Our day of
joy is here again, With love and peace and song;
Come, let
us join th'angelic strain With voices clear and strong.
Glory to
our God, we sing, Glory to our Lord and King;
Peace,
good will with all abide This holy Christmas tide. A.L. Skoog, 1892
Once
again I write to you, wishing you glad tidings of great joy, that our
Savior has come to this sin darkened world. In this ever changing
world we live in, it seems that nothing is for certain. What comfort
we have that Jesus doesn't change, even if mankind would like to
change, eliminate, silence and pervert His teachings and truths.
This
past year we've been up to a whole lot of busyness. The
we-have-5-kids-now kind of busyness, not the extracurricular style of
busyness. Which means we stay home most of the time, and have much
more chaos and disarray than we've ever experienced before. This
also means more funny toddler sayings, more cuddles and singing
before naps, more dishes and laundry, and more time together.
Baby
Celeste Marjorie was born on Valentine's Day, and she's been our
little Miss Sunshine each day. The kids love to dote on her, and
she's finally getting old enough they can actually play with her. As
I'm writing this, they are taking her on a trip (with all their dolls
and stuffed animals) and are staying overnight at a motel. Her
middle name is my Grandma Staudinger's name, for those who don't
know.
Luke
(9) likes building things, fixing things, inventing things and
creating things. He's full of projects and ideas, and loves his
Legos. He reads all sorts of books, but especially likes mysteries
and comic books.
James
(7) loves to make people laugh. He's into zebras and the color
turquoise and climbing and jumping around. He enjoys drawing and
learning about animals. He's a Lego lover too.
Elise
is now 5 and started kindergarten at home this fall. She is learning
to write her letters and slowly learning to read as well. She loves
all things sparkly, pink, girly and princess-y. She's quite thrilled
with her baby sister and is waiting patiently until Celeste can play
with her.
Isaac
is our super cute 3 year old. He is full of randomness and keeps us
laughing. His latest antic is to fake a cough in hopes that he
doesn't have to help unload the dishwasher. It doesn't work, but he
still tries it every time just in case it will. “I have a toff
(cough), hack, hack” in a very sick sounding voice. He recently
told Luke, “We can share this toy. You bought it and I will play
with it.” He thought that was a totally fair trade.
We
did make it up to Canada this summer, but ended up having at least
one of us sick the whole trip. We even ended up coming home early so
that Greg could rest before having to go back to work. Traveling
with 5 kids isn't exactly “fun”, but we enjoyed seeing friends
and family again.
Love
& God's Peace, Rachel & Greg, Luke, James, Elise, Isaac&
Celeste
.JPG)
