Devotional

I was asked to contribute to your church devotional book again this year. We hand this out over the holidays to our members and guests. I was honored to be asked again to contribute but nervous to think about what God might have me share. Below is the devotional or conversation rather, that I wrote for this years' book.

Who do you cling to? Who do you put your hope in?

What a year! If this were a year to ask the question, "who do you cling to?", this would be it! In our country alone we’ve witnessed the downward spiral of our economy; needless killing sprees of college campuses and military bases; the continued war in Iraq that claims more peoples lives each day; and so on. In our very own church family we’ve struggled through the loss of jobs, the loss of family members, the financial strains our families and church are under, and the list goes on and on. I beg the question, who do you put your hope in?

It was Saturday, I had the day off and had vowed to spend the entire day in my jammies, in bed, watching movies. The phone rang and I remember feeling irritated because I was in the middle of the movie. It was mom, dad was having all these symptoms – it was all a blur but I remember switching into "professional mode" and telling her what to do; dad was having a heart attack…... I’d be there as soon as I could get there. I hung up the phone and switched back into daughter mode, running around the house to pack and screaming out loud for God to save his life, he wasn’t done here yet. I’ve never pleaded with God more than I did that day.

The following months brought open heat surgery and more emotions than I can put into words. I tend to find songs that put into words my emotions during different times in my life. During this period it was a Seventh Day Slumber song that says, "I’m barely hanging on, with all these empty feelings. I’m hurting in so many ways. And though I can’t pretend, to understand your reasons. I still belive that you’re God!". Everything was out of my hands, out of my control, I could only cling to God.

As summer hit, I was still making frequent trips to WV to help Dad and Mom. He was recovering, his spirits were up, but the setbacks kept happening. He still had a lot of fluid in his right lung because his heart was functioning well below that of a normal healthy heart. We also found out that our chances of conceiving without intervention were next to impossible, and the words "in vitro" were brought into our lives. Other life stressors were thrown into the mix and I found myself starting to feel like I was going to just break under the weight. So many times in life it’s easier to try and "handle" things on our own than give them to God. As the weight kept loading me down, God gently reminded me that I wasn’t meant to carry it alone. My "theme" song as the summer months passed was also a Seventh Day Slumber song that simply says, "I surrender, all to you, all to you". Do you have things in your life that you need to surrender?

Jesus said, "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle, and you will find rest for your souls". Matthew 11: 28 - 29

Early fall started and things felt like they were settling back into a "normal" rhythm, or what was to be considered normal now. Then we heard the words, heart transplant, and normalcy went flying out the window. Dad’s heart was not improving, at all. There was just too much damage from the heart attack. He’s to be put on the transplant list. Next we had unexpected surgery for me as we were getting ready to do in-vitro. And the weight on my shoulders felt like it just piled right back on. I felt hopeless. It’s amazing how Satan LOVES to remind us of all the stress and things that are happening that just don’t seem "fair". It steers our focus on a path of self pity and defeat, instead of steering our focus to the One who is the conqueror. To the One who can give us comfort and strengthen our grip, so we can plant our feet and hang on!! Do you feel hopeless? Do you feel like you have nothing or no one to hang onto?

"Then you will know that I am the Lord, those who hope in me will not be disappointed."

Isaiah 49:23b

Winter, we’re hanging on. Our feet are planted, and we’re awaiting to see what God is going to do. We’re standing firm that God is not done with us yet. We’ve prayed and are praying for healing of Dad’s heart. After claiming healing for dad, his lung has no fluid in it. For the first time since the surgery, the fluid is gone!! I find myself smiling and saying aloud, I am amazed by you Lord! We are moving forward with in-vitro in a matter of weeks, knowing that God has guided us this far and will not leave us. 2010 may bring a healed heart and new babies, or it may not. But it most assuredly will bring another year where Christ reveals himself, where He cares for His children, where He once again proves Himself to be one worth clinging to.

So I ask you, who do you cling to? Who do you place your hope in? I choose to place my trust in the Lord. I choose to cling to Christ. I choose to plant my feet on the solid rock.

Do you?

