Christmas Pictures

My sister Jessica took the kids Christmas pictures today. I swear she should be a photographer. They turned out so well! Here are just a few.

Some new pics of my kids. They are sort of random, just ones that I think are cute. Enjoy!

Fall 2008

Evan loves me to lift him with my legs.




















He loves to be read to.















Allyson poses whenever she sees the camera. I am not kidding.
















See what I mean?

We've been really busy this fall already! We've been to Pumpkin Festivals, Philadelphia, aquariums, and other things I'm sure I've forgotten. Mostly though, we've just been visiting family and playing at home. Ally's getting so big! She has 6 teeth now. This morning, I gave her scrambled eggs for the first time. She tried them, but she wasn't sure about the taste. She also likes to eat bread so we're slowly working more table food into her diet. I'll be glad when I don't have to buy or make baby food anymore.

Evan went to his first 'non relative' birthday party today. It was a swimming party and he had so much fun! He has no fear. He ate pizza and cake, and sang 'Happy Birthday' to the birthday boy. It was a good time for him. I'm sure he'll be talking about it for days.

Women of Purpose

I am going to Women of Purpose tomorrow. I am leaving my kids with my husband. I am nervous about this, not because he won't do a great job, but because I've never left my family and done something just for me. Pray that I come back refreshed and ready to take on the world again!

I went to my women's bible study this morning. I have to tell you how much I look forward to Tuesday's. Our study is a book called Make Over but Jen Hatmaker. It all about how to manage and maintain the many roles we play as women such as wife, mother, housekeeper, friend,etc. She's funny and insightful and she really challenges us to study to word of God and to learn and make changes where needed. Last week's topic was the role of wife, with scripture coming from Song of Songs, and let me tell you, it was some interesting reading and even more interesting conversations. Well anyway, this week's topic was on our role of Mother. Scripture was from Ruth, and was the story of Naomi and her husband and how they moved to Moab, a place of Godlessness, when famine struck their home. They knew that Moab was spiritually not the place to raise a family, but they chose to move there anyway. As we studied God's word, Jen asked the question, is our home a Moab (driven by pleasure) or driven by God? There is no in between. Of course, right away I answered, "of course my home, the place where I am raising my children, is on God's holy ground." In fact, I felt rather smug about it. But the more I read, the more I realized that I was thinking there was a neutral ground. I could be doing more to show my faith to my kids. Now I realize that my kids are 2 1/2 and 9 months so there is only so much I can do right now. We pray with Evan before he goes to sleep. We pray before meals. We take him to Sunday, church and AWANA. But am I showingmy kids who Jesus is to me? That's where they will form most of their opinions on the subject of God. By watching my husband and myself. I know I can do a better job.

Halloween 2008

As you can probably tell by the date, we didn't ge to do Halloween on October 31 this year. We were in Philly on Halloween so we took the kids to Mom and Dad's in their costumes the next night. This was Allyson's first Halloween and I'm not sure she enjoyed herself.

Evan was a veterinarian and Ally was a cat. Appriate, right? Evan likes to take care of Ally by giving her hugs and saying, "she's so cute!" so we made her costume something that his character would take care of. They both looked so cute and Evan kept taking out his 'tools' and playing with them. He used the play scissors to cut Poppy's toes off. And He listened to heart beats and just had a good time.

This is Evan. He is laughing so hard at something (I can't remember what). Once he realized that we thought this was hysterical, he kept doing it to make us laugh more. What a cute little ham!

Evan is growing up so fast. All of the sudden he's talking all the time....I mean, he never shuts up! He tells jokes, sings songs, makes up his own songs. He is so creative and I can tell that he is super smart. He has known his numbers since he was 18 months old and his letters since he was just under 2. He can even recognize all the upper and lower case letters. He can even recognize his name. I don't know where he gots his brains from! Certainly it wasn't from me.

He is the sweetest little boy. He's got me wrapped around his little finger. Just when he's about to drive me crazy doing things he shouldn't, he comes up to me and wraps his little arms around my neck, gives me a kiss and says, I love
you." Who's heart wouldn't melt?



This is my Allyson. She just learned to crawl and she's making a break for it here. Isn't she the most beautiful girl you've ever seen?

Two days ago she started saying the word 'ball.' I couldn't believe it! She loves to play and smile and laugh. She doesn't cry very often, only when I leave the room....haha It's a great feeling to know that your baby loves you.




I don't know if I want Evan to be a doctor when he grows up. It's hard work! But he enjoys being Doctor Evan (which is what he calls himself) right now. He can do whatever he wants when he grows up...I just want him to always be happy.

Orissa India

I received this email and wanted to post it. Please pray for all God's people going into the world to tell of God's love, hope and salvation.


From Inside Orissa, India: Missionary Report And Plea For Prayer YWAM
This is a request for prayer for YWAM missionaries and their churches in Orissa, India. The request came from her friend, Mable Hurst, an associate of HCJB Global. Please read and make this a matter of urgent prayer.

