January Happenings

Some miscellaneous January things around the Hooks house:

 

I love seeing Lily being creative.  On the left, I taught her to cross-stitch while we were at Mia's soccer practice one afternoon.  She's getting the hang of it and enjoys it.  On the right, she made a new Lego creation.  It's a helicopter on top of a fire truck in case the fire truck has any problems getting to the people in need of help.  We sent a picture of it to Josh because she believes his fire department should buy one.

 Ryan was in India on our anniversary, so he arranged for these beautiful flowers to be delivered to my office.  They are gorgeous!  We were repainting the office, and there's a ton of road construction outside, so these really brightened everything up.

 I love these two in their hooded towels; such cuties!

 This is one of my favorite things to see: the girls reading together.

 Both girls have become avid roller skaters.  They love it!

 They both adore this hand me down Kermit hat from Molly!

 The girls had a playdate with the Crowleys on Martin Luther King Day.  They enjoyed this beautiful day with their friends!

 Mia's class went to Presbyterian Village last week for a field trip.  I loved seeing the joy they brought to the residents!  They recited their A-K Bible verses, a few catechism questions, the books of the Old Testament, recited a few poems and sang a hymn.  It was so sweet!

 Meme was thrilled to see Mia and her class, and we were glad Mom was there to support them.

 I came home to see Lily like this one afternoon.  Studying for the geography bee on her iPad, wearing her My Little Pony leg warmers and tail and a cowgirl hat.  It made me smile.

 We took the girls bowling last weekend.  Lily won, fair and square.  I think she's found her sport!  Mia had a lot of fun as she used the ramp to line up and do a good job.  This was a great afternoon.

I love my family!

Ryan's Trip to India

Ryan had the chance to go on a mission trip to India with JFBC at the start of this year.  It was a tough trip to get to their location.  It took four flights and was about 35 hours with layovers.  It was an interesting experience for him and his group.  They split into pairs for the week.  Ryan and Brian had the opportunity to work with Muslim background believers during the week.  They met many wonderful men, and we pray that their faith continues to grow and deepen.  Here are a few picture collages that Ryan sent to me during the week.

 They had the chance to see several men be baptized; praise God for this sign of their new faith!

 At the end of their week, they flew back to New Delhi and then took a day trip to Agra to visit the Taj Mahal.  It turned into a lovely day.  Ryan is glad that he had the chance to go, but it's not something he is anxious to visit again.

Overall this is was a tough trip, but we're thankful for this opportunity.  Ryan will be heading back in the Fall as the trip leader.  It will be great to see the men again and see more new believers.  We praise God for allowing Ryan to play a small role in the great work He is doing in India.

Starting 2015

Our 2015 is off to a great start.  The girls enjoyed having a little more time off from school before it started back on the 5th.  Even though we were into the new year, we made one last holiday craft.  Mom found cute little kits to decorate gingerbread men at Costco.  The girls were super excited about these; they couldn't wait to decorate them.  It was a fun (and tasty) activity.

 Grandpops and Grandma Jan gave Mia a butterfly farm kit for her birthday which she loved.  It came with a coupon to receive 5 caterpillars that would grow into butterflies.  We redeemed the coupon after our Thanksgiving trip, and they arrived a few days later.  A little cup came with 5 tiny caterpillars and their food in it.  We put it on the kitchen counter so everyone could easily watch them.  For a couple of weeks, we watched them get bigger and bigger.  Then, they spun into their chrysalis on the top of the jar.  Following the instructions, Ryan carefully moved them into the netted cage where they spent a couple of weeks turning into butterflies.  This past Monday and Tuesday, they emerged as beautiful Painted Lady butterflies!  The girls were pretty fascinated by them.  We put fresh fruit in their cage and watched for a couple of days before releasing them.

 Love this grown up girl!

 The girls were quite excited to see a new Lego catalog arrive just after the new year.  They have both been saving their money, and they found exactly what they wanted.  The sets arrived today, and they couldn't wait to bust into them and start building!  They both let me "help" by finding the appropriate pieces for them, but they were set on putting them together.  Mia loved the small puppy training set.  She's had fun setting up the course and pretending to have the dog compete in the dog show.