"God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging." Psalm 46:1 - 3

hospitals, surgeries and more

Well I write you today from my bed. We had hoped this month i'd be on bed rest due to our invitro treatments; but instead I'm on bed rest b/c of surgery I had yesterday. I went for my baseline ultraound last week and an endometrioma was notice on my left ovary. It had to come out; so yesterday I had a laparoscopy to remove the endometrioma. I felt sick from the anesthesia last night and quite drugged - but didn't have much pain or swelling. This morning I woke up to a pretty swollen abdomen and in some pain. Sooo I'm taking it easy this weekend. Nate is at work at the moment; but I've already had a friend stop by with flowers and another friend bringing dinner tonight. In our times of need; we feel SO blessed to have the friends that we have here. It's hard going through "tough times" when you're away from family; but as we've said in the past TN is our home and our friends are our second family now. We are just so blessed to have found our church and friends.

A few weeks ago we were in Ohio for Brian Eichorns', Nates' friend, wedding. While we were up there we threw a baby shower for mim. She's due December 20th. Wendy and I worked our butts off for the weeks before and then to get it decorated when we got there. We made sugar cookies on a stick for the party favors - and decorated each of the differently - so that was our day from 9am until 7pm on friday. They turned out so yummy and cute though!! The week was super busy but nice to be with our family for a while. Below are some pics from the shower.

On our way home from Ohio we swung over to see my parents. It was only for 1 night but I was happy to see them. We chopped and stacked dad's wood for the winter so it'd be done and helped out a little around the house. Dad is currently waiting to hear from the Cleveland Clinic to get evaluated for the heart transplant list. Once he's evaluated there; we're going to try and get him on the list here at Vanderbilt as well. The more lists he's on; the better chance he has to get a heart quickly. we are praying that direction at least.

Nate and I will be doing in vitro next month, Lord willing. Apparantly I only have to wait 2 weeks from the surgery to start on injections for IVF. We don't want to push it if my body isn't ready; so we're just going with the advise of our fertility docs. Hopefully it'll be next month though! :-)

Alrighty, this was short but I don't have much else to say at the moment.

Summer 2009

This posting is a rather "uneventful" post as we haven't taken any major vacations this summer. We have been a little burnt out when it comes to traveling; after traveling back and forth from WVa so much in the last 6 months. So for our summer we decided to restrict traveling a little, work as much as we could and get some things done at the house :-).

Though it's not as glamorous as a big, fun vacation - we've still managed some fun times with friends, and lots of home improvement projects.

Here are some random pics of a typical sunday night at our house with the "gang".

Wendy and I went blackberry picking a few Tuesday's ago. It was "city picking" at its finest. The farm had nice, neat rows of THORNLESS blackberry bushes. We picked until our fingers were purple and then came home. We washed them, bagged them and froze them. Meanwhile we started working on new:-).curtains for my living room/dining room and I taught wendy how to make salisbury steak and mashed potatoes and for dessert......... blackberry cobbler :-) yummy!!

With Andy and Wendy being here; wendy and I have spent many Tuesdays shopping at home goods stores to help her set up house. Somehow that translated into me wanting to make some home improvements and decorations. So I bought some shelves for Nate to finish and put a photo collage in our entry way. ** the big middle picture doesn't have a pic in it yet - but everyone likes to remark on the nice looking family in the picture :-) **

Here are my curtains :-)

My curtains turned out pretty good :-). We found italian silk at Jo-Ann Fabrics on MAJOR sale; so I was able to do curtains for my living room window and then 2 for my double doors in the dining room - all for less than $30! :-) Woohoo :-)

This past week I worked on putting Venetian Plaster in our guest bathroom. Nate helped me put the first coat on sunday and then Tuesday I placed the second coat and did the burnishing. And here is the final product :-)

Playing Catch Up

So it feels like since christmas, we haven't stopped. I haven't really had time to truly update our blog either. So today, on my day off, I'm playing catch up. Nate is working 2 jobs at the moment, so I have a lot of "free time". This extra time, this week, will be spent editing numerous pictures, updating our blog, spring cleaning, etc.

