It's a New Year!!

It's a New Year, and I am already behind, lol. I feel like the last few blogs I have written have all been a bit behind. Oh well, that is an accurate reflection of my life, I usually feel like I am behind and am trying to get caught up. If I could have one superpower it would be the ability to freeze time, hahaha. I think all moms should be given this power at the birth of their first child. Anyways, that's a total transgression and not at all what I want to blog about.

I have never been much of a New Year's Resolution person, but the last few years I have really felt that it was important to slow down and reflect with the passing of each year. New Year's for me has become a day when I make sure that I set aside some time to look back on the last year and see if the way I lived my life matched what I said was important to me, and the direction God has for me in my life. This year as I looked back there were many things that stood out as highlights and blessings in our lives. There were also many things that I looked at and know that I want to improve or change. One of the things that I have decided to focus on this next year stemmed from a blog that I wrote in September. It was titled If I can justify it that makes it right....right? (to read that blog click on the title). Servant hood is something that I believe is so important and yet is often the first thing that we cut out when we feel life is too busy. The past few years I have felt like I am stretched too thin and just too busy, but I know that just because I can justify myself doesn't mean that it is right for me to look the other way when someone is in need of being served. Ever since the sermon that inspired my previous blog I have started really paying attention to the people in my life that are wonderful examples of a servant heart. My husband is one of these people, he is such an incredible example to me and the way that he demonstrates his love through service, his servant heart is one of the key reasons I feel so blessed. I was at a ladies brunch this past December, and as we went around the circle telling one another about our lives and what we were doing I was struck by how almost all of the women were involved in some type of sacrificial service. It was quite inspirational. Because of these and many other examples in my life I have decided to create a list of people who to me, display a servant heart. I will continue to add people to this list as the year goes on, and my goal is to observe these people, to look at what characterizes their service, and to follow their example. I hope that by doing this I will work more diligently at becoming like these people that I admire so much.

One of the other things that I have noticed about servant hearted people is that they don't ever sit back and look at all they are doing and say "well I am doing enough, look at me." These people are like chameleons, they often blend into the background, they often miss getting the praise, and yet they are indispensable to those they are serving. I am amazed at how they continually recognize the opportunities God is giving them to serve. After writing my previous blog I was visiting with a lady. This lady is the woman that, as I was writing my previous blog, I was visualizing in my head as one of the most beautiful examples of a servant heart. She is truly an inspiration to me and she has blessed me and many others in my extended family because of her servant heart. In our conversation we were talking about this situation where she had seized the opportunity to serve a young girl whom she barely knew. As I was talking with her she mentioned how when the situation came up she had just read my blog about service and felt that she really needed to help this girl. When I wrote the blog I wanted to inspire people like me, I wanted to prompt those of us who maybe aren't servant hearted to start looking at the world in a different way, and yet this wonderful example of a servant heart had been inspired, all I could think was, but you do so much for everyone already, how could you feel the need to do more? Later that night I was telling Michael about this conversation and we were discussing it, well I was discussing it and he was trying hard to listen to me instead of falling asleep, lol, and I came to the conclusion that when you have a servant heart you really never stop and say, "no God, I am doing enough right now, I am going to let someone else take care of this one." Instead you say, "okay God, I am busy, but I know that you have placed this need in my life so I know that you are asking me to trust you and serve in this way." I think most of us serve in some way or another, we serve our families, we maybe help in the nursery at church, but only the truly servant hearted serve when it hurts, serve when they are already doing enough, serve when they can justify not.

