This picture really says it all. If you will just look at this picture for a few minutes and ask yourself these questions:

1. Does this child have a mom or dad anymore?
2. Is this the father or just a stranger that found the baby?
3. Will this baby have any food?
4. Will this baby grow up and have hope?

This challenges me to be thinking about what I can be doing to make a difference in the life of a child like this. We have an obligation to care for children like this somehow. You can help by sponsoring a child, go on a mission trip, or even take a bold step to adopt.

"Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think." Ephesians 3:20

We are moved!

Updates-

1. We are moved into the rental house now.

2. Closing on our house on the 30th.

3. We officially have a contract to build a Highland house in Prosper.

4. Caroline tested positive for the seasonal flu today. We think she has had it since Fri. We are keeping our fingers crossed that by Wed she will be fever free. Poor baby.

5. I still have 4 people that I have NO Christmas presents for!

Merry Christmas and remember that Jesus is the reason for the season!!

Ho Ho Ho

Our neighborhood does a hayride every year to take you around to look at the Christmas lights. Santa just so happened to be at the hayride this year. Isn't it great when you get to see Santa and not have to go to the mall to wait in line? We were so proud of Caroline this year b/c she actually went to see him. She was a little timid, but managed to tell Santa that she wants a "princess playset." I think Santa is still deciding if she's been naughty or nice. :) We went with some of our friends that live in our neighborhood. Caroline and Natalie have become good friends. Natalie is in our playgroup and Caroline's ballet/tap dance class.





Caroline is in Will's jacket-size 12 months!

Caroline had her dance class Christmas party on Saturday. She had so much fun watching the older girls dance on stage. She said she wanted to be a "pink ballerina" several times. Towards the end she was able to get on stage with her class and dance around for a few minutes.

SIX MONTHS

Will turned SIX months on Dec 4th. Here are some fun facts about him:

1. He loves to roll from tummy to back and back to tummy. If you leave the room he rolls

2. He sleeps from about 7pm-6am and he sleeps on his tummy (hey, whatever works)

3. He has a GREAT personality. He smiles at about anyone who looks at him.

4. If he's sitting on my lap on the floor and I am supporting his upper body he stands up from the ground all the way up. When he stands up he has an expression of "look at me!"

5. When I pull a onesie off over his head he giggles

6. He's doing a tripod on the floor. He can sit on the floor by himself without support for a good couple of seconds

7. If he's fallen asleep in the car and I stop at a stop sign or red light he'll start crying

8. We've started solids. He decided he didn't want rice or oatmeal so we went straight for the good stuff. So far we've tried applesauce and peaches. He wants nothing to do with sweet peas.

9. He has at least 2 teeth already. We've entered the drooly stage for sure. I would say on average about 4 bibs a day!

10. Caroline can make him laugh like no one else. I love this one the best!

we are moving!

Keith and I have been praying about potentially moving to the Dallas area. Since our kids are still so young we knew that if we wanted to move now would be the time, especially since Caroline hasn't started Kindergarten. We're really excited about being closer to Keith's family that lives in Frisco. Unfortunately, we'll be about 30 min farther away from my parents, but that's not so bad. It's nice that Keith has the flexibility with his job to live where he wants and still work from home.

So, we put our house on the market last Friday and on Saturday we had an offer. ONE day. They also gave us a FULL price offer. The inspection was today and they want to close the end of Dec. We're still in shock.

Where are we looking to buy? PROSPER. Here are some interesting facts about Prosper:

~the town of Prosper is approx 27 square miles
~the population in 2008 was 7,053 a +236% population change since 2000
~it's about 10min north of Frisco, 15min to McKinney, and about 35 to downtown Dallas
~Prosper High School won 3A football state champs in 2008 and they just built a new high school (I'm sure by the time our kids start there will be another) Isn't it beautiful?

~the schools have all received high ratings, either "recognized" or "exemplary"
It seems like people are moving out here to get away from the hustle and bustle of Dallas, have land, peaceful, and yet you're only 30 min from Dallas. We are tossing up the idea of building a house or there are also some GORGEOUS neighborhoods that offer homes on 1-3 acres we are considering.

For now we have mutual friends that are going to rent their house to us for a few months in our same neighborhood.

I'll have to do a completely seperate blog entry on all the things we will miss about Austin. Don't even know where to begin on that one...

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Wow, don't we have so much to be thankful for?

first foods

Will doesn't have much interest in rice cereal. I know I need to be persistent and hopefully he will eventually like it. I caved in last night and decided I would give him a little banana (I know, I'm such a bad mother giving fruits before veggies).

"Seriously, can I just have my bottle?"


"I have the best mommy in the whole wide world. I always smile when I see her face."

halloween

We enjoyed getting to spend Halloween this year up in Frisco. Caroline was a fairy and Will was a peapod. Caroline went trick or treating with her cousins and I must say that this year she was a pro. She mostly kept up with Tanner, always wanting to be ahead of the pack. She's closer in age to Avery and Addison, but we're finding out that she wants to play with Tanner more because they have the same amount of energy. Tanner is always so sweet with her too.

Our 2 little sweeties: