Charlotte Bobcats vs. NY Knicks

Jamie, Rufus, Julianne and Daniel



Daniel and I.

Tim (Daniel's brother) and his girlfriend, Julianne.

I'll take basketball over football anyday...especially when I can sit 2nd row on the floor level for free! I've always enjoyed basketball more than football, probably because I know how the game is played and the rules behind each call (well not all the calls, but most of them I can follow). Last night my brother-in-law's girlfriend hooked us up with 2nd row tickets. Now, I am not claiming that we have the greatest team here in Charlotte, the Knicks aren't all that either, but it is fun to be up close at a game regardless of who is playing. (The only thing I didn't like was how close the cheerleaders were shaking their thing to us...yuck!) Here are a few pics of the game...Bobcats lost 89-93...it was close but so fun!!

a few pictures of the nieces

Daniel with Bella and Anna

Chloe on her rocking caterpillar thing that Santa brought her.

Emma Grace at our house 2 days before Christmas.


Bella


Anna and Chloe!

Malawi Update

I can hardly believe it. I mean, I can, but then I really think about it and then I can't believe it. I can't believe that in 2009 we will be moving to Malawi, Africa...6 months away! :) We are just until $16,000 in our support. My husband has been so good in following and tracking all the money that has come in over the course of the following 4 months. It has been so amazing to watch this money flow. We originally set a goal of $20,000 (half of the amount needed) before the end of the year. I think we are going to be really close! :) Thanks, God, for your provision for us and for giving us this dream and the ability to follow it! We are looking forward to what this New Year holds for our family! Bloggers: You can follow our Malawi updates and news, just click on our new logo on the right and it will take you to our site!

finally

I finally got the video posted from my post below titled "Good News of Great Joy"!

Merry Christmas!

Above is our Christmas card that we sent out this year. Merry Christmas blogger friends!
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ahhhhhhhhh....its Friday...and I am now looking at 2 weeks of Christmas break! This means no early mornings and the freedom to stay up as late as I want! I am not a morning person at all--on "school nights" I find myself getting anxious to get to sleep early so that I can have as much energy as I need to get up in the morning for my full days with my 4 year olds. I can't even tell you how excited I am to sleep past 6am each day. :) I have been looking forward to this break for several weeks now and I plan on enjoying every minute of it! :)

Good news of Great Joy

To say that this week has been challenging is only the beginning of it! In fact, since Thanksgiving it seems like my weeks have been full of challenges...packed full of things to do, places to be, people to meet with, etc. And though that really is no different from my "normal" weeks, these past few weeks have been laced with many challenges: confrontations at work, feelings of inadequacy, pure exhaustion, confused emotions, tension-filled conversations, holiday parties, telling my principal of our plans to move to Africa, the heartache from the brokenness of those friends around me, and the situations that face down my ability to give grace and forgiveness. It has been an overwhelming to say the least.

In light of it all, I found such a reason to be optimistic (there are always reasons to look at the bright side and see God's hand in these dark, challenging moments.)** Yesterday (Friday), I realized that my camera was still in my purse from Thursday night's Christmas party. So I got it out and started taking pics of the children in my class. We had just reviewed the beginning of the Nativity story and our verse from the week. They brought such happiness to my soul. I made 2 of the boys get up and say their verse again for me. All morning they had been bouncing off the walls...hysterically laughing at anything and everything...even the Bible verse. So they stood there, and as I recorded with my camera, they recited our week's verse with complete excitement and elation! Luke 2:10, "Do not be afraid! I bring you GOOD NEWS of GREAT JOY that will be for ALL people." As I am typing this I am coming to the realization that I am the one that needed to learn this verse this week. This verse was what the angel announced to the shepherd's outside of Bethlehem the night that Jesus was born. Maybe its a stretch...maybe not...but tonight amidst my confused and conflicted feelings of forgiveness, grace and anger I can hear Heaven tell me that I should NOT be afraid. Jesus has come and has laid it all in the open. He took on all these feelings on Himself and has called me into a new Kingdom...His forgiveness is there...His love is here...His grace is welcoming...and His endless mercy is for ALL people!

