Christmas Festivities

Our festivities began with our church's Christmas Eve service.

Here Zane is impersonating an angel. (This was not during the service!)

Next we headed out for some Chinese. This is courtesy of "The Christmas Story" and probably more that there are not a lot of other options on Christmas Eve evening.

We finished off the evening with the "Scene It" Seinfeld edition and some homemade povitica. (You're amazing Erin!) It was delicious! This is on my list of new things to make in the new year.

Here are precious cousins awake on Christmas morning and ready to unwrap some packages! I love this picture!

Oh the things we put sweet babies through to enjoy ourselves...

We received some excellent gifts! Go OU!

And finished off the morning with a shuffle board tournament. (I should really try to control my neck when posing for pictures.) Anyway, way to go G'pa! Congrats on the big win!

We had tons of fun during our first big Christmas celebration, but there is more to come! Stay tuned...

The Twelve Germs of Christmas

On the twelfth day of Christmas, germs came to gloat...
12 boxes of Kleenex
11 swollen glands
10 aching muscles
9 kinds of Tylenol
8 blankets for chilling
7 sprays of Lysol
6 different coughs
5 sleepless nights
4 tubes of Airborne
3 cases of the flu
2 wheezing kids
And 1 positive culture for strep throat.

May you have a wonderful and germ free Christmas!

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

We had our first notable snow a couple of days ago. Zane has been anxiously awaiting a good snow to play in. It was only 10 degrees outside, but Bryce & Zane decided to brave the cold last night, in hopes of building a snowman. Here they are bundled up and ready to go. Gemma and I opted to stay inside where it's warm.



Here are the rosy cheeks and hat hair that are inevitable following a good snowman build.

And here is the finished product! Okay, you probably notice that we didn't have a carrot, so they used a stalk of celery. Oh yes, and it seems the snow wasn't of the packing persuasion. It kind of resembles a snow octopus, but we're still really proud!

Labor of Love

This is my favorite Christmas song right now. My sis-in-law introduced me to it last year and I still cannot get enough of it. "Labor of Love" was written by Andrew Peterson and is sung by Jill Phillips. The lyrics...

It was not a silent night
There was blood on the ground
You could hear a woman cry
In the alleyway that night
On the streets of David's town

And the stable was not clean
And the cobblestones were cold
And little Mary full of grace
With the tears upon her face
Had no mother's hand to hold

It was a labor of pain
It was a cold sky above
But for the girl on the ground in the dark
With every beat of her beautiful heart
It was a labor of love

Noble Joseph by her side
Callused hands and weary eyes
There were no midwives to be found
In the streets of David's town
In the middle of the night

So he held her and he prayed
Shafts of moonlight on his face
But the baby in her womb
He was the maker of the moon
He was the Author of the faith
That could make the mountains move

It was a labor of pain
It was a cold sky above
But for the girl on the ground in the dark
With every beat of her beautiful heart
It was a labor of love
For little Mary full of grace
With the tears upon her face
It was a labor of love



I cannot listen to that song without getting goose bumps. With the miracle of childbirth fresh in my mind this year, I am once again in awe of God's plan. I am overwhelmed that God sent His son for us. I am so thankful for Christmas.

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6 Random Things

I was tagged a while ago, by my sweet cousin in-law, to share 6 random things about myself. It took me a while to come up with anything very exciting, but here it goes...

1. I listen to Christmas music all year. I know that disappoints you Dalene.
2. I don't like pancakes, waffles or funnel cakes, but will eat ANYTHING else put in front of me!
3. I had an unusual medical issue when I was 5 or 6 years old that made it into a medical journal.
4. Both of my children were born at 2:10 in the afternoon.
5. I can plug my nose with my upper lip. And that is quite a feat considering the size of my nose!
6. I learned to sing all the states in alphabetical order in grade school and can still sing it verbatim.

I'm not going to tag anyone else's blog, as are the "rules", but if you want to share some random things about yourself here or on your blog, I'd love to see them!

The 12 Days of Thankfulness

On the twelfth day of thankfulness God gave to me...

Zane - Snuggling with Dad
Bryce - Thanksgiving food
Kara - Fond memories
Gemma - Lotion massages

The 12 Days of Thankfulness

On the eleventh day of thankfulness God gave to me...

Zane - Air & gas
Bryce - Games to play with friends & family
Kara - Pajama pants
Gemma - Zane

The 12 Days of Thankfulness

On the tenth day of thankfulness God gave to me...

