God's Fireworks are MUCH BIGGER then Mans!

New Years Eve found us in Alaska! It is kind of cool to be able to watch all the fireworks across the USA on TV and NOT have to stay up all night long. There is something said for being in a later timezone then the Lower 48.

We had a awesome New Years Eve game night at our church. We had a nice short service before and we got to reflect on all the blessings we received during the year 2010. Keith and I have been very blessed and our list was quite long. After the service we played games till midnight. I got Keith hooked on the Settlers of Catan game. If any of you have not played it I would recommend it, but be warned it is a LONG game like Monopoly and Risk. But very fun. Our new German Missionaries to Galena got us hooked on another game called Carcasonne, which was a awesome game too. Keith liked those games so much that when we got home he ordered both of them from Amazon. We had a great evening celebrating with friends.

The evening ended with Kaden and I watching fireworks from our front window. Since we are in a 2 story house we can over look most of Galena and see all the fireworks being shot up. Kaden enjoyed it and we were very surprised that he managed to stay awake till midnight with out having any melt downs. Keith went out to take pictures of the Northern Lights. He got some awesome pictures of them dancing across the sky. God really put on the best Firework show we could ask for and it was AMAZING!!!!!!!! What was really fun to see was how small Man's fireworks are compared to Gods. He really is Amazing at showing his handy work! Check out these pictures!

What a SHOW!!!!

Christmas

Our first Christmas in Alaska was a very fun and special one. Christmas Eve we had a special service at church and enjoyed a service that reminded us all the real reason of Christmas. God gave us the most precious gift he could give us. He gave us his son. Jesus gave up being in heaven with his father to be born in a barn and eventually die for everyone of us even though we don't deserve that sacrifice. I don't know about any of you but when I look at my precious boys I would never be able to give them up for anyone! With a gift that special, it is good to remember what the greatest gift was!

This year we woke up to Kaden jumping up on our bed asking if it was Christmas yet? Since it doesn't get light till about 10:30 am he was not sure if it was morning yet but he was excited that I said yes it was finally Christmas and we could open up our presents. One thing really neat was that both my parents and Keith's were able to get on web camera and watch us open our gifts. We had Zambia and Puerto Rico in our Alaskan living room. Kaden enjoyed being able to show all his new toys to his grandparents. With them watching, we didn't feel so far apart from our family. We had a nice Christmas dinner with lots of friends. Keith cooked a turkey and a Pork Roast and everyone else brought sides and desserts. It was all delicious and so much fun. We got to play games after dinner and just enjoyed

Kaden and Isaiah waiting patiently to open presents

Kaden giving kisses to IsaiahIsaiah enjoying Christmas
Kaden waiting. We can never get pictures with his eyes open

I love his face here. PURE DELIGHT!! Buzz Lightyear that talks

To Infinity and Beyond!

We took some pictures of Isaiah at 1 month old. Here they are:

The only picture Kaden took. I guess he got tired of Isaiah crying!

Merry Christmas Everyone We love you all!

Building a Gingerbread House Alaska Style

Building a Gingerbread house for Christmas is a family tradition that we have done since Kaden was born, but since Flour, Sugar, and all the ingredients that you use to bake a gingerbread house are hard to get out here, I had decided to not build one this year. But while we were in Anchorage waiting for the baby I got to go shopping and I absolutely love to go to craft stores like Michaels. We don't have Hobby Lobby here but Keith finds that OK since I would spend TWICE as much money as I did. Anyways at Michaels I found a cute foam sticker Gingerbread house. So that is what I bought and Kaden and I got to put together our "Gingerbread" House. It was a lot of fun. Even the lovely GLITTER!!!! I love traditions!