Ordinary Winter Days

A glimpse of life for our family these last weeks - or months - some of these are before Christmas.

First snow excitement.

Daddy's dish washing helper on a Saturday morning.

Winter evenings call for stories.

Our children surprised us with a Christmas presentation complete with a nativity play and music.

Cousins and toe socks.

Christmas Eve game playing.

All I wanted for Christmas is to sit with my husband by the fire. So grateful that Ed is feeling so well these past months.

Strict diets are no fun - especially at holidays, but I tried to supply some special desserts for Ed.

Birthday girls. Is there anything more fun than four-year-olds?

And how did our baby get to two years already?

Finally enough snow for sledding - but my daughter tells me we haven't had a snowman yet.

We took a weekend trip to visit Ed's sister in North Carolina. 

On the way down we stopped to stretch our legs on some of the trails in Richmond along the James River.

Still snowy but a lovely day for January.

In North Carolina we found cousins, a pond, a boat, a raft = hours of boy fun.

Warm enough for a January picnic along the Roanoke River.

Where there were more rocks and water for the boys.

I love looking at these pictures. So much fun, ordinary life; we don't take it for granted. (Though we have bickering and tears and frustration that don't get photographed. Lots of growth still needed at our house.) 

Thanks so much for your prayers for our family. I almost can hardly believe that our family has had such a happy, healthy winter. Ed just finished his seventh round of chemo. Whether it is God's grace, learning to deal with the side effects, or some other reason, it seems that every round gets a little easier. Other than a little fatigue, Ed worked right through the week. So thankful.

And special thanks for your prayers for my infant nephew. Parker will be three weeks old tomorrow. He is making slow improvements with breathing, though he is likely to be in the hospital yet for a while. I don't think we realized how close we were to losing him, and we are so thankful for God's healing in his small body. 

But a long hospital stay is hard on the whole family so please continue to pray for them. My sister-in-law said that she never imagined that you could experience such peace in the midst of a trauma like this. 

Truly God's grace does carry us when we are too weak to walk on our own.

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth. (Psalm 121:1-2)