Looking Back

Our devotion this morning challenged us to look back at the year 2008 and thank God for all the blessings of the year. So I spent the last hour looking back at my blogs of the last year to help me remember all my blessings. Some of those blessings:

The addition of a wonderful daughter-in-law and a beautiful wedding.



Some terrific vacation opportunities.



Six fun grandchildren.



A beautiful place to live.



Family and friends!



A great job! This is my buddy Caleb.



Opportunities to further my education.

Too many other blessings to recount!

The promise of a hope and future in Jesus!

Christmas 2008

It wasn't the healthiest Christmas we've ever had, but it was a nice one, nonetheless. Here are some pictures:

The Traditional Christmas Story Reading:

How Kaleigh spent her Christmas Eve:

Andy and the two newest Schroeders: Reed (Jacob's son) and Christie








Emily just called me. Bob and Lucy spent the night in the emergency room after Bob and Lucy slipped on the steps in the night and Lucy cut her chin. Oh, boy!

Mary and I are off to the movies today with the five older grandchildren. Have a great day everyone.

"Repeat the Sounding Joy"?

How about "Repeat the Silent Joy"?



I made it through my choir's Cantata twice Sunday morning and then I lost my voice. The cold or sinus infection. or whatever it is that I have, has been traveling around my head, throat, and chest, and seems to have settled in my voice box. It's very dis"concert"ing! I guess I won't be doing any Christmas caroling.

A Welcome View from my Window

I was happy to get the call this morning. My only concern is for those who may be traveling--Andy from Grand Haven to Holland? Patterson's to Chicago? Woehlke wedding attenders? Keep them safe, Lord!

My plans for today. First, catch up on some blogs. Second, straighten up my house (somehow it got away from me-- boxes and packing from UPS deliveries, collections of Christmas cards, gifts from people at church, and unfinished Christmas projects clutter my home. Third, finish up some of those Christmas projects. Fourth, if I can travel a mile away, go get my haircut. All this while nursing my sore throat, cold, or sinus infection--whatever it is.

The Christmas program on Sunday night went very well. I was moved by how well the children did--particularly one 6th grader who was less than cooperative during the practices. Art Sarkkinen's singing of "Joseph's Song" and "Mary Did You Know?" was also a highlight. My mom and three of her friends from Brecon Village did a great job accompanying the kids with their bells. There were no pre-school bloopers this year. All in all it was a worshipful and satisfying evening. Here are some of our attempts at "Grandchildren at the Manger" pictures.

Can you see or hear me?

Some days I feel somewhat invisible. Yesterday, at one of my schools during lunch the teachers were making up a rendition of "Twelve Days of Christmas" for the principal. We have a staff party tomorrow after school and they thought of singing it to him as they presented him with a gift. I offered a few suggestions (very good ones, I might add) and it was as if I wasn't in the room. No one acknowledged me saying it or even gave any indication that they heard me. That seems to happen to me quite often. Am I paranoid? Or is my voice "invisible"?

Christmas Decorating and a Birthday

The kids came over Thursday to help "decorate". Kaleigh was my #1 helper. She held the lights so they wouldn't get tangled while I put them on the tree. She put on lots of ornaments and she got to put the tree-topper on the tree.



The others weren't so interested in decorating this year. They were however interested in Avery's Gingerbread House (see Heidi's blog). Saturday was the celebration of Kaleigh's 4th birthday. It was a nice quiet affair (as quiet as 6 children can be). The dinner was delicious and Kaleigh was very excited about her "Teertle" cake and "Teertle" card.



Who needs Radio City Music Hall? We had our own version of the Rockettes.

Winter Fog, Blahs, and Grouchies

I'll grouch a little bit and get it out of my system. Winter is too early, it's yucky weather, the economy is bad, one of my school's is talking about layoffs, some of the Congressman seem to be mean for no reason, people are grouchy--even in the church, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah! But....


THIS IS THE DAY THE LORD HAS MADE. WE WILL REJOICE AND BE GLAD IN IT! Today will be a good day!

"Sing Choirs of Angels"

Okay, well maybe it's not this big....but last night my choir grew by leaps and bounds. It was pretty exciting. We are performing a cantata on the 21st and the choir has been working on it for a while. But I invited other folks to join choir for this event. If they can't make a commitment for all year they might like to join us for this. And I probably had about 10-15 extras which almost doubles my choir. It makes a huge difference. Now, if only I could talk them into the remainder of the year.

Someone Please E-xplain....

I used my good china for Thanksgiving and I wished I had another serving dish. So I decided to go on Ebay and see if I could find one. Lo, and behold, I did! It had a low starting bid and so I went through all the rigamarole of registering on ebay and signed up for Paypal, etc. and I placed a bid and even upped it with a maximum bid, just in case. No one else was bidding! Wow, it looked like I would get it. Then, at the last minute, I lost the bid. Oh, well! Just a little while later the same dish appeared from the same seller! Can a seller bid on his own stuff if he doesn't like the bids he's getting? Then why doesn't he/she raise the starting bid? The second time the dish appeared it had the same starting bid. I don't get it. Someone please E-xplain!

Wow!

This picture was taken New Year's Eve at midnight--I've blogged it before. As you can tell Heidi now has the sleigh in her yard, but the snow yesterday reminded me of this snow. I was working on my final paper for my class (Yayyyy!, I'm finished), I looked up and there to my surprise was oodles of snow! Could it be we'd have a snow day? Nah! It got mushy, sloppy, and yucky, and here I am at school. Now that I'm in my room with no windows I can imagine that it looks like this outside.