Though I did my best to get our Christmas cards and yearly update to everyone who may be interested, I know I was missing some address'...
Here was our letter and love to you:)
Dear Family and Friends,
It is so hard to believe that we are wrapping up 2011! We had such a fun year with our busy boys. Jacob had his first birthday at the end of January and has been on the go since. He is a very happy little boy with a great sense of humour, he loves to make people laugh with his dancing, singing and silliness. His words are coming along quickly now but he never has a problem making his opinion known. He really looks up to his older brother and enjoys being included in Ben’s activities. Ben is fortunately, very patient and loving with him. They have a wonderful relationship that is a joy to watch.
Ben and Jacob both participated in a program at a local working farm run by our city this past spring. They had tractor rides and learned how to care for the many animals. Their favourite activity each week was grinding the corn to feed the goats. They learned to make new things in the kitchen and enjoyed a weekly animal craft. We were fortunate to have Gramma join us as we got to experience a little bit of farm life.
Summertime was full of swimming, playground picnics, outside fun…and the yard sales that Jenn loves! We were more successful in growing a garden this year, in that we harvested more than weeds. Our raspberries did the best and we were pleasantly surprised to keep picking into our mild October. We canned strawberry jam and applesauce for the first time and enjoyed the experience…not too much can beat the smell of strawberry jam cooking on the stove.
The boys participated in a gymnastics club summer program which they both really enjoyed. The trampoline was their favourite gym activity and Jacob made us nervous every time! He has no fear in anything he does.
Ben Turned four at the end of August and we celebrated with his friends at the farm. He has really grown up and is full of questions and imagination. He talks incessantly and amazes us with his creativity. His interests include firefighters, superheros and space. He loves to draw. Most afternoons will find him at the table (or sprawled underneath) with his paper and art supplies. He will, on some days stay there for hours. He is learning his letters and is very enthusiastic about learning to read.
Jon is busy at work and we are fortunate that his office is only 5 minutes away so he is home early in the afternoon. He is still helping to teach a Kung Fu class for children two nights a week that Ben has recently started attending too. He is working at obtaining his higher belt levels in the adult class held afterwards.
2012 will bring some big changes to our family as we recently sold our current home that we have lived in for four and a half years and are busy looking for a new home that will suit our growing family. We are excited to be expecting our new baby in late June!
As I mail this off I can’t help but think of all of the loved ones in our lives and further away that we wish we could see more often. We hope this card finds you well, in good health and spirit. We send you our love and wishes for a Merry Christmas and wonderful 2012.
Love Jon, Jenn, Ben and Jake
xoxo
Friday, December 30, 2011
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
2011 Christmas in Pictures
A delicious Christmas Eve dinner with Grammie and Grandad. A quiet Christmas with the four (and a half) of us with some visitors throughout the day, a relaxing brunch with Gramma and Grampa on boxing day, many generous gifts... We enjoyed it all!
Sunday, December 25, 2011
"Mary" Christmas
Savior, Redeemer, Messiah, Lamb of God, Jehovah, Emmanuel, Jesus the Christ, Son of God.
Son of Mary
I have been reflecting on the reasons we celebrate this time of year this evening. With all the expected excitement of the season it is almost easy to forget the little baby it is all about.
In thinking about this tiny person born for great things, I have been unable to stop thinking about his Mother.
Jon and I played Mary and Joseph three years ago in our church's production of a live outdoor nativity. The production is such that the audience takes a live walk through Bethlehem outdoors to different sets presenting the events of Christ's birth night.
The first stop was with the angel Gabriel and I, Mary. The audience listens as he tells her of what is to come and the child she is carrying. We did the scene many times for every group to come through for almost 5 nights. There was one particular time we ran through the scene that I began to suddenly fight back tears. I became emotional at the lines I had heard repeated by the angel countless times before.
"And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. 31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a Son, and shalt call His Name JESUS. 32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the LORD God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David" (Luke 1:30-32).
"33 And He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of His Kingdom there shall be no end. 34 Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? 35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the Power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that Holy Thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God"
The Son of God. This is how we think of Christ, the magnitude of such makes his strength, influence, sacrifice and legacy understandable. He was after all, the son of God.
