Header...

It's that time of year again... Advent (not "new blog header").   I love it.  Mostly because I need to SLOW DOWN more than any person I know!  Today, it occurred to me that I was RUSHING through the activity I was doing TO RELAX.  (ok, if you must know, crotcheting.  All right, an afghan for Carly.)  Ryan was teasing me for the text I sent him a few months ago:  "The girl doing my pedicure is taking ENTIRELY too long and it's driving me nuts!!!!".  The reality speaks volumes.

So, waiting.  I'm very very bad at it, but aware enough to see the need.  And December is the one month I guess I allow myself to anticipate and savor something.   Which is kind of ironic since our calendar is seriously the FULLEST in December!! 

Our kids LOVE our Advent Calendar.  Ryan and I love it for what it teaches them... anticipating Christ's birth, spending time with family, and being patient!  Most of our activities will be repeats of last year, and a few new ones for good measure.  It's a tradition we've all come to love and I know that even when our kids are grown, Ryan and I will continue to plan activities and probably even "hide" the plan in the countdown calendar!!

I originally made a DIFFERENT header...

... a fine close up of our Advent Calendar.  I didn't love it, but I did love the verse.  It emulates the Season for us perfectly.  I love how the punctuation falls in this particular verse... "Wait for the Lord"  "Be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord".  Particularly the "Be strong and take heart AND WAIT" part.  I spent the whole year waiting.  For my job to change.  From Night Shift to Day Shift.  I needed to sleep.  My family needed me to NOT be so cranky.  I needed to not be so bored with my job.  So I prayed for a change of heart, since I didn't think a job change was likely.  I figured that if I delighted myself in the Lord, he would give me the desires of my heart (Psalm 37:4)... I quickly learned that that means He will give me the desires of my heart, as in, making me want what HE wants.  His plan.  He made me happy in my then current situation... and when I completely least expected it, I found myself getting up at 5:30am.  For work.  I love what I am doing now, but to be honest? Just before He moved me, I honestly loved what I was doing then.  Funny how that worked out. 

The new picture:

So, we started our Advent Activities.  You know, on December 1st.  By the 4th day, we finally got to our Tree Trimming Party.  We got the tree up, all the decorations out... I decided I needed to photograph our ornaments because they are all so sentimental to me!  So I was on this level of our tree, getting refocussed to snap a picture and I saw our calendar in the background... the chest with the pictures of Ryan's grandparents... soft lighting, the "Love" ornament on our tree... and well, I don't think that was a Random view since it made me stop.  Catch my breath.  And wait.

Nine

Well, Carly is NINE today! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET GIRL!

You've brought us SO MUCH joy with your sweet smile, laugh, and sweet attitude! 

We had a great couple of days of celebrating with our girl...  she had her first "Non-Family-Sleep-Over" and had her BFF Olivia over.  We went to see Tangled, which was very cute (Lucky for Ben, he was over the Warren's house!) made home made pizza's... and seriously, she talked Olivia into watching "The Best Movie Ever... Back to the Future 3!!!!"  Ryan was so proud!!!  Very funny!  This morning we cheered Ryan on while he ran 22 miles... then went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast while he was still running.  Yes, I felt very bad about doing that:)  TONIGHT, we went to the Olive Garden (Carly's favorite!!!) for dinner with my parents, Uncle Steve, and Rochel and Edgar and the cousins.

Here are a few of her gifts from her party... she's saving money for an iPod Touch, and she got an amazon gift card from Amazon fans Uncle Dean and Auntie Tracy... iTunes GC from Torrey... the Little Big Planet dolls from Grandma and Grandpa (she about lost her mind!!!  they are from a video game she plays with Ryan)... there's more on the way from them, too...  we are all about extending the birthday!

Peace Bath Products from Ben... she's already to travel in Peace now!

Money for her iPod from Uncle Steve... and Aunt Rochel and family...

a Peace watch from Grammy and Papoo... and they already got her the American Girl Doll that she loves!

