more with the waeckerle's ...

breakfast with Grandpa Waeckerle and cousins - tracy, kelly, me, abby, andrea, mandy, and erin (from left to right)

we have been running around like crazy here... dinner with the waeckerle's below :)the boys

the girls
poor millie (one of our dogs) has been shaking like crazy lately because she is so cold! So, matt is getting cuddled up with her to warm her up :) poor thing!

Rejoice...

Waeckerle Family Christmas

Every year, we have a tradition of making cookies with my mom. These were my sisters... she is really great at photography. Don't you just want to eat them??

Matt got a little treatment on his foot from Mr. Watson :)

my sister

This is the BEAUTIFUL nativity my dad made for my mom this year... isn't SO beautiful? I just love it! He is so creative and a master craftsmen ;)

We celebrated Christmas with the Watson's this year... they are a sweet family from my parents church. Mr. Watson, Joey, Deedee, me, Matt, Tyler, Kylie, Ange, Drew, Ryan, mom, and dad (from back to right)

ange, drew, and me

Merry Christmas!!

Rejoice, Rejoice

It has always been hard for Matt and I to figure out the holidays... we grew up only 3 miles from each other, so our parents are still very close. Figuring out whose house we will stay at and when we will be with each family has been one of the hardest parts of being married for me. However, this year we were very prepared and planned out most of the details. It has been so much less stressful and more relaxing. This Christmas Eve we were at the Hunter's house. We were so excited to spend Christmas Eve with the Hunters and to have Grandma Hunter with us for the first time! It was a great evening of fun, fellowship and rejoicing in the Lord!Hunter Family - Christmas 2009
Hunter Boys - Matt, Josh, Canon, Phillip, and Dad Hunter

Cute Canon
grandchildren and great-grandchildren... what a blessing!!

"She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save HIS people from their sins." Matthew 1:21

A Savior was born to us this day... Rejoice and Praise the LORD!! We have all heard this verse many times before during the Christmas season, but for me it was the first time I noticed that it said, "he will save HIS people from their sins." We are the Lord's, belonging to him, and from the very beginning he came declaring us as HIS!! What an awesome privellage to be named a child of the Most High God. And to think that He came not as as a reigning king, but a humble baby. Thank you Lord for sending your son to save MY sins and claiming me as your child from the very beginning.

We spent Christmas day with the Waeckerle's. It's so fun that our families are in such different stages of life. Mine with just the six of us, very low key and mellow. Matt's family is in a fun stage as well, with grandkids and all sibblings married.

More pictures to come...

Quick Update

I can harldy believe that Christmas is upon us! It has been a crazy December for us already... so much news. We have been home a while, had a trip to Disney World, and now are home in STL. More pictures and news to come!!

more to be thankful for...

Towards the end of our trip we were able to see some of our favorite girls! Kate, Olivia, and Elle were flower girls in our wedding... love you girls!!
during the hunter thanksgiving, we celebrated matt, babs, and avery and atley's birthdays... here matt is with his gifts :)
The twins trying to help Uncle Matt open his gifts

Matt's grandma
All the Waeckerle girls at Thanksgiving
my sweet sister, Andrea

We are so thankful for our sweet families and loved being home with them! We are so blessed!!

thankful

We are here!! Matt and I arrived in St. Louis on Saturday morning and have been so blessed to spend the whole week with our families. It has been such a blast and so refreshing to be here with everyone we love!! But, the week is going by too fast. Here is what we have been upto so far...

Our sweet nieces, Avery and Atley, and our nephew Canon... And another one on the way!
Matt's brothers and wives - Josh with Atley, Us, Shelly, Canon, Phillip, Julie and Avery

Aunt Julie and Uncle Josh
All bundled up for our walk to Starbucks!

Every year the boys from ZOE challenge the Hunter men for a game of football... this year it poured the whole time and was freezing ... but, it was a HUNTER VICTORY! Wohoo!!

Matt was all geared up in ALL his Seahawk stuff
warmin' up the arm :) ... this is very serious stuff

Phillip, Chris, Dad Hunter, Matt, and Josh

The next day... more FOOTBALL :)

Ethan (my sis's bf ) and Drew, my brother

We are so thankful to be here!!
Happy Thanksgiving!!

sweet friends

we have been so blessed to make some sweet friends here in Texas... many of them are seminary students or married to seminary students. we are so blessed to know them and to be blessed by thier friendship! They have made this move a bit easier :)

marissa and michelle at pure bliss
everyone who helped us move-in, thanks again!!
(robby, marissa, alex, and justin)

while the Alexanders were in Africa, the kids and I went to the Ft. Worth Zoo... love these girls

Alex, supporting the Seahawks with Matt :)

cotton, oil diggers, and windmills...

This weekend Matt and I went to Lubbock, Texas. While we were working at K-Kauai this summer Matt had the opportunity to speak during the weekly chapel. He did a great job and many families asked if he would be interested in speaking at their church or youth group. This was one of these great, God-planned speaking opportunities. A youth group was having a D-Now event and asked Matt to be the speaker. It was a great excuse for us to get away for the weekend and a great opportunity for Matt! On the way, we were amazed at all the things we saw on the side of the highway. Most of the time we were literally in the middle of nowhere, but it was fun for us to see things we had never seen before. :) Matt did a fantastic job speaking. The Lord really used him and spoke through him to work in the lives of high school students. He is great at speaking the Word and allowing the Lord to work in their lives. Best quote from the whole weekend to kind of sum up how he did (coming from an 8th grade boy) "Man! You really out did yourself... tonight was WAYYY funnier than last night!!"

D-Now, Lubbock, TX
the cows... we stopped to see them, but they were afraid of us. who knew cows were afraid of random people stopping on the side of the highway??

oil-diggers... for lack of the correct term

matt's favorite, the windmills

we also blew a tire on the way :(

but, dont worry... matt fixed it and we were off again!!

the whole time we were driving, I was dying to pick some cotton... and thanks to our flat tire, I got to pick some!