**The best event all week was the fact that Daniel got a promotion!! Yipee!...this deserves a post in and of itself!!

our Charlotte family

I really have no way of describing the emotions that I feel for the community that Daniel and I have here in Charlotte. It has been an amazing 3 years that we have spent with them (since Watershed's existence) and I am just in awe at the lives that God has allowed us to be a part of. True community. Never had I experienced what true community was prior to Watershed, I had moments and glimpses of this throughout my years but not consistently. (thats another post for another day). Back to the friends....there is so much that I love about each of these in the pictures below...the respect, love and acceptance of them is endless. Since most of us leave the city to visit our families during the Christmas week, we started having a "family dinner" early in December to celebrate the season together! We love it....and we usually come back together for New Year's Eve for another big party! So...this year was extra special for this group since half of the "fam" is leaving for Malawi in July (not mentioning any names here). We also celebrated the Grammatico's big move too. They actually aren't moving houses but Ryan and Ashley are getting ready to go back into ministry. We are very excited for this new chapter in their lives!! Ryan is going to be pastoring a satellite church for another church in the area...its been his dream that we all have literally sat around the table and prayed for since this time last year. It's amazing how we have seen many answers to prayer this year. So...Ryan and Ashley (and their girls) will be physically leaving our Watershed community in a few weeks...but their friendship will be lifelong! We love you guys!


Ashley had these boxes set out when we arrived. They are gratitude boxes (an idea she saw on Oprah). Throughout the night we each wrote a nice little something on a small piece of paper for each person and placed them in the box. It was such a sweet idea!!

Scott and Kendra (and someone's hands)

family dinner together (the last family Christmas dinner for a few years)

Rachael and Jamie

Our friends (from left to right): Jonathan & Kayla (they are going to Malawi with us, Scott & Kendra, Rachael & Matt, Daniel & Jamie and Ryan & Ashley.


reading our notes at the end of the night!

explanation of below post

Its not like I really have time to waste at all during the week...but, I HAD to do the Elf Yourself video. You may wonder about who are the elves? Its Daniel and I (obviously), the other three are my brother in law's and niece (Emma). I just laughed so hard watching it for the first time...its the best when you are at home and laugh out loud all to yourself. :)

a little holiday cheer

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

pictures that i like

I am still playing with my new camera...and having fun doing it. Here are a few pictures that I took recently that I like.

Thanksgiving Weekend

What a fun weekend we had...despite the 9 hours it took to get home yesterday! It was so great to see all our family (minus my brother Joel who lives in Berlin now) both in North Carolina and Northern Virginia.

Emma on Thanksgiving day.
Daniel and I relaxed Thanksgiving morning at our place. It was so nice to sit around drinking coffee and talking about our future. We reflected on what God has done throughout this year for us and how we will celebrate the holidays next year in Malawi, Africa. It was nice to just to have some quiet family time...just the two of us before the whirlwind weekend. Around noon we headed to his brother and sister-in-law's house where we had Thanksgiving dinner with Daniel's side of the family. After dinner and hanging out for a while, Daniel and I headed out and drove to my mom's house in NoVA for the weekend.

Anna spent the night at my mom's house so that she could see us in the morning. She wanted to eat whatever Daniel ate...and sit wherever Daniel sat. She loves her Daniel!

Friday morning, my mom and I took Anna to a bead shop to make some gifts for her mom and dad! She loves projects and loved making it all by herself!

Bella playing peak-a-boo in the toy cabinet.

I helped my mom put up her tree on Saturday...it has been a long time since we decorated together! We had a good time.

Saturday morning: the annual trip to the christmas tree farm with my Dad and Dottie.


so pretty...

The pressure is on to find the "perfect" tree this year.

"hmmm...where is that tree?"

Dad found it, Dottie approved and Daniel carried it away! :)

That night we had a family dinner at my Dad and Dottie's house. Here is my Dad and Bella.

Anna admiring the white tree in the front room. I was experimenting with the flash.

Teresa (my brother Jeremy's wife) holding Chloe and Daniel holding Bella!

Little Chloe...she is so excited about her first Christmas!

thanksgiving play

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving was the annual Thanksgiving play and feast for my grade (TK) along with the kindergarten classes and 1st grade classes. It was pretty cute...especially the opening prayer when Seth from TK (not my class) prayed and I quote, "Dear God, thank you for this day. I pray for all the people in all the different countries to be safe. And I pray for Eliza's sister to stop being bossy to her. Amen" Eliza is Seth's classmate...the whole audience was roaring in laughter...it was one of those priceless kid moments.

My class dressed up like Indians for the performance...we made our Indian vests out of white t-shirts...I dyed them in my washing machine (pretty easy) and fringed the ends, add a little puffy paint and I was done! :) The kids loved them.