A Shared Birthday, December 25, 2008

Christmas day was bittersweet for us this year. My grandma passed away after a brief fight with cancer. But as the pastor shared with all of us before her funeral, how fitting that she was born into eternity on the same day we celebrate the birth of Christ, who was sent to earth to save all of us from our sins. I have great peace knowing she is now with Jesus and I will see her again.

I miss you and love you Grandma!!!! ~ Sandi

Hannah & Cousin Sydney

Hannah's Baptism

Grandma Althea giving marital advice at Lynn's wedding.

Althea Williams. She was a loving wife, mother, grandmother and great grandmother. She leaves behind a legacy of 11 children, 25 grandchildren and 25 great grandchildren. She always had a warm smile and a hug and kiss on the cheek for me. I'm reminded of a Bible Study I did in Afghanistan called "3:16, The Numbers of Hope" by Max Lucado. The entire study is on the most famous verse in the Bible, John 3:16.

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life."

Whoever, wherever, whenever. Whenever is now. Wherever is right where you are at this moment. Whoever is all of us. He takes us all, the 70 year Christian or those of us that come to Him later in life. Whoever is me, whoever is you. Whoever is Althea, who is currently in the Glory of God living Eternal Life!

Happy New Year & Thank You to Those Serving Overseas!!

Words cannot express our grattitude for what you do for our country every day to keep us and our families safe! Thanks!

Vino for Selling Our Iowa Home

The Baumi Family gave us a bottle of wine for selling our Iowa home. Thanks guys! We are ready to celebrate the home selling and move on to finding our own home here in Colorado after the holidays! We have been so blessed lately and we give God ALL the Glory!!

A Christmas of Thanksgiving

We have SO MUCH to be thankful for this Christmas Season! We all have our health, we have a beautiful home, I've been blessed with a beautiful wife and a great job. Sandi can stay home with our 2 wonderful children, our house sold back in Iowa this month and on Christmas Eve I received a phone call from my Colonel that I was picked up for a 3 year Active Guard Reserve (AGR) tour!! This is what we've waited for for 9 months!!

Sandi's Grandmother went to be with the Lord on Christmas Day. The blessing is she is no longer in pain and she told all 11 of her children she was ready to go be with Jesus! We are all blessed for sharing life with her. I still consider her the fortunate one, being in the awesome presence of God forevermore!

I concluded my Christmas Day by picking up Bill, Sara & Mya from the airport. They just returned from their trip to China to pick up their beautiful Princess Mya! What an incredible indescribable gift! Mya is a little "firecracker" always on the go. I am so thankful to have been able to be a part of their journey. Thank you Bill & Sara for demonstrating God's love to us that He adopted us into HIS family!!

"MERRY CHRISTMAS!!"

Happy Birthday to Him who is born this day in the city of David. He is Christ our Lord, our Savior, our Redeemer. Every soul needs a Saviour. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Our Pastor put it best when he said "Let us not focus on the manger this Christmas, but on WHY He came to this Earth. Let us focus on the cross 33 years later when God's ONLY son died for my sins and yours." He was obedient even unto death on a cross. If we could only be obedient for a week or a month. Fix your eyes on the cross this season, give thanks for His love, His goodness, His grace and mercy. EVERY soul needs a Saviour! Merry Christmas!

"When in Rome...or in this case, Colorado" (Julie S.)

As you may have guessed, Sandi's sister Julie, is a Denver Broncos fan. And since we now live in Colorado she wants us to be Bronco fans too. I will admit, I wish they would have beat the Bills today!!

No, our team has been the Packers and we were/are BIG Brett Favre fans. So as you can imagine, we also watch Brett the NY Jet. Julie & Troy did bring us these wonderful gifts at Thanksgiving so we would fit in around Colorado. I have worn mine and Colin loves his. In fact, just today he said, "I want the Broncos to win. They are Julie's team so I like them."

Believe it or not, I am warming up to the fact that I live about 40 minutes from an NFL team. This was not the case living in Iowa. Keep your fingers crossed, Julie! But for now, I'm still wearing green for #4!

It's Mya Day!!!! - We are so excited for our friends!!!

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:27 (Thank you Bill & Sara for modeling God's Word for the rest of us!)

After 2 1/2 years of waiting, our friends, Bill Sara, Cole & Carter finally got the newest addition to their family. The most adorable little Princess Mya Jian!! You can see Bill & Mya laughing and blowing bubbles on their blog. This was the first day she was officially theirs!! God's amazing love is all over these photos!! We're so happy for you guys! Hurry home!