She's Having a Baby!

Yes...I am going to be a new auntie! My sister Kristen is pregnant with her first baby! Her and Chris surprised us all on Christmas. I promised her I wouldn't say anything until she called all her friends and told them herself, so now I am free to let the world know...at least my world anyway:) We are all so excited for them. She should be due in August sometime. We are praying for a healthy baby and praying for Kristen's desire...that the Lord would move them up here with us. She is excited about the baby, but wants to be with her family as she raises her children. I know what she is going through! But we serve a faithful God and want them to be in His perfect will. So...

CONGRATULATIONS CHRIS & KRISTEN! WE LOVE YOU!

Jake's Bowling Party

Yesterday we celebrated Jake's 3rd birthday with our family. We had lunch, cake and presents at the house and then headed over to the bowling alley. Jake wanted a bowling party for his birthday. Everytime we would drive by the bowling alley, he would scream, "I'm going to have a bowling party for my birthday!" Jake had a lot of fun bowling with all his cousins. It turned out to be a great day. And now I am partied out! We can finally get the house back in order and relax after the holidays and birthdays!

Jake Ryan is 3!

Today was my baby Jake's 3rd birthday! I can't believe it! Poor baby is born 2 days after Christmas and just gets overwhelmed with celebration and presents. This morning when he woke up, Matthew asked him what he wanted to do today for his birthday. He said, "go to Walmart!" He is definentley a Crescent City boy! So we took him to Ocean World today and then headed over to Walmart where he picked out a game that he wanted. We will be having a birthday party with family on Tuesday for him. It gives him and everyone else a little break from Christmas. So yes...December is crazy for us with 2 babies born in December and Christmas! Jake is such a wonderful gift from the Lord and brings us so much joy and laughter. I am so thankful to the Lord for blessing us with him.

Today at Ocean World, Jake was able to pick up a starfish

Jake playing his favorite sport...baseball

Jake's favorite thing to do at the river is catch frogs. Here he is kissing a frog that he had caught.

Matthew and I love this picture of Jake at the river in his swim diaper and pacifier

Jake at 9 months old

Christmas Day #2

Since Matthew had to work and we did Christmas with his family on Christmas day, my family was gracious enough to celebrate Christmas the day after. This worked out well because of weather conditions and because Chris and Kristen flew in to Oregon on Christmas day. So we headed to Cave Junction on Friday for another Christmas. My family got their first white Christmas which was exciting. It was a lot of fun spending the day with the whole Henderson family. It was nice to have Chris and Kristen here with us. So we had Christmas dinner #2 and opened more gifts and played games and enjoyed our time with each other. We were just so blessed to be able to spend time with both of our families. I am so thankful that my family was up here with me this year as the last 2 years I have not been able to be with them at Christmas.

Cousins - Luke, Benjamin, Caleb, Grace & Jake

My mom made all the grandkids these adorable robes

Jake ready to throw a snowball at Mama as soon as he gets his picture taken

Daddy and his boys with the snowman they made in front of my parent's house

Christmas Day #1

We had a very different, but blessed Christmas this year. Matthew had to work on Christmas until 2pm so we didn't have our usual Christmas morning. Jake & Benjamin patiently waited until Daddy got home from work to open their presents. Then we headed off to celebrate with the Shrewsberry family at Matthew's parents house. We enjoyed our time with our family as we had Christmas dinner and opened gifts over there.

My baby boys

The boys - Jake, Benjamin, Noah & Ethan

Jake and Benjamin in their Christmas pajamas

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

We hope everyone has a merry little Christmas as we celebrate our Savior Jesus and you spend time with your family. I just wanted to leave you with something that I read from Billy Graham...

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!" 1 John 3:1
Mary and Joseph deeply loved the Child God gave them, even becoming refugees to spare His life when King Herod tried to kill Him (Matt 2:13)
But their love was almost nothing compared with the infinite love of God for His Son. The Bible declares, "The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand" (John 3:35). Can you even begin to imagine the Father's emotions that first Christmas as His dearly loved Son left Heaven for earth, knowing He would one day go to the Cross, "despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief" (Isa. 53:3)?
We rightly focus on God's love for us. But don't lose sight of what it cost the Father to send His beloved Son into the world. Why did He do it? Because "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).
God loves the Son-and He loves you as well.

