Emmanuel

Merry christmas from the cains! We had a glorious morning spending our first christmas away from our parents since we got married. It was such a fun time with our children :-) but we definitely missed the family time with our parents, siblings and niblings!
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Christmas eve was a beautiful night spent with my church family as well as a visit from my sister & brother in-law :-) Last night was sort of the "grand opening," if you will, in our new church building. The worship, candle light and sense of family was beautiful and uplifting. Jesus truly is the light of the world. Praise be to God that he sent his son, as a human baby, to be The Saviour. I am thankful for a holiday, whatever its origins may be, that allows me to remember why I am here and how truly blessed & loved I am.
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I realize this time of year is difficult, to say the least, for many, many people. My prayer is that you have the opportunity to feel loved because you are. My prayer is that you are filled with joy, especially if your circumstances are not. My prayer is that this christmas is a reminder of the goodness of our God!
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Happy, happy holidays and many blessings in this new year to come!

Off the Radar

Sadly, I have been quite out of the blogging loop this week. :( My little Ava girl has been sick- thankfully feeling better today. Combine a sicko baby with holiday madness and well, blogging takes a back burner. bummer. Every moment between caring for kiddos has been spent preparing gifts, editing photos, and keeping up with my house. (not a total bummer :)) 

As I type this, though, my stomach isn't feeling too well. Cutting this blog short. 

Love you all and hoping to be back in the swing of things very, very shortly!!!

xo!

fiftyeighteleven

I am finding this to be so true in 

my life,

my family,

my church.

His water is satisfying.

His water is life-giving.

His water is never-ending.

If you are discouraged,

dead,

unsatisfied:

Take a drink,

and be filled,

refreshed,

renewed.

Be encouraged today.

Life Made Lovely Monday {Christmas party, waterfront, flare}

Recently I've felt a bit... weird... reflective... idk...

Like there's something in my heart/head that wants to come out but I'm not really sure what it is...

For now, I'll just share our lovely little weekend with you :)

Last night, my husband and I had a wonderful night of childless ::bliss:: 

You see, his work has a christmas party every year and since they also provide a never-ending fountain of senseless alcoholic beverages, they graciously offer a free night stay at the hotel where the party is held. Naturally, sober or sloshed, these weary parents were taking advantage of this **free** childless night of ::bliss:: 

You can understand, no?


Did I mention, FREE??? 

We stayed at the party pretty late but woke up this a.m. to.....

 :::SILENCE::: Beautiful, beautiful silence.

Part of me would have loved to lay there for HOURS and do NOTHING. Michael, not so much. When he's awake, he's ready to go. No lazy laying around in bed for him. 

Moving slow and taking our sweet little time, we managed to not feed, dress, nurse or even hear a single child all morning. Pushed ourselves out the door to head to church (a few minutes late, yeah that's right, we were late and didn't have any children......) just in time to be parents again :)

One thing I know for sure, life was made lovely with my husband this weekend. We may not have been far from home but it was so nice to have time together. It left me wanting more but we were blessed to have a couple of friends that would watch all 3 of our kiddos overnight and then get them up and ready for church. We are blessed beyond belief. 

Here are some lovely photos we took in the morning before we left.

Elf YOURself

Inspired by a beautiful blogger, Kelly over at Fly With Me, I decided to share our Elf Yourself Video :) 


def totes hilar! 


Maybe I'll share a different one next week :)

Our swing dancin' Christmas Elves :)

Happy Friday!!!


*don't mind my dumb slang... I just thought it was funny :) This new slang really makes me laugh. Truly it IS totes ridic. haha

Trimming Trees & such

Whew! I didn't expect this month to feel so busy... :)

Between family holiday fun, time with our friends, regular life and editing photos, there hasn't been much time left for blogging. ::sadface:: This post will catch you up on the holiday happenings this past weekend :)

The weekend started off (almost too late on Saturday) cutting down our Christmas Tree at Hutchinson's Christmas Tree Farm. This place is amazing! The people are sweet locals that are willing to work with you on a price for the tree if you are struggling financially but still really want a tree. Topping it off, the owner looks like Santa!

We finished our evening off at our town's Holiday Parade :) Malakai went with our friends last year (we were avoiding popsicle newborns) but this year we were excited to all go as a family (although, he thought it was more fun just going w/ Pop-Pop & Miss Kelly).

Michael managed to get the tree up on Sunday (thanks to some friends- Shout out to Donna & Larry)! We didn't get to the decorating until Monday night :)

My children "helping" with the lights.

Who needs Christmas morning presents when you get to pull the ornaments out of the Christmas box??? He was seriously thrilled which each one he unwrapped.... Oh to be two.

Apparently Malakai thought tree decorating should include dessert :)

The decorating was especially fun this year with a 2 year old (even if he does try to eat our ornaments)!

The 2011 Christmas Tree :) 

Our night closed w/ this...

the sing-off Christmas special

It'srainingit'ssnowingthebigmanissowing

How many times have you cursed the rain?

How many times have you pleaded for the snow to stop?

How many times have you gotten your hair "just right" only to walk outside into a drought ender?

How many times have you slipped on a patch of ice?

Yeah.

I've been there.

Done that.

Now is the time for a new attitude!

How many times have you eaten fresh vegetables?

How many times have you eaten anything at all?

How many times have you never been more thankful for that glass of ice water?

How many times have you filled that little belly of your's?

Yeah.

I thought so.

Me too.

Today is the day to give Him credit.

His words are true.

His words are life giving.

His words fulfill my hunger.

His words fill my cup to overflowing.

Yeah.

I'm ready.

Are you?

Open your heart and receive His life-giving words.

Embracing my family this week :)

The 2 that people responsible for creating ME :)

We don't have very many photos of the 5 of us so this is special <3

(Malakai's smile is brought to you today by reverse psychology... "Malakai, don't you dare smile!" I know it's bad but sometimes necessary to get anything besides a frown in photos these days... haha)

Sweet baby suffles

Yes, they were crying and trying to tear my clothes off...

**please excuse my make-up-less, unshowered, frizzy mess**

okay lovelies, your turn!

here's the nitty gritty on embrace the camera---PLEASE READ:

1. take a picture of YOU with your kids, spouse, friends, etc. the point of embrace the camera is to get in front of the camera and to document a bit of yourself.

2. link up your POST, not your blog.

3. link back to our blog by a text link or using our button IN YOUR POST.

4. and lastly, have fun and visit each other!

leave each other lots of love---it's not easy to get in front of the camera---bravo to all of you who join us every week! your family will thank you for it one day :)