Christmas Day and Christmas Eve

Here are some pictures from Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Robb and I playing Guitar Hero (needless to say...I kicked Robb's butt!!)

Faith and Pierce
All the great-grandchildren (Brianna, Faith, Pierce, Roman)
Roman and Faith
Brianna and Faith
Faith getting excited to open gifts
Great Grandma Bosma and Faith
Faith admiring her new toy
Whoa....what's this mommy??

Merry Christmas

Christmas with the Miller's

Saturday evening we went to my parent's house to celebrate Christmas with them and my brother and his wife and their 2 boys. Faith had fun opening her presents (ok...maybe I was the one having fun opening her gifts!! LOL) Here are some pictures from the evening.

Fernando and Nicholay

James in his new coat!
Nicholay, Fernando, Kevin, Myssi and Mike (a friend that came along)
Nicholay and I
Fernando and I
Kevin, Myssi and Faith
Faith opening one of her many gifts from Grandpy and Grandmie
Faith admiring her one of her new outfits
Faith checking out one of her new toys
Faith having fun

Bed & Breakfast

James and I got away for 2 nights this weekend. We went to a B&B in Grandville. So we were still in town but we got pampered and just had some quality time the two of us. It was so much fun and we can't wait until we can go there again.

Here we are sitting on the swing Sat evening

Here is my honey buns!
Our spa tub!
Our fireplace

Wow...

...time sure does fly! Here it is Thursday and I haven't posted since Monday! We have been keeping busy this week. James had Cadets Monday night and it was their Christmas party. James got some yummy poppyseed bread. Sure was good. Tuesday James got out of work at a decent time and I ran out for a bit to do some shopping before coming home and making dinner and then our friends came over in the evening. Yesterday and today I hung out with a good friend. Last night we had them over for dinner and then us gals went shopping and then we went shopping again today! I got all my Christmas shopping done. Now I just have to wrap it all. That is the one thing I don't like about buying gifts...wrapping them! I am a horrible wrapper! That is why I am so thankful for gift bags. But I am actually going to try and wrap all my gifts this year. It's more fun to open gifts that are wrapped then getting them out of a gift bag. Don't get me wrong though...getting any gift is fun! :)
Faith is doing good. She's been doing really well on bottles and yesterday did really well on her cereal. I was impressed with how well she did! Although the past 2 nights she has decided it's fun to wake up and not go back to sleeep. I'm hoping tonight she sleeps the whole night. But if not, that's ok too. Gotta roll with the punches! She's also got this rash on her face that she woke up with yesterday. I've done research on it and it seems to just be a face rash and is caused by drooling (which she does a LOT of!!). Should go away on it's own in a few weeks. Totally normal for a baby. Faith has her 6 month doctor appointment next week and I'm gonna ask her, just to make sure. But I'm not too worried at this point about it.
We are happy to hear that Bob (James oldest brother) is home for Christmas from Afghanistan. I think he will be home for about 2 weeks. So glad that his kids are able to see him and spend time with him. It's been 6 months since they've seen him. And also happy that Bob and Susie can spend time together too. Sure will be nice for them to be together as a family for Christmas for them!
James and I are looking forward to spending Christmas this year with Faith. We are bummed as we don't have a lot of extra money to get her a bunch of things but we did get her an adorable little dress. (Good thing she can't read as she's sitting in my lap as I write this!!!) I can't wait for her to wear it. I think we'll have her open it Christmas morning when it's just James and I with her. We have lots of plans for Christmas this year. This Saturday we're going to be at my parents house with my brother and his wife and their 2 boys (foreign exchange students) and then on the Christmas Eve James parents and gma Bosma are coming over and then on Christmas Day we are going to my parents house again to celebrate with my mom's side of the family. Sure will be good times!
Not sure that I will be posting again until after Christmas so we want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Video of Faith

Here is a video of Faith getting on her knees and trying to crawl but then ends up rolling over. Hope the family and friends that haven't seen her yet enjoy it! And now that I've figured out how to post videos, I will be posting them more!

Did you know....

that there was a cat at the manger scene?!?! :)
Freddie likes to be on top of our entertainment center and he tries to blend in with the manager scene. How well do you think he fits it???

Pictures

Here are a couple of the pictures from Friday night when Faith and I visited my grandma Miller. Faith was obsessed with looking at my grandma and touching her face. It was cute!

