Christmas Part I (Missoula)

Here are some pictures as promised.

The kids decorated some sugar cookies before we left Fort Lewis, here are my little elves.

Ashlee the artist
Christian the cookie monster, he just wanted to eat them.

Our drive up Snoqualmie - SO BEAUTIFUL!

The kids before going outside to play in the snow at Grandma and Grandpa's

The little snow bunny enjoying the snow

My other snow bunny

Christian have soooo much fun

Before sledding

This picture has quite a story behind it. Although none of it was caught on camera. Christian went down the hill on the innertube, and at the bottom he crashed into this kid and knocked him down like a bowling pin. This was pre-impact

Mom and Dad taking a turn down the hill

after a day of sledding, daddy pulling the tierd kids to the truck

On our way back to the house, my dad spotted this street sign.

A little game of scum

This is what Royalty looks like

And this is what Scum looks like

tough crowd

Woke up to this on Monday morning. I think we had about 4-6" of new snow overnight. Mommy was EXCITED!!!

Christian/Mommy's snow fort

Daddy/Ashlee's snow fort

Daddy's snow man

Home for Christmas

Right now we are in Missoula visiting my parents. It's just so beautiful this morning waking up to the snow covered mountains and trees. We have spent the last 3 days outside playing in the snow; sledding, building snowmen, and snow forts. It reminds me of my childhood and all the fun we had as kids, but then I am quickly reminded of how old I am getting with my tale bone bruised from sledding yesterday. Ha Ha!

We will post some pictures soon. I pray everyone is having a wonderful Christmas season. We have so much to be grateful for, but the greatest gift of all is Jesus. We watched The Nativity Story last night, and I was reminded how humble God is. He sent his son, Jesus; the King of Kings, Lord of Lords to earth to be born in a stable! He didn't chose royalty to bring him into this world but a simple virgin woman (teenager to be exact) from Nazereth. His earthly father was no one of importance, but they obeyed what God had commanded them to do. Just blows my mind sometimes.

May we all remember what the true reason for Christmas is, and just think upon it.

Captivating

For several months now, I've been wanting to read this book, Captivating, by John and Stasi Eldredge. This book has been very, well let's say, CAPTIVATING and I love it! I hope you'll take the time and read it as well. I wanted to share with you an insert from the book that just really struck my heart the other day:

God wants to live this life together with you, to share in your days and
decisions, your desires and disappointments. He wants intimacy with you in
the midst of the madness and mundane, the meetings and memos, the laundry
and lists, the carpools and conversations and projects and pain. He wants to
pour his love into your heart, and he longs to have you pour yours into his.
He wants your deep heart, that center place within that is the truest you.
He is not interested in intimacy with the woman you think you are supposed
to be. He wants intimacy with the real you.
Here's how the flow goes in Hosea. First, God says that he will thwart our efforts to find life apart from him.

"Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes;
I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way.
She will chase after her lovers but not catch them;
she will look for them but not find them. " (2:6-7)

He does this, as we said, in order to wear us out, get us to turn back to him
in thirsty longing. Then he begins to woo us. He often takes us aside from
every other source of comfort so that he alone can have our heart's
attention.
"Therefore I am now going to allure her;
I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her." (2:14)

After reading this, I realized that God isn't the "Sunday morning God" or the "Big guy upstairs", but as the pursuer of my heart, my romancer.

Let's talk about Christian

This post is going to be all about Christian. This year he joined Cub Scouts, and LOVES it! I have other feelings towards Cub Scouts, but seeing the look on his face when he puts on his uniform is priceless. He really enjoys all the fun activities his Den/Pack does. This last weekend was Veteran's Day. His Den got together at a local memorial and learned about WHAT veterans are, and WHY we celebrate Veteran's Day. It was precious seeing the boys paying tribute to all the Veterans. After we were done at the memorial, we then went to the Nisqually Wildlife refuge. It was pretty cool, but I think next time we'll go when it's a little warmer.

On Saturday his Den went to the Lakewood Police Department. It was very humbling being in a police station, especially Lakewood, WA. A year ago on November 29th there were 4 Lakewood Police officers that were shot and killed while at a coffee shop. It made national news and was quite a shock to the community. They have done a great job remembering those officers that were killed.

Putting yellow ribbons on the trees at the memorial

At the Memorial in Lacey

Lakewood Police Station

When our kids were younger, they would say the cutest things. Now that they are a little older you think the cuteness would've worn off, but it hasn't. Christian said the funniest thing the other day.

Scenario: Ashlee just got out of the shower, and was getting dressed. She only had her shirt on, and door open to her room. Christian is in his room, right across the hall playing with his toys. He looks up and sees his sister half dressed dancing around and says (serious tone) "that's awkward". I died laughing.

Then again today on the way to school, he says to me:

"Mom, I hate homework, why do we have it?"

I replied, "Well, homework reinforces what you learned in school, it helps keep the information in your head. I wish I would have done my homework when I first got home from school. Then I probably would have had better grades. I want you and Ashlee to have better grades than I did, OK?"

Thinking about what I said, "O.K. mom, I'm going to take your advice".

Thankfulness

I see all over facebook, people writing what they are thankful for each day for the month of November. It is such a great idea, and I'm glad everyone is taking a step back and looking at the blessings God has bestowed on them. I started to examine my own life and realized I take so much for granted, and don't realize what I'm blessed with.

My children:

Recently my mom told me of a neighbor who's little boy (2 yrs old) has a brain tumor and will possibly not make it to Christmas, or even Thanksgiving. It is so sad and my heart breaks for this family. So many days I take for granted the fact that my children are healthy. Yes, they may drive me crazy some days, but those days I wouldn't trade for anything.

