Happy New Year!

I should be packing right now because we are going away to the beach for a whole week!!! I'm very excited. We're going to our friend's beach house with my family for a week of relaxing, reading, playing, beach combing, and celebrating Mom's Birthday. I'm hoping to have Internet out there so I can post. If not, I'll be back on Friday! Happy New Year!

SuperMillers

As I was writing that last post and bragging to Ryan about how big my blogroll was getting, I got an email from Chris and Angela saying they have started a family blog! You have to check it out to see the adorable pictures of new little baby Truitt!

Lest Old Acquantaince Be Forgot. . .

I recently found an old friend of mine on Facebook. Molly and I were best buds in third and fourth grade. I still remember her Mom's homemade frozen applesauce, our many discussions about Anne of Green Gables and of course crushing over Bo Duke! I remember the sadness of returning to school after Christmas break and finding out that her Father had passed away. She was a great friend, but over the years we had completely lost touch, until now! It is very surreal to read her blog and see my little girl friend as a Mom and a Wife, and from what I hear a prolific writer! Here's to old acquaintances renewed!

Rylieisms

"I know that's a girl because she has eyelashes, boys don't have eyelashes."

"My ears don't have eyelashes."

Rylie: "This music is old."

Ryan: "But it's good music."

Rylie: "But it's OLD."

Ryan: "Are we having this battle allready?!"

"But, I wanted to be Jesus!" What she yelled out in the middle of the night.

Truitt is here!

Our friends, Chris and Angela had their precious baby boy this morning! Truitt James was born at 7:48 am, he was 7lbs, 14 oz and 21 inches! His body temprature was low as well as his blood sugar so he's been under the heat lamp and had to have some Similac. He is stable now. We were able to go see him this evening and give him all our snuggles! Welcome to our church family Truitt and congratulations Chris, Angela, and Keegan!

Christmas

I was going to write a deeply moving profound post for Christmas, but never got around to it, what with four Christmases in two days! (That, and the lack of profoundness in my Mommy brain!)

Christmas started on Christmas Eve morning. This was the only time we had to have our own family Christmas. It started with Ryan making us our new traditional Christmas waffles, then the retelling of the Christmas story so that we would remember that it is really all about Jesus' birthday! After that came presents. This was the first year that Rylie could open her own gifts and really understand what was going on. It was also the first year that we took her shopping and let her pick out presents for us. (I got a bright pink stuffed pig!) We had a lot of fun and a special family time (and I got an Ipod! Rylie got a princess "Ipod" as well but decided she liked mine better so she pulled my headphones out and plugged hers in. I never thought my Ipod would get jacked by my two year old!)

That evening we had my family Christmas at my parents. My "adopted" Grandma Pat was also able to come, which made it even more special. We have a few traditions that we do as a family and then we opened more presents.

After that we went to Ryan's Mom's house and spent the night. Christmas morning the kids woke us up bright and early so they could rush downstairs and open their presents. By the end of it, Rylie was in a little bit of a stupor, tired and overwhelmed by all of the present chaos. Then we had our traditional breakfast of homemade strawberry crepes with whip cream! They are so good, I don't know why we only have them once a year!

That afternoon we went to Ryan's Dad's house (he has his own ranch). Rylie was so excited to see the horses and then even more excited when she got to sit on one! Imagine her excitement after that when her gift from Grandpa Jim was a rocking horse that made horse noises and moved his head and tail (she's named it "Fafa")! We only see Ryan's Dad once a year, so Rylie didn't remember him from last year. I was thankful that she wasn't too shy and he could see how adorable she is (I know I'm biased!)

Today we were supposed to go down to Oregon to visit my Aunt, my sister, and then my Grandparents, but after the severe contractions I had last night, we decided it was better to stay home and rest today. My wonderful husband has been doing housecleaning (our house is full of presents!) and taking care of Rylie all day, so I can rest. Thanks hon!

I can't forget to mention that I'm writing this post on my very own laptop! Ryan asked our friend Aaron to put one together for me (he's a computer whiz) for Christmas! I love it! Now I can use it whenever I want, I don't have to wait for him to be done.

