Christmas with the Dekolds!

Well, I'm way behind in the blog world! Because Christmas came and went almost a month ago and I'm now just getting to post about it! This past year we decided as a family to adopt some ideas that our pastors do at our church. Such as - only giving our kids three Christmas gifts. Why? Because Jesus only got three!! This is two fold in purpose! One- teaches them we design our lives after His, and two- waaaay cheaper for us! hee hee

Anyhow, we did it and our kids had a blast with their gifts! Thankfully, they are still young that they will not know any different from here on out! After we had our own family Christmas, we ventured out to the great white north known as Canada! We had a lot of fun taking our kids to do some traditional Gagne(my family) and Dekold(Nicks's family) outings. Overall, we had a very blessed Christmas! Here are some of the highlights of our trip! Enjoy!

Decorating cookies!

And of course, eating cookies!

This was taken at a place called Colasanti's...Nick and I went there all the time as kids! It has a petting zoo, a play area, lots of shops, an arcade, small kid rollarcoasters and THE best donuts!!

This was a new tradition we started with Gavin this year...making Jesus a birthday cake!

Of course, opening gifts!

Emory loved how they just kept coming out!

And PJs with cousins!

This is a park that has a ton of christmas lights/displays up! It was extremely cold out so we didn't end  up staying long! But Nick and I have gone every year since we were dating!

 AND that is a little glimpse of what our week of Christmas was like! I hope yours was just as great!

Life as we knew it in 2010!

So here we are! It's already 2011! Last night, Nick and I were talking about this new year and some things we need to accomplish as well as some things we feel God is telling us to do/work on... Which caused me to think about the past year! This past year was a great one for us! We started off the year getting our green cards in the mail! That is a huge weight of off us and our church! There were so many other things, some of which I blogged about, that we went through...Some good and some not so good! But in the end of the year and now looking back we realize that ALL things DO work out for GOOD to those who love God! Can I hear a AMEN! 


But as for this new year....God has given me one word - Relationships. Hmm, I thought now what does that mean because there are all kinds of relationships! My church is doing a 21 day fast right now, which I am participating in, and that's   one of the things I'm asking God to clarify!


Some goals we've set this year is to stay on budget! We say it every year, but this year I am DETERMINED to make it happen! We are putting our house up for sale and are needing a bigger one. And that is going to require us to stay on top of our money and not live so loosely! Another one is that we are taking a little honeymoon! lol Nick and I are gonna get away for a few days by ourselves this year! Which I am looking forward to! 


Last night as we were listening to some podcasts online, we can across Matt Chandlers story. And I think I'm gonna adopt his way of thinking! ha But seriously, the guy had a huge cancerous brain tumor and has been going through chemo for the last year and yet he says..."I am privileged that He is allowing me to go through this..." Wow! I want to take this approach this year! No matter what I am faced with I am privilege that He being God has allowed me to go through it. For so many reasons this excites me! I feel as though it would give a waaaaay less stressful life! Life is so wonderful and we get to live ours! Count each day as a blessing! Anyhow, those are my thoughts on this new year! BTW my birthday is this friday! Yay! Be blessed!