No surprise...

That our favorite Christmas thing to do is spend time together and laugh. I'm glad that it isn't just limited to Christmas, aren't you?

You can go to youtube and look up songs from everywhere! Even Psalty songs from long ago...hint hint wink wink. If you have facebook, you can find it there on my page....

The best part of being sisters is that we will always be sisters...no matter what. Let's hang on to that in the days ahead and keep whats important at the front of our lives.

Love you!

Diane

Yes, it was a good night. We are truly blessed to have a family such as ours. I believe that we have something pretty special in our relationship. I am looking forward to having Norma and her husband and son in the area. I have missed those boys and Mickey ears.

The word I have for 2009 is courage. Courage to take a step, courage to pray, courage to listen, courage to grow closer to God, and whatever else is put in our path. It is in the Bible several times to "not be discouraged" and "to have courage". He wants us to be confident and know that he has our best interests in mind.

I so love you all. What a fun weekend we have coming up!!!

Rosa

Christmas Memories

To our family - I just wanted to take this time to say Thank you for all the wonderful memories that were made on Christmas night. God's love was felt in the reading of the Christmas story, sharing of the wonderful food, singing of the Christmas favorites, exchanging of gifts, breaking of the pinata, talking with Norma on the phone and laughter until our sides hurt.

God has blessed us in so many ways, and in less than a week He will bless us again with adding Paul to our family.

Like Bonnie wrote in her Christmas letter, we don't know what 2009 holds, but we know Who holds 2009 in His hands.

Love you more than words will ever say,
Karen

Recipe?

Does anyone have the recipe for the treat Joy brought to Bonnie's when Norma was here? It was puffed corn I think with a coating...almond bark maybe? If you have it, could you post it or call me? I've been hankering it since that night! Thanks Joy for another addiction to add to my list! :-)

Angie & Josh are here! They came home in the ice storm Thursday night. It was a long and grueling last couple of hours, but the important thing is that they made it!

And if anyone is reading this on Saturday or Sunday, you are invited to First Reformed's Christmas Cantata. It is at 6:00 tonight and Sunday night. Katey, Lauren & I are participating in it and would love to have you be blessed by another beautiful offering this Christmas season.

Finally....4 days until Christmas and I'm starting to feel giddy for it. I think it just takes having all my kids home and in the house at the same time for it to sink in.

I too am blessed beyond measure....

Diane

This picture is from a couple of weeks ago - I just wanted to see if I could put one on.

I don't know, I just love posting on this thing. It is kind of my "calendar" like Grandpa Van Gorp had. He would write each day the weather and what his harvest was in the garden, who visited, etc... all in about an inch of space.

So, today, we had a great worship service which the little kids all brought packages to Jesus. What a joy to see all the kids bringing a bit of themselves to the manger. Then Bernie and I went to Mannheim Steamroller. It was great, but so relaxing, I could have had a bit of a nap. But I didn't because I didn't want to miss any of it.

We then went out to eat, did a bit of shopping. Now we are home - we chose to watch ELF, with a fire in the fire place, and hot chocolate. Sounds wonderful, doesn't it. What a good day!

Now I need to work on my presentation for class tomorrow night - maybe I should have done that first......Oh well, it'll happen regardless.

Rosa

The Veenstra Christmas is over - and I am exhausted! Tomorrow we greet at church then go to Mannheim Steamrollers in the afternoon. Right now, I am listening to my family laugh and enjoy eachother. Jessa is singing "Away in a Manger". I am so blessed!

Christmas was a little hard today. but mostly we pretended like it was normal -- be that good or bad....

We had three authors at the store today. They were very nice people and very appreciative of the store. Another big day and a little short on help due to PC's Christmas banquet.

Last night was great and I am glad that my house is ready for celebrating. Love you all! Rosa

i think i have figured this out

If this gets posted I will be very pleased with myself.
I love looking at all of your posts and hearing the news and getting a glimpse into your heart.
Thanks so much for the great time last night in the progressive dinner. I love that Christmas tradition. I am thankful this is something that takes some work but it is not something I get stressed about. My house gets decorated and it finally gets some real cleaning done.
We have our Huyser gathering tonight so I had better go. If this posts I will write more another time.
joy

DONE!

I finished up the fall semester last night at 11:45 p.m. I am so glad to be done with it...I learned more about the environment than I ever cared to know, even went on a private tour of the waste water treatment plant in Pella...how special is that? I learned about different mental health theories and treatments and all about abnormal psychology...watch out...I may be diagnosing you all this week!

I don't know why this semester was so hard. Maybe it was the newish job. Maybe it was I got off on the wrong foot on a couple of my classes. Maybe I'm just getting tired. Now the struggle is to figure out how I'm going to make the next year work out. I've taken all the online classes I can and almost all of the Newton campus classes. So now my choices are day classes in Des Moines or twice a week to Newton in the middle of winter. Neither sound good to me. Maybe after a few days they will look better to me. I would appreciate your prayers as I try to figure this all out.

Can't wait to do the tour of homes on Friday night with my sisters. Joy has 5 trees. I have 5 nativities. What do you have 5 of at Christmas time??

Diane

Angels

Our pastor talked about angels this morning and how they are everywhere and that God commands them to protect us. And I was just thinking that with a family our size we could probably testify to that being true. I would like to see some angel stories posted. I am sure some of us have had close calls with accidents, "coincidences" that couldn't be explained, doing something out of the ordinary for no apparent reason, etc.

Rosa

Hey, all, I just finally found some sit time and am impressed that I have some more journalists for this blog. I just love you all and really enjoy hearing about your world.

Last night we had our "Midnight Gladness" sale. I had so much fun - that my face hurts from smiling. We had hourly specials, a live nativity, carolers, and giveaways. We had a huge turnout and I think it will become an annual event. We were open until midnight - wow, I am getting old, that was not easy to get up this morning.

Well, I better shower. We have our store party tonight and I need to wrap gifts and be on my game again.

Love you all, Rosa

I'm Thankful....

That I got to see each one of my sisters (twice!) (except Diane & we'll count 7 hours as twice) during my short visit to Iowa. Also 12 nieces & nephews & 7 great nieces! And 5 brother in laws too.
That I get to see you all again in just 1 month!
That I got to not just meet Paul but also spend time with him & he is a great guy. I love how happy he & mom are together.
That it snowed (& snowed & snowed some more) while I was here. It reminded me of the incredible truth of how truly washed away our sins are. White as snow? Amazing!
That David called today just to tell me how pleased and impressed the superintendant & school board member & city official were when they toured the new gym that is almost completed in Buena Park.
For giggles & hugs & long talks & prayer.
And family blogs!

Love you,
Norma