It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

We kicked off our Christmas season last week! All of the family attended the tree lighting in our sweet little town... it was fun and it was C-O-L-D!
Waiting for the parade and Santa!

Our family in front of the yet to be lit Christmas tree.

Paige's choir class sang again this year... she was one reason we stood in the cold for so long!

We are looking forward to a wonderful Christmas this year. McKinley loves, loves, loves the lights everywhere... she oohs' and aah's at our Christmas tree every day when we turn the lights on! It is so sweet... she has also taken a liking to a few of our "authorized" ornaments... a stuffed snowman, a stuffed dog, an elf and an angel are her favorites. She carries the snowman with her everywhere! : )

We pray you have an enjoyable Christmas season. We hope you know the true meaning of Christmas... the birth of our Lord and Savior. King of Kings and Lord of Lords! Hallelujah!

Thanksgiving

We have so much to be thankful for this year! We are thankful for our health, we are thankful to have each other, we are thankful for our family and friends. Mostly we are thankful for the grace and peace we have through Christ Jesus. Without Him we would have nothing!

We had a wonderful meal at Chris and Diane's this year! The food was heavenly and the company was even better!
Here is one table:

Here is the other table:

Here is our family... We are so blessed!

Great Grandma and McKinley:

This was just too cute not to include... : )

We hope you have much to be thankful for this year!

Give'N'Gobble

We have started an annual Thanksgiving tradition... a 5k walk in our neighborhood called the Give'N'Gobble. Part of the race fee goes to a local food bank and we also donate cans of food for the t-shirts. Last year was the first year we did it and it was a blast. McKinley did great again this year... she was just a warm snuggy passenger! But she did have her own race bib and was the cutest participant ever! : )

This year we used our two extra "family" spots to bring along Benjamin and Paige... our niece and nephew. I think they had fun as much fun as we did, even though it was freezing cold. At least it was dry!

It is a great way to start of day of giving Thanks... and to work off a few of those calories before we even eat them! I think next year we may try the 5k run... at least it sounds good now. We'll see. : )

Our other Montana family : )

We had a wonderful visit with my Dad the last couple days... our other Montana family! Dad and McKinley had a great time getting to know one another and playing. Dad left early this morning and McKinley kept saying "Grampa". It was sweet...

Dad is doing awesome! Lots of you have asked and we appreciate your thoughts and prayers. He has lost a ton of weight, is walking three plus miles a day, and is weaning off all his meds. His cardiologists are thrilled with his progress and want to make him their poster child (not literally). What is even better is that he is thrilled with how he feels and with the progress he has made. He looks healthier and happier than he has in years.

Yay Dad/Grampa! We are proud of you! Thank you for coming to visit... we love you so much and look forward to seeing you again soon.

Oregon Family

Here is our Oregon family in Sunriver...

Montana Family (at least for now)

Mom and Norm came out a few weeks back to take care of us after our adventures in Sunriver. : ) We paused for a moment to take an updated family photo... and this is us!

Halloween

Halloween came and went in the blink of an eye... we didn't get a ton of photos... but here are a few of our little pumpkin, and our pumpkin patch visit. Lots of fun!

Hiatus

No photos with this post, but I'll try to get some up in the next few days. Just wanted to "check in" so all of my four readers wouldn't worry. We've had a hectic and crazy couple months and I just haven't had much to share. But the news, such as it is, is this...

In September we discovered I was pregnant... however, I was having a lot of unusual spotting. After having had two miscarriages (a whole other blog post)... I wasn't sure this one was going to be viable. There are a lot of details of those weeks, but I won't bore you with them here. Let's just leave it to say we were in a wild roller coaster ride between joy and concern. At every turn, we would have a moment of confirmation and joy, and then next would bring uncertainty and worry.

In October we discovered my pregnancy was an ectopic (tubular) pregnancy, and we discovered that because it ruptured while we were in Sunriver. It happened somewhere around 2:30 am... and the next several hours are a blur. I was sure that I just had food poisoning, but after about an hour of those type symptoms, I started getting light headed every time I sat up or stood up. I spent quite a bit of time on our bathroom floor, and after passing out in his arms, Jeff talked me into calling my doctor who promptly sent me to the ER. Who knew I had been bleeding internally for four or five hours? It was very scary for both Jeff and I, and for all of Jeff's family who were were vacationing with. They diagnosed my issue pretty quickly and had me in surgery in the blink of an eye. I had lost about a liter of blood and fluid into my abdomen. Apparently it was a closer call than any of us would like to admit. I am told that had we waited much longer, this story would've had an even more unpleasant ending.

I would like to praise God for his intervention, for Jeff being insistent (and persistent) about getting help, for the great folks at St. Charles in Bend, and for our wonderful family who was there to care for us and McKinley as we experienced this whole ordeal.

Of course we are saddened at the loss of our baby. We would love to expand our family, but are leaving that in God's hands. We have no doubt that if His will is for us to have more children, then we will. And if not... well, there will be a lot of disappointment to deal with, but we trust Him and believe His plans are always better than our own.

So that has pretty much consumed our last couple months. Like I said, not much I felt like sharing or posting about. Not sure why I am even posting this now... the few of you who read this blog already know everything that has occurred. I guess this is just another way for me to work through it all.

I should add that we are all doing well. I am healed fully and just trying to get back to "normal"... Jeff is trying to take care of us all and sometimes forgetting to take care of himself... but I am trying my best to do that for him! : ) And of course McKinley is a dream. She is much too little to even know that bad things happen yet, but she was a trooper while mommy and daddy were unavailable to take care of her. In fact, I think she even enjoyed a little break from us!