Zane - The kitchen table
Bryce - My in-laws
Kara - Friends
Gemma - Milk

1 Little, 2 Little... 12 Little Turkeys

Zane and I made these little turkeys for his preschool teachers and classmates. Sorry for the terrible pic. I think my camera is giving out.

The 12 Days of Thankfulness

On the ninth day of thankfulness God gave to me...

Zane - Nascar
Bryce - Time off
Kara - Cold weather
Gemma - Diaper changes

The 12 Days of Thankfulness

On the eighth day of thankfulness God gave to me...

Zane - Playgrounds
Bryce - Mom & Dad
Kara - Amazing In-laws; parents, siblings, grandparents; the whole bunch!
Gemma - Naps

The 12 Days of Thankfulness

On the seventh day of thankfulness God gave to me...

Zane - Oatmeal
Bryce - Little Smokies
Kara - The Sooners (Don't let me down today boys!)
Gemma - My Bumbo

The 12 Days of Thankfulness

On the sixth day of thankfulness God gave to me...

Zane - New speedracer underwear
Bryce - Heat
Kara - My sister
Gemma - My toy chair

The 12 Days of Thankfulness

On the fifth day of thankfulness God gave to me...

Zane - Preschool
Bryce - My Zaner
Kara - Parents & Grandparents
Gemma - Bath time

The 12 Days of Thankfulness

On the fourth day of thankfulness God gave to me...

Zane - Movies
Bryce - Dr. Pepper
Kara - Dark Chocolate
Gemma - Things to chew on

I Love Zane

I love that he always wants to play with me.

I love when we put puzzles together in the kitchen.

I love that we make up games together and then anxiously await to show Dad.

I love that he loves to cook.

I love when we work on AWANA Bible verse memory.

I love that he sings all day long.

I love that he wants to know what letter EVERY word starts with.

I love that he likes to talk.

I love that he looks just like his Dad, and talks and acts like him too.

I love that he loves his sister.

I love when he gives me "spunky lovin's" (his word for cuddling)

I love that he remembers everything.

I love that he would like to spend an entire day in the bathtub.

I love that he watches football with me.

I love that he's teaching me more about Nascar than I ever wanted to know.

I love when he makes Gemma laugh by acting silly.

I love that when I asked him what he was thankful for today, he said me.

The 12 Days of Thankfulness

On the third day of thankfulness God gave to me...

Zane - "You Mom" (that was a warm fuzzy!)
Bryce - Sweet Gemma
Kara - My precious children
Gemma - My thumb

The 12 Days of Thankfulness

On the second day of thankfulness God gave to me...

Zane - Football
Bryce - My wife
Kara - My husband
Gemma - People to hold me

The 12 Days of Thankfulness

On the first day of thankfulness God gave to me...

Zane - Toys
Bryce - Watching Nascar with Zane
Kara - Our first house
Gemma - Rice cereal

We interrupt this message...

My holiday weight gain will be partially due to this:

Conviction

I prefer to live in my comfort zone. I realize a lot of people probably feel that way, but I really, really like my comfort zone.

Our pastor has started a preaching series in the book of Luke. He spoke on the passages in the first chapter of Luke when Gabriel visits Mary to tell her she is going to have a baby...and not just any baby. There are many things to be gleaned from this passage, but there was one thing that really stuck out to me last night.

Mary's response. "I am the Lord's servant. May it be to me as you have said."

There are a myriad of reasons why she could have understandably not had this response! An angel was visiting her. A virgin conception is logically inconceivable. Punishment for a baby out of wedlock or adultery during that time was often death. How would she tell people? Would they even believe her? Why her?

To say this situation was out of her comfort zone is a bit of an understatement. I see Mary's response and think; what is my response to an everyday inconvenience, a prodding at my heart to serve somewhere that may not be easy for me, to a life altering event?

Ouch, that stings.

Rabbit Food

Zane likes raw carrots, I like them cooked,
Bryce likes glazed carrots and Gemma just isn't hooked!

Here's poor, unsuspecting Gemma ready to eat.



Here's Gemma tolerating her first meal of carrots.

Tis the season for some good reading material

Zane loves to read with us. Some of our favorite books are The Bear Snores On, The Monster at the End of this Book, Zane the Train and A Snoodle's Tale. One of our favorite things to do since Zane has started preschool is to order books from Scholastic. You can get some really good deals! Zane loves to go through the pamphlets to pick out new books for our collection. Lately, Zane's favorite reading material is a little something special we got in the mail a few days ago. And in case you're wondering, it's not okay to throw it away. (I've tried two times now.)

