Even the sunshine is under God's command

We had planned to take family photos "under the Big 'W'."  But suddenly the opportunity arose without warning.  We had about 1 hour to drive to the other side of town and take photos.  It was noon--exactly not the time to take photos.  And it was sunny--another issue.  I knew my very sensitive-eyed kiddos would complain and squint the entire time.  I wasn't happy about the sun, but I knew it might be our only opportunity.  I prayed several times on the way to the location.  When we arrived, the corner with the "Big W" (ref. It's a Mad, Mad, Mad Mad World) was in shade!  And despite the sun peeking through with lots of dappled light, my highly sensitive kids did not notice!  In fact, it was the sun that I was so rueing that created God's greatest blessing with incredible lighting!  What a magnificent answer to prayer!

Annie Oakley made an appearance in December

December's pictures are mostly encompassed with our Christmas activities, but meanwhile...


We went to Walmart to fix a tire.  The girls sported matching "Best Sister Ever" shirts and leggings.  And we caught glimpse of a Santa walking through the store...

A danced in the family room

While E dressed up

and even joined us as Annie Oakley with her faithful side-kick

David, sweetheart that he is, wrote the bottom sentence when I asked him to write out his spelling work "thankful" for his weekly spelling test.

There were plenty of opportunities to pose for photos at the church--
both with their classes (note: of course, both my daughters had to be Mary--only one shown)

...and just the kids

And lastly, there were a few pictures of the kids looking lovely in front of the tree!

Addendum:
A still has the funniest expressions.   When she gets married, she will get a "kiss on my lipstick."
She loves all things fairy tale and especially "happily after ever endings."

Floor time

Michael and David had an awesome opportunity to go to a Rockets game with box seats.  Those box seats became floor seats the last quarter of the game.  The floor seats were on the away side.  Perhaps Michael was serving deep undercover to steal the Mavericks secrets?  The food of the evening was plentiful and the atmosphere exciting.  Thanks, Mark Lanier.