Christmas!

Our Christmas started on Monday, December 22 when we were able to Skype with Nate!  

He seemed so happy!  He laughed and smiled a lot.  He received a new companion on Tuesday last week.  He is from Sao Paulo.  He introduced his companion to us.  His companion doesn't speak much English, so Nate would speak to him in Portuguese then translate for us.  

He said he had to practice speaking English with the other American missionary that shares an apartment with them so they both knew how to talk to their families.  :)  He has a very strong accent!  We laughed at him a lot.  He kept saying that speaking English is really hard.  :)  He couldn't think of words in English.  :)

He has promised pictures and a letter next Monday.  

He said the ward members worried so much about him getting sunburned as often and badly as he was that he is now buying very expensive sunscreen.  The oil in the sunscreen from here was NOT good for him on the Equator.  He showers in cold water.  He says it's good because if he showered in hot, he thinks he'd die.  He said his bathroom is so small that there is tile on all four walls and just a shower head on the wall that gets water EVERYWHERE and turns the room into a sauna.  He said they try not to use the bathroom during the day or they sweat so badly they have to drink a gallon of water.

He laughed at Elizabeth's new hair color.  He told her it was "bad".  Very Funny!  

It was SO GOOD seeing him and talking to him.  (The kids are still laughing about his accent.)

We invited Zandra and Brodie to spend Christmas with us since Ramona and BreAnna moved to Iowa and they weren't able to "go Home".  They came Tuesday, the 23rd.   Chelsea and Thomas' family came for Christmas Eve.  We played "Telestrations" - a mix of the "telephone game" and "Pictionary" - and "Oh, Heck" - a card game probably made up by Jon's family.  It was FUN!  Everyone was laughing.  When Chelsea's family left, we read the Christmas Story in Luke 2 and watched the LDS Church's production of it.  Then we unwrapped our traditional Christmas PJs and went to bed.

The kids didn't get much from "Santa" this year, but I think they were all happy with what they did receive.

Mrs. Clause made Zandra and Brodie blankets.  

The kids all exchanged "Sibling Gifts".  Zandra gave Brodie a couple t-shirts, Lizzy gave Zandra a sweater and Logan a pull up bar, Aaron gave Kate a new CD Player with bluetooth for her ipod, Logan gave Lizzy 2 rolls of quarters and 2 books of stamps, Kate gave Sam a body pillow, and Sam gave Aaron waders.

My mom made ALL of her kids, in-laws, and grandkids blankets!  That's 50 blankets my mom made this year!  She and my dad also gave us a popcorn popper.  Jon's parents gave each kid a bag of caramels and a $10.  

IT SNOWED ON CHRISTMAS!!  We were all so excited!  The kids and Jon made a snowman.  And when we build snowmen, we make them BIG!

We also received a new Trampoline since our's had an unfortunate accident before we moved from Colorado this summer.  The kids couldn't wait until the snow melted to set it up.  However, it was too cold to jump for very long...  

I am So Grateful that our Loving Heavenly Father gave us the Gift of His Son and a reason to Celebrate every year and give gifts to each other.

Merry Christmas!

(I took all of our decorations away today.  They are now in the top of the garage.  Does that make me a Grinch?)

Dad, Will You Teach me how to Iron?

Aaron was asked by Saige to the Christmas Dance at the High School.  :)  When he was getting ready for it, he asked me where the ironing board was so he could iron his shirt.   Then he yelled, "DAD, will you teach me how to iron shirts?!"  I'm not even offended.  I'm glad Jon irons his own shirts.  And I'm glad he is teaching our boys how to iron their own shirts.

This is Aaron and Saige.  

This is the group they went to the dance with.  They had dinner all together at the house of one of the girls, went to the dance, and then went to another girl's house and watched "Elf".  Aaron said it was a fun night.  

Epiphany

I have been pondering/worrying/wondering a lot about our trials and temptations lately.  They seem just as personal as our character traits and eye color.  In Sacrament meeting (the meeting in our church where we have speakers and partake of the sacrament) a couple of weeks ago, I had an Epiphany.

Why wouldn't they be?

If God is Real, which He is, then so is Satan.  It makes sense.  Opposition in all things.  Good vs. Evil.  God and Satan.

In our Church we believe we existed in Heaven with God BEFORE the Earth was created and BEFORE we were born.  We call it the Pre-Existence.  Satan was there with us.  He KNOWS us almost as well as Heavenly Father does.  He knows what our weaknesses were then and still are.  He knows how we fought against him.  He knows we choose God.  Unlike us, he didn't lose his memory of the Pre-Existence.  He still knows us.  

We are in a War with Evil.  We are God's soldiers in the War.  Satan doesn't want God to win.  His only hope is to turn us from God by taking our souls:  distracting us, making us "too busy", making us feel worthless and not good enough, wearing us down, making us sad, causing us stress.  Why wouldn't he exploit our weaknesses?  Of course he will.  He is not merciful.  He is ruthless.  He doesn't care about us.  He cares only about himself.  He will do ANYTHING he can to win this war.  Including destroying us.  It is personal.  Our temptations are personal.

The only way to defeat Satan and overcome the temptations and trials of this life is with help from God.  He is the only One powerful enough and merciful enough.

God lives.  We are His soldiers in this very real War against Evil.  He wants us to win.  He will help us defeat the Evil in our lives if we only have faith in Him and ASK HIM for help.