Dani

Happy Birthday Dani!!!!

Everyone, it's Danielle's 24th birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I expect all of you who know her to send her a birthday comment :)

Wow Dani, what can I say? I wanted to let you know how special you are to me by giving you your own special post on my blog. I can't tell you how wonderful you are or how much I appreciate your friendship. You are such a good friend and a great older sister, Jie Jie!

I so enjoyed our time together in Asia this past fall and it was great to get to know you so much better over the course of our trip. Your heart for missions is so beautiful and your heart for the Lord. You're so wonderfully funny as well. And I will never forget all the times we laughed together, even at stupid things :)

One other thing I will never forget is the first time I ever saw you. It was at leader's training for a Bright Lights conference and when you came in you looked very aristocrat and proper and a good Christian girl. What I didn't see was that there was a girl named Dani right below the skin of Danielle:) who was so much like Chrissy who is right below the skin of Christine.

It wasn't too long before I started to realize how much fun you were but I didn't like you just because you were fun but because I saw such a love for Jesus! I told my mom more than once (and you can ask her if it's true) that "I wanted to be like Dani". Your love for the Lord shines through your beautiful smile, your love for others, your passion for the lost, and your wonderful voice lifted in praise to your God (sometimes even singing songs you have written).

I'm so glad God created you and blessed my life with knowing you and having the honor of being one of your close friends even though the miles between us separate us.

I love you, Jie! Happy Birthday!

Isn't she beautiful?!


Dani and I holding the lizard we caught in S'pore.

And then the big, beautiful, brown, Italian, eyes of Danielle.

Andrew...

Andrew; treasured brother, one of my most loyal of all loyals, person who makes me laugh so much, skilled, talented, actor, friend, most wonderful little brother in all the world.

Yes Andrew, this post is dedicated to you. I just wanted to give you the spot on my blog that is due you and has been too long in coming. I also wanted to share with Kitti's Klips little world one of the ways you made me laugh, actually all of us laugh most recently. (You know what's coming:) Okay everyone, are you ready for this? Winston Churchill has so many famous quotes but this one from Andrew, might just be that famous one day.

One day when Andrew was putting away the groceries he looked at me and said out of the blue:

"Sometimes I don't like you very much,

and other times, I think that you are just a lump of butter,

so why bother?"

Wow, that was soooo funny! I still love it!

My little Brother in his senior year:

Andrew was in the Marion Home School play this year. He was Laurence in "Little Women". You did such a wonderful job Andrew! It was your best performance yet! (You can thank all of us Bright Lights leaders for all the acting skills and to do's and not to do's you pick up from us :)

Andrew and I after His last performance. I'm glad you skip the make-up on normal days :)

Andrew and our good friend Jeff this summer. Two tall skinny guys.

So I guess that's all. Thanks so much for being such a great little brother. A much better one than I deserve! Love you!

Oh, I forgot! One more thing, if you ever see Andrew in a suit and bow tie, just refer to him as James Bond.

My chapter for 2009...

While I was in CO the Lord gave me a chapter for this year. It's Ps. 84. When I read the first part I thought that it was really good and I wanted it to be true of my life. So I guess in a way I'm looking to the Lord to make this more true in my life this year. I think that He probably has somethings in mind this year and I will be able to look back and see His hand at work! I love being able to do that.

One thing you might consider doing, is asking the Lord for a chapter or verse for 2009.

84:1 How lovely is your dwelling place,

O Lord of hosts!

2 My soul longs, yes, faints

for the courts of the Lord;

my heart and flesh sing for joy

to the living God.

3 Even the sparrow finds a home,

and the swallow a nest for herself,

where she may lay her young,

at your altars, O Lord of hosts,

my King and my God.

4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house,

ever singing your praise! Selah

5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you,

in whose heart are the highways to Zion. [2]

6 As they go through the Valley of Bacathey make it a place of springs;

the early rain also covers it with pools.

7 They go from strength to strength;

each one appears before God in Zion.

8 O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer;

give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah

9 Behold our shield, O God;

look on the face of your anointed!

10 For a day in your courts is better

than a thousand elsewhere.

I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God

than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield;

the Lord bestows favor and honor.

No good thing does he withhold

from those who walk uprightly.

12 O Lord of hosts,

blessed is the one who trusts in you!

Video blogging once again...

Okay, here's one of the movies from our GOTG adventure!

Andrew had just made it down from his rock he temporarily got stuck on and we had reach our destination. I was also dealing with a case of indecisiveness as you'll see.

Where to begin....

Where do I begin! It's been such a packed holiday season since last time I posted! Wow, it has been a blast and it's hard to excepted that real life is upon us once again.

We had a small quiet Christmas. We got together with my Grandma for presents and then had one of the families we know over for a late lunch or luncher whatever you prefer.

Andrew and I both got each other hats for Christmas and we love them! I'm glad that hats are back in. They're so much fun and they really come in handy on a bad hair day.

The day after Christmas, the 26th, we left for Colorado where we visited our friends!

We known quite a few families who have moved to the CO Springs area and Andrew and I are hoping that some day it will be our turn!

We saw and spent time with the McDills, the Faehs, and stayed with the Lueckes.

Here are some pic that I took at Garden of the God's. I love that place and I got to enjoy it twice this trip.

This next pic is of the Kissing Camels in GOTG.

God's creation is sooooooooooooo beautiful and amazing!

One day while staying with the Lueckes, we, the kids, decided that we wanted to go for a hike at Garden of the God's. It was a beautiful day and we had a wonderful time! I'll tell you what, it was a little weird being able to hike in the dead of winter.

So here they are, in IBO ( in birth order, thanks to Dave McDill I learned another appreviation):

Kristen: a beautiful, fun, bible school student, working, oldest sister, wonderful baker, young woman.

Andrew: Little brother turned big little brother, one of the funniest people I know, fun, one of my best friends, young man.

Emma: another beautiful young woman, senior, older and younger sister, missions minded, animal loving, young woman.

Renae: a beautiful, craft loving, middle child, cute, taller every time I see her, fun, Andrew's Narnia partner, young lady.

Allen: a football loving, all boy, cute (he'd dislike me for saying that), sweet boy.

Jacob: youngest, older brother's constant playmate, Kristen's baby, trooper in keep up with all of us, and cute little goof (as the pic shows).

Climb, climb, climb.

As you can see, I had my camera along so we made a video with a news reporter, helpless civilians, and super hero. We had it all, okay, we forgot the evil villain but it was still good.

Here is a photo of our super hero, Luigi the Caped Crusader!

We came across this sign and I couldn't resist the opportunity to get a pic by it. I guess it's probably a little of my rebellious side coming out. I should have been standing on the other side of the sign though. Notice the $500 fine at the bottom.

Now that the holidays and traveling are over I will hopefully be posting more often. Also, I will probably be posting at least one of the many videos I took.