We love you all so much and pray that you will know how much God loves you this Christmas! Merry Christmas!
Love,
Matthew, Megan, Jake & Benjamin

Happy 30th Birthday Levi!

Well, I still have 45 minutes to celebrate Levi's 30th birthday on my blog. Today is our brother-in-law's 30th birthday. Levi is married to Matthew's sister Amy. He is a great brother-in-law and uncle to our boys. He loves his family and loves the Lord. We pray that the Lord blesses this big year for you Levi! We love you! Happy Birthday!

As we were at Amy and Levi's celebrating Levi's birthday tonight, Benjamin decided to pull himself up and stand all by himself for the first time...and surprisingly, I had the camera right there with me!

Six Missing Cookies!

If I don't bake another cookie in my life, I will be ok with that! From about 8am this morning to 4pm this afternoon, I was in the kitchen making 3 different kinds of Christmas cookies. Then after dinner we headed over to Levi and Amy's for Levi's birthday and I came home, put the boys to bed and cleaned up the mess until 10pm tonight! Ahhhh...I will be dreaming of cookies tonight! I have to say, it was worth it just for Jake. He has been wanting to make a "gingerbread boy cookie" all month. So he finally was able to make a "shortbread boy cookie". He had fun decorating a couple then left the rest to Matthew and I. Of course I was so occupied with the cookies, I forgot to get a picture of Jake making his cookies:( By the time I was done baking, the number of shortbread cookies that survived was 30. Tonight when I was cleaning up, I counted and there were only 21. I did not have one...yet, and Matthew, I know, only ate one, and we gave a couple to Amy when she stopped by this afternoon...so where did the other 6 go? Now as I sit back and reflect, I could hear Jake in the background, "Mama, can I have a bite?" over and over again. And as I was just trying to get the cookies done, I would say, "Sure baby, you can have a bite", thinking he was eating the same cookie from the last time he had asked me. No wonder why he didn't want any cake and ice cream at Levi's birthday tonight! He was all sugared out!

King of Kings

The week before Christmas I like to go through and read the Christmas story as my devotions. I have always loved the part about the shepherds, but this year I have been drawn to focus more on the wise men. This has a lot to do with a children's book that Jake and I have been reading every night before he goes to bed. It is called "A Star for Jesus". It talks about the star that lead the wise men to Jesus.
So looking at the wise men, you notice that these wise men have followed "His star in the East and have come to worship Him." (Matthew 2:2) From His very birth, Christ was recognized as King. It goes on to say in Matthew 2:10 - 11 "When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary, His mother, and fell down and worshipped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh." I love the fact that these highly intellegent and respected wise men "fell down and worshipped Him". Jesus was only about 1 1/2 years old at this time and for these wise men to fall down and worship this little toddler means that they truly knew who this little boy was...King of Kings. At this point Jesus had done nothing. They came to worship Him solely because of who He was.
Who is Jesus? In my life He is my Savior, my Creator, my Father, my Light, my Rock and my King of Kings and Lord of Lords. This has been a great reminder for me that I need to worship Jesus solely because of who He is. He is so worthy for us to bow down and worship Him as King, not just this Christmas, but everyday of our lives. Who is Jesus in your life?

Let It Snow

It did snow a bunch at my parents and sister's house in Cave Junction, OR. But we also got some hail here in Crescent City. We decided to take the boys to play in the snow about 20 minutes from us at a place called French Hill. We all went...colds and all. We have all been sick all week with this awful cold which might turn into pneumonia after the snow! We had a great time though. All Jake wanted to do was build a snowman and throw snowballs at Dadda, Momma & Benjamin. So thats what we did. We built a tiny snowman and threw snowballs at each other. Poor Benjamin was miserable though and it was all my fault! I dressed him in nice warm sweats thinking he will be warm...not thinking that snow melts into water and would make his pants soaking wet! Poor baby! It was a good time and was an extra blessing as we are enjoying the Christmas season.

Happy Birthday Jenna!