Dear beloved sponsors and friends of Good News India. We have never seen anything like this. We knew that Orissa was the most resistant and hostile State in India as far as the Gospel is concerned. And we brushed off the continuous threats and harassment we faced as we went about His work. But none of our staff imagined that they would see this kind of carnage.... And it seems to be totally under the radar of the Western Media .... Let me explain.... A militant Hindu priest and 4 of his attendants, who were zealously going around the villages of Orissa and 'reconverting' people back to Hinduism, were gunned down by unknown assailants in Central Orissa last weekend. Immediately the Christians were blamed. The cry rose up...'Kill the Christians!' And the horror began.... In the past 4 days, we have first hand witness to hundreds of churches being blown up or burned and many, many dozens of Christian tribals have be en slaughtered.
For no other reason than they bear the name of Christ.
Night and day I have been in touch with our Good News India Directors spread across 14 Dream Centers in Orissa... they are right in the middle of all this chaos. In Tihidi, just after the police came to offer protection, a group of 70 blood-thirsty militants came to kill our staff and destroy the home. They were not allowed to get in, but they did a lot of damage to our Dream Center by throwing rocks and bricks and smashing our gate, etc. They have promised to come back and 'finish the job.'
Our kids and staff are locked inside and have stayed that way with doors and windows shut for the past 3 days. It has been a time of desperately calling on the Lord in prayer. More police have come to offer protection. In Kalahandi, the police and some local sympathizers got to our dream center and gave our staff and kids about 3 minutes notice to vacate. No one had time to even grab a change of clothes or any personal belonging. As they fled, the blood thirsty mob came to kill everyone in the building. We would have had a mass funeral there, but for His grace. In Phulbani, the mob came looking for Christian homes and missions. The local Hindu people, our neighbors turned them away by saying that there were no Christians in this area. So they left. We had favor. The same thing happened in Balasore. All our dream centers are under lock down with the kids and staff huddled inside and police outside.
The fanatics are circling outside waiting for a chance to kill. Others were not so fortunate. In a nearby Catholic orphanage, the mob allowed the kids to leave and locked up a Priest and a computer teacher in house and burned them to death.
Many believers have been killed and hacked into pieces and left on the road.... even women and children. At another orphanage run by another organization, when this began, the Director and his wife jumped on their motorbike and simply fled, leaving all the children and staff behind. Every one of our GNI directors that I have spoken to said: 'We stay with our kids.... we live together or die together, but we will never abandon what God has called us to do.'
More than 5000 Christian families have had their homes burned or destroyed. They have fled into the jungles and are living in great fear waiting for the authorities to bring about peace. But so far, no peace is foreseen. This will continue for another 10 days.... supposedly the 14 day mourning period for the slain Hindu priest. Many more Christians will die and their houses destroyed. Many more churches will be smashed down.
The Federal government is trying to restore order and perhaps things will calm down. We ask for your prayers. Only the Hand of God can calm this storm. None of us know the meaning of persecution. But now our kids and staff know what that means. So many of our kids coming from Hindu backgrounds are confused and totally bewildered at what is happening around them. So many of their guardians have fled into the jungles and are unable to come and get them during these trying times.
Through all this, I am more determined than ever to continue with our goal: the transformation of a community by transforming its children. Orissa will be saved... that is our heart's cry. If we can take these thousands of throw-away children and help them to become disciples of Jesus, they will transform an entire region. It is a long term goal, but it is strategic thinking in terms of the Great Commission.
What can you do? First, please uphold all this in fervent prayer. Second, pass this e-mail on to as many friends as you can. We must get the word out and increase our prayer base for this is spiritual warfare at its most basic meaning. We are literally fighting the devil in order to live for His Kingdom. The next 10 days are crucial. We pray for peace and calm to pervade across Orissa. Thank you for taking the time to read this. Please pass it on and help us to get as many people to partner with us on this cutting edge effort to fulfill His mandate: Go and make disciples of all nations.... Prayer works!
Blessings, Chip & Sandy Wanner Col 2:2 MBI Team Facilitators to YWAM frontlines

My friend Anna Moose from North Carolina came to visit us last week. We had a great time! We went shopping and we went to Penn's Cave. We also visited Sight & Sound where we saw the show "In the Beginning." It was incredible! The acting and singing was wonderful and the special effects were amazing! I can't wait to get to see another show there.

It makes me sad now that Anna's gone....back to North Carolina, she's not dead. We had such a good time together and she probably won't get to visit again for another year.

My first blog

This is my first real blog, so we'll see how it goes. Today has been pretty much the same as usual. I got Ally to take a morning nap, so that great for me! Evan has been pretty much the same....yelling and crying when he gets mad or wants something Ally has. I guess this is normal, but I am ready to move on to the next stage. Now that Evan's watching tv, I guess it's time to work on some laundry. I guess that's all for now. Hope these blogs get more interesting!