acting out the nativity story

Mom put me in charge of directing the christmas pageant this year. It's always a precarious task with lots of expectations and emotions to sort through. This year I had to figure out how two girls could be Mary, a dilemma that often ended in tears in my own childhood. This year we had a Mary switch up during Angels we have Heard on High in order to accommodate both Mary's. We also had a Frozen princess visit the baby Jesus, as well as two firefighter helicopters from Fire and Rescue. 

We sang The Little Drummer Boy with Grandma Margaret and played the drums on our legs, there was a flute and keyboard duet by Mary 1 and the Wise woman and this year's surprise highlight was Simon playing the Star Wars theme song just after I read the portion from Matthew telling of the star that led the wise men to the babe. 

Harriet's baptism

Harriet was baptized when my brother and his family was in town. It was a really nice morning that included Sunday worship at the church we all grew up at, family pictures, a little luncheon and her super special baptism service led by her grandpa Paul. We had promised Elsie that she could wear her Frozen dress for the baptism as a compromise because she wanted to wear it the whole morning but we knew she needed to wear something a little less spectacular for family pictures. But it was fitting, I thought. Baptism is all about proclaiming that we recognize that Harriet is God's kid and we promise to raise her to know her Creator, hear His voice and to know Jesus as her Savior. She is a daughter of the king...which makes us all princes and princesses. 

This blog as become so fun for me to look back at Ivar and Elsie's special milestones. Here is the post I wrote for Elsie's baptism. And the post I wrote about our decision to have our babies both baptized and dedicated.

harrington family christmas

Based on my pictures from our five days together, it would seem we sledded most of the time. But actually, I just recognizing that I have a thing for sledding pictures. They're colorful, bright, happy and it appears that I have taken more pictures from the two times I was with the kids when they went sledding than all the other events. (But don't worry Mom! I have more and I'll post them next...)

You may have noticed that when my brother and his family come to town we stop everything and hang out. It's the best. I love that family so much, and soak up every second together. And now that my kids are getting a little older I have the joy of watching them interact with their cousins. And their cousins are so good to them. They helped them while sledding, played camping, included them while playing jailbreak and I am so grateful for every one.

I decided to call this slight change of elevation in our field Aunt 'n' Uncle Mountain because it required an aunt or an uncle to get each kid's sled moving in the right direction. :)

groves family christmas

2015 was a HUGE year for the Groves clan. Jack graduated high school and started at Evangel University. Madi graduated college and married Chace. Sara released one incredible new album and Troy is breaking fundraising records for International Justice Mission. Our family had a new baby and built a new barn. Kirby, Toby and Ruby got a new puppy. Marlene and Madison celebrated 50 years of marriage. And Josie got her drivers license!

Jack is super talented at making videos and put this one together after our annual Stocking Day (full details here) on Christmas Day. This video is an awesome visual of how family-centered that day really is. Be sure to watch for Hattie on the couch near the end, and all the visitors she has as the rest of us were packing up.

hello 2016!

The new year is here, and I'm hoping to get caught up a bit. This morning I took down the Christmas tree and I had two very sad kids. They thought it could stay up until next Christmas and I was clearly stomping on their joy for not hearing them out. But their protest was symbolic of how great of a Christmas we had. It was packed full of family time and our hearts are full. In the past week we have had the Groves Christmas, the Harrington Christmas, Harriet's baptism, a visit from my Uncle Mark, an outing to see Star Wars followed by an all family sleepover at my mom's, the clan out to our farm and last night we rang in the 9:00 new year at a friend's house where there were four babies under 3 months! 

And now we're here: January 1st.

Usually on the last day of the year I post my favorite annual blog post, The Best Of post. But that hasn't gotten done. I'm about half way through sorting through the (tens of?) thousands of pictures we took in 2015. And the rest is just going to take a bit of time, though I still plan on posting in January. I love working on that post as much as I love publishing it. It's fun to process the year through every single picture.

And I've been thinking about my one-little-word for the year. I loved my word from last year and sincerely lived into that word. And I think I've landed on my word for the next 365 days and am eager to share.

So that's my little new years update. I'll be back with christmas pictures, 2015 best of pics and my one-little word. Eventually.

Happy New Year!