Thoughts

What a week!  Our Christmas started last Thursday when we drove up to MD to celebrate with my family.  It was a quick visit, but fun!  My sister got the Just Dance Wii game, and well, let's just say it's fun!  Ed and my brother danced which was hilarious to watch.  And my mom, me, sister, and brother's girlfriend also did it, but my mom managed to beat us every time!  I guess a dance degree helps!

The rest of the week was spent at home and with Ed's side, with a big snowstorm mixed in there!  Today is really the first day we haven't been with any extended family, so it's nice to just be at home!  

Ed gave me some time off yesterday to reflect and start thinking through this year and some resolutions I want to make.  More on that to come!  

Tomorrow is my baby's birthday!  A milestone birthday that I'm not sure I'm ready for!  But Ed and I really plan to celebrate this milestone in a special way.  However, with a birthday on New Year's Eve, its always hard to celebrate on his birthday.  So we will head to Cracker Barrel for breakfast, and do some gifts when we get home.  Then we'll celebrate with some friends that night, and have some cake, and also celebrate the new year!  Ed and I will take him out by himself for a special night probably next week.  I'm really looking forward to that because he so thrives on individual attention.  He's definitely a quality time kind of kid!

Off to play beat him in a game of Wii - our new family toy!

Merry Christmas!

 Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Preparing my Heart for Christmas

As I spend some time reading this morning, I found God bringing some thoughts to mind that I thought had kind of  well disappeared.  And so now, the result, I'm finding myself heading into the Christmas weekend with mixed feelings.  Funny how God would want me to be half elated, half depressed on his birthday!  Anyway, my journey began a couple of months ago when I read Radical.  Insert - ugh!  I know, everyone that has read it has probably felt the same.  I guess that is a whole other post on that book.  Then yesterday, I read a post from a new blog I'm reading, and it left me, well, haunted.

You see, I don't consider myself to have lots because our lifestyle just doesn't allow for it.  Sure I would love to have a flat screen tv, cable, my own personal laptop, a bigger house so we aren't always in each other's space, but the reality is that is just not ever going to be us.  And so the Lord has been teaching me for a while how much I really have in comparison to the world.  I've never thought of myself as filthy rich, have you?  

Picture with me - Christmas morning...We will get up, get out of our super comfortable plush mattress, slip on some cozy slippers, walk downstairs, in a heated home, to our way too expensive coffee maker to get some hot coffee.  Then Ed and I will sit on our huge couches and turn on some Christmas music on our computers, and read out of our Bibles that aren't even allowed in so many countries.  We will enjoy peace and quiet while our three healthy children sleep in their individual beds.  Does it get you like it gets me?  And I haven't even started the actual opening of gifts and the feast we will enjoy.  

So after thinking through all this...do I really need anything else?  I am about to receive amazing things this weekend, things I don't need.  I am grateful for them, but I pray these things don't make me want more!  I am so desperate for the Lord to fill my heart with thankfulness and a real understanding of what I actually do need and what it extra.  Are extras bad?  Not all the time.  But honestly, I am beginning to feel like the extras are closing in on me.  

I loved this post from my friend Jen on how they taught their kids the difference between wants and needs.  A perfect lesson before this barrage of gifts they will receive this weekend!

So what do we do with this weekend?  Do we become a cynic and grunt after every gift is open?  Does it give us a new spirit as we open these things that we don't need but are just that - a gift - a blessing - something we can be tremendously grateful for because we know that more than half the world does not have it.  Honestly I don't know!  This is a new journey for me, one that will carry over into next year.  I pray this Christmas, the Lord will make me thankful and grateful for the things I take for granted and for the new things I receive.  

The Minivan Express

Monday night we took a trip on the Minivan Express (think Polar Express).  After dinner we took the kids upstairs to get ready for bed.  We got their jammies on, brushed teeth and then gathered in Haleigh's room for a bedtime story.  All was normal until Daddy, aka The Conductor, told us we were about to go on an adventure on the Minivan Express.  So we got our things ready for our adventure, and handed out tickets because after all, you do need a ticket to hop on the Minivan Express! 

