Happy New Year

Tomorrow will be the last day of this year, 2008. I, like many of you, reflect back and try to remember where God has taken me and the things he has taught me along the way. This year I've learned to trust God. Not just when I don't see His plan but even when I don't like His plan. This year I've learned to love deeper than ever before. As God has blessed my marriage and my children I have found an even deeper place in my love for them. God has taught me humility (again this year). I've had times when I've needed to say I'm sorry and times when I've needed to remember that it's not about me. This year I've been given the gift of happiness and joy. They are different and God has granted me times of both. I've learned that dreams are not easy to attain. Even when those dreams include God. But He's been faithful to give me all that I've needed (not wanted). One of the hard lessons I got this year was about the fragility of life. How hard it is to relinquish control into the hands of our loving God. Whether it was family or friends or neighbors, there were tears to give away. I am thankful for God's promise to remember all our tears and someday wipe them away forever.

I don't know what your 2008 will bring to mind if you choose to ponder back over it. But I do know that there is a God who loves and cherishes you. Learn from those life lessons, remember some and smile. Be refined and then look forward to all the things God will choose for you in the upcoming 2009.

Jeremiah 29:11
"For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

Earnhardts do Christmas!

Another fun Christmas celebration occurred the day after with the other Earnhardts. It was a blast. We had pizza and awesome munchies and sides (thanks Denise)! Played some games, played foosball, opened presents, and talked Stephanie into getting on facebook. (thanks again Denise) There is a lot to be said for being with your siblings and their families as we continue to grow up! New memories and new adventures.

What a Christmas Day!

Well, the stockings are hung but they are empty again. The tree is there but only a few gifts remain now for the family we will see tomorrow. And all I can say is what a fun day! It all started last night with the Christmas Eve service. Then it was home for some special gifts from Papa and Nora and Daddy's annual reading of the Night Before Christmas. A few treats and then off to bed. The kids were up and ready at 6:15 a.m. but being the mean parents that we are we made them wait till 7:00a.m. until going downstairs. What fun was had by all. Breakfast was homemade pumpkin bread. Then it was get ready for our Cryder family Christmas. The turkey surprised us and was done by 12:15 so we called everyone to hurry up and get over. Lunch was scheduled for 2:00! Everyone got there and the food was amazing. I've never cooked a turkey so good and moist. The homemade rolls my mom brought over were the perfect compliment. And of course you can never have enough gravy. With the other fixin's and desserts, we are full for sure!

The kids played and played. They had such a good time. My mom did the Christmas Story with flannel again this year and then a lot of singing and instruments to go around. We ended the time with a great rendition of Happy Birthday to Jesus. My parents were definitely the most surprised when we had them unwrap their ping pong table. Oh what fun this summer will be over at Grandma and Grandpa's house. What a blessed day to be with family. And by far the funnest gift of the day was Jordan's new Super Blaster 10 Shooter Dart guns. Be careful though, you'll shoot your eye out.

Daddy reading The Night Before Christmas


Last family hugs and off to bed.


Woo Hoo. It's time to go downstairs. (mommy and daddy have gotten 5 hours of sleep at this point)


Mikayla excited about Pet Playground for the leapster!


Jordan giving the family the gift he made in school.


Thank you Aunt Chrissy for the AWESOME Foosball Table.


My sweet Christmas children.


Daddy's cool ceiling storage.


Target practice on the family room window.


Isabella immediately starts learning her new Bella Dancerella Princess Dances.


What intensity and focus! I gotta get this girl dance lessons soon.


Grandma telling the Christmas Story.


The kids helping put up the pieces as the story is told.


Mikayla making sure everything is just right.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours today. As we celebrate with our family over the next couple of days we think of all our friends and hope that you all have a blessed Christmas.

Great Snow Balls Charlie Brown!

Well, we have a new favorite thing to do in the deep deep snow. Who can make the biggest snow balls????

Christmas with the Finnestads

We got to hang out with the Finnestad family and have our Christmas celebration on Saturday. The kids were thrilled to get to perform for us. The most memorable this year is definitely Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Who knew you could do so much with a red checker. The kids got to watch Kung Fu Panda and of course immediately following the flick decided to remove their shirts and practice thier kung fu moves on each other. PRICELESS! The adults even got a little "adult" time and played a game of settlers. The snow was falling and we didn't know if we'd have to make it a slumber party or not. But we got home safely. Thanks to the Finnestads for another wonderful and memorable year. We love you all so much. Merry Christmas everyone.

