Silent Night

Since i just shared about our "not so silent night", it reminded about a special night a few weeks ago. Our church often has a Candlelight Christmas Eve service.

This year they did it on Jan 30th instead. Abigail(9) and Josiah (11)were also baptized the same night.

Abby was evidently freezing in the baptismal tank, but her sincere love of God was even more evident.

Josiah was next and was standing in the tank while they were finishing Abby's favorite song from the hymnal, "All the Trees of the Field". It is such a joyful song and appropriate for her to pick. Josiah could barely contain himself and Pastor commented later that his Bible was getting wet from Josiah's exuberance.

After the baptisms, we sang carols. It is always a special time and my favorite part of this service is when they play Mannheim Steamrollers' Silent Night. All lights are turned off. The pastor stands at the front with a single candle and then lights the candles of the two people on either side who then light the next candles.

All while listening to the most beautiful instrumental version of Silent Night I have ever heard. Here is a picture of Emma and Quin who were so delighted to be able to hold their own candle this year.



What was once covered in darkness is now beautifully aglow with candlelight. A wonderful symbol of how we can affect the world for God, one light at a time.

We're being attacked! HELP!

Ok... sickness has invaded our home on all sides. After New Year's Quin woke up with a swollen eye. We let it go thinking it would resolve itself (maybe not enough sleep). A week later it was still bothering him and now he had a swollen gland in front of his ear. Dr's prognosis... either a bad tooth (which needs a filling) or MUMPS! We are leaning towards the tooth and he is on antibiotics. We are hoping the swelling in his right cheek goes down soon. For now I am calling him "monk" short for chipmunk and also after a show we recently started watching on USA network called Monk.


On top of Quin's tooth we also are dealing with a variety of other illnesses. The worst is the stomach bug.

Poor Si is sporting a beautiful bowl close by. My husband right now has it the worst, but a few of the kids are struggling with it also. It started with Abby and they wondered if it might be her appendix. We were told to keep a close eye on her, but I called the doctor yesterday and said, "they're dropping like flies around here.. I think it is safe to assume it is a stomach bug and not appendicitis". He agreed.



Here is Abby actually feeling much better but still camped out in the living room chair with Amanda's sought after blanket/robe and one of our puppies.



So some have the stomach bug, Quin has the infection from a tooth and little Ella was complaining about her ear. That leaves me, Amanda (13yod), and Caleb (15yos who rarely gets sick) running at full speed.

Cindy