This past weekend our service was only an hour’s drive away, in Anderson, which meant we get to be in our own home for over a week. This month has been very busy with traveling up north, appointments when we’re home, and visiting with friends and family. Tuesday was the first day we planned nothing to do, and I told Becca it could be a complete Mommy and kiddos play day with no errands, extra projects, visiting, or visitors. We started out the day by making oatmeal cookies and then eating them fresh out of the oven while reading books. (Isaiah was especially excited about making cookies – he went right over to the mixer when he heard the phrase making cookies.)

Last week we celebrated Amaris’ 4th birthday party. We had to miss her birthday the previous week due to sickness, but we were glad we could go another night to celebrate. Becca enjoyed dressing up like a princess. We had the Wynns over for dinner the next evening. Both Mr. & Mrs. Wynn were Josh’s teachers at Hampton Park and we enjoyed our evening together.

We’ve enjoyed more visiting with friends and family on our travels. This week, while at home, we had dinner with Mrs. Burch. Mrs. Burch fed me countless Sunday meals when I was in grad school, and I/we value her friendship and prayers for us. I’ll add that she wins first prize for cooking a meal that the kids loved. I don’t think they’ve ever eaten so much at someone else’s house.

While driving from NY to PA visited with my older brother and his family who have recently moved to Goshen, NY, to take a senior pastor position. Sam and Ashley are expecting a little boy in March. Becca enjoyed playing with Colette.

While driving from PA to NY we visited with the Cassel family. Rachel and I have been friends since high school and were roommates during my sophomore year. Josh and Rachel were in the same choir at BJ. We enjoyed meeting Rachel’s husband Rob and their two little girls, Carmondy & Rosamond.

While in PA, Josh and I were able to enjoy his and the kids’ Christmas present to me: a night at a Lancaster Bed & Breakfast. The snowy weather added a perfect touch for our stay at the Lovelace Manor. It was a great way to review the past year, plan for the year ahead, get some extra rest, and enjoy extra time together.

Becca and Isaiah enjoyed staying with my parents during our night away. Becca did some extra baking and had a tent sleep-over with Aunt Emily by the Christmas. (A few nights later Becca and I had a tent sleep-over by the Christmas tree. She was so excited she could have stayed up all night talking.)

We enjoyed the snow in PA. The kids enjoyed playing in the snow. Becca and I found a large puddle to ice skate on. A big highlight was eating snow for breakfast!

One special thing Becca enjoyed playing with at my parents’ home is my African dolls.

We spent about three weeks in PA. We had three Sunday services and one Wednesday evening service in the area (PA & NY), so we used my parents’ home as a base to travel from. We’re very thankful we didn’t have to make the extra trips to SC between the weekend services.

The day after Christmas we drove up to PA to celebrate Christmas with some of my family. (A big thanks to Joey for all his picture taking.)

Uncle Joey came through with giving Becca her yearly candy cane. She had recently been talking about how Uncle Joey does that without asking Mommy!

We celebrated my dad’s birthday (Christmas baby). Isaiah was more than happy to help eat Grandpa’s birthday cake.

Christmas morning we started with breakfast. Becca was especially pleased with the surprise cinnamon rolls for Daddy. The morning before, Becca had climbed into our bed and said she was excited about Christmas Day. When I asked her why she said, “because we don’t have to have oatmeal for breakfast!” After breakfast Josh read the Christmas story.

Everyone enjoyed opening gifts. Isaiah just loves opening presents. We got him juice boxes and fruit snacks and wrapped them individually, so he had lots of presents to open. Becca went shopping with Josh for me and with me for Josh. She was excited about the gifts she was getting everyone. She was especially excited about the gift she picked out all by herself for me. So excited she had me open it Christmas Eve. It was neat to see Becca have joy giving gifts to others. A special present for the kids this year was blocks Josh made for them, with help from his dad.

After the kids had some time to play, we headed to Dad and Mom Jensens’ for lunch and fellowship with the whole family.

We ended our day at home with a Christmas candle-light dinner. We often eat by candle light and Becca thought it was fun to have a Christmas candle-light dinner. After putting the kids to bed we packed and got ready for our trip to PA.

An extra note: we enjoyed visiting with some friends during the Christmas season, including some time with the Hess family the Thursday before Christmas, and later that day, dinner with the Wynn family.