My Step-Family

Mirabai

Hope and Russ

Me and Mirabai

My step-brother Russ, my step-sister Hope and her daughter (my niece) Mirabai came up to Bend for Christmas. I hadn't seen them for a very long time, and it was great to get to spend some time with them. The last time I saw my niece, Mira, was before Robert and I got married! And in the past few years she has turned into a very lovely young lady. I remember holding her as a baby, driving her to ballet lessons when she was a toddler, and this year she's going to be a teenager - she's the same age I was when she was born!

Girl's Night

Catherine and Dana on pizza duty

Jodi (8 months pregnant with baby #2) and me

Bethany (experienced mom of 3) holding baby Chase

Chase's lovely mom, Amber

Catherine and me entertaining Chase

The women in our Tuesday night Bible Study decided to spend Friday night sans husbands while some of the men went night-skiing at Hoodoo. We baked Papa Murphy's pizzas, sat around visiting, and played a very fun game of Catch Phrase. Amber brought baby Chase (6 months) who is just about to start crawling, and we all enjoyed watching him laugh and giggle as he rolled across the floor. Robert and I continue to be amazed at what a wonderful church we have here in Bend. We are so thankful for the teaching and fellowship we've found at Grace OPC, and the friendships I have made with these women are an incredible blessing to me.

C'etait tres romantique!

Last night (1/14/08) was the 3rd anniversary of our first date (and we've already been married 2 years and 4 months!) I had to teach a class until 7:25 p.m., and when I walked through the door, was happily surprised to find that my sweet husband had transformed our home into "Marche Cafe"; the little French restaurant in Eugene where we met for the very first time. The house was full of candles, French music was playing, and Chef Robert had cooked the very first meal he made for me (on our second date): Dijon breaded chicken, wild rice, and asparagus in garlic and butter. We shared a bottle of Champagne and exchanged gifts, one of which was the Reformation Study Bible (edited by R.C. Sproul) so we can begin the tradition of reading from the Psalms before dinner each night. I am so blessed to have such a great husband.

Snow Day!!!

The view from our front door this morning

It is snowing so hard in Bend today that all classes at the college were cancelled! Although that would have been nice to know before I slipped and slided my way across town to campus and trekked uphill to my office.

Here are some photo highlights of the holidays... and some pictures of my new haircut! I chopped off a 10'' ponytail for Locks of Love and I am lovin' it!

The Benningtons

Kai decided he liked Molly's Christmas present

Sunriver during our evening walk

New Year's Eve - Who are those goofy folks?

The new cut

Sassy!

Winter Festivities

Our little tree all dressed up

The month of December is a great time to hear wonderful Christmas music, drink hot apple cider, get Christmas trees... and go to the beach?!

Yep! Robert and I were finally able to take a little vacation this past week as I enjoy my one month break between quarters at school. We spent two nights in the small town of McMinneville where we were able to visit the Evergreen Aviation Museum -home of Howard Hugh's enormous Spruce Goose- and do some wine tasting. The next two nights we spent in the darling coastal town of Cannon Beach. Aside from being a little cool (it averaged about 40 degrees each day), it was beautiful and empty:) We had the whole place to ourselves and were able to take some much-needed long walks along the beach with our doggie.

On Sunday after church we finally got our Christmas tree! We were all set to buy a normal (dead) one, but as we marched around the nursery and saw all of the cute little spruces and firs growing in pots were succumbed to take one home as a pet. We now have a 5-foot White Fir living in our house that we will eventually plant in our yard and that many many years from now will be around 80 - 100 feet tall!

Loading "Fir" into the truck

At the beach - and bundled up!

In front of the Spruce Goose

Holly and her friend Dana after a Christmas concert downtown