A Look Back

The end of the year has come
Time passes by so fast
Have I made a difference?
A difference that will last?
What have I accomplished?
Besides material gain?
Did I draw nearer to my God?
In sunshine and in rain?
Did I walk in the spirit?
And die unto myself?
Did I read my Bible daily?
Or leave it on the shelf?
Did I trust God fully?
Or did I fret and fear?
Did I listen to His voice?
Or did I plug my ear?
Looking back I can see
Where I rose and fell
The picture isn't glamorous
But only God can tell
Thank You for Your forgiveness
And what You've saved me from
Help me to love You more
In the year to come.

I don't think this is written very well, but thought I'd post it anyway. Tomorrow is a brand new year! I clean slate! Thank God that we can start afresh.

more of Zoe

Michelle, Ted, and Zoe. This is back when they were in the hospital.

3 days old. 6 days old. "Rhinehart Junior" :D

Barney/Chicken dance off

Come and Gone

Empty stockings on the wall
Abandoned trees, short and tall
Needles sprinkled on the floor
No more wreath on the door.

No more lights on the rail
No more surprises in the mail
Candles are snuffed out
Secrets are no longer about.

The nativity scene is no more
No tags saying "to" or "for"
The 'Christmas Song' has ceased
I am glad for that at least.

Ornaments are packed away
Family is now home to stay
Listen: there is no more song
For Christmas has come and gone.

Written January 2005

Christmas Morning

In an attempt to save money this Christmas, Dad and Mom decided we wouldn't do stockings. They had a little surprise Christmas morning when all eight stockings were lined up on the coach...full. :D Don't they look cute? The second green stocking says Ted so 'someone' pinned Mami's name over it.

What would Christmas be without Christmas socks???

Dad and his rather large pencil.

Dad felt left out, him being the only one that didn't get socks. He improvised.

My long awaited coat. I had picked it out in NYC and have had to wait for it all this time.

Ah, so sylish. :)

Sarah with her Marines shirt. She was very proud of it and wore it to the gym the next day.

Mami with her gifts.

Emily painted Dad a paint-by-number of two deer. She was supposed to give it to him four years ago, but just finished it this year. :)

Anna with her apron.

And my favorite picture from Christmas. Teresa got her Willow Tree nativity that she's wanted for a while. I love the face. :D

Then we went to my uncle and aunts for brunch. We relaxed all day and then watched White Christmas. And that was our Christmas.

Christmas Eve

Our Christmas Eve toast of sparkling grape juice.

Emily and Sarah.

Teresa, Anna, and Mami. Mami and Teresa worked together on a movie in NYC this year, and she came up for Christmas because she just lives by herself. It was confusing having two "mommy's" in the house because they're pronounced the same way.

Don't ask me what Dad's hair is doing. :D

Teresa and I.

All the girls in front of the tree.

Each Christmas us kids pick names for each other so that we only have to get one sibling a present. On Christmas Eve we always open these gifts. Teresa got a digital frame from Ted.

Teresa got Em goggles for snowboarding.

Michelle had Sarah.

Anna got a purse from Sarah.

Anna had me and gave me slippers (because I always want to steal hers) and orange hoop earrings. Then we watched the Nativity Story.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

"And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more." ~Dr. Seuss

Countdown...

Christmas is almost here folks! In case you didn't already know that. My friend Natalie came over and helped me make almond biscotti this morning. We made two batches in record time and had plenty of time to sit around, talk, and enjoy the biscotti. YUM! We make it together once a year and I've missed eating it since last time. Thank you Nat!

Today Dad got the snowmobile out for the first time this year and Anna and I used it a little, pulling eachother around on a sled.

Tomorrow Greek Peak is handing out free lift tickets for Christmas Eve so I get to use my new equipment! I can't wait.

Merry Christmas Adam everyone!!!

more pics of Zoe

"There has been only one Christmas - the rest are anniversaries." ~W.J. Cameron

Christmas Cookies

Ah, yes. The time of year has come for eating far too many Christmas cookies. Last night Emily had a Christmas party here and everyone brought cookies, and not very many got eaten. We brought most of them to church today and are trying to give more away at every opportunity.
Any takers? :)

I'm an Aunt!

Zoe Michelle was born at 12:22am this morning!!! We all thought she would be born yesterday, but Zoe had other plans. She is 6 lbs 3 oz, and 19 inches long. Mom and Emily are going down to see her in January, and the rest of us have to wait until March when Ted, Michelle, and Zoe come to visit.

Welcome to the world Zoe!!!

-Aunt Abigail :D

cancelled...again.

Last Friday Anna and I got up really early, pulled Emily out of bed, and did chores in the dark so we could get to History Class. An e-mail came saying it would be delayed an hour because the roads were bad. We left a half hour early because it would take longer to get there, mostly because of following exceptionally slow cars. We had been driving for 50 minutes when we got a call saying it was cancelled because the roads were bad! Oh you mean the roads we've been driving on for almost an hour? Oh, well thanks for thinking of our safety.
This morning we got up early, I took a shower at an ungodly hour, and then I checked e-mail. Yes, class was canceled. At least we weren't in the car already!

In other news, my mom's oldest brother died Wednesday. We were hanging out at the hospital for days before he died and now at his wife's house since then. So that's what has been going on around here, the funeral is on Saturday. None of us knew him really well, there was a pretty big gap between Mom and him. There's 10 kids in the family, and Mom is the only born-again believer, so if you remember you can pray for them.

And the big news today is my sister Michelle is at the hospital ready to have her baby!!! Ted texted Mom a little while ago. Dad will get a granddaughter for his birthday! I am SO EXCITED!!!

"Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first." ~Mark Twain

Pencil Drawing

In art we are doing pencil drawings from pictures. I did a term paper on Rachel Scott for the history class I'm in, so decided to do a picture of her for the front of it. This is what I started out with. The outline is one of the scariest things you will ever set eyes on. Now if that won't give you nightmares, I don't know what will. And drawing her eyes so they looked like cat eyes didn't help either.
This is what I ended up with:

At times I hated it, at times it looked horrid, but I'm really happy with the outcome.

Gingerbread House

We have never made a gingerbread house before. So this year Anna really wanted to make one. The rolled out dough ready to be baked.

All the ingredients

The roof.

Making the windows.

Putting it together.It is finished!

The amazing twizzler archway...my brilliant idea. :)

It was kind of small and certainly not perfect, but we are rather proud of it. :D

the view from the window

Really Amazing French Song

New York City (part 2)

After eating we walked up to the Rockefeller Center. By this time it was dark and all the lights looked so cool.

Policemen on horses!!! In the middle of the city! It was pretty cool.

Anna, Emily, Sarah, me, Mom, Helen, and Olivia in front of the tree.

The empty ice rink. When we walked by again it was really full.

One of the angels that were in a line.

This is a church but it looks so weird. It didn't even look real when I looked at it, it was so bizzare. It kind of looks like something from Narnia...in the middle of NYC.

Watching Saks snowflake show. They blink off and on to the song Carol of the Bells. It plays every 20 minutes or something.

A closeup of the snowflakes.

Me and Sarah in front of the tree. More like me and Sarah with the tree WAY in the background.

Teresa and Sarah.

Good view of the tree.

Then on our way to the car we passed through Times Square.

The M&M building.

The building in the middle is where they drop the ball on New Years. You can see the pole at the top.

And then we got in the car and drove the 4 1/2 hours home!