Quote For The Day

"You will find all that is lacking in your heart, in the heart of Jesus, dying on the cross. Then you will be enabled to love those whom you would naturally, in your pride hate."
- Francois Fenelon

youtube

For some reason I haven't been able to post any videos from youtube on my blog and I'm so bummed!! :-( I don't get it. It use to let me but for the past couple of months it won't. Oh well. I guess I'll just have to post links to the videos. But that's not as nice as having it right here.

Music!!!

I brought my music back Lauren!! But this is a different one with new songs. Enjoy!

Ivanya's Birthday

3 years old!!!!!

waiting for her presents

Dad actually got her present this year.....just because he happened to be in Rutland that day!

You should have seen her jump up and down when she saw this! She was riding it just about all day today!

candy, new bike, what a life!

:-)

chocolate-chocolate cake!

talking to Kelly!

Happy 3rd Birthday Ivanya!!!!!!

Homecoming!!!!

Kevin's home!!!! He came in on Monday, the 12th to JFK in New York City. We went down the night before and stayed at my aunts in NJ so that it wouldn't be that long of a trip. When we got to the airport Dad dropped us all of at the door and went to park the van. Mom figured we had some time before Kev showed up so she took the girls to the bathroom. But guess what??!! In walks Kevin and not one of his parents were around! Kurt immediately called Mom on her phone and they came rushing out as soon as they could! One by one the girls went running into his arms till he had all 3 of them! Yes, it was a wonderful reunion and we are SO enjoying having him home! There's been many stories to tell and hear, pictures to see, and TONS to talk about! :-)

Kev and Jacob...

...and Renee...

...and Gracie, being Gracie!!!

Talking to Kelly

Heading home!!!

Christmas presents!!!

...and trying to get Ivanya to come near him with some chocolate!

Kev and Renee taking it easy :-)

I have some more pics of NYC and our time at my Aunts that I'll post later. I had to get these on quick cause I was getting yelled at for taking so long!

We're leaving tomorrow to go pick up Kevin on Monday!!!!!!!! :-)

Hmmm.......

I think it's time to take the Christmas music off here. :-)

A wonderful surprise this morning!

On Monday Kevin called saying that he might be able to come home THIS Monday instead of next Friday!!! It all depended on if he could switch his ticket and get all his work done. Well.......Mom got a phone call this morning saying YES!!! He IS coming home on MONDAY!!! One of the guys there was able to switch his ticket and he WILL get his work done in time! He'll be flying out of Ghana on Sunday with a few other people. They'll have a layover in either London or Germany and split up there. The rest going to PA and Kev coming into JFK sometime on Monday. As I'm sure you guessed, we are all SO excited! It's been over 2 years!!!!!!! Well, for me and all the little ones! It's only been a little over a year for Mom, Dad and Kurt. So, we're busy running around getting the house in order and rearranging the boys room so we can fit Kev in there! Ah yes! Excitement is in the air!!!!! :-)

Kurt Browning - Singin' In The Rain

This is pretty amazing and so much like Gene Kelly's version in the movie

2 weeks from today
KEVIN WILL BE HOME!!!!!!!!

Merry Christmas!

And to all, a good night!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just part of the winter norm up here in VT....

...a nor'easter. :-)

Looks like we'll be having a very white Christmas!

Jacob coming up from the fieldRenee
Shoveling!!!

Dad must have gone out 3-4 times to keep up with it!

the grill

Kurt making sure Dad gets up the driveway in his little car. That was a riot to watch! It seemed like the snow came half way up the car!!!

Kurt again

The van in mid-morning....

and in late afternoon.

I'm not sure if you can make out the shoveled path, but the walls are high! We got about 2 ft. over the weekend. That's a lot but not as much as we got on Valentines Day last year. That was around 3 ft and in just 24 hrs.!

Grandpa Walton's Christmas Message

What is Christmas? It is a time when some of your dreams come true. Every year it roles around and takes you by surprise some of the time, especially when you’re as close to a 100 years old as I am. You think...it can’t be time for another one, but there it is with all it’s hope and joy and the promise of the wishes granted. I bet you wonder what I wish for. What could an old man wish for? Maybe you think I would wish to be young again. I don’t want that. Being young is a painful thing. Being young and in love to boot, which most young people are, is even more agony. I’ll tell you what I wish. I’d wish for the power to return some of the love that’s been given me. I’d wish the time and place for all that giving could be commemorated like the heart I carved on the tree around your Grandmother’s and my initials. I wish too for more days to my life. Time...time to give to children some of the beauty of this Earth that has been revealed to me. A drop of water is a wondrous thing. A spade full of earth is a kingdom in itself. A cloud is worth watching as it passes from one horizon to another. A bird building its nest is as wondrous as men building the Pyramid, and any green thing that grows is proof that God exists. It all comes into focus at Christmas. It is a tender time. We grow cautious because we open ourselves to love. We exchange gifts, but what those presents really say is "I love you." It makes some folks uncomfortable to say or hear these words. Maybe it’s because they’ve never learned the secret of the given heart. There are more takers than givers in the world. People, communities even countries spending their time grubbing and rooting for the goods of this earth like pigs after acorns in the Fall of the year. This is a country with a given heart and I pray it will always be so. It’s a good country and it’s part of our strength, something that we brought with us as pioneers that we can share with the fellow who is down on his luck, with those who suffered calamities: with the loss of their homes or land or their hope. This is a family with a giving heart. You children may squabble and bicker among yourselves but you’ve been taught to love and to give, and that’s the greatest present your Momma and Daddy could have given you. So take pleasure in the trappings of Christmas. Be merry like the songs say. Revel in the tinsel and the glitter and the sparkle and sing the old songs for all the joy that’s in them and the memories they bring back. But to touch the real Christmas, to feel the true spirit of the season, look to your own heart and find all the secret treasures that they’re there to give. There is one wish that I make every year. I never said it aloud before, but I’ll tell it to you now. I wish for all the seasons I have known, endlessly to come and go; the dogwood Spring, the watermelon Summer, the russet and gold of Autumn. I wish for Christmas to come again and for each of us to be here again next year at this time...together, safe, warm and loved as we are at this moment.

-- Blue Ridge Publications