Chinese New Year

Two weeks ago we celebrated the Chinese New Year with some friends in Wichita. Our friend is from China and works with Luke. He and his wife gave Brece this outfit after she was born and it actually fit for her to wear to the New Year celebration. Too cute! We enjoyed some Chinese food, traditional Chinese dancing and other performances with them.

Unredeemed

A friend of mine posted this on her blog. What a powerful song. I've been reading through Hosea and it has reminded me of just how faithful the Lord is to pursue us, even if we're not pursuing Him. I'm so thankful He doesn't leave us "unredeemed".

An Unforgettable Trip

On Wednesday Brece and I flew to Colorado Springs to spend a few days with one of my good friends, Jillian, and help her out while her husband is out of town for work. She has two kids, a 2 yr old girl and 6 month old baby boy, so we didn't have any great expectations for our time, except to just hang out and enjoy each others company. Well, we've gotten much more than we bargained for! Thursday morning Jillian was awoken early in the morning, not by a crying child, but the stomach flu. And it was one nasty bug! Jillian was really only able to make it out of bed on Thursday to get to the bathroom and a quick trip to a nearby urgent care to get some IV fluids and some Zofran (anti-nausea medication). So the three kids and I spent the day hanging out. The kids did great, especially considering their ages, but what an exhausting day! Friday Jillian felt a tiny bit better, but still spent as much of the day as she could trying to sleep and recover from this nasty bug. Friday evening she was starting to feel better but things did not stay calm for long...I'm not exactly sure what happened, but the glass I was drinking from broke on the side table I was setting it on and in the process of trying to catch it I gashed my hand. I immediately felt a cut on the tip of my finger but looked down to see a huge gash in the palm of my hand with my tendon clearly exposed. This was going to take more than just a band-aid! So Jillian called the local urgent care and they were open for 30 more minutes. So I drove myself the couple of blocks and Jillian watched all 3 kids while they stitched up my hand. What a deal! Thankfully, our weekend has been a little less eventful, but Jillian has continued to fight the flu bug and I've tried to figure out how to take care of an 8 month old and help Jillian with just one hand. Both of our husbands are flying in tonight...Jillian's is returning from his trip for work and Luke is coming to help me fly home with Brece. We are anxiously awaiting their arrival!!

Despite the excitement we're thankful...
*I was here to help Jillian while she was sick
*That the urgent care is so close to her house! :)
*That the cut on my hand was not any deeper...they told me a fraction of a mm deeper and I would've needed hand surgery on the tendon...not sure how we would've managed that!
*That the urgent care was still open, took my insurance, and it was not the kids' bedtime.
*It was my left hand and not my right hand...I would've really been handicapped then!
*For the memories of the week that I'm sure we'll look back on and laugh at someday! :)

It's basketball season!

Christmas with the Call's

Getting ready to play in the snow with Josiah...neither of us were too excited about our sled rides though.Josiah and I had a lot of fun playing and sharing Grandma's toys.
Hanging out with cousin Mandy
Hanging out with cousin Jackie
Hanging out with Aunt Cindy

Christmas with the Radatz's

Meeting mom's good friend Ashley before the Christmas celebrations begin.
Brece loved chewing all her presents this year
Reading a book with Adie, Aunt Michelle & Uncle Jacob
Playing with Grandma & Grandpa Radatz

Brece's 1st Christmas

We celebrated our first Christmas with our small family on the eve of Christmas eve...before all the other family celebrations started. We had a nice dinner and exchanged some gifts...none compared to the gift we received in Brece this year! We really enjoyed celebrating with our new little family!
Brece enjoyed "tasting" all of her gifts!

Playing with the paper was more fun than the toys!