Thursday, December 27, 2012

Christmas!




  M essiah,
       E verlasting
     R edeemer,
     R ighteous
  Y aweh...

CHRIST Man's
                       Answer to
              Sin!

It is so hard to believe that Christmas has come and gone! 
I hope that you and your family had a wonderfully blessed Christmas!
Here is a glimpse at ours!

On Sunday, we had our regular Church service, and then in the evening we had our Christmas Candlelight service. It was amazing! The music was wonderful! I will be posting videos of this on a later post. 
There was wonderful fellowship!

On Christmas Eve we had to take Jon to be seen for his wrist; he hurt it at Church on Sunday, and it was very swollen. We were very relieved that it wasn't broken, just badly sprained. 
In the evening we came home and watched "The Nativity Story" and then went to the 11:15pm service at a church in Strafford that Mom went to as a kid. Grace and I sang, and we all enjoyed lighting candles and holding them while we sang "Silent Night". This was a first for Nicole, and she was delighted to participate! 

Christmas morning was exciting. We had drawn names for gift giving after Christmas last year, and had tried to keep it all a secret all year long. Well....that plan didn't work out so well.... some people tried very very hard to figure out who had who...and if you know our family well, you know who may be included in the italics. They involved others, and by Christmas morning, lots of us knew all. It was still very exciting and precious to see how each person thought of the other in a special way. Some gifts were simple.... some more complex. Some were practical....and some...were not! But everyone thought of their person with care and maybe even for some, sleepless nights...? 

In the afternoon we were ready to head to Dad's parents to celebrate with them, Dad's 2 sisters, our 2 cousins, Dad's aunt and her daughter, and Brittany, Chris, Marlena and Annalie! 
It was a great time had by all, and lots of food as always!

I was snapping pictures all day with the blog in mind, so here is the day in pictures!




Edward had Grace...
Grace was first to open her gifts! She received a full box of goodies! "Hey, Mom, I was looking for where that wrapping paper went that I bought....." I look over a Grace's box. No more explanation needed.
Runny nosed Rosie! We didn't have Rosie as part of the family when we drew names, so each person pitched in to get her something. I think she liked the paper more than the gift inside!


Elisha opened her sweet and thoughtful gifts from Nicole...with help from Jon!

Nicole had Elisha...
OH NO! A rubber band gun!

Mom had Jon...
Rosie hung out in Grace's box for most of te morning!

Jon had Nicole....
Mom was SUPER excited about her sewing box!
Nicole got what she's always wanted...CAMO!

Grace had Mom.....




I had Dad....

Dad had Edward...


Dad, why did you HAVE to get Edward a "prank kit"? Oh yes. I remember. It reminded you of your childhood days!!




Doing the "Christmas Trim" with the Leatherman....Resourceful and Redneck!

We're all ready for the trip to "Winslow Mountain!"
Nicole and Marlie drawing together!
What a full couch!
Marlie loved the play food set we got her. Chris is building her a play kitchen, too!
Annie fast asleep after eating!














Saturday, December 22, 2012

Photo Shoot!

I recently thought it would be great to take a photo shoot of my siblings. I did it on 2 different days. Here are my 2 top favorites of each person!

Wondering how I took pictures of myself? I didn't...Grace did a very good job taking my picture!
I like this one the best!
I love this one of Grace the best!
If you know Grace, you know that she couldn't take her coat off...It was cold that day!




You always get laughs when taking Edwards picture!

You can tell he's about to laugh!
This is my most favorite of Elisha!

This one shows how tall Jon's getting!


Nicole was full of smiles!
It was a challenge to take Rosie's picture because all she wanted was my camera!
Rosie fits perfectly in this rocker, and she even rocks herself!
And Mom and Dad.....the cutest couple!

Friday, December 21, 2012

Welcome To My Blog!

Welcome to my blog!

I am excited to keep everyone up to date on what's going on in my life here at Grace Abounding Farm, and I hope it gives you a glimpse into what its like to live here as a young person!

Here I hope you'll find encouragement, joy and wholesome reading!

Enjoy, and visit again soon!

Love In Our Savior, 
Madelyn

Visit my family's blog here!