Christmas Traditions

Growing up, my family had a few Christmas traditions that we would do every year.

1. My parents would give us a new ornament each year
2. We were only allowed to open 1 present on Christmas Eve...our Christmas pajamas
3. As a family, we would go pick out our Christmas tree and then bring it home and all help decorate it as we watched White Christmas
4. Christmas morning before opening our presents, my Dad would read the Christmas story and do a devotion and we would all pray...this was torture when we were little:) but very special as we grew to appreciate it!

Matthew and I have carried on a few of those traditions since we've been married and have our own children now. These are pictures of Jake and Benjamin in their Christmas pajamas. I was laying in bed trying to go to sleep last night and I was trying to think of new traditions that we could start as our own family and as our boys are still young babies. So I would love to hear of your family traditions and any ideas that you might have:)

A Blessed Thanksgiving

We had a very blessed Thanksgiving. David, Jenna and their kids, Chuck and Linda (Matthew's parents), Levi, Amy and their boys (Matthew's sister's family) and Rob (a friend from church), all joined us at my parents home in Cave Junction. If you know my mother, you know she is the best cook ever! She spent days in the kitchen preparing for Thanksgiving dinner. She blessed us all so much with a yummy dinner. Her and my dad also blessed everyone that came with a Christmas ornament. My parents every year gave us a Christmas ornament that had to do with us and at my Nana's house each Thanksgiving my Nana would do the same with my mom and my aunts and uncle. So it being my mom's first Thanksgiving away from her family, she wanted to continue the tradition and bless us all with ornaments. It was very special! It was a day filled with great fellowship and food. We topped off the night with a game of gestures, which is always hilarious to play! And now begins my favorite time of the year...Christmas!!

A Heart of Thanksgiving

"Make a joyful shout to the LORD, all you lands!
Serve the LORD with gladness;
Come before His presence with singing.
Know that the LORD, He is God;
It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pastures.

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name,
For the LORD is good;
His mercy is everlasting,
And His truth endures to all generations." Psalm 100

From the Shrewsberry family to yours, we just wanted to wish all of our family and friends a "Happy Thanksgiving". May the Lord bless each one of you and your families this week as we dwell on what we are thankful for and all the blessings the Lord has granted to us. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name, for the Lord is good!

What I am thankful for...
- Jesus - His saving grace, His love for me and you, His faithfulness, His provisions
- My wonderful husband Matthew
- My boys, Jake and Benjamin, and the joy they bring to our lives
- My family
- My friends
- Our health
- The Lord moving my family close to me this year

We pray that the Lord will bless all of you this Thanksgiving! We love you all!

Kristen's 26th Birthday!

Today is Kristen's 26th Birthday! When she was here last week celebrating her birthday with us, my mom had a birthday dinner for her and her favorite cheesecake. In these pictures you can see that she didn't even get a chance to blow her candles out because Caleb and Grace beat her to it:) I am so thankful to the Lord for my sister Kristen. She is such a joy to be around. She has the best personality and loves to laugh and have fun. You can count on a great laugh whenever you are with her. She loves the Lord with all her heart and is used greatly by Him. Her love for Chris and her family and friends is so evident in her life as well. Happy Birthday Kristen! We love you and miss you so much!!

Happy 32nd Anniversary!

Today is my Dad and Mom's 32nd wedding anniversary. I am so thankful to the Lord for blessing me with my parents. They are such an example to me, and I know to many others as well, of what the Lord intended marriage to be. I love this picture of them dancing at Kristen's wedding. They look like they are so in love and having fun together and that is true in their marriage today (although you know they are probably saying in this picture, "Whoohoo! No more weddings! We did it and they are all out of the house!":) Their marriage has been so blessed because they have always put the Lord above all else in their marriage and in all areas of their lives. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY DAD & MOM! I LOVE YOU!

My Racquetball Geeks

If you know Matthew, you know that he loves his sports! He loves playing racquetball at the gym. He just played in a tournament in Eureka a couple weeks ago and is going to play in another tournament in Coos Bay, OR next weekend. He won't tell you he is really good, but I will:) He is hoping to have a new doubles partner one day as soon as Jake is old enough. Matthew has been taking Jake to play racquetball with him lately and of course, like father like son, Jake loves it!

And he's off...

Watch out...here comes trouble! It's official...Benjamin finally decided to crawl! He actually crawled for the first time yesterday while I was out with my mom and sisters. Figures! That's ok...Dadda got the honor of being there and witnessing it. Today my Dad, Mom, Kristen and Luke came over to visit and we caught Benjamin in action. My boys are late bloomers:) Jake started crawling 20 days before his first birthday and now Benjamin started crawling 27 days before his first birthday.

Girls Day Out

Kristen is in town for an early birthday. So yesterday it was a girls day out. Yipee! We went to Medford for the day and went out to lunch at the Olive Garden...yummy! Chris and Kristen are coming up on Christmas day so she wanted to get all her Christmas shopping done here so they don't have to ship it up here. So we were happy to help pick out what we and our children wanted! It was a lot of fun just to be together with my mom and sisters. As I was driving to Cave Junction yesterday morning, the Lord reminded me of when I moved up here 2 1/2 years ago and He always gave me a peace to just hang in there because He was going to bring my family close to me again. What a faithful God we serve! I still can't believe my parents and Jenna and her family are up here with me. Now we are just praying that the Lord would lead Chris & Kristen up here soon!

Rainy Day

We are trying to make the best of our rainy day. We cleared out the garage and let Jake ride his bikes and toys around. Dadda decided to join in the fun with Jake. It has been pouring here in Crescent City today...but what's new?

Happy Birthday Papa Chuck!

Today happens to be Chuck's 59th Birthday! I hope he doesn't mind me sharing how old he is, or should I say how young he is...sorry Chuck...you know I love you! When I talked with him on the phone today, he said how blessed he was to be alive and blessed with his wife, kids and grandkids all around him. Chuck is a wonderful father, father-in-love as we like to call it in our family and grandfather. His love and devotion for the Lord is so transparent in his life. He is a great exhorter in the Lord as most of us who know him can quote his famous line, "Stay Focused!" We love you Chuck and pray that the Lord continues to abundantly bless your life! Happy Birthday!

Harvest Party

I couldn't think of a better way to start off blogging then to share with you all my precious elephant and baby penguin. This past Friday night for Halloween, we took the boys to our church's Hallelujah Harvest Party. Jake had been waiting all month to be an elephant and he had a great time playing the games and taking a hay ride with a tractor. Jake is big time into tractors right now so I think that was the highlight of his night. And surprisingly Benjamin kept his costume on all night. We came home with plenty of candy that Matthew and I have thoroughly been enjoying all weekend!