Wait...this house takes the cake!

Kooky Christmas Decorations

There is a street that I love in Appleton and it is Oneida St. It is the street that I need to take to get downtown, to church and to the library and there are some really creative people who live on this street and they enjoy the holidays. I've watched one house in particular transform from 4th of July, Labor Day, Halloween and Thanksgiving with mannequins dressed as Pilgrims and Indians...CHRISTMAS is here and I'm adding a picture of their holiday expression. We have a boring string of lights and a wreath. This is a lot more fun to look at.

Matthew 11

This verse is awesome and it is like Jesus is speaking to me:

"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."

Matthew 11:28-30 (Message Bible)

THE TREE!

One thing for sure, you get your money's worth for a Christmas Tree here. Mike and the kids went out yesterday and chopped down a tree with Grandma and Grampa, they came home with a 12' tree for $32.00. We have had a lot of fun decorating it, whenever we pull out all the ornaments it is a gush of memories. Anyone remember the American Flag heart?

Such good memories.

Sam's Arm

We took Sam to the Ortho Doctor on Friday and come to find out Sam has an interesting thing going on with his elbow, it's called Panner's disease. You can find this in boys mostly 5-10 years old, it effects the normal growth in the outer edge of the elbow. It's actually called Avascular necrosis of the capitellum. The blood supply is cut off. All this to say that it is a long recovery, 1-2 years. His growth plates need to grow and mature. So he won't be playing baseball anytime soon, probably just the passing of time will make it better.

Setting the Record Straight

I get a lot of comments back about my blog which are so encouraging! But I have realized that I may have not been giving an accurate representation of our life here in WI. I tend to put on the best pictures and the funniest stories. So I'm going to tell you a few things that have happened lately.

The flu went through our house a week or so ago, Sam, Isabel and I got it. Sam was home with the flu and I got a call, Isabel was at school and was on the risers in the music room practicing for her Christmas program and she fainted, hit her head and shoulder on a stone wall and woke up in the nurse's office. I brought her home and she got the flu within an hour. Sam's elbow has been sore lately and we haven't been able to figure out what happened and we thought it might just be like tennis elbow. Last night I took him to get x-rays and he has a broken arm. Poor guy has had a broken arm for probably 10 days!

Please pray for my extended family also, my mother took an ambulance ride from her small town in Argentina to a small town called Tandil nearer Buenos Aires to be closer to relatives and nicer home as well, the first night there she fell and broke her femur. She had surgery yesterday, that is a whole other story.

Have I mentioned that it is pretty cold here, when I got outside I hold my breath thinking that it may help me keep warm, I think I'm going to give myself a heart attack! Today it is 12 degree with the wind chill it is -8.

We all really miss California! That's all I'm going to say about that.

I'm going to quit complaining now, 'cause we are fine. I just wanted to give you a better view. All of our families have stuff and issues and God is still good.

Ok, now for some more interesting facts about Appleton, WI. They only have one Santa Claus and he goes to all the parades and is at the mall. He comes here every year from out of state. The kids love him. You can watch this video and get to know him, cut and paste it into your Internet Explorer. He is pretty cute!


http://www.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/200
61206/VIDEO0101/61206098


Merry Christmas