 Lily spent every dime she had saved on two bigger sets.  One is Ariel's underwater castle set while the other is Elsa's ice castle.  Elsa is on back order for another week, but she was thrilled to have the Ariel set arrive.  She had it finished in less than 2 hours.  She was so happy though because that meant she could start playing with it! 

 I looked out our back window this afternoon to see this.  Mia was standing on top of their playhouse, just looking around.  I just laughed to myself thinking she must like the different vantage point.  She then turned around, looked at the brick wall behind and started trying to climb it.  You read that correctly, she started trying to climb the brick wall!  Crazy enough, she had both hands and feet on it; she was off the playhouse.  It took me only a few seconds to get outside and she was already climbing back down.  I asked her to come over to me and said "Did I just see you trying to climb the wall?"  She matter-of-factly replied, "Yes, I was trying to climb to the roof."  We had to have a few minutes talk about that not being the best idea.  Things like this make me realize how proud I am of how brave and adventurous Mia is and also how terrified I am of how brave and adventurous Mia is!

 And let the fun of 2015 begin!

2014 Comes to a Close

It's hard to believe another year is coming to a close.  We had a very nice day today.  I took Mia over to play with Danielle while I worked this morning.  Ryan and Lily stayed home and enjoyed a nice, quiet morning.  After Mia and I got home from lunch and a Publix run, we decided to roast marshmallows and make s'mores.  Always a fun treat!

 It was such a lovely day that the girls ended up playing outside for quite awhile after the marshmallows were done.  A little while later, it was dinnertime.  2015 jello was one item on the menu.

 Then it was time to have a little fun before the new year!

 We went outside with glow sticks to blow glow-in-the-dark bubbles (which didn't really work so well as bubbles, but the solution looked pretty cool) and then play with sparklers.  The girls always love that.

 After the sparklers, we played a game Lily came up with called Attack of the Parents.  Basically, it was tag, but we had to get them with our glow sticks.  It was actually pretty fun.

 

From there, we came inside to talk about a few favorite memories from the year (Lily's baptism and our family cruise was a repeated theme).  At 8:00, we counted down.  I was surprised by how excited the girls were, but they loved it!  We took a family picture, Skyped for a few minutes with Grandpops and Grandma Jan and then put the girls to bed; they were zonked out in just a matter of minutes.

Now, Ryan and I are just watching football and waiting on midnight.  It gives us time to think back on the year.  Truly, one of the most joyous moments was being with Lily as she made the decision to trust in Christ as her Lord and Savior; she recognizes that she is a sinner who needs Christ to take the punishment for her sins so she can one day stand before a holy and righteous God.  My heart explodes with joy when I think about that moment and think about seeing her baptized by Ryan a few weeks later.  Nothing short of amazing. 

 

The girls turned 8 and 6 this year; Mia has started to Kindergarten.  I can't believe how quickly they are growing and what awesome girls they are becoming.  They amaze me every day.

 

We had some fun travels this year too.  Our family cruise was a great time for us all; the Allure of the Seas is a fantastic ship.  We also visited Legoland and New Smyrna Beach on that trip.  Ryan and I took trips to North Carolina for our anniversary and Chicago to celebrate Jan's birthday.  Our family went to Chicago to visit David and Jan for a few days this summer which was a lot of fun.  Of course, Ryan and I also had big, though separate, trips to China two times, Africa and Alaska; these trips stretched us and deepened our faith. 

 

We can't begin to count all the blessings we saw in 2014.  We thank God for the provisions and opportunities He has provided.  We praise Him for being good.  We don't say He is good because it's been a good year for us though it has been and we're thankful.  He is good always, and we trust in and rely on that.  We look forward to seeing where He will lead our family and what opportunities He will present in 2015; we pray we notice and use each one to give glory to God and His Kingdom.  We hope that 2015 will be a great year for you and your family as well!

After Christmas Fun

We had one last little Christmas surprise in store for the girls.  When we left Granny's house in Tennessee, we headed into Buckhead to spend the night at the JW Marriott.  It was so much fun!  We got in just after 4, checked in and immediately changed into bathing suits to hit the indoor pool.  We spent a couple of hours playing and splashing; it was great!

