Merry Christmas

Here are a few pictures of Ava in her Christmas dress.

Sophie & Ava hanging out in the nursery at church with their pretty Christmas dresses.

Heart wrenching video

I found this video through a friends blog - thanks Gina! You need to watch it. It will defintitely bring tears to your eyes. I felt led to share this because Christmas is in a few days, but also because we, including me, need to remember why we celebrate Christmas and be reminded that it's not all about the wrapping and unwrapping of gifts. It's about Jesus' sacrificial love for us. We need to think about how Jesus came to live on this wretched earth only to die for our sins. None of us deserve His grace, but by His grace, we can be free from our sins and live forever in His kingdom.

"and He Himslf bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed." 1 Peter 2:24

HFG Christmas Party

Last night we had our Home Fellowship Group Christmas party. For the one's that don't know what HFG is, then let me explain. Every 2nd and 4th Sunday of the month we meet at the Newell's house (no relation...that we know of) for a bible study and fellowship. Our church has about 10-15 different groups and they all meet in different homes. We usually talk a lot, eat a lot, laugh a lot, and learn a lot.

Last night we went caroling, ate A LOT of yummy food, had a white elephant gift exchange, and played mafia. Here are some pictures from the party.

Both of the Newell girls with Ava.

Action shot of Ava. I'm not sure what she was doing, but it almost looks like she is protecting her bear from being snatched up by Cate. She is getting really attached to that bear these days.

The Zobrist proudly showing off their gifts they ended up with.

Steve, Kristen, Amber & Lindsey playing mafia.

The Dillards

All the girls talking...and eating.The group!

We missed a few families that were unable to make it, but hopefully they'll be able to make it next year.

Thanks for a great night everyone. We had a blast!!

BED HEAD

Thanksgiving fun

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving this year. We had a great time with family. We drove to east TN to be with my sister and her family this year. We won't be seeing them for Christmas so we celebrated Christmas together too. I couldn't capture all the fun we had because with a house full of people it got a little nuts at times. But here is just a few pictures of what we've been up to.

First time Ava opened a present. The fun begins!!

We also went ice skating one night. I'm not an ice skater, but it was a lot of fun!

My sister and her family

After we went ice skating, we went to a light show at Bristol where the race track is. We had a very memorable time as we drove through to see the lights. The reason why it was so memorable is because we ended up waiting forever to get in to actually see the light show. I think we started around 7 and we didn't get home until 11. Keep in mind, we all piled in a van so we could enjoy it together. That makes 3 kids, and 6 adults in one van. It was a little exhausting and very uncomfortable. We all had a great time, but we were ALL ready to get out of the car! Here is a little example of how crazy we were going. (this is my sister...not me!!)

You're welcome, Annie!!

The next day we decide to stay home and bake some cookies with the girls.
Ava wanted to help too.
Now it's time to think about Christmas. Happy shopping everyone!!