And!

BEFORE the long weekend in the snow.  BEFORE the wedding...we also had the pleasure of hosting Kyle for an overnight!  California clients once again brought him to the Bay Area, so we spent a great Friday night and Saturday morning with our favorite brother!

Whew!  What a weekend!!

Warm Times in the Snowy Mountains

And if our glorious time at the wedding wasn't enough joy for one weekend, we next headed up to the mountains with just Cindy and her family for 3 days in the snow.  Keep in mind that Greg and Cindy live in Florida.  Two of her kids have never even seen snow.  Her oldest saw it last when she was a baby.  When we drove up to the AMAZING chalet I rented off VRBO, there was much immediate screaming and throwing of little bodies into the snow!  But, this was at dusk, so a dinner of warm soup and the start of a marathon of catching up brought us inside.

A quick word about the beautiful cabin.  We really could have stayed in a shack, as long as it had snow and a place to sit around and talk.  How our expectations were exceeded with the luxury of this home!  Big, comfy beds for all of us (the kids all slept in one room full of bunk beds), a floating fire place that warmed people on either side of it, a huge kitchen with state of the art appliances, 3 full bathrooms, a game room with a closet full of toys and a Wii, and walls made entirely of windows looking out into the picturesque snowy forest.  It was one of the nicest places we've ever stayed!

Oh the joy to wake up our first morning in the cabin and see that a fresh layer of snow was covering everything!

The kids needed to get out in it immediately and could not wait for breakfast.  Or for real clothes to put under their snow pants.  Or for us to unload the sleds we brought in the van... :)

All the snow on the road and trees quickly melted, but we had a good hour of enjoying this winter wonderland.

Another fabulous thing about our cabin was its location in the hills.  We literally walked out our door into a snow ball field and sledding hill.  And when we got cold or tired or hungry, we just popped back into the cabin.  We probably trekked in and out of the snow about 6 times in a day.

A snow girl was built.

And tons of sledding was done!  Our backyard sledding hill was actually some sort of frozen creek with some twists and turns

No run down it was ever straight and without excitement!  Here are our funniest videos of people crashing.  Crashing into other people.  "People" = us adults. :)

While Maya and Ella bonded and spent a lot of time visiting and playing cards by the fire, Cindy's and my youngest, Jeremiah and Delia, formed a fast friendship too.  These two are passionate, dramatic, and fun-loving.  Their antics on the sledding hill especially made us laugh a lot.  For example, the ski goggles Delia insisted on wearing.

We built a snow fort.  Dave got stuck in it.

We also had an epic snow ball fight with the tall banks of snow the plows pushed up on either side of the road serving as the two teams' bunkers.  The whole neighborhood was quiet and we seemed to have it to ourselves, making a cross-the-street snow ball war no big deal.

Cindy and I shared the cooking.  After hours spent running around in the fresh, cold air, the hot breakfasts, lunches and dinners we whipped up tasted incredible.  We'd clear the table, let the kids go play and then spend a couple more hours around the table deeply discussing all parts of life-- adoption, politics, careers, social media, parenting, racial relations, marriage, discipline, faith, our extended families.  And we laughed.

It was just 3 days in the snow, but it was all such a gift.  We left group hugging goodbye and praising God for friendships that stand the test of time and distance...and continue to the next generation.

The Wedding that Told God's Glory Story

If I told you my story you would hear Hope 

that wouldn't let go 

and if I told you my story you would hear Love 

that never gave up 

and if I told you my story you would hear Life, 

but it wasn't mine
If I told you my story, you would hear Victory
over the enemy
and if I told you my story, you would hear Freedom 
that was won for me 

and if I told you my story, you would hear Life overcome the grave 
(At this line, imagine the bride raising her arms to praise God right at her wedding alter)

If I should speak, then let it be 
of the grace that is bigger than all my sin
of when justice was served, and where mercy wins!
of the kindness of Jesus, that draws me in

oh to tell you my story is to tell of Him

This is my story, this is my song
praising my savior, all the day long
for the grace that is greater than all my sin
of when justice was served, and when mercy wins!

of the kindness of Jesus, that draws me in 

oh to tell you my story is to tell of Him
-My Story by Big Daddy Weave

These are the lyrics to the song the whole congregation joined in singing at the most special wedding I have ever been a part of this Saturday.

Our dear friend Dorina, who has been on a journey of loss and redemption these past 2 years, married Shawn-- her "kinsman redeemer", her late husband's good friend, a man she herself became best friends and fell in love with during a time of shared mourning. This whole love story has been one only our gracious Lord could have written; "God's Glory Story" to use Dorina's own words.

The ceremony was special and unique, each detail intentionally designed to celebrate and bring God Glory and it left all of us with soggy handkerchiefs and full hearts.

Instead of fancy floral arrangements, the alter backdrop was Dorina's own scrawly handwriting penning the words of Psalm 30-- "You turned my mouring into dancing..."  They married under the huge word "Glory" and it was lit to actually cast a shadow of glory on everyone who was on stage.

A memorial candle was lit for Ericlee by his mother.  A picture slide show to the song "Glorious Unfolding" was played, several of the photos showing Dorina, Shawn and Ericlee together.  Dorina's daughters were junior bridesmaids and flower girls.  Our dear friends Cindy and Greg read the scripture (below).  The pastor spoke of how rarely God allows us to tangibly see the threads of the tapestry He is weaving and how blessed we've all been to share in this experience through Dorina and Shawn, who have no doubt pointed countless friends to Christ.  The couple was announced to a packed auditorium giving them a standing ovation and then danced down the aisle to the song "Happy".

