. Don't be afraid; he will never let you down. You can always count on God.

Wow...all I could think and even say is that there is absolutely NO WAY that this is a coincident, but rather a providenctial, all-knowing God, encouraging and guiding one of His sheep! And to think I was blown away by 4 and 5 year old material! Give praise to the One True God today...I am.

Happy Birthday!

I wanted to wish my Dad a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY! He is the best father in the world and I love him so much! SO....HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!! I have to preface this by saying that my Dad absolutely dreads getting his picture taken, so most of these are from my wedding and one from the beach...only for the lack of pictures I have! ENJOY!

Christmas Card

We took pictures today (finally) for our Christmas cards that I hope to get out early next week! Here are a couple of pictures we might use. Which one do you think we should? WE NEED YOUR INPUT!!

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I know...

Ok, so I know I promised you that I would post pictures from Ryan and Sam's Wedding, but I took so many that I thought I could just give you the link, and you could look at them yours! Here is a sneak preview of what is to come from the pictures I took...





It was BEAUTIFUL...they are truly in LOVE with each other! Oh I almost forgot...here is the link http://picasaweb.google.com/danielandmagen/RyanAndSamSWedding12012007