Christmas Update!

Dear Family, 

Christmas is here! The last few weeks have been so busy. I can't believe it! Mary's birthday is here too! Monday. She has been counting down for some time. 

I have been really stuck this year for what to do for gifts this year. We are going on a cruise! That is a our big gift. We are not going until March, so it seems strange not to give gifts. We are going to Mexico. I am SO EXCITED! It has been a dream of mine for some time. We got nine people to commit to go. My parents are coming, too. I can't wait! 



 Camille jumped in and saved the day. Bless her. She is my Christmas Fairy. She volunteered to do all of the shopping. I am so grateful. I just could not get my brain around it. She loves Christmas so much. Just having her around really helps my Christmas Sprit. She is not quite as excited as Buddy the Elf, but pretty close!

I caught a nasty cold this week. On Thursday, I subbed for the Secretary at Wapello Elementary. I love the people there so much, I just could not say no. I probably should have! I was sending home sick kiddos all day. Woke up with a terrible cough. I did not get my Neulasta (White blood cell booster) this week. I think my immunity is down a bit. It has made me realize that I have not been sick for some time. Sometimes you need to get sick to realize how blessed you are! I missed church today. I don't like missing church. I need the strength of my ward family to get through the week. My young women sent me this picture and it made me happy to see their faces!






Abrahm bought a car yesterday! He got a 2012 Chevrolet Cruz. It is white and has some nice features. Leather and heated seats. His girlfriend's dad, Jon, helped him negotiate. (So grateful!)  They got the price down to $3,500. I think he got a good deal. He is excited to not drive the Suburban anymore. It is for sale if anyone could use it! 

We also bought a kid car  in September. It started out being for Abrahm, but we decided to make it a kid car. It is a Pontiac GTO. The person selling it was very dishonest. It had a bent frame from being in a wreck, the seatbelt broke on the way home, and the blinker turned on the bright lights constantly. He even listed it as a 2010 and it was a 2008. We went late at night to see it and brought money. We drove all the way to Rexburg. We should have just walked away. Dennis has done his magic on it. I think it will be a nice little car after all. It just took some fixing. So grateful for Dennis and his many talents. Abby and Mary are grateful to drive something smaller than the Suburban! It is finally ready for travel this week. 


I signed up to do some "Grinch games" with my Amare/ Kyani business. Every day they have some challenges to do to share the business. It is pushing me out of my comfort zone. I don't like it! I don't want to let my team down, so I keep trying. I have had some good meltdowns about it!  I really prefer the direct approach.  Why am I doing this business if it is so out of my comfort zone? I want to stretch myself. I want to do things that are hard so I can keep growing. Ultimately, I would like to be more brave about sharing what I believe. (I really HAVE found some great help from some of their products. If you want to know more, please contact me!)

Mary, Alexa, and Drew have been involved in a drum core. Brandon is one of the leaders of it. It is called "RIFT" and they practice every Saturday. They seem to enjoy it! They practice hard! Mary reports that she has the songs stuck in her head forever! She was not feeling so good yesterday so she went it a bit late. I hope she feels better for her Birthday! Sweet Sixteen! 

We also got to preform a fun number for our ward Christmas Party. We used boomwackers and handbells. We could not decide how often to hit each other with the boomwackers so we decided to just ad lib. It made it so you never knew when you were going to get wacked! It was pretty entertaining. I wish I had had someone record it! 


I hope everyone is having a lovely Christmas Season! We watched Mr. Kruger's Christmas and Nora's Christmas gifts today. They are classics, but have special meaning to me. On my mission, I remember the line from Mr. Kruger's Christmas that welded my heart to my Savior. He is pouring his heart out to the Baby Jesus in his Nativity Set. He tells Him, "I love you. You are my closest and my finest friend and that means that I can hold my head high wherever I go. Thank You. Thank You." 

How grateful I am to know Jesus! How grateful I am that He knows me, that He is always there. always listening. Always welcoming me into His arms and His heart. He is my finest friend. I love Him! 

May you feel His love EVERY Day! Merry Christmas! 

Love, 

Emilie

                                       Our real tree is so pretty this year! It smells so good, too!
                                             My favorite Ornament~ Reminds me of my Brent!










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