VM Family Holiday Letter

Our 2014 in 1316 Characters

This year our family...

-shared an awesome mountain vacation in Mammoth with Grandma and Grandpa

-found one of God's best redemption stories at Glass Beach in Ft. Bragg

-had another reviving week at Mount Hermon/HiCamp

-enjoyed our annual Pinecrest camping trip

-watched humpback whales frolicking from the shore of Moss Landing

-hiked through caves and crevices

This year Dave...

-ministered in Guatemala again

-ran a 12K across the Golden Gate Bridge with Heather

-took his youth group and family on a service trip to Rehoboth, NM 

-was called to be our church's next Senior Pastor, starting sometime between April and August 2015

This year I...

-am still thanking God for my job and finding my second year of teaching preschool to be even more satisfying

-loved visiting my all-time favorite ocean animals in the aquarium's new cephalopod exhibit

-said goodbye to our dear friend Ericlee, and was honored to stand at his widow's side, learning life-shaping lessons about finding joy in trials, keeping faith, and living with courage

This year Ella...

-took an art class at our local college

-watched her beloved SF Giants become a "dynasty" by winning another World Series Title

-won a prize for having the most reading points of everyone in her class

-started  4^th grade, the year of projects and reports

-was a stop light for Halloween

-joined our church’s GEMS Club

-ran an entire 5K with Dave and was given a medal!

This year Delia...

-lost both of her front teeth

-fell in love with Star Wars

-became a ballerina

-loves school and her teacher and has not lost a single (behavior-related) smiley face

-kicked off 2^nd grade by spectacularly breaking her arm at school, and then rocking the 3 month recovery

Wishing you a Joy-FULL 2015...
One that cannot be described in under 1000 characters!
Love, 
Dave, Jen, Ella and Delia

Take Nap on the Couch I Will

To slow down and be still long enough to actually fall asleep in a random place during the day is NOT like her at all.  So I had to take a picture. :)

A Visit from Sint

As has become our family's Christmas tradition, last night we filled the klompies with letters for Sinter Klaus and carrots for his white horse.

And this morning the girls were rewarded with a small pile of presents!  How lovely that December 6 falls on a Saturday this year!  We don't have to rush off to school, but can instead laze around in our jammies playing with the new treasures.  This includes making Star Wars crafts and origami!  Can you believe Sinter Klaus found such perfect gifts for these girlies? :)

  

And...It's Christmas!

After such a lovely, family-filled, relaxing day yesterday, today we worked on getting our house all Christmas-y.  

We had a Griswold Christmas moment when Ella and I fell in love with and insisted on THIS big, beautiful tree:

Dave was the voice of reason, logically reminding us of our 7 foot limit, but giving in in the end.  With some creative pruning, we were able to squeeze it into our living room.  The angel has reached new heights-- actually touching the ceiling this year!

A big basket full of beloved Christmas stories, a soundtrack of Christmas songs, those favorite decorations I haven't seen in a year, that fresh pine smell, and anticipation for all the wonderful things this season will bring...today we are feeling like it's finally Christmas!

The Perfect Thanksgiving

This year we had a relaxing Thanksgiving at home, just the 4 of us.  I didn't go too crazy with the cooking since the theme we were going for was "Stress free and low key".  But, putting these ingredients together did succeed in creating one of our best Thanksgivings ever:

Church
Macy's parade
Lily begging for turkey scraps
Corn soufflé and cranberry apple salad
Heartfelt Thanksgiving prayers from our girls
Texts and calls from loved ones
Face Time with the cousins/newphews
Bears game
Family movie
Fierce game of Trains, where Ella wiped the floor with us
Left over turkey sandwiches
Pumpkin carving
Just Dance competition turning into a family dance party
And some dozing on the couch

Life has been full this fall.  To get a day with no agenda, except to spend quality time together, was exactly what I had on my agenda this Thanksgiving!

Star Wars Hockey

Alternative Title: The Night 3/4s of the Family Was in Heaven!

Ask Dave what one of his favorite things in the world is and he might tell you, "Hockey!"  Ask the girls and they'd currently tell you, "Star Wars!" So, imagine our delight when we discovered our local minor-league hockey team hosts a Star Wars Night!!!

I posted something on Facebook about attending this game as something I did because I love my family, but it was actually tons of fun!

Delia, like the little Star Wars enthusiast she is (read: nerd), insisted on wearing her Princess Leia Halloween costume.  Ella and Dave found some funny Star Wars shirts on the clearance rack to wear.  I did not dress up. :) 

FIGHT!!!

The girls watch hockey with Dave so they like and understand it.  I got such a kick out of how into the game they got.  Our team scored 7 goals and won big.  It was especially funny watching Delia in her costume, with her little wig askew, gawking at fights and cheering for goals.

GOOOOOOAAAAL!

The Star Wars theme was really fun.  After big events in the game, they'd play appropriate movie clips (like Darth Vader inviting us to "join the Dark Side" after a fight).  In between periods they had costume and best Wookie call contests.  Darth Vader dropped the first puck for the night and Storm Troopers danced on the big screen.

