Winter Wonderland- Vacation Reflections

Well, I'm on my 3rd week here in the Northwoods. I spent a week in MN with the 4 youngest children before Hubby met me at 'the farm' in northern Wisconsin with the 4 older children. Thank goodness that someone has a house large enough to accomodate us. Old farm houses are good for that...lots of bedrooms upstairs! We're full to the max though and things have been quite interesting with one bathroom... It's been neat for the kids to see where thier daddy was raised and where a lot of his childhood memories have taken place. When he tells stories of the farm, the kids now have a mental image!

It's been fun to watch my darling husband here. He's relaxed (in a different way) and he grins from ear to ear when he's outside playing around. He's put the 4 wheelers, snowmobiles and even the plastic sleds to good use. It's a good thing we have some boys who like to play as rough as daddy.... I don't even know if Hubby realizes how his face lights up when he's out ramming around the farm doing 'boy stuff.' Kinda like a kid in a candy shop...

We had the chance to visit with my family too and have more than one Christmas party/gathering! The kids are blessed to have lots of grandmas and grandpas...all whom know how to spoil them well. And that's not an easy task for just the 8 children we have. My sister has two children and Hubby's sister and brother have children. I like to make fun of my folks and ask them, "Bet you never thought you'd have 10 grandkids, did ya?" All the while their eyes are big and I'm laughing hysterically! Gotta get that in there while I can...

We are booked solid this last week with visits to friends and more family. It's been hectic and we're all tired but it's nice to be so blessed with people who want to see us and spend time with us. Thursday we have a big open house planned with friends from our old church. These friends of ours have been gracious enough to open their home for our family. We'll be there for about 5 hours where anyone who wants to stop by, can do so and visit with us. What a blessing that will be! There's not enough time in our days to see everyone we would like to see and visit with everyone seperately. I'm so glad we can vacation in a place we used to live (and where we grew up). Everyone knows us here and welcomes us back home with open arms.

Angel Baby just finished another round of antibiotics for her pneumonia. She still wasn't well and I took her in to the clinic here last week. We did a repeat chest xray and she still had a congested spot in her lungs. These antibiotics seem to be working better, she's back to her happy self now. Our insurance doesn't travel with us outside of Arkansas so we'll have a hefty bill waiting for us when we get home. We were blessed, however, to be given a monitary donation towards her xrays. Praise God for that!

It is cold and VERY windy today. There's another storm moving in and we should get 3-5 more inches of snow tomorrow. Hubby has the girls outside on the snowmobile now...the boys need to wear off some of their energy, they're making a snow hut right now! They should all have rosey cheeks when they finally come back inside. Angel Baby and Princess are napping, those warm blankets seem to be calling my name. Today is a good day for warm blankets, hot chocolate, a movie and all my kiddos around me! Those kinds of moments really warm my heart.

I'm still working on getting the rest of my Christmas cards out. I suppose late is better than never. I was out of routine this year and it was all I could do to keep up with packing, traveling, a sick baby, and Christmas! We've enjoyed spending time with our oldest son, he'll be headed back to school the same time we travel home to Arkansas. We'll see him again in the spring when he can come home and spend spring break with us.

We pray you have a blessed New Year and that you are all healthy and happy! God's blessings to you all!