Merry Christmas To You All

In the bleak midwinter, frost wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.

Our God, heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;
Heaven and Earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.

Angels and archangels may have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;
But His mother only, in her maiden bliss,
Worshiped the Beloved with a kiss.

What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.

AWOL

I've been a terribly absent blogger this month, but I have good excuses--holidays are here, Mom's surgery (she's fine!), mini-vacation, and, oh yeah! I quit my job. To say life has been hectic would be an understatement. I hope to give a proper update on our goings on soon, but for now this will have to do--there is Christmas shopping/planning/baking/etc to do!

Bad Charla!

Tonight Barry is out of town on business and I let The Luce lay on the couch with me. She is stressed out (we think there is a critter in our crawlspace that she can hear), and it's the only way I could get her to settle down. Plus, I just wanted some company on the couch. :)

This is also a test to see if Barry even reads our blog.

Our Little Family

I just wanted to share a few of the highlights from our recent family portrait session. Could The Luce BE any cuter??

Thanks to the lovely and talented Kate Crafton, who shot these for us. She is amazingly talented and also fun to work with. And Lucy loved her immediately, so she must be special (couldn't have anything to do with the treats in her pocket, could it?)

All photos copyright Kate Crafton.

I Am So Blessed.

Today we are celebrating three years of marriage and feeling so blessed.

I think the term "wedded bliss" is a little idealistic...many of you would probably agree that marriage is amazing, but at times also challenging. We are so grateful, though, for those challenges because they have brought us closer together, and we are grateful for every, single hour that we have had together.

To my husband: I love you more today than I did on the day we were married.

Funny

A little Election Day humor.

Heading to Highlands

I'm so very excited that we just booked a long weekend here....our favorite little getaway in the Blue Ridge Mountains. We're going in a few weeks, and we plan to do a whole lotta nothin.