Christmas Concert

On Tuesday night we went to the School Christmas Concert of my Little Miss. She was cute as a button singing with her kindergarden class. Here's a few photos taken last night.

Holiday Open House

We hosted a holiday open house on Sunday. We had a great time with many friends and lots of food. The friends have all gone home, but we are left with a lot of leftovers! Here's a few photos of the day and more holiday home decor.

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

Fox River Socks
Reese's Peanut Butter Cup McFlurries
Yankee Christmas Eve Candle
Runs on beautiful trails
Charlie Brown Christmas CD

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

The month of December has quickly come upon us and with it, holiday decorating! I love this time of year as I love to decorate so it's right up my alley! We got our tree last week Monday and will post a few photos here with more to come later.

We spent Thanksgiving with Justin's family and had a great time with lots of food, family and fun. I even talked Justin into shopping the day after Thanksgiving-his first time. As we approached the mall door, I told him to take a deep breath! He held up well.

Kitchen Curtains and Dairy Barns

Our friends Gerben and Julie had an open house at their dairy farm this weekend. They had 700 visitors! That's quite the open house! It is wonderful to see how God has provided a visa for this Netherlands couple to stay in the U.S.

Concerning the kitchen curtains, my parents were in town today and my Mom sewed some curtains for our kitchen window. I'd found these great antique curtain rods when with Linda this summer and am pleased with the final product! My dad put together some hardware to attach them to the cupboards. The kitchen certainly has a more homey feel.

Justin and I celebrated Thanksgiving together on Thursday with
a turkey roast meal and the reading of our entries to the Blessing Box. This box was given to us for our wedding from 2 of my cousins (Thanks Kris and Cindy!). Throughout the year we write on slips of paper what we are thankful for, what we feel we've been blessed by. And, at Thanksgiving time, we read them. It's neat to see and remember all the blessings from the past year. To all of our faithful readers, have a blessed Thanksgiving with your family and friends!

Happy Birthday Little Miss

My little miss turned 6 today. How time flies.

Carving Time

It was pumpkin carving time in our household this weekend. The young adults from our church were over on Friday night and we took it to the pumpkins. Nowadays they make these great booklets full of designs to carve into your pumpkin. I selected the racoon design and Justin went with "creepy." It was very time consuming, but the glow is worth it! For those of you out and about this Tuesday night, be safe out there!

Weekend Highlights

We're once again back at Sunday night. How quickly the weekend passed, but what fun we had! Friday evening we went to an Audio Adrenaline/Mercy Me concert. What a great concert! Audio Adrenaline is on their last tour as the band is saying adios after 15 years. Their final show will be in Hawaii in April. I think I could be okay with going to that concert!!! ALOHA!

Saturday the hubby worked while I volunteered at a 5K race in town. I was fortunate to work inside, rather than out, as it was rainy and cold here on Saturday. That afternoon we traveled to my parents to celebrate my Dad's & niece's birthdays (we gave my niece a bike helmet which she wore the rest of the afternoon). We had lunch together, played some games (while others slept), and then it was all too soon to head back home where we caught a volleyball game on campus.

Today was church, followed by a church meeting, long nap and then I was getting the living daylights scared out of me on a haunted hayride with my student employees! I work with college students and they live for this stuff. I, on the other hand, could live without it! I'm glad to be back at home resting comfortably in my own home! I mean, to have a guy come up alongside the wagon and hit the side as loud as he can, much less get ON the wagon and make scary noises and grab at you is not a settling way to end a day, much less try to sleep! I can't believe I paid to be scared. It is times like these that I second guess my decision making, when I'm crying like a little girl.

I digress.

All in all, it was a great weekend. The week ahead is quite busy for me as I've been planning a wellness fair since May and Tuesday is the big day, followed by a cholesterol screening on Wednesday morning. I will breathe a big sigh of relief come Wednesday afternoon!

Have a great week everyone!

Cheery Bathroom

Good Sunday evening to everyone! It seems a little strange to be writing about a bathroom in our home, but several people have asked us lately what the latest house project has been. We actually finished renovating this bathroom back in February, but I thought I'd post a few photos for those of you who haven't been by the house and were curious about the end product. We weren't sure about the yellow color, but it has grown on us and is a cheery spot in the house. It certainly helps me to forget how cold it is getting outside!

So while we're on the topic of cheery spots in the house, what's a favorite room in your home? (This would be a good spot to leave a comment....we love those!)

A few old photos to share to start the topic on memories:

Engagement Night

Brother and Nephew

Student employees playing "knockout/Montana."

Most Memorable Moment of the Day

A few years ago while attending a conference, I heard a speaker by the name of Nancy Coey (check out Nancy's e column ) who gave the suggestion of writing down a single, short sentence each day that is your most memorable moment of the day. I have managed to keep this up for 3 years now and enjoy looking back to remember memories I would have otherwise forgotten, had I not written them down. On many occasions, my husband will ask what my most memorable moment of the day is as I'm writing it down or request to hear about a few of the entries from when we started dating, so we have fun reminising together. To give you an idea, should you want to get started on your own, here are a few of my entries:

January 2, 2004: Walking in the fog at 7PM to the mailbox with Mom and Dad.
April 17, 2005: Looking through photo albums with 3 munchkins (my niece and nephews) on the couch.
February 2, 2006: Napping in between oven timer soundings for cupcakes!

So, I'd encourage you to try this for yourself, to relish those little moments that make your life enjoyable, that write your story! What's been your most memorable moment today?

October Sky

We took a walk tonight and captured a couple pictures of the beautiful sky. The morning started with a pink sky and ended in the same fashion.

We're starting year number 2, commemorated by eating of the wedding cake topper. The hubby made sure to point out the verbage on the cake which reads "wives submit." I quickly turned the cake to the other side but didn't find the part about husbands loving their wives. Shoot, we must have eaten that part last year!

Beginning Anew

Welcome to Blessed Beginnings! I gave a lot of thought to what a blog title should be for us, and I came up with this for a few reasons. Not only are we beginning our 2nd year of marriage, but I truly believe that the Lord blesses us with a new start each day (a blessed beginning) as well as many new experiences and challenges that all have a beginning. The fun part is seeing what God can do once we've begun.