Mandy turns 1!

Well Mandy just turend 1! Can you believe it. Her birthday was on Dec 21st. Last Sunday we didn't do much, but take some really cute pictures, but just look at that smile.

Since she is now traveling the furniture she thinks that she is a monkey. She loves to climb on everything especially this little rocking chair here. She likes to rock away and then proceed to stand up and rock some more. She even gets mad at you when she wants to get up in a chair or on a couch and you don't help her. She most definately has a temper!

She has 12 teeth already. She has just cut her 4th molar and let me tell you NOT FUN!

She is such a fun little one though. She loves to give kisses and hugs and yes still nurse very much. She wants to eat everything you have even if she can't. I think her favorite food is ice cream even though we think that may actually be one of her main allergy problems.

We have been really struggling to find out what is going on with her for the past several months and it has just about driven me crazy. I don't eat much dairy so her rash has been very intermittent lately. But when she or I started eating cheese, ice cream and other types of dairy the rash would flare up. So today I have kept us both off and I will add it tomorrow for us both to see if that is a definate trigger. Please pray for the answer soon. I just don't want a flare up to be her not breathing.

We pray that you all had a Merry Christmas and we love you all!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone! I just wanted to let everyone know that we are thinking about you all this year. With the hustle of the season my time has been very stretched. So any christmas cards sent will be after Christmas.
But we just wanted to let you all know that we love you and pray that God sends many blessings on you all this time of year and the year to come.
I know that it is so easy to get wrapped up in presents and traveling, but I usually have to remind myself that it isn't that which makes Christmas. It is the birth and death of our wonderful Jesus Christ.
Wow what a very humble beginning. I mean he could have chosen to be born in 2008 with all the nice hospitals and gadgets, but instead he chose to be born with the smelly animals. I have given birth 3 times and believe you me I would have a very hard time doing that.
One of the things that I try and make sure I tell my kids is not only about his coming as a baby, but why he chose to die on the cross. Because we are ALL sinncers and we can't enter into heaven just because we are good to our neighbor and go to church every Sunday. We have to accept the greatest gift of all in that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and all we need to do to spend eternity with him is to accept that wonderful gift and ask Jesus to live in our hearts.
I accepted Christ when I was 7 years old and now I am 30! Wow what a long time! But the awesome thing is that I will never stop learning or growing with what the Lord has to teach me.
The best thing also is that the only time it is to late is after you have ceased living on this earthly world.
One of my favorite lessons from the Bible is actually while Jesus is dying on the cross and hung next to him is a thief. On his last breath he asks Jesus to not forget him and then enters heaven on his last breath. That is the perfect example of how so many of us are today. We always wait for the last possible moment to accomplish our tasks.
Please don't delay accepting what God has given.

We love you and hope to share more after the wondrous season!