Ice fishing and sledding

January has been a month filled with lots of ups and downs. The weather has been a bit milder so we have been out a bit more. Shawns mom and dad came for a short visit and that was really nice. Shawn is looking for a job and we are trusting God will open the door that needs to be opened. Its a scary time in this economy to be looking for work, but someone in a movie we recently watched described it as "serene chaos", trusting in the midst of the chaos. He will be stocking shelves this week, not his ideal job but its a job. I am cleaning toilets so I think he has the better deal. We have a number of applications and resumes out so we are waiting to hear. The mines are "thorough" in the hiring process, and that translates to slower than we would like. It took a good month to get started with Newmont, we are hoping it is a bit faster than that this time.

The Southfork Reservoir is about 15 min from our house so we have been there a few times. The kids are bundled from head to toe and we go ice fishing, and sledding. Truth be told, dad tries to fish and the kids play. Its fun to have a giant ice rink to "skate" on and some good hills to sled down. Kylie had a blast sledding down the boat ramp and straight out onto the water. I will have to admit that walking on a frozen lake takes some getting comfortable with. I didn't brave it this past week as it was creaking and cracking too much for me. The ice still 12-18" thick. Shawn has gotten up before the sun the past few days and gone for some "daddy" time. He caught a nice one this morning, and we have enjoyed some trout on the barbie this week.

My MOPS group is having their first steering committee meeting Friday. I am excited and nervous. Its different to be semi- in charge of something. I am thrilled at the lives we will touch and the friends to be made.

Please keep us in your prayers, as Shawn searches for a job and we learn to "be still" and know that God is in control. Our love to all of you.

Christmas Pics

Better late than never. Here are some christmas pictures. Again, we had a great time, it was nice to see family and friends, and I never get pictures of all of it, the kids are going, going, going.

Our house was a manger

Oh where to begin on this one. Christmas Eve was one to not soon be forgotten. We left for Reno on the morning of the 24th and we left our dogs, at home, in Elko and Tom and Amanda were taking care of them for us, they were checking on the dogs daily and aside from that our house was vacant...

So midnight on Christmas Eve, Shawn and I are talking and doing some reading when my cell phone rings, the caller id on my cell shows it to be our home phone number. Instant panic sets in, my dogs can't use the phone and knowing Tom and Amanda they were in bed. I answered the phone and no one was there, called the house back and it was busy. Called Tom and Amanda and as we begin to put the pieces together, they also had received a call from our home phone about an hour earlier, but didn't recognize the number.

Tom called our house from his cell while I was on the phone with his wife, and SOME WOMAN ANSWERED MY PHONE!!!! Her name was Rebecca, she told Tom that she had broken a window to get in, she'd pay for it and the dogs were in their kennels. Amanda and I had to hang up so she could call 911. I DON'T KNOW REBECCA and she shouldn't be in my house. The story unfolded from there and after much confusion, heartache, disbelief, and a few more crazy phone calls, the story goes...

Rebecca and her husband(?) were housesitting up the street from us and he decided that he would spend Christmas Eve beating her up. He choked her and she was able to escape through a bedroom window with her 5 month old baby. She got into the truck, began to drive away and he caused the truck to drive off the road. He ran back to the house they were sitting and she ran towards ours. Let me tell you that winter in Elko is COLD, midnight has to be worse. We have been getting down to 0' so being outside is no place for anyone, and especially not a baby. She ran to our house and broke a window. She climbed in with her baby and found the phone. Not sure why she didn't call 911 but she called people we knew from our phone book in our phone. She told her story to random people, and once Tom called 911 the police arrived. After much searching and such they were able to apprehend him. He had 3 priors on domestic violence and an outstanding warrant. He will be in prison for a while.

Aside from a broken window our house was fine. I don't always understand how God delivers messages to us and can now see how sometimes we miss the real message, but I will tell you that in order to make positive out of something unnerving like this we read between the lines..., and TRUST.

Our house was her INN on Christmas Eve. There was a fire in the stove, food in the fridge and had she needed just about anything for that baby and looked hard enough she could have found it. God brought her to our house for a reason. She was safe, warm and able to care for herself and her baby. Many people pointed out and it took me a while to see it, but people tend to break in to steal stuff, not for refuge. OUR HOME was a place of refuge, a PLACE OF SAFETY, for a woman and her infant on Christmas Eve. God is amazing, and plans all things for his glory. 2008 was a tough year for our family and God was steadfast, always present, and always bigger than anything that came our way. What a way to end a year we would never want to revisit, by showing us that OUR HOME was safe, secure, warm, and able to bring refuge to someone in need. Thank you Jesus.

Blogging here we come

Okay all, I feel like we're the only ones without one of these blogs so here

goes, I am going to give it a whirl.

We were able to head to Reno for Christmas (pictures to follow soon), and it was nice. We had a white Christmas. It was crazier than any Christmas in recent past because of having a 2 year old and nearly 5 year old. I think they were racing to see who could open the most packages the fastest, or at least thats how it seemed. They had fun and we were all tired from watching them.

Hope your CHRISTmas was nice and may 2009 be filled with wonderful new moments.