Last night I downloaded and edited pictures for about 3 hours; finally getting caught up on those.
This morning, I was lazy :-). Slept in until almost 9am, and then proceeded to stumble towards the kitchen for my morning brew. Once that caffeine started ripping through my system, my eyes opened a little wider and I proceeded into the office. Since then I have been re-editing pictures and now have finally arrived at the "updating of the blog". I know most of your are on the edge of your seat, anxiously awaiting the most memorable blog post ever. To your dismay, this will be just another blog post, crammed full of "tidbits" and pictures. Hopefully you won't be overstimulated after reading this post and can carry on a productive day as I have done thus far. Of course, the question still remains of whether or not I'm going to actually change into normal clothes or stay in my pajamas today... Hmmm quite a predicament. :-)



Alrighty here goes....



Christmas 2008 was spent with the Sommers family in Ohio. Lost of fun, LOTS of cold, lots of presents, and our first ever Sommers Annual Settlers Of Catan Tournament. Trophy taken home by our new addition, wendy sommers. Below you'll see a slide show of that fun time :-)








January brought a trip to WVa for my mom's surgery. She had a disc repaired in her neck, so I went down to help out for the week. words to describe this week: Thankful, Tiring, SNOWY, Drugged up (mom not me), OVER.!!








February started out good and ended awful. As in my previous post dad suffered a massive heartattack on February 21st. We high tailed it down to WVa to be with him and I stayed for the week with mom and him at the hospital. He got to come home on mom's birthday, February 28th, which was a great birthday present. The next 4 weeks were frustrating and tiring for everyone as we anxiously awaited his surgery. At the end of March he had open heart surgery, a quadruple bypass and a mitral valve repair. I again stayed there for a week and a half until he was released from the hospital and stable at home. April would end with us back at the hospital as he developed CHF and later atrial fibrillation. So I took a quick trip home to be with him while he was in the hospital and to get him home. May ended with a Memorial Day trip home to spend the week w/ the family. Typically mom and dad come here over memorial day; obviously that changed this year and we went there. We had a fun picnic at babcock state park and finished up dad's "Harley Garage". I'm thankful to say that today, June 9th, 2009 Dad is doing much better and everyday brings improvement. We owe all our praises and thanks to God as He is the Healer and the Saver that kept Dad here and alive and well. Thank you for all your prayers, they were answered!!








Other tidbits:



Admist all the craziness from February 21 until may - we managed to squeeze in a trip to New York City. I wanted to take Joel & lisa for a quick spring break trip and to see the Phantom of the Opera. We had an AWESOME time and only saw 1/2 the city. we walked our hind ends off, but loved every minute of it. Now where to next year??








Nate bought a Harley - and has been out of control since then :-). I am now envious and want one of my own. My lil brother taught me how to ride his motorcycle when we were home last, and I LOVED IT!! I much rather prefer driving than riding behind someone!!

Nate's brother, Andy and his wife Wendy will be moving up here to TN in 2 weeks. they've bought a house that's literally 5 minutes from our house!! We're so excited to have family near by and pray that they will love TN as much as we do. We're praying their transition will be as easy as possible.

Nate and I have started leading a small group on sunday nights in our home. It's a group of young married and currently we're studying fireproof and the Love Dare. God has brought some great conversations into our group and we've grown closer as friends :-). So that's a huge praise

This past weekend Nate and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. Due to all of our unexpected traveling in the past year, we didn't plan a big anniversary trip. Instead, we rented a cabin in Gatlinburg and ran away to the mountains for a weekend. We had a great time, and have decided we want to buy a cabin there!! :-) It was the perfect setting for a couples get away.




Not much else that I can think of at the moment. This should be a good first post for the "catching up" with Nate & Becca :-). Have a great day!

Harley Fever

To Nate's great satisfaction.... he is now a Harley owner. He picked up his bike last night and it's all downhill now :-)heehee. I haven't seen him very much today; his time has been spent in the garage with his new girlfriend. He only comes inside to ask me to take pictures of him and his new girlfriend! :-)hahaha
So without further adue (I know dad and Joel are tired of reading this and just want to see the pictures already!).... I give you Nate's Harley Sportster 883

The new Harley Rider :-)
And of course I had to take pictures of the "custom" parts that have been put on it already





Custom gas tank cover...