But his Mother. She was just a woman. Asked to do the impossible from the very beginning. To carry a baby, immaculately and miraculously conceived.
It seems obvious then, that she was in fact far from being "just a woman". Mary needed to encompass all the strength, determination and faith of all womankind to do what she must.
Holding her new born baby, she must have felt the rush of overwhelming emotion that all new mothers feel. She must have felt the inadequacy, fear and incredible love that Mothers for all time feel when holding their precious gift from God.
In this moment, though she knew that he was the king of kings, lord and redeemer, he was first and foremost her baby boy.
What a responsibility she had. What faith.
It seems more and more that there are elements of the world I want to shield my children from. It is hard to look at such a precious child and the harshness of the world and know they need to find their place in it. More difficult yet to look at your precious child and know that he is the one to save it.
Did she know what was to come? Did she know of the babies killed after their departure from Bethlehem. Did she know what kind of Mother she would need to be to raise the perfect man? I suspect much of the compassion, love, kindness and wisdom he imparted on others in his life did not come to him from his birthright but from a Mother who loved him dearly and taught him well.
I think of her in his infancy, toddlerhood and early boyhood. She was his Mother, in every respect of the word, with all the needs of any child. And he would never stop needing her. The Son of God, savior of the world. His mother never left his side.
I can barely think of the absolute shattering of her heart as his last day came. Though it was what he was born to do, Christ himself asked, in the final hours to his God for the cup to be removed from him. This was not an easy thing for him to go through. He knew this but he moved forward. For his mother, she had been prepared for the impossible since his conception since no mother could bare what she was about to.
In testament to her great strength, faith and deep devotion to her son she went through this torturous crucifixion with him.
Even when he wondered in the final excruciating moments of his life where his father was, crying out "My God My God, why has thou forsaken me?" He never had to question where his mother was.
Right in front of him.
As painful, as it was, the selfless sacrifice he went though for the never ending sins of the world. His Mother had to watch him do it.
When, on the third day Christ returned, I believe a resurrection was necessary, less as proof of his identity but for his Mother's comfort. He knew that she had born more than a mother's heart is naturally capable of.
I am so grateful for her example, the trials and hardships she faced with grace and with courage. I believe when God gives us one of his children, like Mary, he also blesses us with the capacity to raise them in a way that will deliver them back to him, should we accept the sometimes difficult path that presents. I know I need his guidance and assurance as I try to raise these men who may not be born with a purpose as legendary as our savior, but one as important as making this world better in following him.
I look to Christ for his example in life, in deep gratitude for his sacrifice that offers me salvation. I also look to his Mother whose example still lives, on this day, when she held her new baby, so long ago.
Son of Mary
I have been reflecting on the reasons we celebrate this time of year this evening. With all the expected excitement of the season it is almost easy to forget the little baby it is all about.
In thinking about this tiny person born for great things, I have been unable to stop thinking about his Mother.
Jon and I played Mary and Joseph three years ago in our church's production of a live outdoor nativity. The production is such that the audience takes a live walk through Bethlehem outdoors to different sets presenting the events of Christ's birth night.
The first stop was with the angel Gabriel and I, Mary. The audience listens as he tells her of what is to come and the child she is carrying. We did the scene many times for every group to come through for almost 5 nights. There was one particular time we ran through the scene that I began to suddenly fight back tears. I became emotional at the lines I had heard repeated by the angel countless times before.
"And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. 31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a Son, and shalt call His Name JESUS. 32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the LORD God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David" (Luke 1:30-32).
"33 And He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of His Kingdom there shall be no end. 34 Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? 35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the Power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that Holy Thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God"
The Son of God. This is how we think of Christ, the magnitude of such makes his strength, influence, sacrifice and legacy understandable. He was after all, the son of God.
But his Mother. She was just a woman. Asked to do the impossible from the very beginning. To carry a baby, immaculately and miraculously conceived.
It seems obvious then, that she was in fact far from being "just a woman". Mary needed to encompass all the strength, determination and faith of all womankind to do what she must.
Holding her new born baby, she must have felt the rush of overwhelming emotion that all new mothers feel. She must have felt the inadequacy, fear and incredible love that Mothers for all time feel when holding their precious gift from God.
In this moment, though she knew that he was the king of kings, lord and redeemer, he was first and foremost her baby boy.