And all of this was not even the best part of the ceremony.  After Dorina and Shawn made their vows, they began their marriage with a time of family prayer.  The girls came forward and Shawn prayed over the 5 of them.  Because they will undoubtedly face challenges, the pastor invited everyone in attendance to speak silent prayers over them.  And as an outward sign of this blessing, we were asked to raise a hand in their direction.  How incredible to see hundreds of hands raised in benediction and prayer over this precious new family!  I am STILL getting choked up thinking about it!

But, then it was time to dry the tears and party!  Party #1 was a huge dessert reception at the church immediately following the ceremony.  Dorina wanted a buffet of multicultural desserts, so I contributed Dutch Stroopwafels and Banket. :)

Party #2 was a more intimate dinner for just the closest friends (still probably 200-300 of us!).  It was held at a gorgeous ball room with an art deco/1920's feel.  We got to sit with Greg and Cindy and their family (Maya, age 10, Ezekiel, age 8, and Jeremiah, age 5).  This was the first opportunity our kids had to get to know each other.

This was Dorina's wedding, so as you would expect, the food was fabulous.  You can see that we especially enjoyed the tiramisu and Italian pizelle cookies for dessert.

How wonderful it was to reconnect with all these old friends!  I was blessed to also get to sit next to and catch up with my friend from years ago, Sarah, the RA in our dorm.  Above are the Calvin girls (plus Shawn) and below are the 3 college roomies with our hubbies.

And some group shots of the kids.  Another special thing about this wedding was watching the girls take it all in.  It's the first big wedding they have a memory of attending and every.single.thing was magical-- the ceremony, the toast, the fancy food, the dancing,..

And oh the dancing!  There was much to celebrate, so there was JOY on that dance floor!  Dorina's mom taught us a few traditional dances-- the Hawaiian Hukilau (above) and the Italian Tarantella (below).  Delia is the purple blur in the bottom right.  She LOVED all this! :)

(SO cute to watch my girls dancing with Cindy's boys!)

With a few hours to drive home still, we danced and partied with our friends as late as we could and made it home around midnight.

What an honor to share this journey and extraordinarily night with some of our most important people!  The whole night pointed to God as we delighted in celebrating the redemptive tapestry He's beautifully woven for our heart friends, Dorina and her girls.

My Best Christmas Gift

In between the two holidays I just wrote about, we had the pleasure of hosting my sister and my cousin and her fiance, Heather, Anna and Derek.  Literally, "in between"-- we made airport runs on Christmas Day and New Year's Eve day.  We have not done a Christmas with my side of the family in 4 years, so this was much anticipated and did not disappoint in delivering wonderful, joy-filled, fun new memories!

We started our time together with our family Christmas, sharing fondue for dinner and opening even more presents.  Everything opened was loved, but we were especially delighted by the guinea pig slings Auntie Heather gave the girls!

The next night, because I happen to know someone with a key, we let ourselves into the newly remodeled youth room in our church to spread out for a night of Just Dance competition, hallway hockey, and an epic indoor snowball fight.

Then, we celebrated Dave's 39th birthday with a Monterey outing.  Our aquarium membership expired on the last day of 2015, so we fit this one last trip in.   It was a good way to go out-- insanely busy for Christmas Break and somewhat exhausting.  But, it's been another wonderful year of learning about and marveling over God's amazing ocean creatures and we've had a blast sharing this favorite place with so many friends and family members this year.  

Of course, we had to make a stop in the butterfly grove.

And then we had to share our new favorite Monterey discovery with Anna, Heather and Derek-- the bagpiper at Spanish Bay!  The sky was putting on an especially pretty show.

And the bagpiper's show wasn't bad either. :)  I got a short video of him playing Amazing Grace on that last green.

We also did an outing to our new downtown ice skating rink.  I think this was the best thing we did with our company!  For the whole hour and a half that we skated, I had a huge smile on my face!  We 5 adults are all Midwesterners, growing up on the ice.  It was super fun to get back on it and help our girls in various combinations get stronger with each lap they took around the ice too.  The rink played fun music and wasn't too crowded, we'd recommend this place!

Check out my sis, she can selfie and skate at the same time!

We skated in a huge, soooo fun, family chain for a bit, but this was a little dangerous for the other skaters, none of whom seemed too sure on their feet. :)

Ella wanted a picture of her and Derek in their rival hockey team shirts.

On the day we had to make some Bay Area airport runs, we built another stop at LucasFilm in.  Anna and Derek love Star Wars as much, possibly more, than my girls, so this was a cool stop for them.  Especially since it was a weekday and the lobby full of Star Wars memorabilia was open and we could check out and pose with things like costumes and light sabers used in the movies!

Not pictured are games of Trains, countless books the girls read to our guests, making Ollie Bollen, everyone falling asleep to a Christmas movie each night, back massages, laughing until we couldn't breathe to Jim Gaffigan in the car, and fun meals out at Gott's and Pizza My Heart. This week between Christmas and New Year's was a sweet, sweet time to spend together.  It was great to get to know Derek even better and as wonderful as it always is to laugh and hang out with Heather and Anna.  We're so thankful they took the time and paid for the flights that got them to our house.  Time with them truly was my best gift this Christmas.