Christmas Day

Christmas morning is such a special time. The children are so excited. The girls were up at 5:15 am, ready to open gifts. They had to wait until Joseph got up, so they looked in their stockings and ate a big breakfast of sausage and french toast before Joseph got up at 6:20 and we could open presents. The kids got a Wii this year. They all are really enjoying it, but Rebecca most of all.

Miriam was a cute Santa!

While we were waiting for Christmas dinner at Jack's parents' home, Joseph, Rebecca and Sebastian watched a Veggie Tales Sebastian had gotten.

Miriam played with her new cars that come apart instead.

David and Jack visiting.

John, Will and Julie

Julie with the beautiful bird she cooked.

Celebrating a Life

Last Tuesday we gathered as a family to celebrate the life of Tommie Fong. His funeral services were brief and focused. He was remembered. We laughed and remembered the great person that is gone from us at this time.

It was also a time to learn new things about Tommie. Who knew that Grandma met Tommie when her first husband brought him over to the house? I had no idea that Tommie traveled so much, going all over the U.S. and traveling abroad as well. I found out that Tommie would take his much-younger siblings out to amusement parks when he went home to visit. So Tommie was the best man at Bob and Lee's wedding, and Bob was best man at Grandma and Tommie's wedding. Tommie kept his marriage to Grandma a secret from his family until his sister Paula bought plane tickets for the two of them and put the wrong name on the ticket.

Tommie lived a rich, full, interesting life. He will be missed. John, Jack, David, Julie, Jennie, Linda

Tommie's sister Paula is sitting next to Grandma.

Grandma and Paula

Miriam in Tommie's hat.

Rebecca in Tommie's hat.

Joseph at the Zoo

Last Wednesday, Oct 9th Joseph and I went to the zoo. Julie and Sebastian came along, and we had a great time! It was a beautiful day, and I enjoyed being able to show Joseph the zoo.

At first, Joseph seemed a little confused. He normally doesn't get out of the stroller at the zoo, so he can't see much besides the bar or fence in front of the cage. So he and Sebastian had a great time playing with the bar here.

The first couple animals we saw were not easy to find. They were either in the back corner, hiding or sleeping, so Joseph didn't notice them. About the third animal we saw was the elephants. That was when Joseph first saw an animal. He was pretty excited. It was like the light bulb went off and he realized what we were doing here.

I loved this picture of the two boys. They were trying to see the ducks.

It was a successful trip to the zoo!

Heartbreak

I just found out that Jack's sister Julie had another miscarriage. My heart breaks for her. This is her second miscarriage in about 6 months. I had just talked to her a week or so ago, and she told me how well things were going. She wasn't bleeding like she had been with the previous pregnancies. She was just out of her first trimester. I am so sorry.

This has made me think about how grateful I am for my children. While I have had problems with my pregnancies, each time I have gotten pregnant I have been blessed to bring a healthy baby home from the hospital with me. I am so grateful for this blessing! Even with all the physical illness and limitations I experience as well as the mental stress from pregnancy, I am overwhelmed with the blessing of having healthy children. I will strive to be the type of mother that is constantly aware of the blessing these little ones are in my life.

Julie, my heart breaks for you. Know I pray for you and the Lord will help you heal.

The Farm

Last week we went to The Farm in Fort Collins with Jack's sister Julie and her family. We had a great time. The farm is a petting zoo-- well, really more like a feeding zoo. It is a cute little farm with chickens, goats, sheep, horses, cows, pigs and ducks, as well as displays of working and non-functioning farm equipment. The kids could pet the animals through the fences, but there wasn't anywhere for them to enter the pens and interact with the animals. But that's okay by me!

The kids all had a great time pumping water from the old water pump. It took Uncle Will to get the water moving before any of the kids could get it going, though. Rebecca is lifting that bale of hay behind her using a rope an pulley system. She and Miriam both liked to show us how strong they were!

Miriam and Rebecca were both experts at feeding the animals. The goats were really the only animals interested in eating out of their hands. Of course, they thought it tickled and felt kind of yucky when the goats licked the oats out of their hands.

I fed a goat a couple times to show Joseph what the idea was. Then I held out my hand to give him some oats to feed the goats. He proceeded to put it in his mouth. Hey, the goats liked it! Joseph, however, didn't think it was that great and proceeded to spit it out.

We witnessed the truth of the old adage that a goat will eat anything. While we were feeding the goats, a goat next to us took a little girl's whole bag of oats and proceeded to eat the whole thing. Bag and all. She was distraught. Poor thing!

Nearly the whole time we were at The Farm, Joseph was running. I think he was just fascinated by everything going on. He wanted to see everything right now. This is one of the only pictures I got of his face. The rest are of the back of his head as he ran away from me. He and Sebastian are shaking the fence around the cage.

We had a fun little picnic there as well. The kids picked the red table in the sun even though there was an unpainted one in the shade right next to it. They ended up moving halfway through lunch when they got too hot!

They all loved the tractor so we got pictures of them on it. How fun!

Once again, I can't seem to get Miriam's face in a picture!

Joseph was content just sitting on the tractor floor.

Did I say all the kids loved the tractor? Hmm, all but Sebastian. He screamed whenever anyone tried to put him on it.

We had a great time seeing the animals and spending time with family!