Happier posts to follow soon... I promise.

Love,
Melissa

A busy girl

I have had a request or two for some updated photos... sorry, I've been a bit blog lazy! McKinley is walking these days and she is one busy girl! This series literally was all in about 5 minutes. She just wanders back and forth between our family room, her bedroom and our bedroom.
McKinley loves to read... loves, loves, loves it! She'll sit in her room for the better part of an hour and flip through all her books. It is very sweet... and a nice break for mommy!
We love exploring new spaces... this has become a favorite!
Rocking is her favorite things too... usually shes in the chair, then she's out of the chair, then she's in the chair. You get the idea...
This was a cradle that was mine when I was a little girl. Guess I should've pulled it out earlier... she doesn't quite fit! : )

It is fun to watch McKinley learn and explore... she picks things up very quickly and amazes me daily at what she has learned and retained. She is starting to say words... "Dada" is used the most, but now occasionally we say "mama" or "mimi" depending on how whiny she is. She says "Hi!" very emphatically, "Da" is dog and "LaLa" is light. It is so awesome to hear her sweet voice... it melts my heart every time!

I liked this...

HANDY LITTLE CHART - GOD HAS A POSITIVE ANSWER :


You say : 'It's impossible'
God says : All things are possible ( Luke 18 : 27)

You say : 'I'm too tired'
God says : I will give you rest ( Matthew 11 : 28-30)

You say : 'Nobody really loves me'
God says : I love you ( John 3 : 1 6 & John 3 : 34 )

You say : 'I can't go on'
God says : My grace is sufficient (II Corinthians 12 : 9 & Psalm 91 : 15)

You say : 'I can't figure things out'
God says : I will direct your steps (Proverbs 3 : 5- 6)

You say : 'I can't do it'
God says : You can do all things ( Philippians 4 : 13)

You say : 'I'm not able'
God says : I am able (II Corinthians 9 : 8)

You say :'It's not worth it'
God says : It will be worth it (Romans 8 : 28 )

You say : 'I can't forgive myself'
God says : I Forgive you (I John 1 : 9 & Romans 8 : 1)

You say : 'I can't manage'
God says : I will supply all your needs ( Philippians 4 : 19)

You say : 'I'm afraid'
God says : I have not given you a spirit of fear ( II Timothy 1 : 7)

You say : 'I'm always worried and frustrated'
God says : Cast all your cares on ME (I Peter 5 : 7)

You say : 'I'm not smart enough'
God says : I give you wisdom (I Corinthians 1 : 30)

You say : 'I feel all alone'
God says : I will never leave you or forsake you (Deuteronomy 31 : 6,8)

Have a blessed day! And remember, at least two people love you... God and me! XOXO

Some of my favorite pictures...

These are just some pictures from the last few months that I thought I'd share... just because she's cute!
Skinny dipping in her own pool:

A trip to the zoo:

Trying on Daddy's hat:

Having Lunch:

Helping Daddy with the dishes:

Playing Madden football with Daddy:

We have had a great summer... Thank you Lord for our daughter, Thank you for making us a family!

Cannon Beach

When we got home from camping, Jeff surprised me with the news that he had the whole week off! That silly fella... he sure loves to surprise me! : ) So with that news, we decided (rather spontaneously) to drive to the beach on Thursday. We love the beach and hope McKinley will too.
She didn't seem to mind crawling on the sand... or having it in every nook and cranny of her body afterwards.

Daddy and daughter in front of our favorite puffin:

I just love this picture... you can see her sweet little feet walking along between daddys... aaaawwwwww.

Mommy and daughter on the beach...

And walking with Mommy on the beach...

And our favorite photo op... Haystack in the background, and our family of three.

We had a great day and hope to get back again soon!

Camping

So we did our first camping trip... first ever, first as a couple, first as a family, first for McKinley. It was a momentous occasion!
Here's the three of us...

Here is our way too small tent. We will be selling this tent and buying a bigger one... much, much bigger. But it worked for the two nights we were there.

And one of McKinley the first morning. She didn't sleep great the first night, but slept like a log the second. Didn't even wake up when we unzipped the tent and moved her from our bed to hers! She was a champ the whole trip...

On Monday the three of us hiked one of the loops (The South Falls?). It ended up being a longer tripped than we had anticipated, but it was a lot of fun... Here is McKinley riding with mommy.

We stopped for a refreshing splash in the creek... I think that was the best part for her... she was mad when we packed up to keep going!

McKinley riding with Daddy... and enjoying one of the water falls! She loved the falls, she was fascinated with them.

And of course about 15 minutes before we got back to the truck... she fell asleep. : ) Is that not the sweetest face ever?

All in all it was a fabulous trip and we will totally go again. You always learn things, and we will definitely do some things differently... but we loved it and look forward to lots of family camping! My family did tons of camping when I was a kid and those are some of the fondest memories I have from my childhood. I hope McKinley has those same fond memories when she's my age.

Summer Fun

The cousins had a play date at Uncle Chris and Aunt Diane's a few weeks ago... and McKinley got invited too! She slept late that day, so the swimming was mostly done when we got there, but we got about 20 minutes in the pool to play with everyone. McKinley had a blast!
Here we're trying out a new floatie option:

The pool was loved by all... at the same time! : )

The smile says it all. I think it was a hit!

A day in the life...

The Beach!

We went to Tillamook weekend before last and had a great time. McKinley enjoyed the beach, although it was very cold and very windy! We spent about 15 minutes down by the water, and that was enough for all three of us! Here we are:

And here's our sweet girl with her toes in the sand!

We love the beach! Can't wait to go again...