Getting ready for Christmas

Here are some pics of the kids getting ready for Christmas. Making cookies, wearing their Santa hats, and running around the house naked. Not sure what that had to do with getting ready for Christmas, but he was cute. He did have the roll from the wrapping paper so I guess it fits the profile.

Seeing Santa

Yes, once again I am behind on pictures. Maybe you can forgive since we are moving. Here are the pics from seeing Santa. We went to breakfast with Santa at Fort Leavenworth. They had breakfast and Santa, of course, but also tons of crafts for the kids to do. Gabby loved doing all the crafts. Sam wanted to get into all of them but couldn't. His favorite was the decorate the cookie table. We were pulling him away from that when it was our turn to get pictures. Maybe one reason he wasn't so happy to see Santa....

Blogger Dashboard, Part 2

So after complaining about it last night, today when I logged in ALL of my saved blogs had disappeared from the Dashboard! Not good. I'm hoping this is a glitch that will be worked out but I haven't checked into it. Maybe they got me after I said something about it....

Blogger Dashboard...

is evil. Every time I sign on to update my own blog I end up spending all my time reading everyone else's blog to see what you all are up to. So that's why mine never gets updated anymore. I discovered Blogger Dashboard.
Oh, and we're homeless. That could have something to do with it. We packed up our house on the 11th, Robert graduated on the 12th, we moved to the guest house on the 15th, Gabby finished school on the 19th, we arrived in Jackson on the 20th (about 2 AM), had a great Christmas on the 25th, 26th and 27th, and here we sit on the 28th with everything we have kept with us plus everything we got for Christmas crammed into a 12 x 12 room at my mother's house where Robert, Sam and I are all sleeping. Poor Jordan can't even lie down in there so she's sleeping elsewhere.
We'll be here till the 4th when we return to Leavenworth for one day. On the 6th we will start our six day drive to Fort Lewis. Then we just have to find a place to live, get Gabby enrolled back in school and get all our stuff back and settle in. Who needs New Year's resolutions when you have so much to look forward to???

Poor Jordan

For those of you who know our big dog Jordan, this will be a surprise. Jordan is our big hairy monster. If you're counting, she turned 11 in August and this will be her 6th move with us. She is all hair and bark. Jordan's one character flaw is that she barks. A lot. At everyone but us. Loudly. It takes her a while to warm up to someone and is usually has to be a neighbor that she sees often or someone who spends the night. The rest of the time, she barks. Because of that, we have always had to confine her during moves - in a room, outside, in the car, whatever works for us all. Well yesterday was packers. Three strangers in our house all day. Now, it was snowing and windy and the temp dropping all day - a nsaty day. Jordan was put in the bedroom for a while and then outside for a while. Finally, she just gave up and curled up on the couch and watched them pack. No barking no jumping up and down. Poor Jordan.

Odds and Ends

I confess these pics are all from Oct. I loaded a few from Nov onto my computer and filled up the hard drive. Now this computer will be packed up by Thurs so it will be a while before I get any more pics loaded. Hopefully our laptop has some room on it and I can do some over Christmas. But anyway, here are some from Oct - Gabby and her pumpkin, Gabby picking her tomatoes, Sam playing in the yard and sickly Sam who fell asleep on the arm of the couch one afternoon. We'll try to keep up as we move, but I make no promises! You may get Christmas pics in July!

Alpha and Omega

"God is the Alpha and Omega and in every Omega, there is always another Alpha. Anytime he brings us to the end of anything, there is always a beginning." Beth Moore (from session 10 video of "The Patriarchs").

I wrote this quote down last year as I watched this video. We had gotten orders to move that we didn't expect and things were crazy. But this struck a chord with me then. Now, here we are 10 months later and moving at Christmas again. Gabby's in school this year and has to move in the middle and Christmas is going to be spent homeless and in transition. Robert's going back to a tactical unit that already has deployment orders. There is a lot going on. I got a letter from a dear friend with a similar crazy time of transition - moving overseas, sending her oldest to college, trying to coordinate a mission trip with her youngest, etc. Life is scary, changes are scary. Isn't it great that God always has a new beginning for us? We don't have to worry about coming to the end of anything, because the beginning is just around the corner.