The Conductor collected the kids tickets and once everyone was in their seats, he handed out popcorn and drinks!  And so we headed out on our adventure to see the tacky lights in our area!  We drove all over town, seeing only the best!  The kids absolutely loved seeing each house and Micah declared halfway through that this would be a new Martin tradition.  So maybe next year, we'll take a trip on the Minivan Express again!

Home with the Savior

Katie and I will be traveling to Roanoke today to mourn the death and celebrate the life of one of my heroes, my Grandfather. He taught me so much about what it means to be a man. Possessions meant nothing to him. People, family, and God meant everything. He gave his life to serving God and people. His church recently recognized him as a life long deacon (a word which means servant). I watched him serve his best friend, my Grandmother, for years and years as Parkinsons took her life. I can't remember a time this man complained about anything. He was born in 1924 and lived through some of the hardest times this nation has ever seen. This is a rare breed of man. A man at my church often rightly says, "they don't make them like they used to". In a culture confused about manhood, we need more men like Raymond Gilmore to show us the way. We will miss him dearly. But I know that this Christmas, he will experience Jesus face to face! I can picture him now singing his favorite hymns as my Grandmother plays the piano. Enjoy him Jesus.   -Ed

Granddaddy and Haleigh in May

He loved his grand-kids and great-grandkids

Shutterfly

For the last couple of years, we have used Shutterfly for our Christmas cards.  We love that you can use your own photos in their really trendy designs.  They always have a wide range to choose from no matter what your taste.  We have used the more traditional 4 x 8 cards and the 5x7 cards.   

Since we have children, we gave a calendar one year to all the grandparents.  They loved it so much that we heard all about it when we didn't give calendars the following year.  I guess it is a given now that we have to give them calendars each year full of pictures of their grandchildren.  I think this year I'll do the rain or shine calendar. 

Even though we don't have our pictures yet to put on our cards this year, I am starting to pick out the ones I like.  It actually helps me to do it that way, so I know what kind of pictures to take or look for in my files.  I really like this one.  I can put one pic of the kids at the top and then all of us on the bottom.  

This one is probably my favorite though.  I'm a sucker for a monogram, what can I say?!  So I am excited about another Christmas season, and now that Thanksgiving is over, I guess it is time to purchase some cards!  

And of course, if you are a blogger, check out their promo for 50 free Christmas cards to all bloggers!  

A Weekend Away

Those of you with children know what a gift it is to go away for even a night!  For my 30th birthday, Ed took me to this little inn in the middle of nowhere and it was amazing!  We left the kids with my mom, and headed out last week.  For 3 days we were by ourselves.  When we first left, we laughed because we actually just sat in silence.  We just let the silence surround us, and then we were able to actually carry on a conversation without any interruptions or requests or questions or whatever else!  

We stayed at the Inn at Gristmill in Warm Springs, VA.  It literally is in the middle of nowhere, but for the time we were there, it was perfect!  We did our share of hiking, exploring, napping, reading, eating, talking, walking, and driving.  We went the the Homestead also one day and just sat on their rocking chairs on the front porch and talked.  It was by far one of the most relaxing trips I've ever had.  And in my stage of life that is the best gift anyone can give me.   I love you babe, and thank you for a great birthday!  

This group of buildings makes up the inn.  Each has several rooms in it.  Ours was in the yellow one to the right that you can barely see.

Oh!  Every morning when you want, you call them and they bring you this!  Ed called it the "basket of glory!"  It had fresh baked breads, oj, and a pot of hot coffee with all the fixins! 

I know its out of focus, but you know how hard it is to get a pic of you two when you are all alone! 

We decided this might be a fun place to come in the summer because there were tons of pools like this one!  This one even came equipped with a rope swing, and it was so clear you could see the bottom!

Love him!

This waterfall was amazing and as usual the pic does not do it justice.  It is a LOT taller than it looks!  My husband was not satisfied with the overlook view so we hiked around to stand at the top and look down.  I pretty much freaked out!