So, as this New Year begins I am dedicating it to service. One of my tools to help me make service a priority in my life is my lists. I have created two lists, one, as I have already mentioned, is dedicated to the people whose example I want to be like. I plan to watch how they manage their time and resources to enable them to do so much for so many. My other list is dedicated to ways I can serve. This list is divided into two parts, one is for now, ways that I can serve the people in my life now, the other is for the future. In my stage of life I have discovered that there many things that I would like to do for young moms that aren't feasible because of the demands of my own family, however, my family will only be this young for a stage, when that stage passes, I want to make sure that I don't forget to serve in these areas. Of course if I make these goals, these lists, and don't seize the opportunity to serve when it is presented to me I have failed, so the most important step is to take action. I believe that the way I can chart my progress is to look at the example of this amazing lady in my life. I will know that my heart is being transformed into that of a servant when I don't look for the praise when I serve, and when I don't ignore the needs around me because I am too busy. So here is to a New Year, to a new goal, and to a challenge that I believe may take me a lifetime to complete, but will hopefully show great progress in 2011.

Christmas!

decorating the family room tree,
we usually have two trees.

This might be a looong post! I feel like this Christmas has been so busy that I haven't had time to breath, but busy in a good way. We have been celebrating Christmas for about three weeks now! We have had Christmas concerts, and family gatherings, and lots of visiting. It has been a fun time filled with family and excitement, and the best part is that we have been celebrating with people who celebrate for the same reasons that our family celebrates. In every gathering there has been a pause to acknowledge our saviour's birth and opportunities to reinforce the true meaning for the season to our kids. It truly is a blessing to have so many people in our lives to celebrate Jesus with. My kids have started to think that Christmas comes multiple times in the month of December, but each celebration has been unique and each part of the family adds to their understanding of how Christmas should be celebrated.

Our first opportunity to celebrate Christmas was with the extended Haak family, it was a blast, 39 of us all gathered together catching up on life, sharing a meal, and exchanging greeting cards and gifts. The noise level in the house can leave a slight buzzing in your ears when you go to bed that night, kind like you get after going to a hockey game, but it is a sound of family connecting and experiencing life together. What a blessing for my children to have a relationship with their great aunts and uncles and to enjoy spending time with their father's cousins. My kids love this time, they look forward to heading down for the family gathering as much as I do. Bethany, Jessica, and Meagan make quite an impression on my girls, often after spending a weekend in Abbotsford, their names when playing dress up often become either Bethany, Meagan, or Jessica. After this past visit my girls' Barbies started to have boyfriends, which means "they sit with each other and have fun." It was pretty cute, once in a while they even get married and become Trent and Jessica.

Auntie Chrystal had brought a gingerbread house for

the kids to decorate, it was a big hit!

Everyone gathered around waiting for the gift exchange.

The girls helping the adults pick out their gifts for the guy/girl exchange

On Christmas Eve, 30 years ago, my parents got married (I know, couldn't they have picked a more convenient time of year?), and we celebrated by taking them out for dinner at Temptasians Restaurant. It was fun, and we had our own little room so our noisy crew didn't disturb the rest of the restaurant too badly. We also finished off our Christmas shopping and I can't believe how many people are still shopping on Christmas Eve, it's nuts! Christmas Eve is always a bit crazy for us as we rush to get to church to celebrate with our church family the birth of Christ, and to make sure that our kids always associate Christ with Christmas. This year the kids were all asked to go to the front of the church and listen to a story being read by a man from the church. Emmersen decided that this was a good time to explore the front of the church and to play around with an audience full of people. Neither Michael or I had thought to give her instructions on behaviour prior to sending her to the front (something we now know to do for next time), so it was partially our fault I suppose, but she was in a special little Emme mood, and therefore put on quite a show. She was the kid that you see in the Christmas concert that everyone notices, but isn't supposed to be the one being noticed. Cheyanne sat as still as could be and kept herself focused on the story the whole time, Emmersen instead wandered the front of the stage, went into the manger, jumped off the baptismal tank, attempted to blow out the advent candles, and even picked her nose. She also got her cousin Dexter going, who had previously been sitting like a little angel until Emmersen decided to put on her show. It was embarrassing but I was upstairs and couldn't manage to catch her eye, and she was skillfully avoiding her dad's attempts to corral her. At least it can't be said that we have boring kids, lol. After church we went over to my parents' house for a little visiting. We have a tradition of our kids getting new jammies and a book on Christmas Eve. This year we had stayed a little too late at my parents and so they were really tired and grumpy but we still did the pj's and read the Christmas story. I usually buy the kids matching jammies, however this year Mason made that more difficult so I went with a monkey theme, and all the kids got monkey pj's and then headed to bed.