My dad, grandma, Faith and I

My grandma and Faith
My mom, grandma and Faith

Busy Weekend

This weekend has been busy but good for us. Friday night Faith and I went with my parents to visit my grandma Miller in the nursing home. She will be 88 later this week and she is not doing real well. She has alzhimers (not sure if i spelled that correctly or not...). It's so sad for me to visit her when she's like that. Can't really hold a conversation with her at all. We got pictures but my desktop computer is acting funny so I can't post them on here (so thankful for our laptop so i can still post!!) but as soon as I can, I will. After that my parents came over and we ordered pizza for dinner and we hung out. Saturday James and I went to the movies with some friends and then out to dinner and then we all came back to our house. Today we went to church and then have just been relaxing. James is battling a cold right now so he's been wanting to just lay low, which I don't blame him!
Anyone else enjoying the snow? It's so pretty when it's untouched...I just love it! I'm hoping for a white Christmas!
Faith is one busy little girl! Right now she's on her playmat and talking away and trying to crawl. She's close...not sure when it'll happen. She's been doing good with her cereal. Today I tried sweet potatoes with her too. That was a hoot watching her eat it. She made the funniest face ever!! James and I burst into laughter. Hopefully she will continue to do well with eating. She's actually been doing really well on her bottles too! We are sooooo thankful for that. She was averaging about 15 ounces a day, which is 1/2 of what a baby her age should be drinking, and now she's averaging about 2o ounces. Makes us happy! She's getting there. She sleeps roughly 11-12 hours at night which is nice. We put her to bed around 8:30-9pm and then she's up around 8-8:30am for her bottle. Not too shabby!

Happy 6 Months

My sweetheart is 6 months old today! I can't believe it! She's getting big. Granted, she's still tiny, but yet she's so much bigger than when she was first born. And her expressions are just the greatest. She is always full of smiles. It's so fun!

The Golden Compass-movie

You've already heard about this movie which just came out...but this is probably the best, and easiest, explanation we've seen as to why Christians should boycott this movie. Tell your kids, grandkids and friends.

PRESS RELEASEOctober 31, 2007
Bryan Cutshall866-274-1501Church Trainer


Regarding The Golden Compass

THIS IS A PERSONAL MESSAGE FROM
DR. BRYAN CUTSHALL

Yesterday, I was handed a children's book by a staff member who said, 'I think you need to see this.'

The book is published by Scholastic and is part of a collection of books. The book I was given is called The Golden Compass. This children's book is one of the most alarming things I have ever read. What makes it worse is that a movie based on the book premieres in December. Both the book and the movie introduce atheism to children. The story ends with Adam and Eve killing God.

THIS IS A MOVIE THAT WE MUST PROTEST AND OPPOSE AS CHRISTIANS. Please educate yourself on this by checking out the links I have provided below and help me spread the word. Do not remain silent on this issue. This is a time for the family of GOD to stand together.

Dr. Bryan Cutshall
Senior Pastor, Twin Rivers Worship Center
Founder and CEO, Churchtrainer, Inc.

Focus on the Family has several notices written about it. You can click on this link to see one of them: http://www.citizenlink.org/content/A000005672.cfm

You can also read more about it below.

I checked this out at snopes.com; unfortunately, it's true... There will be a new children's movie out in December called 'The Golden Compass.' The movie has been described as 'atheism for kids' and is based on the first book of a trilogy entitled 'His Dark Materials' written by Phillip Pullman. Pullman is a militant atheist and secular humanist who despises
C. S. Lewis and the 'Chronicles of Narnia.' His motivation for writing this trilogy was specifically to counteract Lewis' symbolisms of Christ portrayed in the Narnia series.

Clearly, Pullman's main objective is to bash Christianity and promote atheism. Pullman left little doubt about his intentions when he said in a 2003 interview, 'my books are about killing God.' He has even stated that he wants 'to kill God in the minds of children.' It has been said of Pullman that he is 'the writer the atheists would be praying for, if atheists prayed.'

While 'The Golden Compass' movie itself may seem mild and innocent, the books are a much different story. In the trilogy, a young streetwise girl becomes enmeshed in an epic struggle to ultimately defeat the oppressive forces of a senile God. Another character, an ex-nun, describes Christianity as 'a very powerful and convincing mistake.' In the final book, characters representing Adam and Eve eventually kill God, who at times is called YAHWEH. Each book in the trilogy gets progressively worse regarding Pullman's hatred of Jesus Christ.

'The Golden Compass' is set to premier December 7, during the Christmas season and will probably be heavily advertised. Promoters hope that unsuspecting parents will take their children to see the movie, that they will enjoy the movie, and that the children will want the books for Christmas. Please boycott the movie and the books. Also, pass this information along to everyone you know. This will help to educate parents, so that they will know the agenda of the movie.

