Family Time

Day trip! Gabe chased the cows, we took some great pictures, ate some pizza, and just spent time together. Love my family! Happy New Year!

Soul City Church

Hey all...

I know there aren't many who follow this here ol' simpleton blog BUT it only takes one to spread the word! Our friends are getting excited about moving to the city of Chicago and following God's bigger plan for their life by church planting. They are in the early stages which means funds are needed to get started. They did NOT ask me to plug their church BUT I believe in them. So here are the links.... check them out yourself and pray about giving to a ministry worth giving to. I know.. you already give to so many.. that's okay.. They would take a one time gift this month. Don't go to Mccy D's or Starbuck's a few times and give to them instead. We are the hands and feet of Jesus. Can you help?

Whittaker Family Speaks about Soul City


Help Soul City Church HERE

Thanks all! Happy New Year!

Christmas and the Aftermath

Our celebration started on the 23rd with a great family dinner, games, and gifts. I am so glad to have some family here to share the blessing of Christmas!

December 24th... Christmas Eve service and Chinese food! Terrell surprised us by stopping for some yummy Chinese food after church. It was a great way to end the evening.

Love the BIG eyes these two have. If only.....

Christmas Morning! Fun, Food, and Rock Band!

We took off for a hike early afternoon to get some fresh air on this cold Colorado Christmas Day. Maybe 20 degrees outside!

We made it to Monument Rock! We're standing on an ice sheet. BRRRRR! Charley wasn't too happy on the ice but she LOVES the snow!

This little fellow was waiting for us back on our street when we got home. We think she/he is a pup coyote....very playful!

And the dinner aftermath! Now we're sitting here watching Home Alone, fire burning and enjoying the quiet of the evening. It was a blessed day and there isn't a day that goes by that I don't thank God for the blessing of my family.

Merry Christmas!

2009

A Little Christmas Cheer

This year I boycotted Christmas cards. Whoever reads this here ol' blog gets more updates than you really need in one year anyhow, right?

So here's a little CHRISTmas hello from me to you! We are loving having all the kids under one roof and I still don't know why we quit having kids! The house is emptying out too quickly and I am feeling VERY melancholy over the whole darn thing. The time off with Terrell is well needed and hopefully after the hub bub of Christmas and the excitement of the presents is over we can go on a couple of dates together. We have a few more fun times ahead and I'll be sure to keep ya'll updated right here. Oooh.. doesn't that just make you so happy to have more on our little family to read!

May you find the Joy and Peace only Jesus can bring this Christmas season!

Merry Christmas.

Gabe's New Wheels

God works in different ways, ya know? God was working upstream on our son's behalf when we went looking for a truck for him. We had one idea, He had another idea. He being God. While we were looking at a pick-up this week in a little town outside of CS, T's sister went for a brief walk with Lina. She came up to us after we test drove the pick-up and said,"Hey.. there's a ForeRunner over here around the corner at the carwash for sale. Want to check it out?" So we walked over to check it out. After some chatting and some driving, we were sold. So here we have this great old-new truck for our son. Now the fun part.... We knew it had a nice stereo and told him,"Hey it has a nice stereo!" He came home last night from campus and was officially handed the keys. After checkin' out his truck he realized IT HAS A REALLY NICE STEREO. Subs included. We were rockin and boppin as he showed us what it could really do. Isn't that cool? The one thing he really wanted was some subs and we didn't even know it had them! Now to keep earplugs in my pocket when I ride with him.

God is in the details of life.

Friends

I miss some things from my California life.... I miss the deep friendships that run so deep it's not hard. We've been here two years now and we have some fantastic friends.Really genuine. We all have common interest like God, and homeschooling, teenagers, and college applications, food, of course coffee.. it is cold here ya know, and the big one, being transplanted from somewhere else. You get it. But still it has yet to run deep. Sometimes it does. Other times there isn't time for it. Could be the place we all find ourselves though; the teenage years are really the busiest and really close to being the best years. It's hard to miss out on any of it. Plus our age.. we're tired by 8 pm and ready to be home with the kids. Not that we're OLD, cause we're not, we're....... hormonally..... challenged, that's all. AND we are married. The husband is top priority after God for goodness sakes. So... friends. My friends here are sweet kind souls. These here pictures are from a "Let's get together before all the CrAzYnEsS" Christmas Party.

Auntie Yo

T's sis came to visit us from Cali for a few days. So, so, so nice to have her here! We just don't get visitors all too often WAHHHH WAHHHH WAHHHHH and it's great to have a little company now and again.

Night Out on the Town

Okay.. so not the whole night or the whole town. But a double date with Rob and Joanna Beth is always fun! We went to the Warehouse in downtown area and had fabulous food and fabulous conversation. What more could we want?? T and I have barely scratched the surface of all the eateries in our area; trying a new place is always on the top of my list! Ooohhhh... a review of restaurants. Maybe that's how I can experience more? We had a great time and do hope it isn't an entire year until this happens again.