 We headed back up and changed into warm, comfy pajamas before ordering room service.  We originally thought we would order a movie, but there really wasn't anything good the kids wanted to see.  Instead, the girls curled up in one of the beds to watch one of their new movies on Lily's iPad.  I joined them soon after and enjoyed cuddling up with them.  Ryan was content to stretch out on the bed next to us and watch football.  :-)

The next morning, we enjoyed a good buffet breakfast and then headed back to the pool.  We played for a couple more hours, then went back up to our room to shower off and pack up.  We went over to Lenox for lunch and to window shop before heading home.  This was a fun little treat to wrap up Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the Hooks family!  We hope your family had a wonderful and joyful Christmas!

We wrapped up our Christmas Eve by letting the girls open a gift.  Inside a big gift bag were new pajamas and sleeping bags!  The girls were very excited to put these to good use right away.  Super cute!

 By 6:30, they were begging to go to bed.  They understand the faster they get to sleep, the faster Christmas comes.  On Christmas Eve, we let the girls sleep in our room; they love this.  They both watched movies and curled up into their new sleeping bags.

 Before they could go to sleep, we had to put out carrots and water for the reindeer.

 And of course, there's cookies and milk for Santa.

 One quick family picture, and it was off to bed!

 During the night, the stockings got stuffed and everyone went to sleep.  Lily actually wasn't feeling great, so she woke up a few times during the night.  She finally crawled into our bed about 7AM.  Mia slept until about 7:30.  Then everyone was awake and ready to see what was waiting for them!

 Lily was absolutely thrilled that Santa left her a full-size keyboard!  She loves playing the piano, and since she has moved into octaves higher and lower than what's on her regular keyboard, it was time for an upgrade.  She immediately started playing lovely Christmas music for us.  She was also happy to receive a "Who Was Amadeus Mozart?" kid's biography. 

 Mia was pretty excited to see a Robots, Robots, Everywhere book and an awesome new two-wheel scooter!  When she rides, she says she is "scootering around."  She was a tad disappointed Santa didn't bring her a "miniature real car" but she is enjoying this scooter a lot.

 So I took a different approach to pictures on Christmas this year; I didn't take nearly as many pictures.  I really just wanted to be present with my family instead of constantly trying to catch a great picture.  So, here's just a few from the wonderful, laid-back morning.

Both girls have loved their new bathrobes.  They wear them all the time, not just when they get out of the bath!

 Both girls received new Adventure Bibles.  Mia couldn't wait to dive in.

 Lily was pumped about new Perler beads.  She received more beads, an idea book and several size boards.  She was so excited to start making new designs.  How awesome is this whale!

 Mia was thrilled to receive Sofia's Royal Prep Academy.  Ryan put it together right away for her, and she's been having lots of fun with it, all the characters and the neat little accessories.

 In the early afternoon, we headed over to Mom and Dad's house to celebrate with them and Wayne's family.  We had our traditional brunch menu and then moved into the living room.  Lily and Mia did a great job singing "Away In The Manger" for everyone.

 We opened lots of presents, and then most of us played a fun game called "Left, Right, Center."  Then Wayne and Dad took the kids outside to take turns on Zac's new go-cart which they loved.  Before we left for the evening, we snapped this picture of Mom and Dad with their grandkids.

 The day after Christmas we headed up to Tennessee.  We stopped for lunch in Chattanooga with the Sepulveda family which was a lot of fun.  We made it to Granny's house and had a little bit of time before the whole family got together.  We went over to Johnny Wayne and Nancy's house to celebrate.  We had a good BBQ dinner and enjoyed listening to the girls sing.  After opening presents, we were able to take a few minutes before everyone needed to get to bed; it had been an exhausting day!  I was glad to get this picture of Granny and the girls.

 Here's a picture of all the ladies in the family.

What a great way to wrap up our Christmas celebration!  Our season was filled with lots of family time celebrating the birth of our Savior.  We took a different approach this year to try to keep things a little more low-key, and it paid off.  We simply had a wonderful time.  What a Merry Christmas!