The Golden Compass A movie to avoid We need to get the word out about this movie - it is coming out in December - an atheist produced it,it is marketed for children and in the end they kill God. Send this to everyone you know. http://snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp

www.churchtrainer.com

Best Hubby Ever!!

I came home tonight from choir to find a new piece of furniture in my house! James got me an entertainment center for Christmas!! It was all organized and everything when I got home. The doors open and then slide inside which is exactly what I wanted. Thanks to everyone who helped transport it over!

Wrigley

Wrigley went to his forever home on Saturday. An elderly couple from Wisconsin adopted him. Here are a couple pictures of Faith with Wrigley and then the last two are of Wrigley's new family. So far Wrigley is doing well!

Yeah For Faith!!!

The dietitian came over today and weighed Faith...she weighs 11 pounds!! She gained 15oz in 2 weeks!!!! That is one of her best weight gains ever! I have noticed within the past couple days that her clothes are getting too small for her so today I pulled out her 3-6 month clothes and am packing away all her 0-3 month stuff! But, as I was going thru her clothes, it kinda made me sad as there are a lot of brand new things she hasn't even worn due to wrong time of year. And also makes me sad as there are a lot of cute clothes we got from Bob and Susie that she won't get to wear due to wrong time of year also. Shucks. Oh well. Maybe if we have another child and it's a girl, she can wear them. But I am so thankful that she had a good weight gain. I am also going to start her on cereal on a regular basis. I'm excited for that! Hopefully that will help with weight gain too. The dietitian and I also went thru a list of things that babies due at 6 months of age and Faith is doing really well. Especially since she isn't even 6 months yet! Praise God!!!

Pretty Christmas Dress

Here are a few pictures of Faith in her pretty Christmas dress.

Attack of the Cereal!!!!

So today I thought I would feed Faith some cereal. She was acting hungry and it wasn't time for her bottle yet so I thought I would try cereal. She has no idea how to eat it. Poor thing kept trying to eat the spoon! I think she got some, not sure though...what do you think??

Recovery

Yesterday was a hard day for me. I was in a lot of pain, more than what I thought I would be in. I had a lot of help though so that was great. Today I'm doing a bit better. I am alone with Faith and so far things are going good. She's doing really well. She's liking it that her mommy is paying attention to her. Poor thing didn't get a lot of attention from me Tuesday or yesterday. It hurts to pick her up and hold her so I'm trying to do that as little as possible. Which is no fun for me. I'm still in pain today but I am dealing with it as best as I can. I plan on napping when she does, which is hopefully soon! I'm ready for a nap.

Surgery Today

Wanted to let everyone know that my surgery went well today. James and my mom took me. I am doing ok. I am in a lot of pain right now but am hoping that will go away soon! I have 4 small incisions on my stomach. We got home shortly after 5pm and I've just been taking it easy this evening. Hopefully tomorrow will go ok for me. One of my good friends is coming over to help out with Faith so that will be nice. Then I can just take care of myself and don't have to worry about Faith.
Thanks for everyone's prayers. They have meant a lot to me.

Tomorrow = Big Day

So tomorrow is my surgery. Am I nervous? Yes. Am I wanting it to be over with? Yes. I am not looking forward to having surgery but at the same time I am as I want this pain to be over with. And I know that I won't be pain free right away after surgery, but hopefully it will be a different type of pain that I'm dealing with and one that I can handle better. I am thankful for everyone who has stepped up to help us out during this time-those who have watched Faith for us while I was at the hospital, those who have brought me to the hospital, all the prayers everyone has offered, and also for the help that is to come-meals, more prayers, and also those who will be taking care of Faith and myself. I am hoping that after this ordeal, I won't visit the hospital for a very long time!

ER Visit #4

So last night around 11pm James brought me to the ER as I was having extreme pain and couldn't get it under control. ER did bloodwork and also another ultrasound which all came back normal. So they just gave me lots of pain meds and we came home about 4am. If the tests would've come back abnormal, they would've removed my gall bladder, which is what we were really hoping for. I'm so sick of being in pain! I just want this over with. Oh well, three more days until surgery.

Pictures from Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was a busy but good day for us. We started out by going to church with James parents and then we visited with them for about an hour at their house before heading off to my side of the family for lunch and the rest of the day. Here are some pictures from the day.

Here is Faith with her Grandpy.

Faith and her Grandmie.
Faith and Pierce
Not too sure about this!
Faith and Grandma Overbeek and Great Grandma Bosma.
Faith sitting on Great Grandma Bosma's lap.
Faith, Grandpa and Grandma Overbeek, Great Grandma Bosma
Faith and her dad!
Faith and Uncle Kevin.