  

Just call me Aunt Katie

Well its been a busy one around here.  Last week was my 30th birthday, so Ed and I went away for a couple of days leaving my mom and dad with the kiddos.  So I'll update on our weekend next time.  But I wanted to share with you the latest bundle of joy in the Martin family, and its not mine!  Ed's brother and wife had their first little baby on Saturday, so we drove down to Durham yesterday to see her!  We now have three Martin women with birthdays within one week - Haleigh, Me, and now Emma!  So let me introduce you to Emma Claire...

Ray holding his daughter

I've been waiting for this all my life...

One year ago today, I met someone I waited for so long to meet.  And never in my life could I have imagined what she would be like.  

For the third time, our lives were forever changed in seeing the miracle of life.  For the third time, I carried a child nine months.  For the third time, I had cravings, and sleepless nights, and lots of weight gain!  For the third time, I labored in the hospital awaiting a bundle of joy.  For the third time, we got to see God work through the birth of our child.  For the third time, I got to hold another eight pound brand new baby in my arms and just cry.  

BUT, for the very first time, that baby was a girl!  Oh, how I love my boys very deeply and in their own way, yet equally.  And oh, how I love my girl just the same!  For the first time, there was no circumcision.  For the first time, the baby wore pink.  For the first time, the baby wore a bow.  For the first time, we heard these strange high pitched squeals and cries.  For the first time, she seemed very delicate and sensitive to pain, and had a way of whining and whimpering through it.  For the first time, we had a pink nursery.  For the first time, I wasn't the only girl in our family anymore.  

Here is our girl last year...

With absolute joy we celebrate Haleigh's first birthday!  We have a weekend full of fun for her, but today, I'm just treasuring these things in my heart.  There is no way to describe what she means to me or how she has changed our family.  I am so grateful that the Lord has blessed us so and do not take for granted what we have been given.  After all, it is the "grace upon grace" from John 1:16.  Thank you Lord for this sweet little girl! 

"Teach me Your way, O LORD, 

that I may walk in Your Truth;

Unite my heart to fear Your Name. 

I give thanks to You, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, 

and I will glorify Your Name forever."  (Psalm 86:11-12)

Haleigh's life verse

Punks!

In our family, pumpkins are punks, as Caleb calls them!  So cute!  We headed to the pumpkin patch last Friday before we went to our retreat.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day!  And confession, the only reason we went was so I could get pictures of my Haleigh in her pumpkin shirt I made!  Yeah, we walked away with a pumpkin, yes one, and some good pics of the boys too!  Mister tractor driver was a little astonished that he would drive just our family to the patch with no one else around and sit there and wait for us to have a photo shoot, only for us to return with one little punk.  He asked Caleb where his pumpkin was...not helping...sshh!

Anyway, here's the pics...had to get this out before the big day tomorrow!

Happy 'Ween!

We had a great Halloween this year!  On Thursday, our whole small group went to a retirement home and marched our kids around in their costumes kind of like a parade.  Some of the dear old ladies absolutely LOVED seeing the kids in their costumes!  Caleb, who we are realizing has such a compassionate heart, was always the last one in each room we went to.  He loved just seeing the people and showing them his Buzz costume!

Then Sunday, was a crazy day because we were gone all weekend on a church retreat.  But we came home, had dinner with the Martins, and then went out in their neighborhood.  They have a great neighborhood for trick or treating.  So many families out walking from house to house, and if they didn't have kids then there were parties at the houses literally waiting for the kids to come by.  So not sure about your view of Halloween, but as a Christian, how could you not take the opportunity to either walk the streets to talk to your neighbors or let them come to you and give out candy?  We really wished that we did it in our neighborhood for that very reason.  I think next year it is too important to not go in our own neighborhood. 

Here's some pics of the cutest Spiderman, Buzz, and fairy you will ever see!

Micah's Spiderman face

Caleb loved getting candy and he would say Happy 'Ween to every person!  How cute!

Loved the muscles!

No words!  I LOVE Her!