At the restaurant

We waited too long to get our Christmas Eve picture taken,

the kids were so done and ready for bed!

new pj's and ready for story, Mason obviously didn't

want anything to do with the story or the picture!

Christmas morning was so much fun! Michael milks in the morning and so I got up early to get the turkey stuffed and in the oven, as well as kept the kids in their room so they couldn't see the gifts under the tree until Michael had come in from the barn. This year was extra special because Michael had taken the time to build the girls a beautiful doll house, and I wanted to make sure that he got to see how excited they were to see the huge present under the tree. We then couldn't find the video camera so they had to wait even longer, but once we found it it was so fun to watch them get excited about the barbie house. Cheyanne and Emmersen had also gone shopping for us and their grandparents, it was so cute to see them as excited about the gifts they were giving away, as they were to open the gifts they were receiving. After opening gifts and spending some time together we then went into preparation mode. We had to get the house tidied and the table organized for the 19 people that would be showing up by noon. We had 11 adults and 8 kids, (my side of the family, as well as Michael's parents) so it was a loud day, this time the buzzing in your ears is more like the sound that you get after sitting next to the speaker in a rock concert, lol. We shared a turkey dinner together, exchanged gifts, played games, went sledding, and the highlight of the day is a family hay ride around the farm. The cousins have a ton of fun playing together and us adults always enjoy catching up. Cheyanne knows that Santa isn't real, and my dad had told her the night before that she had better get to bed so Santa could come, Cheyanne told him that Santa didn't exist, and that it didn't matter. So the next day when Grandpa Olund came for lunch, Santa had left a sled for our family and a note that said "See, and you didn't think I would come Cheyanne." It was pretty cute as she knowingly smiled while I read it to her.

The inside of the doll house,

painted in Disney Princess colours

The outside, finished in old barn wood!

The Chaos of the cousin gift exchange!

Trying out the new sleds from Santa (aka: Grandpa Olund)

Can you guess who was in charge of setting the timer?

How about this time?

We are so blessed!

Our final Christmas celebration was on the 27th with the Haak side. Michael's siblings came out from Abbotsford and we celebrated Christmas at his parents house. It is an exciting time, as it is Mason and Joelle's first Christmas and the whole family is together. The noise level at times also leaves that buzzing in my years that I have become accustomed to this year, but it is fun to watch the girls enjoy time with their aunts and uncles that they don't get to see very often. We exchanged gifts and caught up on life, and just spent the afternoon visiting. It was a great day, and we have been continuing to enjoy our time together as we try to get together frequently while everyone is here. After spending lots of time at Grandma and Grandpa Haak's on the carpet this week, Mason has learned to crawl on his hands and knees instead of the commando. He still use commando when he wants to go fast though.

Grandpa monitoring the baby holding

Everyone wants to hold Joelle, except Mason.

Wearing Uncle Andrew's Santa hats and waiting to open gifts.

Trying to show off the new purses from

Grandma and Grandpa Haak.

This has definitely been a Christmas to remember, we have celebrated enough (and in some ways are still celebrating) to give ourselves a bit of a post Christmas exhaustion, and I am wishing Christmas break was three weeks rather than two because I would love a week to just relax before I have to get back into the routines of life, but I wouldn't trade our busyness for anything. We are truly blessed to have the family and friends that we have! I hope you all had a blessed Christmas and I pray that your New Year will be filled with God's blessings!

9 Months



exactly nine months old.