Pretty Trees

I absolutely adore the view from our backyard this week. It is so beautiful to see the trees bathed in white. I love it!

So Much Snow!

Where do I begin? We have not had school for two days due to the ice and snow. Today we got a call by 4:00 p.m. letting us know that school is again cancelled tomorrow. Why you ask? Well, we have gotten at least about 5 inches of snow since 11:00 a.m. this morning. IT'S CRAZY! Greg even shut down his branch and headed home by 3:00 today. But we have had so much fun in it today. Our day started at 9:00 am as we met up with neighbors and headed out. Our kids haven't been sledding down a BIG hill ever. Today we got to sled down the hill at their school which is really really big. They had a blast. I even went down it myself so I could film and take pictures from the bottom. I screamed very loudly all the way. I'm sure none of you can picture that funny sight! Then this afternoon it was more cookie making with the neighbors, some crafts, some movies, and then some more playing in the snow and sledding down our driveway for another couple of hours. Finally about 5:30 we called it a night due to the exhausted and frozen children we call Earnhardts. Plus the snow was dumping on us. So all in all it was an AWESOME snow day! I wish I could share all the pictures and all the video clips with you. Here are some good ones. Turn up the volume on your speakers. The kids comments are hillarious sometimes! Can't wait to hit that sledding hill tomorrow.

I just love Christmas!!

"I just love Christmas". That's what my son said as we drove home tonight in the beautiful snow. He was so excited that we had snow on the ground at our house just like at Uncle Matt and Aunt Denise's.

What a day of celebrations. Mikayla and I got to take time out and attend the Christmas Tea at Faith. It was wonderful. She got to help pass out some chocolates and really felt special. She is definitely growing up fast.




Then there was the surprise. Greg surprised me a couple of weeks ago with an early Christmas present. He bought tickets for us to go and see Michael W. Smith's Christmas concert. He even arranged for the kids to be with their cousins for the day. It was fantastic. All I had to do was go. And it was AWESOME. I haven't seen Smitty in concert since 1997. He is still the BEST! Melinda Doolittle and George Huff (from American Idol) were with him and both brought down the house. It was so awesome. Michael has such a good time. He really worships in all that he does. His humility shines through and you find yourself lost in worship too. So awesome!! The orchestra was so good too. So much talent in one room. It blew Greg and I away. Then it was on to Bell Square to find our ornament (something we do every year) and then dinner at Red Robin next to Lake Washington. So special. We even got a glimpse of the walk out dock on Lake Washington all lit up with Christmas lights. That is where Greg proposed to me 12 1/2 years ago. It was perfect. Oh yeah, and did I mention the beautiful snow that fell just for me tonight. It was so romantic. The perfect touch to a perfect day.

Milestones

Isabella hit another growing milestone. She found Mikayla's old rollerskates and insisted she try them on. "But not without the proper safety devices" she told me. Thank you Lou and Lou's safety patrol on Playhouse Disney!! So we got her all dudded up and she was off. She loved them. I am reminded again how quickly they will all grow up!

Boys and their toys

If it has a motor and makes a lot of noise, my boys are really into it these days. Greg is building a shelf for our t.v. to go on above the fireplace. He has actually gotten out his circular saw, a lot of tools I have no idea what the names are, and even his electric sander. It's so cute how all the men gather around for the excitement. Jordan even got to use daddy's electric leaf sucker upper all on his own yesterday. It only lasted about 5 minutes as the poor boy was carrying around about half his weight but he loved it. Unfortunately mommy had to take over! Praise God for the awesome weather yesterday.







I'm feeling really accomplished today. Thank you to my neighbor Laurie for coming over on such short notice to help us out and take some christmas pictures of our family. We decided on one and even ordered them online! They'll be ready for pick up tomorrow. WOO HOO!!

These are a few of my favorite things......

The Christmas season is definitely upon us and in full swing at the Earnhardt homestead. I love Christmas music and really appreciate cable and radio stations that play it nonstop! I love decorating my house. I love watching the kids decorate the tree. (Did you catch that?...I will let them create a tree that has no rhyme or rhthym to it but the rest of the house is the momma's.) I love making sugar cookies with the kids and watching them decorate them. I love setting up the nativity. I love just sitting with a hot cup of peppermint tea and looking at lights and pretty things. I especially love singing Christmas carols and worship songs.

Eating is Bliss!

