OOPS! It's Christmas...

I guess I will not be winning the Blog of the Year award for 2010.
I knew I hadn't been doing very well with updating my blog, but I didn't realize I had missed 3 and a half months. I said at the end of my last blog I would update as things started happening for us...Sorry faithful blog followers/readers, I guess too many things started at once and blogging fell by the way side.
I think it will be easiest to update you month by month. (Please bear with me if this is as long as I anticipate.)

September:
Jeremy continued to settle into his new job. The Phelps family continued to live with my mom. David continued to heal from his surgeries and Austin continued homeschooling.
What changes did September bring? We did find a church home at Calvary Temple AG (CT church). The first Sunday we knew we were home. The pastor (Pastor Doug) started a new sermon series on the 7 deadly sins that day and after church Austin said, "even if the youth group suck, I don't think it will, but even if it does, I will keep coming here to hear him (Pastor Doug) preach." Talk about your seal of approval. Jeremy and I felt the same too. We did, and still do, really enjoy Pastor Doug's sermons.

October:
This is where the craziness starts. We rented a house (finally) the end of September and got the keys on October 1st, but we had to wait for our stuff to get here from Massachusetts before we could move in. Little did we know that would take the full 2-3 weeks they said it could take. We actually moved in on October 18th. ( I actually haven't taken any pictures of the house, but I will try and get some taken for my next update.) We chose to rent a house near CT church so that when the Lord calls us to serve we are close by. We now live approximately 4-5 minutes from the church. It is wonderful. We even had Pastor Doug and his wife, Janet, over for lunch on the 24th. Janet said we were crazy to have them over so soon after moving in.
After attending a couple of youth events and Wed night youth group services, Austin decided that CT church youth group did not "suck" and he would gladly be a part of it. He still enjoys Pastor Doug's sermons, too. He also decided that he wanted to attend the public middle school. This was an easy decision for him and a hard adjustment for me. I have been blessed to have him home with me since David was born. This would be a big adjustment for me. It was also the first time he would actually be in a public school. The closest he had been was the base school in 6th grade, but that wasn't the same as a "real public school" in the big city. But as difficult as it was for me, I put him in God's hands and sent him on his way. He is doing really well and is enjoying it. He is even a campus missionary. (I'm not exactly sure what this means he is doing, but I definitely like the sound of it.) He has grown so much in the last 4-5 months, both physically and emotionally. He is now taller than me, wears bigger shoes than his dad, and is starting to look like a grown up, not my little boy anymore. :-(

I actually have a couple of pictures from October:





David and Daddy got to meet Sunshine Bear at Toys R Us. David wasn't too sure about him at first...







but he warmed up.









Candid shots too cute to leave out.










David dressed up as Mickey Mouse for
Fall Festival at church.









This is Jeremy's brief stint as a backwoods mountain man.
(I put an end to that silliness very shortly after this picture was taken.)






November:
The beginning of November was pretty peaceful. Not much was going on.
David did have his first peanut butter and jelly sandwich and as you can see from the pictures...









HE LOVED IT!!!

The end of the month was a different story...
We were blessed to be able to host Thanksgiving, at our new house, for me, Jeremy, Austin, David, my mom, my dad, my sisters (Anna, Jessica, and Tracy), my nephews (Cody & Nick), our new friend Stewart (Our family has kinda adopted him, since he has no family to spend the holidays with) and our wonderful friends the Langborghs. (Mellie, Adam and their 4 kids, Julia, Joshua, Isabella, and Zachary). We haven't seen the Langborghs since they moved away from New England in 2006. It was so awesome to have them here with us, it gave us something extra special to be thankful for.



















Top Left to Bottom Right:
David--My Dad and Mom--Stewart, Jeremy and My Dad--my sister, Jessica (back of her head); my sister, Anna; my nephew, Nick; and Austin--my nephew, Cody--my sister, Tracy--Mellie and Adam--2 of the Langborgh children, Julia and Joshua.
(Not pictured: Me, and the other 2 Langborgh children, Isabella and Zachary)



We were also able to got to go to Sea World with our friends while they were here.





Jeremy and David looking at the sea lions.











Adam, Bella, & Julia after feeding the sea lions.










We saw the Shamu show, Believe.







Here are my boys waiting to watch the dolphin show, Azul.





December:
December was a month of parties, fun, and food. I attended the Ladies' Christmas Party at church on the 4th. On December 7th we took David to see Santa. No we did not brave the malls in December, we took him to Santa's Wonderland at the Bass Pro Shop. (I know, ONLY in Texas. And yes, I do hear Jeff Foxworthy..."If you take your baby to a fishing and outdoor sports shop to see Santa, You might be a redneck!) It was lots of fun. We all went to our Fusion group's Christmas party on the 11th. We enjoyed it. Lots of fun and GOOD food. Then I took the boys to Tracy's house to make Christmas cookies with her, Mom and Jenn on the 18th. Yum! We have been looking forward to celebrating our first Christmas in Texas, since 2004. The whole family is coming over. We will have a traditional dinner. Followed by our Secret Santa gift exchange and a White Elephant exchange. I will post pictures and details in a special Christmas edition blog.
Until then...