Click here to see all of our Christmas pictures!

Leadership Christmas Party

We had our annual Church staff and leadership Christmas party this evening. It is always quite the exciting evening with our gift exchange. We play that you can take gifts from other people which can sometimes get a little rowdy. This year my pride cameth before my fall! Ryan and I sat next to one of Deacon's (Jerry) and his wife (Ginger, who is also on the Women's Ministry Board with me). I have known them since I was probably about ten and they are veteran Christmas party gift exchangers. I thought it would be quite advantageous to make an "alliance" with them so that at the end we would all end up with the gifts we wanted. There were three coveted gifts that received a lot of play. It was us veterans vs. the newbies, a new couple came to our party for the first time and they weren't shy about jumping in and fighting for the same gifts. As the evening wore on, I grew cockier and cockier because my alliance knew what it was doing, these other people were new, they didn't really know the subtleties of the gift exchange. We had it down until the last round and then, crash and burn! The new couple (well, actually just the husband, his wife left to relieve the babysitter so he was playing both of their parts) with the help of another veteran couple, retrieved the coveted gift and I was left to open the gift that I brought to the exchange! A good dose of humility with a lot of laughter thrown in!

Before this materialistic feeding frenzy, my Dad shared a devotional with us that was excellent. He talked about how exhausting it can be at times living the Christian life, especially if you are involved in ministry. He used the phrase, "letting your soul catch up to your body". I have felt like that often! He read us the first few verses of Psalm 23 and reminded us that God is our Shepherd who desires to have intimate time with us and that He will make us lie down in green pastures to get it. He pointed out that the pasture may not seem green to us at the time, but from God's perspective it is green because He knows the good that can come out of any situation. Whatever situation you are in, God is there and He desires you to look to Him and to spend time with Him. He talked about how God leads us to still waters. He likened that to the deep drinking from God's Word. It's opposite of the "read a quick Bible verse and then I'm done" mentality. He challenged us to get alone with God and spend real, quality time with Him, and then our soul will be refreshed. He said this all much more eloquently than I did, but it was a great reminder that I thought should be shared with everyone.

The Hostess with the Mostess

My friend Becky is the best hostess ever! She recently had a Christmas party and I think there was enough food to feed an army! She is so thoughtful and tries to provide things that everyone would like. She sent everyone home with doggy bags too. She even bought all of the supplies for us to make our own Christmas ornaments. The green one in the picture is the one I made for Ryan. (Sadly, when I got home I dropped and broke the one I made for Anna. Rylie was so sweet though and gave me a big hug and told me, "It'll be ok Mommy". Here is the link for the rest of the pictures from Becky's party.

Dr. Appointment

I had a good Doctor's appointment this morning. He said my cervix is still closed, that is a huge praise! Anna's heartbeat is nice and strong and I'm measuring right on target. I am anemic which explains why I've been so tired. I have iron now, so that should help.

On another note, my daughter said she wants to have a "Dora, Ariel, dark brown" birthday party this year. Anyone have any ideas how to accomplish that?!

Church Christmas Banquet

Ok, I know these are cheap posts, but I've been having a lot of pain and just generally not feeling good (but I have a doctor's appointment in the morning). Enjoy some pictures of our church's annual Christmas banquet that we had last Saturday night. There is one of my girls, Emily and Jenaya. The next is Jerry and Mike carving the meat, then me and my hubby, then me and my "little" brother, Matt. (Notice the huge belly and my new dress!)

Decorating our Christmas Tree

I realized I never posted any tree pictures. For my own memory, I'm posting these, enjoy!

Christmas Program Chaos

Tonight was our Church's annual Christmas Program, and our Rylie's first program! It was so great to see all of the kids (and the adults too, but let's be honest, it's all about the kids!) publicly giving praise to the Lord. There were a few glitches, such as Mary and Joseph running off the stage instead of going to the stable (they got turned around in time!) Then the two through five year olds came up, this is where the chaos really started! Some of the boys decided to start wrestling which ended up with a couple of the boys taking a nose dive off the stage. Then there were the bells, they were supposed to ring nicely while they sang, instead they were banging each other in the head (especially Rylie on Ryan's head). And we can't forget the flashlights (for "This Little Light of Mine"), that were shining in each other's eyes and being swung around. But, of course they were absolutely adorable! If you want to see more of the fun, click here. Merry Christmas!