So glad to have family in the area.

Twelve Days of Christmas.. Day 1

Christmas is here and time to celebrate all month long. Today is the 1st day of Christmas and the girls didn't get a bird but socks instead. Lots more useful, don't you think?

and Boo.. Yeah, she wasn't done doing her hair. :)

Why Do You Do This Orphan Ministry?

Meet Hiatt from Children's HopeChest on Vimeo.

Watch this video to see one of the many reasons I'm involved in orphan ministry with Children's HopeChest. Find out more and become a HopeChest Partner today at http://www.HopeChestPartners.org.

Thanks so much!

Maybe I Should Check the Temperature First

There are certain habits I have while cleaning up. One of them is to Windex the Charley Nose Prints off the back slider, inside and out. Did you know Windex could freeze? Yah, me neither. Next time I should make sure it's abover 32 degrees before I spray the outside. Now what? It's all smudged!

I Want It!

A blogger, of whom I actually had a covetess (Is that a word?) moment with due to her amazing blog followers, is giving away an Hp Touch Smart. Yep, you heard me. I really want to win it but in all fairness and to get an extra entry, I am mentioning it here too. Just go here and you can enter too!

Hope for the Hopeless

You know my new favorite saying is, "Make Today Count.". So many of us have warm beds, food on the table, and family to love. There are 1000's of kids orphaned and they need just the basic necessities. Maybe you haven't been called to adopt a child but you do have to ability to make a difference by supporting a ministry that is impacting kids lives every day...for the better. Check them out and pray. You'll know if this is how you can Make Today Count.

From Tom Davis, CEO of Hopechest

Our goal to reach 5,000 more orphans in 2010.
While I love Christmas more than any other time of year, I’m already thinking about 2010 and I want to share that vision with you.

And, I want you to share it with everyone you know.

Our team set the goal of raising $500,000 to reach another 5,000 orphaned children in 2010. We’re raising these funds so that…

> Fewer young girls are forced to trade sex for food
> More orphans will have food to eat, and the protection and love of Christian mentors
> No girl will end up in the commercial sex trade

The enemy preys upon orphans like this day after day after day. I’ve seen our enemy; he goes by names like AIDS, extreme poverty, and sexual trafficking. He robs children of their parents, their dreams, and their dignity.

Who will stop this? It must be us!

Today I am on a mission to raise $500,000 and I can’t do it without you.

Will you help by visiting http://www.HopeChestPartners.org and sign up as a $25/month partner today?

Your donation will feed orphans in Africa and rescue them from extreme poverty. Your gifts will support lifechanging programs for girls in Russia that help prevent sex trafficking and forced prostitution.

These are CRITICAL gifts that form the foundation of our programs. Without that foundation, we could never have grown to reach 10,000, and sit poised to reach another 5,000 next year.

It is those gifts, your gifts, that make the difference.

picture by Tom Davis

The Mystery Tree

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree... Where art thou?

Could you be at the local tree farm? After walking around in 11 degree weather on the few small acres and seeing Charlie Brown's Big Brother way too many times we said... ehhh... Let's go to Home Depot.

Not much here to look at.

But then the decision of who was gonna tell the Tree Farm owners we thought their trees were well, ugly. T suggested the girls Ro-Sham-Bo!
Boo lost. Off she went to return the saw and run like crazy to the truck. She was very polite and never said anything. Saved.

We were off to The Depot to grab a pretty tree from Oregon none the less. Yep, we live in Colorado... pine country, and went to get a tree from Oregon!

Quickly we run in to find the perfect tree. Ahhh. Home Depot.

What? They're almost gone! Ok, so I'm freezing. Let just get a tree already.

Becca and Boo were please but obviously Lina wasn't so excited. No trudging through the snow, No Hot Cocoa, just the Home Depot Guy. We wanted to see the tree so we kindly asked him to open the tree. He took off the twine as well as cut many of the branches as he made his way up the tree and that tree wasn't budging. FROZEN solid! Ok then. So I turned to the only tree next to it and said,"We'll take this one." Home we went with our mystery tree. NEVER have we bought a tree sight unseen. We were cold and ready to get home. Hey... the Broncos were on.

We brought the tree in and carefully took off the twine. Yep. Frozen solid.

We started feeling somewhat optimistic a few hours later. It was thawing out. Taking shape.

What do you know??? It's a pretty tree! Almost thawed and pleasantly shaped. Yeah.. the mystery tree is a winner! Tomorrow we will put on the beautiful NON-twinkly lights (They make me nervous following them twinkle) and all the ornaments. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.