My mom is eating this morning and she is so happy about it. She finally turned that corner and is doing so much better this morning. She is up and walking on her own. They are hoping to release her this afternoon. The next week will be a quiet one of continued recovery and strength building. Thank you again to everyone who has continued to pray for her quick recovery. We appreciate all of you!

Still Hangin' in there!

For those who are praying, my mom is still at V. Mason tonight. Due to the type of procedure today they are having to watch her a little closer than originally thought. The good news is that they are watching her very closely. Thank you all for praying. Unfortunately we haven't gotten to see her due to her headaches and overall feeling being poor today. But my dad is a trooper and he has done a great job of passing along information! Thanks Dad. Hope to update tomorrow with a "She's Home"!!

All is Well!

Thankyou to everyone who has been praying. I just got a call from my dad and my mom is out of surgery. She ended up having a 90% blockage in her renal artery. They performed an angioplasty (which took 3 hours) and he has already been back to see her. She still has a pretty severe headache. Time will tell if it is related to this or not. But for today we are thankfull for a routine surgery! If all goes well in recovery (clotting and such) she will get to come home tonight.

Roots

I've never had the reality of having my roots ripped out from underneathe me until four weeks ago......

For those of you who don't know, my mom had a very sudden onset of high blood pressure about 4 weeks ago. No one could explain it. It was accompanied by very traumatic headaches. After a lot of doctor's visits, ER visits, and tests they found that she had less than 60% blood flow to her L renal artery. They are calling it Renal Arterial Stenosis. They don't know for sure if it is the cause but they still have to fix it so she is scheduled for surgery tomorrow morning. Some doctors say she is a stroke waiting to happen while others give her more meds and send her home saying all is under control. It is so frustrating.

So here is my struggle. I do solemly believe that God is in control. I do believe that He has her in His capable hands no matter what. I believe He will be with her tomorrow morning. I trust Him and have peace. I thank God for my faith that has carried me through some of the days in the last four weeks. BUT....I also have fear. I have anxiety about the surgeon not knowing for sure what he will find tomorrow when they go in. I know that feeling the one does not cancel out the other but I feel like I'm cheating on God or something. I was with my mom this afternoon and the tears just started to run down my face as we embraced. I whispered to her that I trusted God but that I didn't want to be that person wanting more time. We cried a little more and then she cracked some joke about being in the clouds tomorrow morning with Jesus thanks to all the great drugs modern medicine provides. (typical Edith humor!!)

So I am left praying. Praying for God to protect and heal my mom tomorrow morning. Praying for wisdom and steady hands for the surgeon. Praying that the procedure and surgery will go as hoped for and there will be no complications. Praying that I will not lose my mind between now and tomorrow when all is said and done. But especially praying that I will rest in my Savior who is bigger than the air we breathe. My Savior who is greater than the earth that we will all one day leave. If you think about it, please pray for my mom tomorrow morning around 9:00 a.m. I appreciate the intercession on her behalf. Thanks.

Thanksgiving Blessings

Well, thanksgiving was wonderfull. It has been a long time since we've gotten to see all our family on the same day. We started the day out with a brunch at our house for my side of the family and then went to Matt and Denise's house for the afternoon and evening. We started and finished a great Disney puzzle. Unfortunately I forgot to get a picture of us four with the kiddos. (see below) Oh well. It was so great to get to be with them all.

I am thankful for so many things. My Jesus, my husband, my kids, my home, my husband's job, our love for each other, my extended family and friends, SHOPPING (which I did most of the day today), Christmas, dreams, my church family, NOT this darn cold I can't shake, running, FOOD (especially that turkey sandwich I had today), and so many more things. I would write them all but I'd never stop. God has reminded me how truely blessed I am. I'm so thankful for his mercy and grace over me.

Speaking about shopping, I did do quite a bit of it today. Got great deals and saved a lot of money. But the biggest deal by far today was at Joanne Fabrics. I went three times today and just couldn't believe the crowd. The first two times I went the wait for the fabric was 3-4 HOURS!! It was insane. But the third time was a charm tonight at 6:15. I was there about an hour and got so much great flannel and fleece fabrics. It was a steal! I spent $50 bucks and saved $128!! YIKES. WOO HOO! I am so excited. They also had a great selection of ornaments so the kids got to pick out their's for this year. What a great finish to a great day. I even got a little nap this afternoon thanks to my husband. Here's a shout out to you Greg. I couldn't have done any of it without your support and enthusiasm with the kids. I know you are out doing the rest of the grocery shopping as I type this but I love you and thank you so much.