Life as a Yowler

This has been one of the craziest December’s we’ve ever had. Between the last minute trip we just took(which we’re still trying to catch up from), and some other things that have come up, I am realizing how much I rely on God. Seriously, I can’t do anything on my own. It’s all because of him. I’ll recap on our week.

After we returned from our weekend in Troy, we had the Christmas program Sunday at church. Joah was a shepherd and Brielle and Caed were both sheep.

The good news is Joah has moved beyond his years of stealing the show with his wiggling and hyperactivity. The bad news…..Brielle hasn’t.

As you can see, she really suffered from the wiggles, causing the excessive sheep shedding.

It was a really cute program and a lot of fun to watch. The sheep kept everyone entertained.

I was on nursery duty during the service, and snapped a picture of these cute girls in their Christmas dresses.

We got some new Christmas dishes and had a celebration night with sparkling grape juice.

Our elf keeps us laughing each day at the things he does.

The croc tried to snag him from us, but no worries. He was saved by the moose. Caed kept saying “oh thank you Mr. moose” over and over.

Bethany got the girls these adorable dresses when she went to Africa. Isla has finally grown into hers.

We’ve been trying to soak up as much of our friends, the Shupe’s, as we can. They have been such a blessing in our life, and we love them like family. What better way to bond, then with bubble teas from Emma’s coffee shop.

This girl is at one of my very favorite stages. At 14 months, she is learning and growing and changing each day. I love to watch her learn and discover new things. She has so much excitement and joy over the smallest things. It truly is one of the best stages. I know from experience now, just how fast it goes. I’m trying to treasure each day with each kid.

Brabdon grew up in Ohio. His whole family still lives there. Ever since we moved to Michigan, we have gone down to Ohio to celebrate Christmas with his immediate and extended family. We had plans to go down before Christmas this year and spend a week down there. Brandon had a business meeting a few days ago. He was lifting heavy furniture and hurt himself. He had a hernia repair surgery two years ago. He immediately knew the hernia was back after he lifted the furniture. This put a halt on our travel plans.

He called the doctor and they set up an appointment with the surgeon as soon as they could. After meeting with the surgeon, they advised not waiting until after Christmas to have surgery. They had an opening on Friday(tomorrow) and they advised taking it. So here we are the week before Christmas, with a surgery happening tomorrow.

Any normal person would stay home and recover after surgery. I offered to take the kids to Ohio after Brandon’s Surgery and let him stay home and rest and recover. But Brandon….nope. He is insisting on tagging along. Let’s keep in mind, he can hardly handle a common cold. So tomorrow morning at 10am Brabdon will be cut open. Tomorrow afternoon I will take a whiny and drugged Brandon, along with 4 kids, and drive them all to Ohio. You can pray for him. You can also pray for me. Somehow it will all work out.