Husband:

I am so thankful that I have my husband here, safe and sound. There were so many 'close calls', last year, but he's here. God shows me again and again that he has so much more in store for Rande, he's not finished with him yet. I thank God every day; even the days Rande drives me up the wall, that I have someone to share life's joys, sorrows, and exciting, moments with

Job:

Rande's job has been pretty stressful lately. I said to him the other day to just remember how blessed we are to have a job. Our country is hurting economically right now and people are losing their jobs, and homes. There may be some downfalls with the ARMY as an employer but we have a home, food, clothes, job security and are blessed with a little extra each month.

Family:

Moving to Georgia has really made me open my eye and see how blessed I am to have family within a day's drive away. My brother, sister, and nephew (soon to be nephew/niece) are less than 4 hrs away. My parents (sister) are only 8 hrs away, and just 2 more hours we are at Rande's parents, and my Grandparents. Tickets from Georgia to Montana will run us $2400, I don't' think we'll be making multiple trips to Montana throughout the year.

Christ:

I'm so humbled by our Savior's love and forgiveness. He is gracious to forgive me even when I am such a mess, and filthy. He never ceases to amaze me by taking care of us, blessing us with so much more than we deserve. He is truly my best friend, and I long for the moments I am able to spend with him; learning, praising and just being with him. He is my refugee through life's storms.

So what are you thankful for this year?

Famous and growing up

Check out this cutie!

The other day I picked up a JBLM guidebook 2010, and started flipping through the pages. In reading, I realized Christian doesn't need a car seat anymore, uh....where have I been? I still thought he was 5. Anyways, so I continued flipping, and what do I find? A picture of my very own Ashlee at the Thrift shop. She has chubby cheeks and looks so little. It was just last year.

Betty Crocker in the Kitchen

The other day Ashlee was home sick from school. So I decided to catch up on some recipes that I've been wanting to try. They turned out so yummy, that I thought I'd share them with you. Just click on the picture and it will take you to the website with the recipe!

Pumpkin Pie Bread

Granola Bars. Rande even loved these- he HATES coconut! Next time I'm going to try some other ingredients, just look at some suggestions on the recipe

I made these for Halloween, something fun for the kids. They were really good, and SO SUPER easy! Maybe keep it in mind for next year, or even Thanksgiving?

HEALTHY muffins! I pulled this recipe off of one of my favorite sites; Eat Better America. They are really yummy, made with whole wheat flour, and yes there are chocolate chips in them.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins - HEALTHIFIED!

Fall Festivities

Our 4th annual trip to Schilter Family Farm in Nisqually, WA. It was a beautiful day and the pumpkins were ripe. Here are a few pictures from our adventure, as well as Halloween.

Trying to find the "perfect pumpkin"
Ashlee brought her camera to take pictures of the cute little pumpkins

Trying to man the wheel barrow

Carmel Apples, SO good!

Daddy's favorite

We went trick or treating around our neighborhood for a change this year. The kids made out REALLY well, so if you are low on sugar, just let me know and I'll send you some. Christian was Anakin Skywalker and Ashlee was Padme. I realize they are brother and sister, and it may be kind of weird, but they ARE 5 and 8 and I thought it was cute.

Anakin (his mask was kind of creepy)

Padme with ATTITUDE

In HIS Time

A couple posts ago I mentioned that God was speaking to us. Well, let me share with you what God has in store for the Henderson family.

Rande's unit returned from Afghanistan in July. They are already set to deploy AGAIN to Afghanistan in 1 1/2years. MAJOR YUCK!

We started talking about the possibility of Rande going to Ranger Training Battalion (RTB) to be a Ranger Instructor (RI). Rande has wanted to do this since 2008, upon his return from Ranger school. We were going to wait until next spring/summer then contact RTB, so Rande could fulfill his time as a Platoon Sergeant. However, God ALWAYS has other plans, and his timing is more perfect than ours.

A few weeks ago Rande received an email saying he would be receiving orders to RTB. A couple of days after that, he received his "official - unofficial" orders with a report date and location. We are to report to Fort Benning, Georgia in July of 2011.

I'm excited about this journey, and yet at the same time, scared. It is so far away from "home" and family, a completely different culture than what we have experienced. The heat -YUCK! nasty bugs, making new friends, and the list could go on. But so many times God has shown me how much he loves us and will take care of us. Where he goes, I go. He has blessed us with so much more than we could ever imagine here in Washington.

So please keep our family in your prayers. It is still several months away, but it's amazing how quickly time flies.

Saturday morning fishing

On Saturday morning, Rande surprised Christian and took him fishing for a little "father/son" time. They weren't able to catch anything worth keeping, but had fun. Well, until the duck hunters kicked them out. But like Rande said "don't bring a fishing pole to a gun fight".

1st Day of School

So I"m only a month 1/2 late, but here are the pictures of the kids first day of school. I can't believe our baby girl is in Kindergarten and Chrisitan is a 3rd grader! It seriously seems like yesterday HE was going to Kindergarten.

This year was a big change for Christian. He was at Evergreen for 3 years, but we decided to change schools and attend the school that was closer to home. So far so good, great teachers, and the best part is recess if you ask Christian. They are able to go outside everyday (even rainy days) because they have a covered area. At Evergreen they had to stay inside and watch a movie.

On the first day, Christian was very confident, and eager to make new friends. Ashlee on the other hand was extremely shy and scared. However, she is definitely made quite a few friends already and loves school.

all ready with new backpacks and clothes

our big Kindergartner

3rd grade, already?

Not so sure about this

always sure, and acting big and confident

"mommy, stay with me"