Count Your Blessings

I woke up this morning to a lot of anxiety. Fear concerning the present and the future. I'm quick to forget who's in control. I'm reading "Women of the Bible" by Ann Spangler and Jean Syswerda. Here is their prayer today that I needed...

"Father, how easy it is to let anxiety snuff out my gratitude. Help me to linger thankfully in your presence rather than simply rushing on to my next desperate request. Use my weakness and need as a showcase for your strength."

I have been blessed immeasurably, but here are a few modern day miracles, that when I look back on them, I can't help but be in awe of God's presence in my life.

• Brought me out of a 2 year relationship, with the wrong person, and brought a Godly, selfless, honoring man into my life to love me and take care of me.



• Provided a job, after I foolishly & excitedly got an apartment right out of college without any known income.



• When discussing seminary options for our future, God placed on my heart a location that we had not even discussed. I prayed about it, not knowing for certain where the "idea" had come from, without mentioning it to Bryce. God showed me a miracle in placing the "idea" on Bryce's heart, when he mentioned it to me a few weeks later. Then confirming with us through an amazing visit to DTS.



• Led us to an unknown, to us, ministry in apartments on a weekend trip to Dallas to find a place to live. Confirming His direction in our lives by getting us out of a lease, we were "mistakenly" never asked to sign, at an apartment we found, not involved in this ministry.



• Provided a job that supported us, as well as kept an ideal schedule, allowing me to do the apartment ministry.



• Healed me from a long battle with postpartum depression and when blessed with another child, guarded my body and mind, with very minor, if any symptoms.



• Provided Bryce a school schedule that allowed him to stay at home with our son almost full time and for those few times his schedule did not allow, blessed our son with the care of the one family member in the Dallas area (that just happened to live close to my work and lived there during the same time we were there, they are now in Kansas as well).



• Provided Bryce with a job that had not even been advertised after seminary, close to family, and that allowed me to stay at home to raise our children.



• Has forgiven me.

Thank you Lord for your provision, direction and protection. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for the miracles in my life to remind me I have nothing to fear.

Blogging is exhausting!

Gemma was the first up this morning. Here she is sitting with me while I blogged.

And, here is Gemma when I was finished...

Tradition, Tradition!

I wish I could sing the title of this post to you to give you the full affect. My amazing husband took me to see "Fiddler on the Roof" (my most favorite musical of all time) at a dinner theater on Friday night. He even tried to keep it a secret and surprise me, which I'll give him credit for, even though he's not very good at it! We ate until we couldn't breath at the ginormous buffet and enjoyed the show. Fun, fun, fun! Maybe not as much fun, is that I keep finding myself singing all the Fiddler songs over and over in my head....well, and out loud. Bryce and I were talking about going to the dinner theater again soon, when I chimed in with "If I were a rich man...". Then last night at church I ran into this sweet young man, whom I would love to meet my precious sister and found myself singing "Matchmaker" on the way home. Bryce and I finished off the evening last night with a rendition of "Do you love me?". Anyway, as a warning, you might want to keep your distance, until the music wears off. Unless you want to be a part of "Our Life", the musical.

Rockin' & Rollin'

Zane sings all day long. He was disappointed he wasn't in the eating video with Gemma that I posted a few days ago, so I told him I would post a video of him singing. Enjoy...

In other Hutson news, I came in the living room yesterday, after leaving Gemma on her blanket in the middle of the floor, and what did I find? She had rolled over all by herself. Her arm was stuck, but I was still so proud!

Cuddle Buddies

Hope

I read the headline this morning, "Hope won the election".

Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. My salvation and my honor depend on God, he is my mighty rock, my refuge. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.
Psalms 62:5-8

All election discussions aside; I hope, your hope, rests in God alone.

She definitely belongs to us

It's not a mystery that our family enjoys eating, well aside from Zane, but that's a whole other story. Gemma has been enjoying her first few days of rice cereal and here's the proof!

To blog or not to blog?

After much deliberation, I guess the answer is...to blog. I have followed several blogs for a long time now. I love reading the journaling and I love being able to peek into the lives of others I admire in their everyday. You definitely don't have to admire me to read this blog, but you're invited to share in our lives if you would like. I have a great desire to write and would love to write a book or two someday. However, raising two small children is not very conducive to book writing. So for now, I'll be writing here, along with my dearest husband from time to time. We are a family of four, overwhelmingly blessed. Our greatest desire is to glorify God in all that we do. You are invited to keep up with us here, while we are still being molded...