Time to say goodbye....

2 weeks can be eternity, or they can just fly by. These past 2 weeks have flown by. I have so looked forward to Christmas vacation this year. Not just to have 2 weeks off of school ( which I won't complain about!! ) But no, this year was special. Jonathan and Melanie came home. How I have missed them.

2 weeks came.....and 2 weeks went.

Sunday came and it was time to say goodbye. I promised myself that I wasn't going to cry like a baby. And I didn't. Or haven't. :) I didn't cry while I said goodbye. But once I got in the van to go home, I cried. And I cry now. There is such a void felt when your family isn't whole. And having that family present for a while makes the void even greater when they leave again.

We pray for Jonathan and Melanie every day on the way to school. The kids have even gotten in the habit when it is their turn to pray to mention them. We pray for safety, wisdom and direction in their lives. We pray for them to stay strong and united together. We pray that God will meet their every need. And now we especially pray for Melanie as she is pregnant. We pray for extra strength and comfort for her.

I am so grateful for the time that God gave us all this Christmas. I really do feel like special memories have been made. Time was freely given and smiles and laughter were shared. It was wonderful.

(I can no longer say that I haven't cried like a baby) :0)




I cannot wait till we can see you again. Maybe this time it will be me flying to Hawaii!!

This is my friend Sarah. I met Sarah when we were 17. We both worked at Bergner's together. Sarah and I used to go out after work and just talk. Such good talks we had. We shared our hearts and our worries with each other. Sarah is a very good friend of mine even to this day. We don't live close to each other. She used to live in Ohio, and is now heading to California. Although I am happy for this new adventure in her life, I am kinda sad, b/c I know I won't see her as much. I looked forward to her visits when she was in town.

Ethan (Sarah's husband) is a Pastor and they are moving to help lead a tiny church. It has been cool to hear how God has moved them from 1 place to another, He has provided for so many of their needs. It has been so cool to hear about how he has met them. Please keep Sarah and her family in your prayers as they take this new step in their lives.

1 thing I love about Christmas break the most is the stress-free mornings. On days you have no where to go, you can take your time getting ready. Which is what we did the other morning.

Brother messed with his ipod, while holding Harry. :)



Dada and I did our hair and makeup. Daddy and I had gotten Dada a giant makeup kit for Christmas and we put it to good use.

I got some new hot rollers and we did our hair in the process.



It was a fun morning spent with each other.



~~~~~Side note~~~~~

I am also happy to announce that both the hamsters cages have been successfully cleaned by the kids and DADDY!! ;)

And I can report that while Dada didn't get Princess out of her cage, Daddy did and didn't get bit in the process. There just might be hope for her yet!

What a great way to spend a Christmas break morning.....

A hot cup of coffee, a homemade cinnamon roll on a new cup and saucer from Anthropologie.

PeRfEcT!!!

A trip to Chicago

Yesterday we were able to sneak away with my family to Chicago. We were blessed with nice weather. We walked Michigan avenue and State Street and just had a wonderful day.

We ate lunch at this little chic restaurant across from the art gallery called Cosi. It was delicious. They had a new fangled pop machine which was a little box where all you did was push a button and your pop came out. ( I was going to take a picture and then I forgot! )

1 thing I will remember of the day is Jonathan dancing on the sidewalk for money....which he got....from Hunny.....who then asked for his money back.... ;)



Don't ask..... :)






My parents were engaged on the top floor of the Prudential building in the 60's. At that time, the Prudential building was the tallest building in Chicago with about 40 floors. They wanted to visit it again yesterday, but it is no longer open to tourists. When we went to the lobby, the security guard said we were about the 5th group that day who came in wanting to visit the building.













We went to Maggiano's for dinner. We had a lovely time together. It is so good to sit around a table and just laugh with each other.




This picture of Joanna STILL makes me laugh. She started busting up at something she and Jessica were talking about and didn't realize she had a giant wad of lettuce stuck in her teeth. The whole table just roared in laughter. Good times....


We also celebrated my Birthday. What a better way to celebrate then with those you love so dearly.


The piece of cake they brought out was MASSIVE and fed our entire table. It was so rich and chocolaty and YUMMY!!!!

Christmas pictures

Christmas Eve was spent at the Hunny's parents. We had a lovely time. We had dinner, opened presents and then Hunny and Jeff couldn't wait to watch the traditional movie, A Christmas Story. Brother was laughing right along with it!!







Christmas Day was spent opening presents at home, and then going to Joanna's house for lunch and more presents. It was great to have my whole family together this year.

( Our kids big present this year was a hamster. They have been BEGGING us for 1 and we decided that we would each get them 1. Dada's promptly bit her. And now Dada has been nervous to play with it. I will have to admit that it doesn't like to be messed with. All it does is lay in the cage. I haven't really seen it play at all. Hopefully it isn't sick. :( Brother's on the other hand is pretty gentle. Harry is his name, and Harry will let Brother pick him up and play gently with him. Hunny says we should just put up a sign in the yard saying...petting zoo. )