It's Christmastime!

This week and last week we have had off of school to enjoy Christmas, spend time with family, and just relax and slow down a bit. I have a few pictures of things that we've been doing these last few days...

The kids got to sing in church a couple of weeks ago. They were so much fun to watch! :)

Of course, we have been playing in the snow! We went sledding at our neighbor's house yesterday.... that was a lot of fun!

Our friends new baby just arrived a few weeks ago and all of us have had lots of fun getting to see her!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas season celebrating the Savior!

Blessings,
Marissa

Happy Birthday, Marissa!!

Today is Marissa's 16th Birthday and I just wanted to say how much I love her and how proud I am of her. She has been such a wonderful daughter, sister, friend and mentor. She has blessed my life in so many ways by being my best friend, my amazing sister, and my favorite person to laugh with, to sing with, to talk with, and to just be with. (: I love her very dearly and I am so glad she is my big sister!!

I love you, Marissa!!

In Christ,
~Andrea

To our family in Christ

To our family in Christ,

I just want to thank everyone for the blessing that you have been to us through blogger. We have met so many neat people and are so enjoying getting to know you all!

I was thinking the other day... "I really wish that I could meet some of these people in real life!" and then I thought..."One day we are all going to be able to spend eternity together!" How neat is that going to be?!?! Whether I meet any of you here on this earth or not, I am so excited to spend forever with you!!!

Thank you for the amazing blessing you all are! God is really using you and is raising up a generation of warriors for Him! Keep serving the King!
Love you all!
~Marissa

I do hope and pray that everyone reading this is going to be in heaven one day. If you don't know where you are going when you die, please take the time to find out. Eternity is a long time.

Labor Day with the Pendletons

Today we got to go to our very good friends the Pendletons for Labor Day.

It was a beautiful day here! :D

Being silly on the way to their house.

Of course, Dad wanted to look at the garden.... and the Pendletons were only too happy to let him pull weeds (he actually likes doing this! :D).

Apparently my brothers (after having three girls in the family) were deprived of "boy" toys.
They had SO much fun learning about Rescue Heroes.

Mom: Ian, can I tell you something?
Ian: You can tell me anything you want, just please don't tell me to stop playing!

Mom: We get to take these home with us!!!!

The Pendleton boys are all done with Rescue Heroes and the toys were looking for a new home....
My brothers were..... let's just say VERY EXCITED.

Talitha :D She is so sweet!

Luke and Andrea.....
More of this "camera fun" that I don't understand....
I don't necessarily like having my picture taken. :D

They have beautiful flowers!

I hope everyone had a good Labor Day!

In Christ,
Marissa

At the cottage

We got home from our friends' cottage last night. We had so much fun! Thanks for your prayers.

Well, most of our pictures got deleted unfortunately.... here are a few though.

Playing in the sandbox.
I believe this was the first day...
The pictures really aren't in any order, sorry.

On Friday we went to a farm up north. They had a squash launcher which was the biggest hit I think. :D

My Godsister Talitha and me

Campfire

Talitha turned two last week! Ian wanted to make her something. We didn't have any eggs, which made it rather difficult to find any recipes, but we did find this chocolate upside-down cake which didn't require any eggs. Yay! :D

When Ian found out last week that Talitha was turning two, he decided that he REALLY wanted to buy her a dress. He is so sweet! He and Mom picked her out one at the store before we left. It was really cute on her, but I don't think we have any pictures.

Elaina playing outside

Chester and Pendleton kids
Me, Seth, Andrea, Josh, Ian, Elaina, Talitha, Luke and Caleb

Family First!

Families are part of God's special design and should be treated as though they are part of God's design. It is so easy for people to throw away their families and turn to friends instead. Yes, God gave us friends, but our families came first!
Families are wonderful! It's like a having a play date and sleep-over with your best friend all the time! Making your siblings your best friends is amazing because if you can just get past your differences, ignoring them and seeing your similarities, you will find that buried underneath all of this, there is a real gold mine! The other thing is serving your family.
Often our fathers have wants and desires that they don't share with you, but if you asked them, they would be delighted to share these desires with you and love having your company while you help them. Our father is a HUGE gardener. He wished he had more land then we have, but makes the most of what we do have. He has almost thirty fruit trees on just a half acre and a garden that would make your mouth water! He loves having our help with planting, watering, and harvesting, but we don't do a good enough job at asking if he would like help.
When we do ask, we are hesitant at first, (mostly because it doesn't look like that much fun) but it turns out to be a blast just making our father happy.

We also want to love our families. Showing your family that you will always be there for them, enjoying life with them, and letting them know that they will come first, before friends and sports and anything else you might do is so important.
Have fun with your family! Simply playing with them and spending time with them shows them that you love them and that you care.
Families are God's gift to you. Enjoy one another, love one another, serve one another, and be each others best friend. They are there for a reason.

God Bless,
Andrea