This is only about two weeks late, but it's December, and between birthday parties, Christmas concerts, baking, gatherings, and a lot of visiting, it is a crazy month. I can't believe my baby is nine months old already. It does not seem like he could possibly be that old. I think I start every milestone blog this way, but I can't help it, every time that I sit and reflect on the age my kids are, I can't help but wonder where the time has gone. Mason is the most unbelievably wonderful baby! He is so good natured. I hardly ever hear him complain about anything, and with three older sisters he has a lot he could be crying over! He will happily sit in his high chair eating cheerios while I make dinner, he plays by himself with his toys and loves to hang out in the girls' bedrooms with them. His favourite game right now is peek a boo, especially when it is mommy or daddy popping in and out of the pantry door. He pulls himself to standing on everything, and cannot be trusted near the Christmas tree, as he is always managing to reach the decorations. He has mastered the camando crawl, and is incredibly fast at it! He will every now and then pop up to his knees for a little bit then slides down to his tummy and takes off. He has also figured out how to open my cupboards and the drawer below the stove so we have to be aware of what he is up to at all times now. He has also left his mark on our coffee table, as he know stands there and chews on it when we aren't looking. Mason chatters up a storm and makes talking noises, Michael is convinced he is saying Daddy, however, he doesn't seem to hear it as daddy in the middle of the night. He is so ticklish, and his giggle is absolutely infectious. It is so easy to make him smile, and he can make everyone feel special just by his grin and the twinkle in his eye. He is clapping now and looks so old when he sits on his knees and claps for himself or to copy his sisters. Mason and Bella play together amazingly well for how young thy both are. The other day they were both perched in front of opposite built in vaccum outlets and they were talking to each other through the holes. It was too cute, they both just laughed and giggled as they could hear each other through the walls. I just love to squeeze him so tightly when I hug him, however, he isn't as cuddly as I would like. If he is really tired or a little shy he will sometimes cuddle in, but other than that he likes to be on the move. He doesn't like to be kept from getting to where he wants to go. Mason is such a good baby that I just want things to slow down even more. The only blemish on his "perfect baby" award, is that he doesn't sleep at night. He will go on stints where he is only up once, but on average he is up a minimum of two times a night still. Luckily I am able to look on the positive side and count these times as an opportunity to cuddle my little boy, not saying it doesn't make me tired, but if I focus on that I feel grumpy so I have decided to choose to look at it from a different angle. Mason loves to eat, he will eat anything from bland and boring, like baby cereal to curried lemon chicken mixed with lemon dilled potatoes and carrots. He takes after his sisters and loves his food, so far I am four for four in the big eaters department, it's a good thing we are blessed to live on a farm! I can't say how much I love this little guy, he is so special to me. I went on my first overnight trip without him to watch Carrie Underwood preform, and I missed him so much! I felt like I was forgetting something all the time and I know it was because I didn't have any kids a long to keep track of. These past nine months have gone by quickly and I know the next will do the same so for now I want to focus on making memories everyday. I am so excited to celebrate Christmas this year, baby's first Christmas is always so exciting, even though they don't get it at all, but the rest of us get to watch them wonder at the Christmas lights and try to eat the wrapping paper. Only one more week to go, and I am sure that I will have plenty of pictures to post! I have ended this post with a few pictures of Mason over the past few months since I last wrote about him.

 

(he's just under 7 months in these pics taken by Kate)

What a handsome pair!

His first taste of food wasn't so enjoyable,

but it grew on him quickly!

Emmersen is 4!!!

