A Brand New Year

Once again, the Christmas plays are over:

Daniel and Allan in costume for the GBS Christmas Drama - I missed getting Stephen since he was only in one performance due to sickness. 

Straightening headdresses and costumes before curtain call.

So much time and energy to produce such an organized production.

The decorations have added such a fun atmosphere to the season. 

Holiday sicknesses seem to have left us - we're so grateful it was just a few days of lethargy and fever/body aches.

The Christmas story has been read. 

Jesus's birthday meal has been enjoyed.

Gifts have been opened.

Lots of fun and laughs with the Slagenweit crew in Pennsylvania.

Great-Grandma Miller with the Brown Boys

David, Kaylynn and April Slagenweit

Tonya, Jonathan, Carter, Zachary, and Tyler Slagenweit

Evan, Jennifer, Justin, and Bryce Harris

The Whole Gang

Pappy with all the "Grands" 

I really don't know what to say. 

All the Grands in order by age - Allan 10, Daniel 8, Evan 7, Tyler 6, Stephen 6, Bryce 5, Zachery 4, Kaylynn 3, Carter 2. 

David, April, Philip, Marianne, Jonathan, Tonya, Justin, Jennifer

Again.....there are no words. 

Happiness comes in all kinds of forms. 

The busyness will give way to the quiet of winter and the steady rhythm of a school schedule. I love the celebrations, the reflections, the dawn of a clean new year. May it be blessed with God's grace to "do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with our God." Micah 6:8

Happy 2014!

The Christmas programs and recitations are all over,

little boys no longer have to wonder what is in those packages under the tree,

 the cookies are almost all gone,

the tree is beginning to shed,

cousins have left for their own homes,

Jesus' birthday celebration has come and gone,

and once again we find ourselves at the brand new beginning of a fresh year. Over the past few days as I have convalesced from a cold shared by said relatives (thank you Nathan), and contemplated the end of one chapter and the beginning of another, I've been struck by how meaningless it all would have been if He had not come and if I didn't know Him. My heart is thankful at the beginning of this New Year and full of hope because "He came that we might have Life, and have it more abundantly". I want to live in celebration of that abundance this year!

Thanksgiving

This was the year for our family to spend Thanksgiving with the Slagenweit side of the family. The Florida crew arrived early and then then our Ohio clan joined them for Thanksgiving day. The college break begins after sixth period on Wednesday so we left soon after but it was quite the trip with some blinding snow that covered the roads and left us blindingly following the tail lights of the vehicle in front of us for a large part of Pennsylvania. The boys were amazed at how quickly this trip went......since they were sleeping for half of it!

My camera stayed in its case for the majority of the time and the pictures I did take were very random.....weird random as a matter of fact.


My "little" brother Jonathan handing off his youngest son, Carter, to my sister, Jennifer.

My nephew, Evan.

The boys spent the majority of their time playing the Wii. As you can tell by Allan's face, it has a numbing effect. After we left last year he sighed and said, "I have an addiction. It's an addiction to playing video games. It's good we don't have any at home."  Having the exposure once a year is actually quite a good teaching tool for my guys and I think that's why they've never asked to have any of their own.

 This would be my nephew, Bryce.

 Daniel and Zach are playing with the marble track that I played with (and if I'm not mistaken, my father played with) when I was young at my Grandpa and Grandma Slagenweit's house. It's a track with slightly angled channels that have a hole in the end where the marble drops to the next level - back and forth until reaching the bottom. Some things never get old!

My niece, Kaylynn and nephew Bryce in conversation.

The week before Thanksgiving we caught up with the homeschool group from Christian Nation Church for their yearly Thanksgiving feast. My boys all chose to dress up like pilgrims this year......but even Pilgrims must carry cap guns.

He Is Risen!

The boys were able to wear their new Easter outfits my mom bought them yesterday and they both looked so sharp. I missed the Sunday morning sermon because Daniel fussed just enough going down for his nap that he needed to be removed from the sanctuary. Rev. Don Myers preached last evening and I was able to attend for the first time in over a month ( the evening service that is).

Philip has decided to do something very special for me in place of our missed "Weekend to Remember." As far as I'm concerned this will be a "weekend to remember"! I'll post more next week. We're praying the traveling doesn't make the nausea worse.

Christmas at the Brown's

Celebrations are winding down here in Cincinnati. Philip's brother and wife (Nathan and Charity) were here when we got back from PA and they stayed until Sunday. Allan and Kathryn played well together and Daniel loved their dog, Chips. We had some exciting times and always enjoy the laughter and fellowship of the Brown get-togethers. The conversations are always enlightening and challenging. Having to watch out for two little ones forces me to miss some of the fun but soon enough they'll be joining in the conflabs.

We took some time to visit the train display at Duke Energy again this year and Allan LOVED it! He didn't seem to remember going last year.
There were also the interesting twists of having children around. Charity has a hair-raising story she may have the emotional energy to share someday. Daniel learned it's not a good idea to play on a treadmill that's running when you have no clothes on. (Allan learned a very important lesson about making sure then treadmill is turned off) And to make a long story short I gave Allan a black eye. But we're all alive! I've been down with a bit of the flu and now my father-in-law is sick too. My mother-in-law's sister, Carol Barrett, is here visiting but until we all get well I'm not sure if we'll be able to spend much time with her.

I'm now sitting down to journal some new goals that I've set for the new year. We read through our "stones of remembrance" book this evening all of the answers to prayer that we've had. God's been good to us. And then...to bed early! I used to stay up to see the new year in but that all changed when I had children. I'm anxious for the day they'll be able to stay up with me :o). Happy New Year!

Pictures of the Slagenweit Family

Here are some pictures of my family. For whatever reason I have no pictures of my sister! The entire family picture was taken from my sister-in-law's blog .