December Delights!

Are you ready for a picture overload?! That's what happens when December is a month full of festivities and family time. Good thing too that we had a fun month 'cause I believe December was one of the greyist ones yet!

Speaking of grey - have you ordered your book yet so you are ready to read this with me starting the first week of February? I hope you do join me!

We will start this December Delight photo dump with our time with good friends, A and T. We get together with them every year to open up gifts. That is, once Santa is done banging on the door to drop the gifts off. Our kids and their kids are quite different in looks - but also in character! All their kids were out the front door to look at the gifts. My kids? Well, they'll look through the safety of the window - just in case that big man in the red suit is really there.

Yeah, neither of my kids like Santa. At all. Keziah never has and will hide from him. And Lincoln? He was quite nervous when he saw him in the mall, but with daddy by his side he did go to talk to Santa. Well, Santa talked to him. Lincoln didn't say a word.

But back to opening up gifts with A and T:

Back at home, finding delight with each other:

We also found delight in opening up our stockings and playing with what was in there. I do believe Keziah was the last 5.5 year old to know about Frozen. Up until now, she never had a clue about it........

One of the most delightful things of this month was to see this man find an activity to do that had nothing to do with the business. With the business right here on the property, it can be hard for him to "get away" from it. And with technology the way it is, while he may not be in the office, that technology follows him into the house, which all has to do with the business. So to see this guy find great relaxation in doing a puzzle gave me a delighted heart for him.

Watching my men put together a heavy-duty laundry sorter for me also gave me delight! Lincoln took his role seriously, "reading" and acting out the instructions to his dad, and then doing them:

However, I do believe this picture is the most delightful of them all, and not just for the month of December, but for all of 2014! This picture not only fills my heart with delight, it makes me struggle for breath. How is it possible that these two blessings are ours?! But they ARE!! Praising God for His goodness!!!

Tough Mudder!!!!

Way back, and I mean waaaaaaaay back in August of last year, Nathan and I did something that we often still talk about today. It was amazing, exhilarating, adrenaline-rushing and just so much fun.

While it was Nathan's second time, it was my first - but it won't be my last! I am talking about Tough Mudder. Have you heard of it? If not, here's a quick recap: it's an obstacle course that is very long (ours was 16.5 km long) and filled with obstacles (at least 15) that test your mental and physical abilities and fears.

 Nathan completed this course almost two years ago, which I blogged about here. I didn't do it then, as, well, the team needed a photographer. So I graciously - cough, cough - put my goal of completing Tough Mudder to the back burner and took pictures for them.

But not the second time around! I was determined (once I made the decision to do this) to check this off my Bucket List! And I am so glad I did. And to do it with my hubby?! Well, that was the icing on the cake! I am so thankful we did this together.

But on to the pictures. We did have someone take pictures but due to it raining most of the day, she wasn't able to take her camera out much or else it would have gotten ruined. So the following is a mixture of both hers and from the Tough Mudder website.

Enjoy!

Here is the course that we completed and here is our team, 'cause that's what it is all about: teamwork:

Ready to go and before we even started, we had this to climb:

 
And then, off we went to conquer the first of many obstacles. Please excuse some of the names of the obstacles......they are not my picks.

Glory Blades -from website:

Mud Mile -from website. We did this twice through, once at the beginning and then again near the end. By the second time, we were jumping in mud up to our chins. It was absolute slime, but oh so fun!! (people *pay* for this at spas....:o)

Just the Tip - website:

Devil's Beard -website:

Arctic Enema - jumping in a large bin of ice water, and had to go under a piece of wood to get to the other side. Yup. Freezing. Just in case you can't see or recognize the people due to their expressions, this is Nathan and I ;o) I have pictures of the rest of the team, but I don't have their permission to share it here......and seeing their expressions as they are dealing with the frigid water? Well, I don't dare share it here without their permission for fear of their wrath :o)

Berlin Wall - website:

Walk the Plank - website:

Ladder to Hell - website:

Everest - website:

Balls to the Walls - website:

 

Funky Monkey - website

Kiss of Mud - from the website but found some pictures of our team: Nathan, Rich, Jenn, Chris and Jay. I did do it as well, but didn't make it on the website

 

And to get to the finish line, we had to go through this: Electroshock Therapy - website:

One of the biggest obstacles for this course, were the hills. We had to climb up some of the steepest ski hills, not once, or twice, but *six* times. Up 6 times, down 6 times. And remember, it was pouring rain pretty much the whole day, which made those hills incredibly slippery - so slippery that the only safe way down was on our butts. Yup, Tough Mudder totally lived up to its name!

It took awhile to get all the mud out of our shoes!

But man, was it fun!! Yes, training is pretty much needed (mostly for the hills) to complete this course. Nathan completed every obstacle but the Funky Monkey one and Just the Tip; I attempted every obstacle but fell in trying to complete the Just the Tip and Funky Monkey one. You *do* have the choice to skip an obstacle - but you would have to live with yourself knowing that. ;o) So, we hope to do this again in the near future - wanna join us?!

He is Free!!

Well, free from being two, that is.

When asked how old he is now, he first says, "Two" and then says, "I free!!"

Yes, our little man is three. It's tough on my heart to know that my baby is three, but my longing heart is quickly replaced with a thankful one - in the past 6 months, I know of two mothers in my life that will not see their little boy turn three as the Lord has called these little children Home before they could reach that milestone.

And so I sit here, thanking God for every single day He has allowed Lincoln to live - and to live with us! Whenever our children have a birthday, my mind often goes back to those days and weeks leading up to their birth as well as the days and weeks after. So many memories. So many emotions.

The Linc Meister lives up to his name every single day, giving reason for us to laugh, either laughing inside or outwardly. He is a stinker and so mischievous, yet so much fun, loving, caring and happy. This boy is such a happy little guy.....but to have him sit still for a nice picture?! Yeah, this is what I get:

And if he isn't running away from the camera or being goofy, his fingers are in his mouth:

How we love this boy like crazy. We pray God will continue to watch over this precious blessing of ours.

Before and After

Growing up, we never had a Christmas tree. Well, not a vertical one anyway. My parents were "against" Christmas trees, yet my mom decorated the house with garland and tinsel and stuff. I don't know about you, but to me that is like a Christmas tree - just a horizontal one.

There are still many that I know who are not in favour of Christmas trees. I am not sure exactly why, but the fear of the tree (with presents underneath) being a focal point (idol) rather than the True Meaning of Christmas could very well be one of the reasons.

I have read up on it a bit, and like most 'controversial' things in life, there are many "for" and "against" articles in regards to Christmas trees. It also is very interesting to read the history of how things like this come to be. I think that is very important - to know the whys of what we do.

After we were married, we never had a vertical tree. Horizontal, yes, meaning, yes, I did decorate my home in December. But the vertical tree didn't come into our home until we had kids (those kids, I tell ya!!). My sister was throwing out her tree, but asked me first if we wanted it. Sure! we said!! So for the last 4 years, we've been setting up and decorating a tree.

We don't set it up for our presents - we set it up just for the fun of it. Besides, like I tell the kids, on the dark and dreary days of December, it's always nice to come home to something that brightens up the room a bit. It just gives a festive feel to the room. And the kids LOVE decorating it.

So, here is our tree, BEFORE:

An our tree AFTER:

My decorators:

The tree comes down fairly quickly after Christmas......and is replaced by balloons. Birthday balloons. Birthday Balloons for my Baby. Birthday Balloons for My Baby who Turned Three. Waaaaaaaaaa!!!! More about him next time. I need to go find a way to control my emotions.....