Custom grips

Our clinic on the news :-)

Hey all :-)
Our clinic was featured on our news 2 days ago :-). I'm not in the clip - I was busy actually seeing patients - but it was still kind of cool :-)
Here's the link you can click on. http://www.wkrn.com/
In the right hand corner scroll through until you see the caption: "Doctors offer online house calls"

The week I never wanted to face

Many of you know that my dad suffered a massive heart attack this past saturday, february 21st. Below is a run down of our ordeal and where we are at now.
My mom called me at 2pm and told me his symptoms, I had her give him an aspirin to chew and take him to the ER. In my gut his symptoms sounded like a heart attack, in my head I rationalized that it was probably nothing and that she'd call me later and tell me it was just anxiety or something else. So I proceeded to stay put where I was, in my pajamas, watching a movie in bed. 20 minutes later I got the call that crashed in on my happy little world, "Becca, you're dad is having a heart attack right now".
Turns out mom tore out of the house like a bat out of hell & rushed dad to the hospital at the top of the hill. They had him pumped full of morphine, nitroglycerin and "clot busters" :-) in no time flat, hooked to an EKG and were watching the heart attack as it was happening.
As soon as mom called, I immediately called nate and told him to get home (he was an hour away). I started screaming and crying, scaring skipper half to death, praying harder than I ever have prayed before that God would save my dad, it wasn't his time. I threw stuff in a suitcase and started to throw skippers stuff in the car when my sister called and said they were life flighting Dad to Charleston.The hospital mom took him to did all they could. At one point they thought they had dissolved the clot, but his Vfib picked right back up; turns out the clot only moved. They had enough sense to know that this was over their heads and called for the lifeflight. Within 20 minutes of leaving that hospital and driving to the pick up point, they were touching down in Charleston at CAMC.

Sooo skipper wasn't going with us b/c we were headed straight to Charleston, an hour away from my parents house. We're blessed to have AWESOME friends, so I immediately called my friend Jess and she said her and her husband could house sit and watch skipper. Not 15 minutes later, her sister in law Jen, another one of our friends, was knocking on my front door. She'd come by to give me a hug and wait with me until Nate got home. Our angels, that's all I can say.

Nate made it home in 35 minutes and I had the car loaded. We left our house at 3:00pm and drove through 3 hours of snow downpouring. I was getting antzy b/c I hadn't heard anything and all I could think of was that if my dad had died, they weren't going to call and tell me that on the phone. They'd wait till I got there to tell me. So it was THE longest drive of my life; and we made it there in 7 hours! The whole family had already made it there before us. My grandparents and all dad's siblings and then of course our immediate family were there waiting when we got there.

Once dad made it to Charleston they took him straight to the Cath lab where the put a stent in his LAD and retrieved the clot. Only to find that 2 of his arteries were 100% occluded and there were 3 smaller ones with plaque. They put him in the coronary care unit and told us he was critical. They were going to try and let him rest and recover from the actual heart attack. We were then looking at open heart surgery for a triple bypass.

saturday night we went to the motel across the street. We all piled in one of our 2 rooms and tried to eat a little something and tried to unwind a little bit. No one wanting to voice their fears of what the next day might hold.

I went to bed that night crying with my mom and then cuddling up to Nate. Crying out to God to keep my dad safe while we all slept and to help him recover. The next morning we were told that Dad had suffered a massive heart attack and that he was in critical condition. We held our breath and prayed silent prayers for healing. His heart was working on a 20% ejection fraction (perfectly normal is around 75%). It was imperative that his heart beat normally and not have anymore arrhythmias so that his heart could start to recover from the actual heart attack. Because it was such a huge heart attack, he was restricted to bed - NO walking. He was allowed to get out of the bed and sit in a chair and then back to bed.

He was in a good deal of pain Sunday and Monday in his chest and sore all over. They FINALLY got his pain under control monday and moved him to a private room (HUGE praise) where he could finally start resting. He had the most horrid "roommate" the previous few nights and wasn't getting any rest. His nurse went to bat for him up against the charge nurse stating that she'd "had enough" and that her patient needed rest. Praise the Lord he got him his own room and gave him a wonderful night's rest.