Once again, Rylieisms:

"Rylie loves Anna, yes she does" (This is the song she made up for Anna. She also made up a song about fish, "Fish, fish, fish, divers, octopus, fish, nemo, mermaids, fish, fish, fish.")

"I want to go to Heaven. I believe in Jesus, I don't believe I'm getting so big"

When we pulled up to the store, "Let's do this thing!"

When I told her not to stand on the ottoman, "But it's a FOOT stool".

Ryan: (after she had been taught what an octagon was) What animal has eight legs?
Rylie: An Octopus.
Ryan: Octagon and Octopus both start with "octa" because that means "eight".
Rylie: But what does "agon" mean?
Ryan: stumped

Rylie: (while watching Dora) Where is that sound coming from on Dora?
Me: I don't know.
Rylie: I do, it's coming from Valley Bible (our church).

"I like Grandpa's white hair with the pink circle in the middle."

"I like ducks, mermaids, people, and food."

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Happy Birthday Daddy! I love you very much! You are such a great Dad and Grandpa, we are very thankful for you! Thank you for loving my girl (s) as much as I do and for really wanting to get to know her. Thank you for being such a great Pastor and consistently teaching me (and others) the importance of God's Word my whole life. You have taught me so much about God's sovereignty, about His unshakable character, about how His Word is always sufficient. Thank you for living out what you preach, for "walking the talk". Thank you for loving Mom and being a good husband to her and for showing us how to have a Godly marriage. Thank you also for being such a loving father to me. You have always loved me unconditionally even when I didn't deserve it (this has also taught me a lot about our Heavenly Father's love). I'm so happy to be your princess! I love you!

Don't take God for granted

God does not like to be taken for granted, It flies in the face of his eternal purposes - that he be known and loved and praised and enjoyed.

And it makes us superficial people. . . When the main thing is missing, what's left is distorted and superficial, whatever it is.

If someone says, 'Oh, that's just religion. You can't expect everything to be religion,' I answer, 'It's not religion, it's reality. God made the world and everything in it. He owns the earth and everyone on it. He is the main actor in the world. He is guiding the history of every people and nation to their appointed goals. Everything, without exception, has to do with God and gets its main meaning from God. And not to show this, but to take this for granted, is to be superficial. . .'

It is simply impossible to overstate the importance of God.

And he does not like being taken for granted. The psalm does not say, 'Great is the lord, and greatly to be taken for granted.' It says, 'Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised. (Psalm 96:4)

- John Piper from "God Is A Very Important Person"

Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

Yesterday we bundled up and went to a tree farm that a man in our church owns. He has been so gracious to us over the last few years and allowed us to by the trees at what it cost him, and then my Dad paid for that. We are very thankful! My Dad brought Rylie's cousins Abby and Luke to help him pick out a tree for he and Grandma. The kids had fun running through the trees. Luke especially enjoyed "driving" Grandpa's truck. Click here to see more pictures from the morning.

Check out these new Blogs!

I have mentioned before that we have two friends that are Children's Authors. Allen's wife, and my friend, Sarah, has started a new blog. She is a great writer and is transparent with the struggles of raising a little boy with Autism. She also has another little boy (who is one of my Puggles and Rylie's good friend) and is in the process of adopting a little girl from Vietnam. Throw in an author husband a few pets, and you've got a great read!
The other blog is from my friend (and former neighbor), Keren. She has a one year old boy and another baby on the way. Her and her husband are avid Seahawk fans as well as huge animal lovers.
Check out both of these and give them some love!

Third Trimester!

Help the Flood Victims

If you want to help with any of the flood victims, go to this site. You can see some first hand pictures and donate. Please keep praying for all of those who have lost so much!

Christmas Tea

Last night we had our annual Women's Christmas Tea at church. It is a wonderful time of yummy food, pretty decorations, singing, and most of all an evangelistic message. We always have a lot of visitors that may otherwise not come to church, and they all get to hear the Gospel! This is the first year that I didn't spend two days decorating and setting up for it (I did have fun MCing it).

