Picking up where I left off

Last night I started posting about our weekend last week. click here if you missed that. Today I'll finish up with last weekend just in time for this weekend to start :)
Sunday December 23 2007. We got up got the kids dress and headed off to Sunday school. Between Sunday school and church I passed out all my Christmas cards to my church family. Then just as church was ready to start we all got a early Christmas gift. J came walking in.. who is J you ask. he is one of the church boys(young man) who we have come to know and love over the 4 years we have been attending our new church. I have got to watch him grow into such a wonderful young man these past few years. He graduated from High School this past summer and with in days was off for the service and we haven't seen him since. We have been praying for him and getting reports from his mother.. We knew he was getting to come home for two weeks in January before being shipped over seas, but no one not even his mother knew he would be home for Christmas.. He wanted to surprise us all.. and let me tell you he did.. I don't think there was a dry eye in the place and church got started late because of everyone lined up to give him a hug and welcome him home.
Sunday was our candle light service at church and my kids sang that day. They sang Away in a Manger and Angels we have heard on High. In between the two Sweet Pea quoted from Luke 2. I wasn't sure if Little Man would sing with them or not.. we did the Away in a Manger song for him so he could do motions and such. but every time we would practice he wouldn't sing along, he would just start yelling "NO, Stop, NO sing" So I was pretty sure he was going to have no part of getting on stage and singing.. but he surprised us all and wanted to go on stage when it was time and not only that, He sang!!!! words real words, the words to the song.. I didn't even know he knew the 2nd song but he sang that too.. OH MY GOODNESS you should have heard him doing the Gloria part.. LOL it was so cute. The pictures from the camera didn't turn out to well the video of it is cute but I don't know how to share video here, someone is going to have to tell me how to do that one of these days.. but here are the not so good pictures.




After they sang we went on with our Carol and Candle light service.. At the end we all get up and light a candle and talk about what Christmas means to us, what we are thankful for or what this past year has taught us or Well just about anything we want to say people talk about everything LOL..
Jack and his girlfriend walked up together and He let her light the candle and talk 1st, they were very close to being the only people left to do this.. so this meant there were people lined up all up front and going around the church holding candles, After she talked.. he talked, saying how much he loved all of us and how much he has missed us and missed being in church with us.. then he talked about how much he loved his family.. and how thankful he is for his family and his church family.. Then he told us how thankful he is that God brought his girl friend into his life, He asked her to come back up and stand up front with him(she had went and took her spot with her lite candle going around the church) When she got up there he said he wanted all of us there with him when he did this.
Talk about not a dry eye in the place. This picture is a posed one that I took for them after the service. It was just the sweetest thing ever. J had to be back on Dec 26 and won't be back home until Jan 18 and then in February he is off to Afghanistan.

After the service we had a cookie and hot coco fellowship time and then we came home... but not before my mom snapped these pictures of my gang.
After all that excitement.. The kids and I made about 8 dozen cookies and made a mess of the house LOL.
Then my dad and mom came over that night and surprised me with a 22 inch computer monitor.. EVERYTHING is so big looking now.. sort of feel like I'm a little old lady needing all this big print or something LOL. Dad had bought himself a new plasma monitor so passed his old one off to me. After setting that all up they asked if the kids could go to there house with them. Since I didn't have plan for the kids for Christmas eve morning I said it would be ok.. and off they went all 4 kids with grandma and grandpa.
The rest of the night I wrapped Christmas gift and got Ready for the Christmas party with the inlaw which was Christmas Eve night.. and that is where I'll pick up my Christmas story the next time.