Our family left on Monday (all but me and my sister) b/c dad was improving. My sis left on Tuesday to go back to work and I stayed with mom the rest of the week. Each day dad started feeling and looking better. The cardiologist warned that he take it easy and as his cardiac enzymes started to fall we'd talk about moving him to the "step down" unit where he would be allowed to start walking. On Wednesday they walked dad around the unit and decided to move him to the step down unit. We took a few walks (with his holter monitor on) down the hall once we were on the step down unit and spent some time chatting with his new roomie, a fellow nazarene who was undergoing bypass surgery on Thursday. Thursday mom and I spent the day at the hospital, surprise, with Dad up in his room. We took more walks than on wednesday and made it a little farther :-). The cardiologist said Dad was well enough to go home and continue his recovery when we got his "lifevest" ordered. That excited us all but was frustrating b/c all we were waiting on was his vest. The lifevest is an external defibrillator that will shock his heart if it goes into any sudden cardiac arrhythmias.

Friday morning came and his nurse told us all we were waiting on was his insurance to approve the lifevest and then they'd send someone out. Mom jumped on the phone and called the insurance company. Turns out they never received the forms! Soooo we started the day process of tracking down the forms and getting them into the right hands. Once lifevest received the approval we hounded them to get someone out to the hospital and get dad home. There are only 2 people in WVa that can fit him for the vest. One was sick, and one was out of town. Sooo they started calling to the other states. At 4:30pm we heard that a lady from Richmond, VA was leaving to drive up the WV to bring dad his vest and wouldn't be there till 8am the next morning.

Friday was the most frustrating day of all b/c we were all anxious to get dad home and knew he was well enough to get home. We just weren't going home b/c someone dropped the ball 2 days prior on ordering what we needed. But bless the lady who drove all that way so we weren't sitting there for 3 more days!

Saturday morning we got him fitted, got him discharged, and took him home.... on mom's birthday! :-) Happy birthday mom! All of us kids were able to be home with dad that weekend, which really made him and mom happy :-).

All of that history to say it's been a crazy, long, exhausting week!! I came home yesterday (Tuesday afternoon) and am sitting here at work still in disbelief of the past week. It's a week I never wanted to have, an event I never wanted to experience but a week that God revealed himself to me and my family over and over. I don't believe in coincidences, I believe in providence.
1) Dad could have had a heart attack numerous amounts of times when he was working, by himself. Even the day before he was out in the woods, home by himself, cutting wood. But it happened when him and mom were sitting at home together.
2) The lifeflight team was ALREADY together. They had just made a run when they got the call for dad. So there was no lag time inbetween the call and actually coming to get him, they were already together and in the helicopter when they got the call
3) This all happened before the snow storm hit. Had it happened later in the day/evening, he wouldn't have been able to be lifeflighted b/c of the snow - and my dad wouldn't be here
4) The doctors at our small, dinky little hospital have practiced enough scenarios to know exactly what to do to hold him over until he could get to the coronary hospital in charleston. God's angels
5) God got the whole family there, intact, in record time to be there for dad.
6) God got the word out within a few hours to numerous churches in numerous COUNTRIES to start praying
7) God held my dad in the palm of his hand, keeping his heart beating
8) God let them get the clot that was causing the heart attack and helped them see that he needs surgery before anything else happens
9) God got him a private room and a good night's rest to help his enzymes fall and his body start to recover
10) God sent us an angel from Richmond VA to give her time to get us home
11) God is still God.

There's a song on my ipod by Seventh Day Slumber called "Every Saturday". Nate shared with me that he was listening to this song on his way home when he left me in Charleston with my parents and how it had spoken to him, and the feelings he was having. Since then I've listened to it numerous times and it couldn't be a better fit to describe some of our feelings. The chorus states "I'm barely hanging on. With all these empty feelings. I'm hurting in so many ways. And though I can't pretend; to understand your reasons. I still believe that you're God".

Though I can't still comprehend why this happened. I can't grasp the fact that my dad shouldn't be here according to all medical reason. I can't let myself really think about my dad not being here with me. I'm angry that it's happened, I'm still hurting that it's happened and he has to have surgery, I can rest in the knowledge that God is still God. God is still holding us in his arms, he's still looking over our family, He's still walking with and holding my dad's hand. He's still God.

In this knowledge and in Him I have to let myself rest. Though i'm scared for him to have surgery I know that God can take that fear from me.

Please continue to pray that dad will continue to heal from the heart attack and regain his strength. Pray that the surgery goes even better than we anticipate and that his recovery is a pain free as possible. Thank you so much for your prayers thus far and words of encouragment.