It was nice to walk in and see it all set up and see all the pretty lights. I've attached the link to all of my photos from the night.

Friends!

This is Rylie and her friend Hannah. Aren't they adorable?! Hannah's Mommy, Krista took this picture in their Sunday School class last Sunday. It's so fun to see Rylie make friends and to hear them talk to each other and play. We are so thankful that she has good friends like Hannah!

God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

I have just finished reading a fictional account of Abigail, one of King David's wives. It was a fun read, but it also was a good reminder to me of the God we serve. As I have told you all before I am slowly reading through the Psalms to get to know Him better. One thing I have been struck with lately through the reading of the Psalms and this fictional book is that we serve the Ancient of Days! I have really had a sense of the "bigness" of our God! I tend to focus on the here and now and what He is doing in the lives of people around me (which is great!), but I'm also reminded of all of the great acts He has performed throughout history, especially Old Testament history.
Whenever someone was going through a trial they looked back and remembered how God had delivered them and their ancestors time and time again. They preserved those memories because it was proof of God's faithfulness to them, even when they didn't deserve it. I think we tend to look forward to what God is going to accomplish in our lives, through our trials and we look forward to Heaven. This is not a bad thing, it's a great perspective to have, to live in light of eternity. I have also been greatly comforted by the fact that this God who is taking care of my little problems, has already taken care of giant problems in the lives of others. If He is faithful to take care of them, and has done miraculous things in the past, I can have comfort and strength in the present. He has already proven that He is sovereign, that He is faithful, that He loves His people. I can rest in that!

My Mommy

I thought I'd better update this quick for those of you who were praying for my Mom today. She had to go into the ER this morning for severe abdominal pain, bleeding, etc. She is home now with a diagnosis of Colitis. She is on antibiotics and pain meds. She has to see a specialist to find out what caused this attack. It could be something as simple as eating something bad and having ecoli or something more long term like Crones or Diverticulitis. We won't know that for a couple of weeks. It was a scary morning, but she's starting to feel better now and is home. Thanks for your prayers!

Prayers Needed

Please pray for my pregnancy buddy, Becky. She is due March 17th but due to some medical complications she has started going into labor. She is home from the hospital and is now on total bed rest and has to take medication every four hours to stop the labor. They are hoping to keep the baby in at least until January. Please pray for the health and safety of this precious baby girl and her Mommy!

Wordless Wednesday!

Self-pity

Ryan and I have been trying to be more productive with our time and our brains, so we have been turning off the T.V. at night and reading together instead (we're not saints, we have DVR!). We have been reading Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan and The Dangerous Duty of Delight by John Piper. The other night when we were reading the Piper book, I was slapped across the face by the Holy Spirit. We were reading a chapter on pride and self pity, no problem I have this under control. Then, I read this paragraph, "The nature and depth of human pride are illuminated by comparing boasting to self-pity. Both are manifestations of pride. Boasting is the response of pride to success. Self-pity says, 'I deserve admiration because I have suffered so much.' Boasting is the voice of pride in the heart of the strong. Self-pity is the voice of pride in the heart of the weak. Boasting sounds self-sufficient. Self-pity sounds self-sacrificing. The reason self-pity does not look like pride is that it appears to be so needy. But the need arises from a wounded ego. It doesn't come from a sense of unrecognized worthiness. It is the response of unapplauded pride."
This was so convicting! I didn't realize that I have been sinning in this area until the Holy Spirit enlightened me. (If those of you close to me have noticed it, we're sometimes blind to our own faults.) Now I have even more to work on! I'm so thankful for grace!
(Thanks honey for the tutorial on hyperlinks!)

A Dream Is A Wish You're Heart Makes

We just finished watching Cinderella and it reminded me of this picture from Disneyland two years ago.

I'm so happy my Prince Charming did come and his name is Ryan! Love you honey!

Cravings

Did you know that chocolate and sourdough bread go together wonderfully? They do when you're pregnant! (Thank you Heather for the chocolate!)

Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

Our first snowfall of the season!