Best Thing Ever!

Last Thursday evening, I was tucking Lily into bed.  She suddenly started crying so I asked what was wrong; she replied that she was worried she was going to go to hell for being mean to Mia.  I sat down so she could curl up next to me, and we started talking about how we can have a relationship with Jesus and know that one day, a long time from now, we can be in Heaven with Him.  At one point, Ryan walked by, and I motioned for him to come in and join us which he did.  We continued to talk for awhile longer about what exactly sin is, how we deserve punishment for it, but that God sent his son to take that punishment for us.  Even though that doesn't mean our sinful actions don't have consequences now, we can be assured that Jesus will take the eternal punishment for us.  At one point, Ryan said how when God looks at us, He sees Jesus who is holy, blameless and perfect, instead of seeing our sins.  Lily paused and replied "I think I have a catechism question about that.  It's called justification.  What is justification?  It is God regarding sinners as if they had never sinned."  Our mouths just kind of dropped for a moment before Ryan said "well, yes, that's exactly what it is."  We talked for a bit longer, and when we asked Lily to explain something to us, she was able to in her own words.  I truly believe she understands that she is a sinner, and she needs God's grace to forgive her.  After our conversation, we asked if she wanted to tell God about her understanding and decision which she did.  She then slept very well that night.  She was so excited to go to school the next day and share her decision with her teachers and friends!  We are very thankful for a school like ACCA that partners with us in raising our children to love and honor God.

What an incredible feeling to see our child come to a saving knowledge of God!  We are so thankful for her decision.  I can't think of any better evening than this one!



Randomness

This girl is awesome whether sleeping or building with Legos (or anything else for that matter!).

 We were so glad that David was able to come visit for a few days at the end of December!

 Mom and Dad ordered three months of Kiwi Crates for Mia for Christmas.  The first one arrived, and it is so cute!  She is going to love getting two more of these.  They have several really cute crafts and projects in it.  The December one was about winter, and one of the crafts was making these sticky paws and headband.  You throw a "snowball" at the paws and can catch it!

 The Kiwi Crate also had a snowflake sugar cookie recipe, so the girls made those with Liz while we were in Asheville.

 One of my favorite things to see is Lily reading to Mia.  Thankfully, she does it fairly often.  Last night she let Mia pick a book ("Read to Tiger") and they sat together and enjoyed this book.

 Mia made this cool gumball machine project at school.

 On the left is one of Lily's fashion designs.  One the right was the cover of her music book that she made.  It is her playing the piano on stage.

 Lily's class studied flowers recently, and each child was assigned one to draw.  Lily's was a Lily of the Valley.

 This note came from Lily today.   Hmmm, what should we answer?

 This is Lily's drawing of a computer.  I love the beach scene on the screen!

 I love any kind of hand and footprint art!  Lily's class used their feet to make ravens as they study Elijah.  I couldn't get this to turn sideways, but I thought it was really cool.

The girls' report cards came home today, and we were very pleased with them.  They are both doing great!  Ms. Messer said that Mia is "always very engaged and loves to learn."  Mrs. Barbelescu said Lily "blesses us with her gentleness.  She learns things very quickly and easily.  Lily has great academic potential!  She is working hard and excelling.  I appreciate that Lily asks many questions in class."  We are so grateful that the girls are at ACCA and have these wonderful teachers.

Happy Anniversary!

Ryan and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary last weekend.  Hard to believe it's been 12 years!  Thankfully we were able to take a long weekend getaway to celebrate.  This year we headed Asheville which is such a neat city.  After dropping the girls off at school, we stopped at a bistro to enjoy a lovely French breakfast and pick up some delicious macaroons for the weekend.  Then we headed up to Asheville which was about 3.5 hours away.  We walked around the city for a little bit and stopped in at Tupelo Honey for lunch.  So delicious!

 After that we headed over to the Grove Park Inn.  It was gorgeous!

 We were a little frustrated that the Inn messed up our room reservation.  However, they made it up to us by upgrading us without charge to a suite.  We were quite surprised and pleased with that.

 This was the view (though the balcony looks weird on the panoramic setting).  It was a little overcast when I took this picture, but once the clouds moved away, we had a beautiful view of the mountains.

 We spent almost all of Saturday in their fantastic spa.  We both thoroughly enjoyed our hot stone massages.  Then we were able to spend some time in their various grotto pools and hot tubs which was wonderful.  It was a great way to spend the day.

On Sunday, we had a fantastic brunch at the Inn.  It was a buffet with so many delicious items to choose from: fruits, salads, meats, cheeses, breads, omelets, biscuits, gravy, bacon, grits, potatoes, scrambled eggs and probably about a dozen different desserts.  Fabulous!

In the afternoon, we enjoyed walking around the inn and sitting by this gigantic fireplace.

 In the evening, we saw this beautiful sunset before having dinner at Edisons which is one of the restaurants on site.  We topped the evening off with some of the best hot chocolate ever.

This was a wonderful weekend getaway to celebrate our 12th anniversary.  We are so blessed and look forward to many more years together!