Happy New Year!

I am so grateful for the work God has done in 2011. It was a wonderful year in many ways, and a very rough year in many ways. We had quite a few hard losses and many trials, but it was such a growing process, and has really helped to put a new perspective on some things for me.

One of the things God really put on my heart at the beginning of last year was how much I need, NEED to be in the Word every day. I made that a goal last year, and it was amazing how much it grew me. Quickly.

My main goal for this year is to become more of a prayer warrior. Through Jesus Christ, we can come boldly to the throne of grace, and the only reason we don't take advantage of this is because of a lack of faith. We just  finished a wonderful study of Hebrews with our church, and one of the main things that I was challenged on was how important faith is. Faith is EVERYTHING. Literally. 


We, as a family, don't tend to do New Year's resolutions, but it is nice to be able to kind of take a moment to take an "inventory" of the last year and gear up for the next year.


So....I hope you all had a wonderful 2011 and have a blessed 2012!!!

Oregon visitors

We had a wonderful visit with the C family from Oregon last week! It is so neat how you can not see somebody for a long time and then when you get together again, you can pick up right where you left off! That's exactly what happened!! We had an incredibly blessed afternoon, and I just love this family. Here are some pictures of the fun that we had. 

Me with a silly little boy :)

Of course, we all had to go see Lassie! 

The little ones had fun dressing her in her PJs.

I love you guys!!!!!  

Timothy had a strange interest in our cow....I think he was

thinking "steak."

After a little while, we pulled out the horses and carts. All the kids

had a blast driving..... 

...except Timothy. He wanted to be driven! 

He grabbed a cart and started running. And the race was on!

Jessie - "OH NO....." 

Yep. Flipped right over backwards! Timothy claims it was Jessie throwing her

weight back, and Jessie claims it was Timothy letting go of the cart.....

hmmmmmmm 

Jessie - "He dumped me right flat on my back" 

"And just why am I back in this cart?" 

We ended up trying to make a tandem. :) 

Then, Timothy decided it was too hard to run and hang onto a cart

at the same time, so he made a "harness" out of hay string! 

Gotta love a farm kid. Hay string and duct tape, right?

Me with Kelby 

Anna and Kelby 

Jessie - "I don't know about this makeshift harness...." 

Jessie and Kelby 

Jessie, Alicia, and Kelby... 

More goofiness from Matthew! 

Titus! 

Timothy...he claimed this was the biggest smile he could muster after

running around our arena for hours on end. This kid is an "energizer bunny." 

The race! Through the pasture, dodging horses the whole time! 

Can you spell determination?

Matthew looks like he's going to get taken out! 

We had such a wonderful time with them!

Yesterday we took 7 minis and 3 carts and headed downtown for the Fiesta Bowl parade! It is a huge parade with thousands of spectators and the horses all did so good. I have tons of pictures but haven't gotten a chance to upload them yet. I ended up not driving because my stallion would not have handled it all very well, so I walked the new baby, Lassie. She did so good, but about halfway through, she got pretty tired (the route is about 2.5 miles, I think). A wonderful friend from church had come along to help in case this happened, so he picked her up and carried her the rest of the way! She was grateful! (Brennan, if you are reading this, THANK YOU!!!!!!) I will try to post pictures at some point. 

Help?!?!?

So....I got my own laptop for Christmas! Yes, I was shocked. But, now I need to come up with my own email address, and I am totally at a loss.

Can someone help me? Please, please, if you have any ideas, comment and share them with me.

I am looking for something obviously God-centered. I'd love to get something "cowgirl" or "country girl" in there, and I would love to come up with something I can use for my photography at a later date. If I like it enough, I will probably also change my blog address to it.

Any suggestions???????

Super cool photo!!!!

"Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven."

Merry CHRISTmas!!!

The birth of Christ brought God to man;
the cross of Christ brings man to God.

"For unto you is born this day...a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord!"

Merry, merry Christmas everyone!!!! Christmas is totally, hands down my favorite time of the year. It seems like every year, God reveals a new aspect of the wonderful story to me, and I am just overwhelmed. I know it sounds cliche, but think of the story like you've never heard it before. The God who created the whole world sends his Son to earth, born in a barn, with one purpose...to be brutally murdered to save people like His murderers. Amazing!!!!

And of course, all the wonderful things surrounding Christmas are so much fun. This year, our family has done very little in the way of presents, but we have gone all out on events surrounding Christmas.

Here are a few pictures from some of the fun things we have done.

Light parades!!! We got rained out of the big light parade, but did one out in Buckeye with some friends. It was a blast!

Anna, Faith and Nadia. It was freezing cold!!!

Me with Beamer and Brennan. I may not have made it through this parade alive
if Brennan hadn't come along to help control my crazy stallion!!!

David and Mr. H.....need I say more?!?!?

We enjoyed a visit from our grandparents and aunt.

My Aunt Lisa (yes, that's who I'm named for), Anna, and Jessie

 We had a beautiful baby born in November, but her little legs get cold, so we put socks on her :)

And.....I have done quite a few photoshoots (formal and spur-of-the-moment) for families from church. I have had a total blast!!!

We also had a beautiful Christmas concert in our front yard a few weeks ago with about 25 people participating!! Lots of the little kids played, and then we got a few songs together with a group. It was a fantastic afternoon of worshipping the Lord through music. I have lots of video, but don't have time to post right now.

And then, we just got home from a great evening of caroling with our church! We, along with the R's, took all the horses and lighted carts and Matt brought his violin. We had a wonderful time.

I hope you all have an incredibly blessed Christmas!!! We have such a huge reason to be grateful and celebrate!!!!!!!!!