Earrings from Auntie Laurie and Uncle Tim and the cousins...

as well as puppets... we are eagerly awaiting a show, but must make sure Eli is over for it!  He loves puppets!

And my favorite part of the night, Eli blowing out the candles!  It was so funny that i re-lit them for him about 3 times.  He was all practiced up since his bday was about 2 weeks ago.  Can't believe I didn't take a picture of his darling sister, but I was slightly distracted by the cake and coffee:)

And one last gift... Auntie Laurie made the kids pillow cases and fleecy blankets!  I think my Hippie Girl was pretty happy with her day!

Thanks to everyone who called and were able to come out for her big day!  And to Aunt Rochel for making a very yummy cake!  Mmmmmmmm.... and thanks for the leftovers!

Happy Birthday Carly!  I'm so thankful God picked us to be your parents... When I remember the day you were born, I can't block out the fact that your little heart stopped beating and God guided  Dr. Q to safely deliver you ANYWAYS, and that you are FINE.  I'm thankful for every sweet minute we've had with you... I make myself remember those scary minutes, so that I don't take a single minute with you for granted! 

WE LOVE YOU!!!

Happy Birthday!

Favorite Song of All...

I just had to share this. Yesterday in our church, several of the members who are deaf, or who sign for the deaf led us in worship during the offeratory. Now granted, I'm a total emotional sucker for this kind of stuff, but seriously??? Stop and think about how much this totally honored God and how beautiful it must have sounded to Him. And then think about how cool it was for these people to get to praise God in such a very cool way. Their way. Love it.

(video clip is just partial... and not mine, but someone who attends with us)

Random Picture #4

In case you ever wanted to see McGregor Children with black hair...

Random Picture #3

Carly... on the beach in Panama City... at sunset.  It's a cell phone picture, but I still love it.  GREAT weekend watching our brother-in-law complete an Ironman competition.  So proud of you, Josh!!!

Swim Team Halloween Party

Ben and Carly love the annual Halloween Party that their swim team puts on... it's at a local bowling alley and they always have a blast!  

As I've mentioned before, Carly is all about the Peace Sign, and of course, wanted to be a Flower Child Hippie.  Shocking, she had most of the "costume" in her usual repetoire!  I did have to make the vest, which was easy enough by cutting up an adult sized brown tshirt, and adding a few iron on patches from JoAnn's.  I think she will keep it forever!

We watched the original Karate Kid with the kids last week... really need to show them the updated version! (That was for you, Mom!) Of course, Ben thought it was HYSTERICAL, and was SO impressed when we told him Uncle Edgar is a Black Belt in karate.  He was kind enough to share his karate clothes with Ben... thankfully the pants have a very big drawstring and the shirt was easy enough to tie together! 

Dancing at the party... this girl didn't stop moving for a couple of hours! 

And the whole crew... and for anyone who remembers me talking about Dana, she's standing right in front of Ben... Got to talk to her mama tonight and made sure to tell her how encouraging I found their cheering this summer... and also how sad I was to see that she no longer does the butterfly stroke as if she were a real butterfly, because THAT was hilarious! 

Clermont Swim Meet

Ben and Carly enjoyed a VERY successful swim meet today in Clermont.  They both worked REALLY hard and we are very proud of them!  It was a beautiful, breezy day... so sitting on the pool deck was actually quite enjoyable!  Check out their times... Personal Bests all around!  Previous times in BLUE, today's times are in RED.

Carly (in the "Cone Lane") shows off a perfectly executed flip turn!

50 free:  50.98   TODAY 46.57

25 back: 30.50    TODAY 27.71

50 fly:  1:07.89   TODAY 1:06.99

Ben (also in the "Cone Lane"), in the 200 freestyle.  We decided he MUST have been sleeping the first time he did this race since he took SO MUCH time off today!  We told him that if he took time off his race, he'd get an hour on Roblox.com (his favorite website) and if he came in under 3 minutes, he'd get another hour... Apparently that was all the motivation he needed!

200 free:  3:32.99  TODAY 2:43.45

50 back: 40.11   TODAY  39.76

We are really proud of them and EXCITED that they did so well!