like this photo? check out Twisted Lily Photography

Last week we celebrated Emmersen's 4th birthday. She had been looking forward to this day for so long and her anticipation and excitement was incredibly cute! She had told us her requests for meals that day, and described the cake she would like. I could see that it meant the world to Emmersen to have a day that revolved around her. Her beautiful little spirit was just soaking in the attention she was receiving. As one of the middle children in our house there aren't a ton of experiences that belong souly to her, she doesn' t have a lot of things to claim as her own, most of the things in her life she shares, so it was important to us to make sure that she had a day that made her feel loved and special, and like we were celebrating her. She had requested "Swedish" pancakes for breakfast with whip cream and fruit (these are a grandpa Olund specialty, and have now become a daddy specialty in our house). Michael decided to stay home from his Men's bible study in the morning so that he could be there to cook breakfast for Emmersen (just one example of what a wonderful dad he is) and she was thrilled.  I think had her day ended there she would have been more than happy! We typically have a tradition of putting a candle in whatever breakfast food we are having that day, however, this year Emmersen did not want a candle in her Swedish pancakes, and tearfully requested that we not put one in her pancakes.We then celebrated by having our family and Elianna come over for hot dogs (Emme's request), cake and gift opening. It was a loud rambunctious event, but it was fun, and Emmersen couldn't have been more excited about her gifts. We finished our night by attending the Country Christmas event at Ashton Creek Church, and Emmersen felt like we were still out celebrating her birthday. The night ended with cousin Dexter sleeping over, which made Emmersen especially happy because she could wake up and still have a friend over even after her birthday had ended. Here are a few Photos of the event:

The Cinderella cake

Dexter was afraid of the sparklers!

Our beautiful Princess!

The excitement of the gift opening!

and it wouldn't be a party without an attempt at a grandchild photo!

I just want to conclude this post with a few comments of who Emme is at 4 and a few Emme facts, as well as some photos of her over the past year.

Emmersen is our emotional child. She lives in that space on the verge of laughter and tears. She can go from blinking the tears back to a full bellied laugh in the blink of an eye! Because she is emotional she is often misunderstood and can frustrate personalities that don't have the patience to take the time to talk to her instead of react to her. She is our sweet heart. She is always the first one to tell you that she loves you and that she likes your shirt, or whatever else you are wearing. She wears her feelings on her sleeve, and is incredibly sensitive! She will often be moved to tears by seeing someone else hurting or by someone making a hurtful comment towards her. The other day I was pretending to cry that she was already four and all of a sudden I realized that Emmersen was trying desperately to hold back her tears, which of course moved me to real tears as I saw what a empathetic and compassionate person she was going to grow up to be! She will be the one who cries a long side me in all the sappy movies instead of mocking me for it, lol. She is also very impulsive and curious, so when we are out I am often nervous about what she will do or say. A few other random "Emme Facts" are:

~Her favourite way to say I love you is to come up and give you a swat on the butt, and then state "that was an I love you spanking."
~you cannot enforce a pointless rule on her. If you make a rule that is just there because you said it, it doesn't work, she calls you on it by refusing to follow it and then you end up having to fight with her over something that doesn't matter and was totaly just an arbitrary decision you made. I have learned that when it doesn't matter whether she sits here or there, I let her choose, I don't try to enforce rules that are there simply for the sake of rules.

~She thinks that the best thing that she can do for us is to give us a kiss on the mouth, so when she decides that we are especially deserving she will look at us and say "I have something special for you" and then give us a sweet little kiss.

~She loves princesses and fairies.

~Her favourite food is Swedish Pancakes

~She loves to help out, and just glows when we give her a task to do. (she definitely has her daddy's love languages!)

~She is a great big sister!!

A Year in Photos of Emme:

We love you Emmersen!! Your little spirit makes us smile everyday, you are always making us laugh and we love watching you grow and develop into the little lady that you are becoming. You are definitely a sweetheart, I can already see how deeply you feel things, and I long to be able to protect you from the hurts that you are going to feel as you grow up, just know that God loves you and that when we are acting in accordance with his will we are blessed!

Sheyanne?

Cheyanne has taken to spelling her name with an "S" all of a sudden. When I asked her why she was doing this she stated, rather matter of factly, that "ch breaks the rules, so I don't want my name to break the rules, so I am going to start spelling it with an S, you should have spelt it with an S mom." Apparently she took it to heart when I was explaining to her how "ch" doesn't normally make the "sh" sound. Let's just hope she carries this love of rules and desire not to break them into the teenage years.

On a completly seperate note, the saying "my momma was a catipiller, my daddy was a worm, but i am okay with that, bye bye I have to go now" from VeggieTales' Jonah has been the knew phrase of the month around here. It is incredibly cute to hear Bella saying it, and impossible to type it in a way that does it justice.