Christmas 2012

We had an amazing Christmas this year!  Every year I realize how blessed I am and so thankful for my family.  This year was no different.  We had a great time with our family.  Farrah is at such a fun age with Christmas.  We didn't really push the whole Santa thing this year. Farrah wasn't real sure about Santa coming into our house while we were sleeping so we didn't play it up real big.

Our Christmas started off on Christmas Eve with the Fortner family.  We always have such a great time and I love watching James with his brothers.  They give each other so much heck and its so fun to watch.  They tell stories and tell on each other.....pretty fun to watch and laugh at. 

Fortner cousin's!!

This year we watched all the grand kids open their gifts first and then the adults had their chance.  It's always fun watching all the craziness when the girls start.  Farrah was very spoiled! 

After the Christmas with the Fortner's we went home and Farrah was ready for Santa to come...kinda.  She laid out her cookies and milk but she also had a lot of questions to go along with it.  I had to reassure her that Santa would not come into her room...haha! 

Christmas morning I had to wake Farrah up.....guess she hasn't quite figure out the Christmas morning excitement.  She has so surprised with her all her Santa gifts and played her little heart out.  The funny thing is that we had no idea that we woke up to a white Christmas!!

There is a funny story behind this next picture.  Farrah had saw this fun princess bath soap at Target and just had to have it!  I told her that maybe Santa would bring it to her and that seemed to be ok with her.  So when she opened her stocking Christmas morning she saw the soap she said "Mom, this soap was at Target!"  I just started laughing and told her that Santa must shop at Target...haha!!  This girl is to smart for her own good!

After Christmas at home we headed to my parents for Christmas.  Once again we had a wonderful time.  It's always so much fun to see Christmas through a child's eye.  My mom and dad had so many fun things they did for the kids. 

Every year my sweet Mimi make all the great grand kids something special.  She either makes them a blanket or something special.  This year she made them all pillows with special pillowcases that had what they were into this year.  Farrah's was an Ariel mermaid....she was so excited!!

My parents surprised all the "big" girls with a fun gift.....Kindle Fire HD's.

My wonderful hubby surprised me as well.....we got me a new camera!!  Not a point and shot one but a very nice Canon!  I was so surprised and so excited.  Can't wait to play...haha!!

Caroland cousin's!

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas!! 

Fortner family, Christmas 2012

Quick trip to Dallas

This past weekend we ran to Dallas for a quick family trip.  James is working a lot the next few weeks getting ready for end of the year stuff at church and we won't be seeing him much so it was a great excuse to getaway! 

We wanted to make this trip a fun and relaxing trip but we soon figured out that wasn't gong to be the case.  We hadn't planned on doing much shopping but we wanted to stop at our favorite places and it was a little crazy!  The one place I really wanted to stop was at the Northpark mall.  I had heard they had the best Santa and I'm so glad we did.  He was the sweetest Santa.  He asked Farrah all kinds of questions and didn't rush to the next child.  He really took his time and really listened to her and what she wanted for Christmas. 

We really wanted to take Farrah to see ICE at the Gaylord.  It was Madagascar so we knew she would love it and she had a blast!  The years past James and I have gone New Years Eve and it wasn't crowded at all so we were surprised at how crowded it was.  We still had a blast and Farrah was so fun to watch.  She looked so tiny in her big parka coat...haha! 

A trip isn't complete if we don't make a run to Bass Pro and Cabela's!  James was a good sport with all the places I drug him to so I returned the favor.  Of course those places are quite the entertainment for Farrah.  She loves looking at all the animals and fish.  At Cabela's she got to feed the fish and this was the greatest thing.  It kept her happy for a long time so James could do his shopping.  

After feeding the fish she found a pink camo pop gun and you would have thought she was in heaven!  She had so much fun "shooting."  I have my own "Annie Oakley" ....haha!! 

It was a fun getaway....Farrah had her moments where James and I wondered why we thought it was a good idea to bring a three year old on a road trip but overall we had fun!  Farrah is ready for Christmas and so are we. 

Chapter closing....

This week James and I will close a chapter and start another one.  We sold our house in less then two months which is such a blessing!  We weren't real sure we wanted to sell but really felt like God was telling us it was time. 

Don't get me wrong, we LOVE our house but sometimes it just isn't what you need.  Every year we go a mission trip we come back with so much more appreciation then we had before.  This year I went to Czech with my niece and we had a wonderful time.  The entire time I was there I really had God speak to me about the things we had and the things we were wasting.  The main thing was our house. 

We bought this house with the full intent to fill every bedroom with kiddos.  We wanted to have enough room where our family would be able to grow for years to come.  Well after almost three years and still no kiddos it was put on my heart to sell.  The main reason we needed to sell was to first be obedient to God and the second thing was we really weren't being good stewards of our money.  Don't get me wrong we can afford this house no problem but we were wasting two bedrooms.  Those bedrooms were sitting there "empty." 

We just felt like we needed to get something a little smaller and with the money we save we can put on fertility treatments and really sow into the Kingdom of God.  We have so many dreams about our future and how we want to bless other people.  This house been a blessing to us and so many others. 

The hard part is the not knowing.  We sold our house faster then we thought and we haven't found another one yet.  We were three weeks away from needing to move out with no where to go.  We did find an apartment for the next four months.  Its just hard to have a joyful heart when you go from over 2,000 sqft to less then 800 sqft.  We know we are doing the right thing and God will be faithful with blessing us with another great home. 

It's been such a busy week with trying to get everything out and our goal this week is to be out by this evening so I can go clean tomorrow.  I want to leave this house clean for the new family to bless them.  This week God has really blessed us in different ways.  Ways to show us that He is in control and He loves us.  On Monday, I had some dental work done was numb for five hours!  We went to Chili's so i could have soup and as we were about to be finished we saw some friends came in for dinner.  As we were paying our waitress came and said our meal and been paid for and pointed to our friends table.  It was such a blessing!  Then on Tuesday, we were out eating again (plates and cooking stuff packed) we ran into some friends and were visiting with them and my friend said "How about I take Farrah for the afternoon so you can work faster"....another great blessing!! 

As we close this chapter I am a little sad....sad that our family didn't grow but excited to see what's next.  After almost 15 years of marriage I wouldn't want to do this with anyone but James.