2007.

It's New Year's Eve, and I thought a bit of reflection on 2007 would be interesting.

- Our family has grown, and with that growing, we realized we're no where near done! Who knew? I want a BIG family!

- Our life in the ministry has been tested. We've faced some things I never thought we would. We've seen such ugliness come out of good people. We've read When Bad Christians Happen to Good People many, many, many times. At first, it helped heal the wounds we had from all the gossip and slander and general meanness. Then, it caused us to look into ourselves, and really "fix" the issues brought to light. It's also helped us to forgive. I've learned (over and over and over) that our God is a God of forgiveness and love. He wants me to be a woman of the same. I was actually just talking to a lady from our church who went to an event at the church most of the people who left are now going to (Got that? Whew.). She told me how involved they were and how happy the church was because of some of them. How the church was on the verge of closing it's doors, and now, because of the influx of people, it remains open and thriving. My heart just sings at this news! God took an ugly situation and made it glorify Him. One of my prayers for everyone who has moved on from our place of worship is that they find a ministry they can serve in. One they can be a part of and be used for God in. I am overjoyed that it's happening!

- Tucker and I really solidified who we are and what we have been called to do. Our confidence in God's calling is stronger than ever.

- Our trip to Chesapeake was a blast. It was so exciting to see our students be stretched (and even see some stretching in the adults!). It wasn't always pretty or fun, but it was amazing.

- We've left a small group filled with people we love, only to fall into a group of people we love just as much! What started as a painful and hard transition became an easy and joyful one. God is good.

- We've been amazingly blessed by new and strong friendships.

- We've been amazingly blessed by old and comfortable friendships.

- I've fallen in love with my husband all over again. Having two kids certainly changes a relationship, but watching the way Tucker is with our babies makes my heart beat faster and my love for him just explode! He's the most hands-on father I've ever met. (Excluding my own. My dad rocks. Hi Dad.) He's wonderfully funny, goofy with our children, and the social part of this relationship. ('Cause I, um, would never really leave the house if he didn't make me...) He's an amazing provider, a best friend, and really so much more. I'm beyond blessed that he's mine.

- The student ministry at the church is growing...both spiritually and numerically. It's exciting to think about next year and what it will bring! Same with the church. After an initial hit in the beginning of 2007, numbers are climbing. New faces have become familiar faces.

- We've house hunted this year. And stopped house hunting. And started it up again. Hopefully 2008 will be our year for home ownership! We'll see.

This has been a full year. A hard, sometimes sucky, most times wonderful, year. I'm planning on looking at 2008 with the following mentality. It's a quote I came across from Garrison Keillor:

"Give up your good Christian life, and follow Christ."

That's what we're planning on doing. Right there. Nice and simple. We're not going to live the life that most Christians in this country think is "right". We're not going to take the easy way out. We're going to follow Christ...regardless of how people view us, regardless of where it takes us, regardless of the risks it involves. This life is meant to be an adventure!

And so, if you're reading this, Happy New Year! We're going to be partying with our small group tonight, and ringing in this new year with some dear friends and much hope for 2008!

Christmas.

We had a wonderful Christmas! Our families (and some friends) spoiled us silly. We feel incredibly blessed to be surrounded by so much love!

We had a quiet morning at home, and a blast watching our children open their gifts. We only give three gifts (There's one main reason for that. It's our way of keeping the holiday focused on it's true meaning...three gifts for Christ from the wise men...fewer presents, so less focus on the material side of things...oh. And we're cheap.), so we spend a lot of time picking out the gifts and making sure they are things our children will love. Rory got her first "Big Girl" doll house! She's loving it, and watching her eyes light up when she opened it was so much fun! Tate opened his presents, but he was really much more into the wrapping paper and boxes! Tucker surprised me with an ipod nano. And it's green. So cool. I bought him a new watch and a hat. After opening our gifts, we headed out to my parents. My sister and her husband were there, along with my Uncle and Aunt and my Grandmother. My mom made a delicious dinner, and we enjoyed a lazy afternoon of eating, Wii playing and The Office (Do you watch this show? 'Cause you totally should. Funniest thing on TV. Ever.) watching. Good times!

Christmas Eve was wonderful! We spent most of the day at Josh and Phyll's house enjoying good food, many laughs, and great friends. They treated our kids to some amazing Christmas presents, and spoiled us a bit as well...thanks guys! You know how much we love ya!

After leaving the party, we headed over to the church for the service. It was wonderful! We had about 200 people show up, and the service ran smoothly. How The Grinch Stole Christmas was read, and then Jim gave an excellent short message based on the story along with a Gospel presentation. Tucker played some (Awesome and rocking...but, I'm biased) music, and we all ate some good cookies. It was really great to see a good portion of our congregation in the building at the same time. With the two services, you see some people on a Sunday, but not others. It was really nice. Also, people dress up for Christmas Eve. Who knew? Not me. I felt sort of out of place in my hoodie and blue jeans. That is until about four other families walked in dressed like me. That's one reason why I love our church!