Thoughts

So I haven't written on here since the beginning of December!
1) I can't believe it's already January 21st!
2) We've been super busy with all our traveling but are finally done traveling for a while
3) We had a GREAT time with nate's family in Ohio for christmas.
* We started a new tradition of a Settlers of Catan tournament with the prize winning trophy of a snow globe! This year the trophy went to Wendy.... time will tell which household takes it home next! :-)
** We were able to go to the Swartzentruber family Christmas and it was great catching up with the family that we rarely get to see. It just keeps getting bigger from year to year. I think grandma and grandpa Swartzentruber have a "magical house". Each year the crowd gets bigger and yet there's always enough room??
***I got a new photo editing program from mom and dad sommers; so as soon as I have time to sit down and learn how to use it.... I'll get some photos from christmas posted on here :-)
4) My mom had her surgery almost 2 weeks ago tomorrow. She had a discectomy/laminectomy with fusion of C5 and C6 (neck vertebrae). It was stressful for us, who sat in the waiting room worrying about her, and for her b/c obviously she's the one having surgery. Despite a huge snow storm that kept nate and I stranded on the highway for 2 hours at 6am that morning; mom and dad just barely made it to the hospital before 6am to get her checked in for her surgery. The surgery went well and she spent the night in the SICU. We brought her home friday and I was able to stay over the weekend to help dad nurse her back to health. I left reluctantly Sunday to return home for work but Dad has done a great job of taking care of her and watching over her this past week. :-) She's doing much better, even after getting sick on top of her surgery :-(. She's up and walking, her voice sounds normal now and she's off her pain killers. She still has her stylish C-Collar to wear intermittently throughout the day; and when she starts driving for a while. But she's doing well and has already noticed a complete difference in the arm pain she was experiencing pre-surgery. Praise the Lord for surgeons and medicine; it helped bring healing to her :-). We're just glad to have a safe and healthy mama :-)
5) We hit the ground running when we got home. Nate is thankfully staying busy with work, and my job is secure b/c there will always be sick people :-).
* nate continues to play in the praise band at church and leads worship for the youth on wednesday nights. he's gearing up for our church softball league to start up again in the spring =). He's currently finishing up a project for me, refinishing our kitchen table. In a compromise we came to, I wanted a new table and he said we needed to wait until we move into a different house to spend the $$ and make sure it fits, he said he would refinish it so it would match my decor better. It was a light oak top with white legs. He's restained it darker and painted the white, black. I'm extremely impressed with his skill b/c it looks like we just bought it from a store! :-) I think he should consider painting for a living :-)heehee
** I'm starting with a new praise team at the beginning of February for church; and probably will start singing in the choir now that my schedule allows it. Work continues to be busy at times and a few slow days for rest :-). I was blessed to get a raise this year which will help us pay those school loans even faster (and fertility expenses :-) ). I serve on our women's council at church and have helped plan a few events thus far. This coming weekend I'll be speaking at our "birthday bash" for the women's birthdays for the year. It should be a good time :-)
*** Nate and I will be joining a gym down the road in a few days, in an attempt for him to "bulk up so he can hit some home runs this spring", and me to lose some marital weight :-). It should be fun b/c we're both going together and being "accountability" partners
****Fertility - continues to be an uphill quest it feels like. We've had a rough few weeks together as emotions are "peaking" so to speak after trying to get pregnant for 1 1/2 years. needless to say, God is good and has helped us be transparent with each other in an attempt to support each other in this journey. Though we are both growing tired of "trying" we have found renewed hope in the past few weeks that God has a purpose for us and will be faithful to reveal it. We are going to continue with at least another round of IUI and then possibly more testing. Adoption is in consideration at the moment and we're praying that God will soften our hearts to this possibility and lead us in the direction he wants us to go.

Alright well this is just like a journal entry without pictures. I'll close for now and update later with some fun pics. I'm sure more entries will come as things happen in our lives. For now I'll say bye and we love each and every one of you. Thanks for your prayers and encouragment. Whenever you need a quick vacation, Nashville is always open and we've always got room to spare! :-)

Christmas Party

We've started the tradition of having our own "Annual Sommers Christmas Party".... aka "Ribfest and Nate & Becca's".
Last year we had some couples over for a christmas rib dinner and bingo. It was such a hit, we had to plan it again this year. This year even more came and even more food was devoured :-)!
This year we had 11 people. It would have been 13, but a couple is out of the country on a mission trip. We chowed down on some ribs and other good food.
Played Christmas Bingo; with lots of fun gifts this year.....