Today is Jenna's 31st birthday! Hopefully she is waking up on her birthday to their first snow in Cave Junction, OR today...how exciting! It is supposed to snow there all weekend. I love my older sister and thank the Lord for her. She is a great wife and mother to her children. She loves the Lord with all her heart and loves spending time with her family. She is a wonderful older sister that I definentley look up to. With sisters, you are not always best friends when you are younger, but as you grow up, they become your best friends. Jenna is one of my best friends and I am so thankful that the Lord moved her close to me this year. It has been a lot of fun being able to hang out with her. Happy Birthday Jenna! We love you!

Our Angel

I had to show you all our angel that is on top of our Christmas tree. She was handmade by Matthew himself when he was in pre-school:) I know she is kind of scary looking, but adorable knowing she was made by a little Matthew. We were really surprised when Jake didn't get scared of her...he asked if she was Dora:) Linda, his mom, gave her to us last year. She had her in a box with a bunch of his childhood stuff. We had to put her on our tree. All of you CCCV people will know who Patti Bassi is. Well she was Patti Lopez at the time and known to many as "Aunt Pat". She was Matthew's pre-school teacher and had the kids make these angels. I'm sure at the time she didn't think it would be on top of Matthew's tree 25 years later! Well, if you know me, I am a bit of a sentimentalist so you know our tree is covered with memories and love:)

Ornaments

Well yesterday we went and got our Christmas tree and gave the boys their ornaments for this year. Jake got a John Deere tractor because he has been into tractors this year. If you ask him what he wants for Christmas, he will jump up and down so excited and say, "I want the BIG tractor for Christmas!" He has been wanting, for months now, this big tractor from the movie Cars. The other day I was in Walmart and as I was shopping in the aisles, he would tell whoever was in the aisle with us, "I want the BIG tractor for Christmas! I have to be a good boy and listen to mama." Benjamin got a Cars ornment because he loves watching the movie Cars. He will not sit and watch any other cartoon or movie, but as soon as Jake wants to put Cars on, Benjamin stops whatever he is doing to watch Cars with a big smile on his face. So this is one of the family traditions that we have passed down from both Matthew and my family. I love it because then when the boys have their own family they can take their ornaments and put them on their tree. Matthew and I love opening our ornaments from our childhood and remembering them with each other as we decorate the tree.

Party Time!

Today we celebrated Benjamin's 1st birthday. We just did a family thing at the house. Benjamin enjoyed himself...especially his cake! He didn't even come up for a breath while eating it:) He got many great gifts from everyone. Here he is on Lightning McQueen from Grandpa and Nana. He loves watching the movie Cars. So now my baby is on his way to the toddler years...watch out!

A Pearl

Matthew and I are going through Revelation together and last night as we came to Revelation 21:21, it talks about the New Jerusalem and how the twelve gates were twelve pearls and the street of the city was pure gold. In Jon Courson's commentary, he said that "the pearl represents God's people. In Matthew 13, Jesus told the story of a man who sold everything to purchase a pearl. That's just what Jesus did. He gave everything He had - even His very life - to purchase us. This makes us the pearl - a fitting description, since a pearl is nothing more than an irritating grain of sand or a tiny parasite coated by the lustrous nacre of an oyster. We're irritating indeed, parasitic beyond question. But God robes us and covers us and thereby makes us trophies in order that all of creation throughout eternity might marvel at His grace."
You guys know those bookmarks that tell you what your name means, right? Growing up I had one of those in my Bible. Megan means "Pearl". I always took a little pride in that thinking, "oh how wonderful, a beautiful pearl". Little did I think about what a pearl really was growing up. With this description that Jon Courson gives, I am just a little irritating grain of sand or a parasite, but thankfully Jesus came and died for me and covers me with His grace and makes me a beautiful pearl! Kind of humbling, huh?

1 Year Old Already!

Well, today was our baby Benjamin's 1st birthday! I can't believe it! This year went by so fast. It definentley went by a lot faster with the second baby. He has always been such a good and sweet baby, but his little temper has come out recently. He still is the sweetest thing though:) So today Daddy took the day off work and we just hung out as a family. Jake thought it was his birthday all day. We will be celebrating Benjamin's birthday on Sunday with our family so I will post pictures of his 1st birthday party then.