What a responsibility she had. What faith.
It seems more and more that there are elements of the world I want to shield my children from. It is hard to look at such a precious child and the harshness of the world and know they need to find their place in it. More difficult yet to look at your precious child and know that he is the one to save it.
Did she know what was to come? Did she know of the babies killed after their departure from Bethlehem. Did she know what kind of Mother she would need to be to raise the perfect man? I suspect much of the compassion, love, kindness and wisdom he imparted on others in his life did not come to him from his birthright but from a Mother who loved him dearly and taught him well.
I think of her in his infancy, toddlerhood and early boyhood. She was his Mother, in every respect of the word, with all the needs of any child. And he would never stop needing her. The Son of God, savior of the world. His mother never left his side.
I can barely think of the absolute shattering of her heart as his last day came. Though it was what he was born to do, Christ himself asked, in the final hours to his God for the cup to be removed from him. This was not an easy thing for him to go through. He knew this but he moved forward. For his mother, she had been prepared for the impossible since his conception since no mother could bare what she was about to.
In testament to her great strength, faith and deep devotion to her son she went through this torturous crucifixion with him.
Even when he wondered in the final excruciating moments of his life where his father was, crying out "My God My God, why has thou forsaken me?" He never had to question where his mother was.
Right in front of him.
As painful, as it was, the selfless sacrifice he went though for the never ending sins of the world. His Mother had to watch him do it.
When, on the third day Christ returned, I believe a resurrection was necessary, less as proof of his identity but for his Mother's comfort. He knew that she had born more than a mother's heart is naturally capable of.
I am so grateful for her example, the trials and hardships she faced with grace and with courage. I believe when God gives us one of his children, like Mary, he also blesses us with the capacity to raise them in a way that will deliver them back to him, should we accept the sometimes difficult path that presents. I know I need his guidance and assurance as I try to raise these men who may not be born with a purpose as legendary as our savior, but one as important as making this world better in following him.
I look to Christ for his example in life, in deep gratitude for his sacrifice that offers me salvation. I also look to his Mother whose example still lives, on this day, when she held her new baby, so long ago.
Friday, December 23, 2011
Moving Day
I told Ben that we had sold our house and were going to move to a new home in the spring time, he didn't really seem to have much of a reaction to this. I assumed he really didn't have a frame of reference for it and thought I would simply bring it up again closer to April. Little did I know the wheels were turning and a while later I heard Ben call down "Okay Mommy! I am ready to go!"
He had packed up everything he wanted to bring with him (in plastic grocery bags...) and was standing by the door waiting to leave. To say that unpacking was entertaining would be an understatement- he had mostly toys, a box of cereal, socks, some books, his markers, a baby bottle and diaper for Jacob, the tv remote control, my itouch (that he likes to play games on) and his firefighter boots.
I am still laughing.
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Bubble Bath
What better way to spend some dreary, foggy, damp December days (where IS the snow?!) than neck deep in a warm bubble bath. Every morning this week the boys have asked for a "swimming" bath (...deep enough to swim in). They stayed in over an hour one day. The secret to the bubble bath success is the discovery of the whirlpool jets that make the bubbles grow 3 feet tall.
Then they get out...put on warm jammies and drink apple cider with Nemo (the current movie of choice).
Life is good...made better with bubbles.
Monday, December 19, 2011
Hello Baby!
We "met" met our baby last week at our 12 week ultrasound.
The direct words from our technician were " your baby is so stinkin cute!- they don't all act this cute you know". And I am not one to dispute her professional opinion so I would have to agree that our baby is pretty stinkin' cute!
(S)He was showing off all her(his) new parts...quite proud of fingers and toes especially. (S)He kept flipping around and waving. Quite happy to be here.
Watching this new little life made us so excited to hold him/her in the next 6 months. I have a feeling it will go by quickly.
The photo's at the ultrasound are of the profile, hands, and underside of the legs - though it looks like some boy bits are present...it is the umbilical cord...it was too early to get that exciting information...6 more weeks and we will know if we are adding to our soccer team or if we should start buying pink! We will be absolutely thrilled either way- life with three boys is bound to be exciting and a little girl would surely be a new and fun experience as well.
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