Christkindlmarkt

We live about 40 minutes from the "Christmas City" - Bethlehem, PA. Each year between Thanksgiving and Christmas, historic Bethlehem is filled with visitors. We joined in a couple of weeks ago, and thoroughly enjoyed the festivities, one of which included Christkindlmarkt. http://www.christmascity.org/CKM/default.asp

There was a man there creating ice sculptures all day with a block of ice and a chain saw:


The lights here were timed to the music playing. . .I was completely engrossed:

My husband. . .

. . .IS SO COOL!

Michael wrote an article for Relevant Magazine. . .it was a movie review. Check it out:

http://www.relevantmagazine.com/pc_article.php?id=7564

Advent : Narnia

We’re currently a couple of weeks into our Narnia/Advent series. Seriously, how cool is that. . .Narnia! The place we meet has been transformed into the land just beyond the wardrobe. . .in fact, we enter our Narnia through an actual wardrobe, complete with fur coats. And Mr. Tumnus has his own little corner of the room. It is a stark contrast to the last series on forgiveness, and it really shows the creativity of our church and our willingness to use many different things to communicate truth.

Narnia:



Looking through the wardrobe. . .Michael spoke the first Sunday of Advent:



Mr. Tumnus' room (Note the picture on the bookshelf):


It is Mr. Tumnus' father!!! (aka David Crowder):

So long, Squantz

Naming Squantz




Getting the goodies




Flappy skin




Butterin' up

First Holiday

So this Thanksgiving was not our first holiday as a married couple, but our first holiday away from our families. 1200 miles away from our families! What helped was that our friends Mindy and Chris came up from DC to spend the long weekend with us. We had a great time with them. And it made being away from "home" a little easier.

I was all ready with the ingredients for Thanksgiving dishes. . .when Mindy and Chris arrived Wednesday night, I thought we could clean the turkey to have it all ready to go into the oven on Thursday morning. My initial intentions were for Mindy and I to do it all (and we did 99% of the cooking on Thursday). But neither of us could handle cleaning the thing. It was completely nasty and smelly. Blech. Chris and Michael ended up doing most of it. lol. Mindy did actually rub butter all over the thing with her bare hands. WITH HER BARE HANDS! I ended up not touching the raw turkey one time. And I found out that for the rest of my life I will never clean a turkey.

Serious nastiness:




Mindy attempting to deal with our friend, Squantz:

Ah, this is how I like to see a turkey:

Thanksgiving Day prep:

Nice, huh?

Mindy *loves* leftover turkey:

Our Crib

So, I finally got around to taking some pictures of our place. And I did it right before we had company for Thanksgiving. (I think that's the cleanest we'll ever have this place!) Sorry for the crappy lighting. . .

Our bathroom :o)



Coffee-themed kitchen:



The porch/foyer:

Newly painted laundry room!

Living Room:

Bedroom:

Church at the Park

The last Sunday in October we had church outside at a park shelter. . .the place we normally meet was double booked, so we found another place. I'm not gonna lie, it was really cold. But it was a really sweet time of worship and teaching and fellowship. There's nothing like experiencing God outside in nature, even (maybe especially) when it's 50 degrees. Probably my favorite experience at church yet.