Then played some "figure out the secret game" like "selling apples", "pick the book", and my personal favorite "who has the towel". Some figured out the "trick" of the game, and some didn't. Those that didn't will just have to wait till next year :-).
Now onto some pictures of course....
Missy (baby alvarado) and Roberto

Christina NOT figuring out the secret of the game

Cheryl enjoying herself while Roger concentrates hard to figure out the secret :-)

Come on Roger....don't rule out the obvious

I'm selling "mighty fine apples"

Apparantly Chris and Sharon find it funny....

This year we had our first ever cookie and dessert contest. Everyone brought a cookie and dessert, then we voted for our favorite. The winners got to take home a ghetto, home-made trophy to have and to hold, and to bring back next year. This year Sharon took home BOTH trophies! :-)

And so the night came to a close but not before we took some group pictures... This year everyone was "almost" on time :-) so the food didn't get "too" cold..... and the last left at 11:30. All in all, this year was a fun success - and we're already looking forward to 2009. +

Can you sell apples??

Becca/Nate, Missy/Roberto, Brandi/Ryan, Cheryl/Roger, Christina, Sharon/Chris

Merry Christmas!!

Hostutler "Christmas" at Thanksgiving

Well this post is going to be a lot of pictures.....I know, I know; what a surprise?! :-)

Sooooooooo here goes nothing

We spent Thanksgiving with my family, the hostutlers, for a week in the W.V. :-). It was a much needed, relaxing, get away. Nate went hunting with dad, almost every day. Unfortunately, he didn't see any bucks, just doe. There was enough evidence that there were bucks around, but they were hiding from Nate :-(. Dad certainly had fun filling, and refilling, the feeder we got him last year for Christmas.

We had our Hostutler Family Christmas "rib fest" Thanksgiving night. Friday night we opened our Christmas presents (from us and to us) since we're going to be in Ohio for Christmas. I received some SWEET presents from my parents that they handmade for my favorite game, settlers of catan.


Here's some pics after we set the table - Lisa and I worked hard to make it "pretty" :-) A lot of the food had to go on the island beside the table b/c we were cramming to fit around the table :-) with all 9 of us (Joel/Lisa, Rach/Jeff, Me/Nate, Mom/Dad and Kristian - Joel's exchange student friend from college)

Do we look hungry??!! :-)

Naturally Joel and Nate busted out their guitars and jammed a little bit. Lisa then busted out her acoustic bass and wowed us all (unfortunately I didn't get any pics of her jamming)
The boys

Then I wanted to get some "creative" photo shots..... so here's what I came up with
Joel playing...... & Nate playing.....

Then of course I had to get some family pictures. Dad and I went out Saturday around the farm and found some AWESOME places to take some unique family photos. We didn't want your typical, pose and smile pictures where everyone tilts their heads to the left and puts on a fake smile. So we set our time for sunday at 11 before we all left. We all were dressed and ready to go shoot "on location". I got the camera set up (it was a bit cold outside but we vowed to throw the coats when the timer started on the camera)...... and then it started sprinkling. Ok, it's just a little sprinkle.

One photo down; move into position again, a little more than a sprinkle now..... keep going people we've got to get cool pictures this year. THROW THE COATS!!! ......

and then the downpour (did I mention my camera is sitting out in the weather during all this??!! aaaaggghhh ).

Sooooo we only got to do one location, then we had to go back to the house and try and figure out how we could get us ALL in a picture and how to adjust the lighting (easier said than done). Bummed that we didn't get the location shots; but these turned out OK, I guess.
So the picture after picture on the stairs began ... and the attempt after attempt to get the lighting correct..... aaaggghhhh I prefer natural, outdoor light!! :-) I sooo need an external flash for my camera....it'd make my life easier

can you even see Joel and Lisa's faces up there?? aaaggghhh I need an external flash :-(

Gotta get kristian in the pic :-) now that he's an adopted son :-)

And now to close with some cozy decoration pictures