HAPPY NEW YEAR

Happy New Year! We are spending a night filled with fireworks, friends, food, and fun (games doesn't start with f!!). Hope you all have something fun (and safe) to do to ring in the new year. See you in 2008!

Christmas Eve and Morning

We had a lovely day yesterday at Sam's parents in Fremont. Jerry made the kids sleds so they had lots of fun trying those out. Sam's mom cooked a delicious prime rib. Yummy!! We even got a surprise visit from the man in red. Camden kept looking out the door for him after he left. Last night we went to church. Camden was a shepherd in the program. We couldn't really see him on stage but we did get to see him coming and going.

Big hits this morning were webkinz, drums and a microphone. It is going to be loud around here!!! I got a nice surprise of a plane ticket to go visit a friend in Chicago. I can't wait!!

We are off to Kearney this morning and then on to Hershey.

We wish you all a Merry Christmas!!

Our Christmas Letter

I did not manage my time properly this month so a Christmas letter was not sent out in our cards this year. I am one of those people who truly enjoys getting Christmas letters (and pictures and cards!!). I love reading about what you have all been up to. This year we have taped all of our cards and pictures to the back of our front door. The kids have spent a lot of time looking at you all. It makes for a very colorful door.

As for our update.....

• Claremarie is in 2nd grade. She doesn't seem to like school as much this year but she is doing great. The picture in our Christmas card was taken about 5 minutes before she lost one of her two front teeth. She looks adorable. This winter she is looking forward to cheerleading. I am going to be the coach of her team so that should be interesting and fun. She said that the highlights of her year were her Hannah Montana birthday party, going to the Hannah Montana concert (do you see a theme developing???) and going to Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun.
• Camden is 3 and is our little comedian. He is great company for me while dad and sissy are away during the day. We joined a new gym this last year and Camden loves to play there so he is always asking if we can go to the gym. (Quite a little accountability partner!) Camden gets to sing on Christmas Eve at our church and he is very excited about it. He loves singing and music. Camden's highlights of the year were getting a big boy bed and going to Adventureland.
• Sam and I stay busy with work (mostly him), church activities, and the kids schedules. We went to Kansas City to see the Yankees play this summer and of course we suffered through the Husker's football season. My parents celebrated their 40th anniversary in June so we helped with that. We also visited a few more Nebraska towns in our quest to see them all. The kids and I completed our first 5K run in June. I know some of you who are runners are right now saying, "Wow, big deal." It was a big deal for us and we are planning on running in several more this summer.

For the most part we have had a pretty uneventful year. The older we get the more we appreciate that. We are counting among our blessings this year, friends and family, both near and far. We love you all and we wish you Merry Christmas. Our hope is that you will all find time to celebrate our real HOPE who was born so many years ago.

Love, Sherilyn, Sam, Claremarie and Camden

P.S. For those of you who are visiting our blog for the first time, please let us know you were here. We would love to hear from you!! We also want to hear from our regular readers but I thought maybe the newbies might need a little encouragement to post!! :-)

Visit with Santa

We braved the mall tonight so the kids could see Santa and I could continue my hunt for a plain black sweater for Camden (after 2 months of looking I finally found one!!). It wasn't as busy as I thought it would be and the line for Santa was short. When I got home I re-looked at this picture and am so mad that I didn't take another one. After I took it I only checked to make sure Camden was looking at the camera because he is usually the one I have problems with and now in this picture Claremarie isn't looking. Oh well. Claremarie's first request was a real swimming pool for the backyard. Sam told her that even if he brings one we aren't going to have enough room for it. So, she changed to a Hannah Montana barbie doll. Much more manageable. Camden wasn't too talkative and he said he wanted a race car. Santa then asked if they had been good and they both said yes. The funny part was that he then said to Camden, "Now I don't want you to be getting into your sister's room and all her stuff anymore." We were laughing so hard because that is really what happens around here on a daily basis. Then he said to Claremarie, "And, if you would clean up your room when your mom asks you to your little brother wouldn't be able to get into your stuff." This guy is a good Santa!!!

Rambling, Jumbled Thoughts

Thanks to those of you who have called, texted (is that a word?), or e-mailed to make sure we are all ok. We are and we don't know any of the victims. Sam's parents have a friend who was working on the third floor at the time of the shooting but she is ok, although I can't imagine the horrific scene she witnessed. I do shop at Von Maur occasionally and when I go there I am always on the third floor because that is where the kids clothes are. They have a nice little kiddie area set up with a tv and a thomas train table. Many times I have let the kids play there while I look around (I am always within yelling distance). They also have the best bathrooms in the mall. I know all of you with little ones will understand why that is so important. I'm so thankful that I was not there yesterday. I can only imagine how scary that would have been to have something like that happen while I am over looking at clothes and my kids are over playing. I don't think I will do that anymore.

I have just been thinking so much about the families that lost loved ones and just how shocking this must be for them. Holidays are so hard when you have an empty place at the table but losing someone this close to Christmas will probably be almost unbearable for them. I don't know how you get through something like this without faith and hope. This verse kept coming to mind all day as I was thinking about everything. "We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed." II Cor. 4:8-9. We live in a world that has a lot of evil in it and it is easy to get to worrying about everything that can go wrong. I'm so glad that I can turn everything over to the One who gives me peace even when everything around is so tumultuous.

When something happens, such as the shooting in Omaha yesterday, it really brings into focus the small things in life and makes them much sweeter. It shouldn't take a tragedy to do that but for some reason it does sometimes. Today I just cherished a couple moments I had with Camden and Claremarie. Camden and I were walking down the staircase at our church (it is a pretty tall staircase) and he said to me, "Mommy, be really careful when you are walking down the stairs in your high heel boots. I don't want you to fall." Some of you probably won't find that all too interesting but to hear my three year old son, with his sensitive heart, say those words to me just really touched me. Also this morning, before Claremarie left for school, she gave me the longest, tightest hug. I just really tried to soak it all in, her little arms around my neck and her soft cheek pressed against mine, and be thankful that she still wants to hug her mommy.

Thanks for letting me ramble on and on. So many thoughts running through my head, it is good to get some of them down...............