All in all, a great holiday!

And, um, we're taking down our tree tonight. It's dead, and I'm super sick of vacuuming up it's stupid needles so my son doesn't eat them.

Christmas Eve.

Some randomness:

-Our cards got here (Yay!). However, there's a mistake on them (Bummer). And since I'm such a procrastinator, and know that I could never return them and get new ones before this holiday season is over, you all get the mistake cards. It'll be fun. You can play "Spot the Hibbs Mistake" with them. Woo Hoo.

-We finally decorated the sugar cookies this morning. Better late than never, right? Tuck and Rory were so busy with this...
...that the sugar ones never got done. I'm sure you can understand why. That house is way cooler than our duck, star and people sugar cut-outs. (Hey. Rory chose the cookie cutters...)

-We've had our Hibbs Family Christmases for the past two days. We spent Saturday evening at my mother-in-laws and then Sunday afternoon at Tucker's Aunt and Uncle's house. Much fun was had! Tuck's brother Toby took some great shots of the kids. See?

-We realized this morning that Tate needs a cake for his birthday. Poor kid. I hope I get better at this Christmas/Birthday thing! So Tucker's going to be in the kitchen, baking away. We have no icing, though. Since we're staying at my parent's house Christmas night, we don't need the cake until Wednesday evening. Hopefully I can pick up some icing before then. Yeah. I kind of suck at this wonderful-mommy-birthday's-are-special thing. Hm.

-We gave the kids their Christmas Eve PJ's early today. We have a busy day ahead, and I wasn't sure when else we would be able to do it. Rory waited so patiently for all of us to be ready. She sat on the table, rocking and singing away until we all came over and let her rip into those gifts. Tate was just a happy little guy! Not so into the presents, but very into running around! And yeah. That's a plastic cookie. Because, you know, I would never give my kids cookies for breakfast...never...right?

-We're off to the Hendrie's (Of camping fame) for a rocking party. Looking forward to it! Then we're headed to the church for our Christmas Eve service. I'm excited for it this year! How The Grinch Stole Christmas is being read, then Pastor Jim is doing a message based on that. The kids should love it! Plus, we'll have cookies, paper and crayons on each table. If they don't love the story, they should at least love those! Tucker's doing some music, and then we're headed home. Once home, we'll be assembling the doll house we bought for Rory and stuffing some stockings. Good times.

Happy Holiday's!!

Body Decoration.

So back in April, my husband gave me a gift certificate for my birthday to go and get my nose pierced. Well, two weeks ago, I finally went and did it! Better late then never...

I went with my small group ladies, my friends. Rachael got an amazing tattoo on her back. See?

Carey added stars to the awesome piece she already has going. See? (Warning...she bleeds.)

Phyll got a tattoo on her foot. It hurt, but was totally worth the pain! See?

And just because I'm sure you all want to see me with a giant needle through my nose...


I have to take a moment and tell you all how much I love these women. They are real, they are honest, and they are very important to me! I never thought I'd be so grateful for church issues (Which is how Rachael and I became friends. She was my safety...my phone call when I needed to talk it all out or cry), or for churchy women retreats (Carey...my breast friend), or for the desperate need of volunteer help (Hi Phyll! If she and her husband hadn't of stepped up and helped out with the students, I never would have gotten to know her as well as I do now).

So yeah. That was our Girls Night Out. Body decoration. I love it...and them!

Rachael.

Rachael is my friend. We do things together like trick or treating, we have loooong phone calls (Sometimes several times a day), we plan on getting together every Friday night for small group (We haven't done this yet. We keep on planning to. There was some communication problems, and then we decided that a Girls Night Out was way more fun...but this Friday! This Friday it's on), we have more fun than we "apparently" should at women's retreats, we make offers to watch each others (wild and out of control...) children even when we can hear said children screaming in the background during the phone calls, and we enjoy body modification (decoration?) together (I got pierced, she got tattooed).

So Rachael, there you go. I've mentioned you in my blog. Happy now?

Seriously though, I'm so immensely grateful for Rachael's friendship over this past year. She's been my listening ear, my crying shoulder, and my rock solid support. She is part of a group of women that I consider to be some of the best friends I have. I love them dearly, and I can't imagine doing this life without them! (I will blog about them next. I'm waiting for some pictures from Rachael...)

Now look. I'm all mushy. And squeaky.

Camping...again.

I meant to post about this, but never did. Whoops!

A few weekends ago we joined the Hendries on another camping trip. (I told them that we're coming on every camping trip they go on, invited or not. I think they thought I was kidding...)

It was Josh's birthday, and we couldn't think of a better way to celebrate than camping, swimming (Indoor water park thing. Pretty cool. My camera died as soon as I snapped the first picture there. So, bummer. No pictures of that! The kids loved it, though!), a few cold beverages, and some good food. (I hear there was a cake, but have yet to actually see it. Phyll's holding out on us...) We had a wonderful time! It was, however, very cold. See?Thanks again, Hendries. We love you guys!