Christmas is always special.  This year it was extra special for my wife and I.  Since we are in the process of adopting 2 boys, this was our first Christmas with our kids.  It’s been 4 awesome months since we had them placed in our home.  We had so much fun buying them gifts and spending time with the family.  We also threw a birthday party for Jesus and had cake, etc.  It was truly a wonderful day.  We were also blessed with having a white Christmas.  A very cold but white Christmas.  I think we ended up with at least 7 inches of snow and the snow drifts from the 50mph wind conditions made it even deeper in places.

Last year we flew up to Seattle to my family for Christmas and was stuck in about 18″ of snow.  It started falling a couple hours before we landed and didn’t really stop for a day or two.  So we are blessed to have two white Christmas’ in a row.  In fact if we would have been in Texas this Christmas we would have had a white one as well. (very unusual)

I love the Christmas lights too.  This year we took the boys to a city park with all these lights and it took FOREVER, but we enjoyed them and had fun even though it was a late, late night for all of us.

Christmas – the Birth of Jesus:
Luke 2:8-16 (ESV)

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And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear.10 And the angel said to them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

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Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!

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When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.

Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow.

I am very thankful for a lot of things this year.  There are far to many to list.  But a couple of my top thanks.

• My lovely Wife
• My 2 Sons (who we will be adopting soon)
• My family and extended family
• My Church and their faith.

What are you thankful for this year?

Please have a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday and weekend.
1 Chronicles 29:11-13

11 Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all.12 Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all.13 And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name.

Easter that is.

Our church is amazing and we had an amazing day.  God is good!  They did a drama skit and it was amazing.  I hope to post it here once I get a copy of the video when I update the churches website.

After church Leslie’s parents came back and had a huge Easter dinner.  Today there was no need for appetite suppressants that’s for sure.  So now we are soooo full.   It should be nap time I’m certain.  So now just kicking back and relaxing since her parents are gone.  The weather is clearing up and I might actually get out and do some lawn work, but I might just chalk it up to a restful day of nothing.  I do have a couple of movies to watch however.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter today.

Good Friday, the Death of Jesus, the Start of Easter weekend and Jesus’ Resurrection!!!

NIV:

32Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. 33When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. 34Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

35The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.”

36The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar 37and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”

38There was a written notice above him, which read:|sc THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.

39One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!”

40But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? 41We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”

42Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

43Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”
Jesus’ Death
44It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, 45for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.

47The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.” 48When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away. 49But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.

Wishing everyone a very Happy New Year, including my friends, family and blogger friends, etc. etc.

Happy 2009…

It’s Christmas time, and that usually means lots of chocolate, goodies, candy, etc.  Also means a time to use a acne treatment. It’s not often, but this time of year adds to the potential.  This year I did pretty good, since I cannot eat most cookies, but the candy and chocolate, yeah I did a good job with those.  In fact I will have to leave some behind.  I just cannot eat it all.

Hopefully I will not break out.  So far so good, but with today being our last day with family, I just might have more cause in 2009 no more.  Now on to some healthy cooking.

Wishing everyone a Very Merry Christmas..

It all started about 4am when the alarms went off and we hurried to get ready in time for the shuttle to pick us up.  Once we got to the airport I slightly freaked out since there were hundreds of people in the ticketing area.  Thankfully they all were not going to the same airline as us.  Security was very light at 6am and in fact we just walked up with no line to wait in.  Then the normal wait before boarding, etc.  So as we begin to board and we pass through the first area my wife and I heard a crackle in the radio and they said to halt boarding for a potential maintenance issue.  “Oh great” was our first thought.  So what we did was sit or should I say stand in between the plane and the boarding area on the Jetway.  I knew from past flying experience that if we got on the plane we were stuck and they would not let us off for any reason.  So we just stood there watching these people look over the plane.  After awhile we asked the boarding agent if we could come back out to the seating area and she said if we did they would have to take us off the plane.  “oh great”  So now we wait in limbo.  After awhile we hear that there is a dent in the plane and they are talking with corporate about it and people on the ground were taking pictures, etc.

So to make a longer story shorter, they finally take everyone off of the plane and we go find some comfy seats and sit it out while they fix this dent.  We were supposed to take off at 7:30am and I think we finally made it about 1:30pm.  So we had a nice 6 hour delay.  What we were really worried about was the pending storms that were going to hit Seattle.

Yep we didn’t beat them, in fact in snowed about 1″ I do believe before we got there.  I swear we were going to slide off of the runway.  As I sit and write this on Christmas Eve, It’s snowing again.  So far 2″ this morning on top of the 10-12″ we already had on the ground.  So looks like this will be a white Christmas after all.

It’s so beautiful to watch but we are stuck with a car that is not snow worthy.

More trip updates later.

When we got ready to head up to Seattle for Christmas we ended up having to take 3 bags to check on the airlines.  We have 1 big bag and 2 medium bags.  The airlines as you might know charge for extra checked bags.  I wish we would have thought about it sooner so we could have just bought another big bag so we could have only checked two.  So while we are here we are going to check out some big pieces of luggage and maybe even some Samsonite luggage.

Alaska only charged us $25 for our extra bag, so we are thankful for that, but if we can get through the snow and possibly buy a bigger bag.  That way we will not get charged for our flight home.

Home for the holidays and now the food is all around.  Although I love this time of year, and the food that comes along with it, I do not like trying to watch the weight..  I mean come on food is awesome during the holidays.  But for some maybe dropping some Leptovox and doing some work outs.  But if your like me, you probably do not want to work out while your on vacation.

Now there is a 24 hour fitness down the street, but since it just started snowing again, don’t think the car will make it and the wind chill is freezing…

Later:
My story of our trip yesterday and all the snow that fell last night.