In the stadium's lobby were lots of photo oppotunities too.  I post these pictures in this order to show you Delia's reaction.  First she was terrified (even though she loves Star Wars and was dressed up herself) and wouldn't go near them.

Then she was willing to stand near a character, but only if Daddy held her.

Then she ran up to each one on her own to take a pic and give them high fives!  She even begged us to return to the character area for more pictures later!

It was a late night, but this picture may show how much energy was exerted and how much fun was had by the end of the game!

I still need to have penalties explained to me and get scolded when I call Bobba Fett a Storm Trooper, but I'm learning to love hockey and Star Wars for the sake of my husband and daughters!

Cast Story: Chapter 5

Another thing we did today was take Delia to her LAST orthopedic appointment!  For 3 months a visit to this office in the hospital has been a regular part of our lives.  Today we thanked the surgeon, shook his hand and strolled out without a follow-up appointment.

Giving God the glory!  Check out how our amazing Creator healed Delia's bones.

This is the x-ray of Delia's arm taken in the ER the day she broke it.  Pretty gnarly, huh?

This is today's x-ray.  You can barely even see where the break was!

And this is my super-strong and always-positive little patient-no-longer.  She handled this whole 3 months, 3 casts, countless x-rays, weekly and monthly doctor appointments ordeal with the best attitude, flashing me a big smile and thumbs up on her own when I asked to take one last picture to use in concluding her broken arm story.

So, that's it, I HOPE AND PRAY...

The End

Time for a Change

Last month I took a trip to see my good friends Dorina and Teri.  Inspired by some cute decor in their homes and some bold color furniture they easily painted themselves, I came home with this wild idea that I would give our pretty-much-unchanged-in-16-years bedroom a makeover.  Are you like me?  Once you get the idea that something in your house has to be improved, all you see anymore are the flaws?  I started viewing our room with different eyes and realizing things like, "Oh wow, that picture frame has been on my dresser since college" or "These old, broken, non-matching nightstands hold a lamp, but can't do much else."

The changes I have been slowly making over the past month have included: new wall art, new bedding, new nightstands, new frames for pictures, new arrangements for those frames...

And this long weekend's big project: painting our old dressers this fun teal color.  The dressers Dave and I have always used belonged once to his Grandma.  We took them when we got married, thinking, "Free furniture!" and never planned to use them very long.  Well, it turns out that thousands of dollars for new bedroom furniture have never just turned up, so 16 years later, here we are still using them.  Since they are so old, the wood is good quality and they function totally fine.  It was just time for an update.

I painted them today using a couple coats of chalk paint and wax.  It was just as easy to use as everyone raves and I'm very pleased with the end product.

I love laying on our fluffy new bedding, looking up at the newly arranged pictures and admiring our fresh and colorful bedroom!  I wonder why I didn't tackle this sooner...and what house project will catch my eye next! ;)

The Sisters' Club

Pretty much from the first weekend we moved to California, we have shared a friendship with Sara and Arend.  How blessed we are that over 11 years later, our original foursome has doubled in size and that, with the arrival of Sara and Arend's second daughter this week, we now have identical families! This week, we got to celebrate the healthy birth of Anika with our dear friends.

We were also excited that some dinner plans we made a while ago were kept, even with Anika's arrival just five days ago!  Our friends were able come over last night and introduce us to their newest member.  Anika is just as sweet and fun to cuddle as all newborns are and Ella and Delia each got to take a few turns holding her.

I always enjoy watching Ella, Delia and Anja play together.  I know more fun times are in store for these four girls.  We may not be hiking to the top of Half Dome again any time soon with our friends, but a night of lasagna and Headbands with our daughters is just as satisfying in this blessed stage of life! :)

Halloween 2014

 Once again we spent our Halloween night at church enjoying dinner, games, candy, costumes, contests, and the company of our church family.  Dave tried to advertise a little harder this year AND it was raining for our Halloween night, so we had a packed fellowship hall this year!  It felt like a huge success to see so many new faces from the community join us (though, those faces were masked, painted or wigged!).

The girls were SO excited about their costumes this year!

Ella came up with this plan to dress as a "working stop light" months ago and could not be talked out of it.  Yes, it would be so much easier if this creative soul would be content to just don a super hero cape we already own, but seeing her ideas come together to create this outfit, which did win a "Best Costume" prize, was rewarding. :) (To answer the question we got all night, the lights that do turn on and off are those touch lights from the Dollar Store, covered with tissue paper.)

And Delia, being somewhat the opposite, wanted nothing more than to spend some of the cash she got when she broke her arm on a store-bought Princess Leia costume!

 I'll let you figure out Dave's costume for yourself.  This picture is posed, but we are getting a real kick out of actually "finding" him in the background of all the Facebook pictures our friends are posting of the Harvest Party!

 And just a few more shots of a bit of the fun: Ella getting ready for the donut eating contest for kids she entered and Delia hanging out with her school friend Elsa (who was actually only one of six Elsas at the party-- we were expecting half the girls to be Elsa!).

With a little sadness and a little relief, we realized this is the last Harvest Party Dave will host.  With his new job title, the honor of putting this huge night together goes to whoever we hire as our next Youth Pastor!