Menu Plan Monday!

Hi friends!

So the monthly menu plan is currently on hold for the moment, not because I didn't love it, but because we're currently discussing some potential changes to our diets for the season of Lent (which begins Feb. 17) so I didn't want to plan out an entire month and have it all change. So for the next couple weeks I'll share my menu in weekly installments, and will have more to share mid-month. Happy cooking!

Monday: Baked Halibut Steaks with veggies and feta
Brown Rice Pilaf
Steamed Broccoli
Tuesday: Vegetarian Spaghetti with speedy red sauce
Garlic Bread
Salad
Wednesday: Youth group
Thursday: Two-Bean Enchiladas (also vegetarian)
Brown Spanish Rice
Friday & Saturday: dinners to celebrate Becca's ordination!

Frail Hands

This morning in worship we were talking about worship. We've been looking at the different areas and ministries of the church and this morning was "worship." Pastor mentioned that there is only so much talking you can do about worship before you just need to do it, so they left an extended period of time and space for people to do just that. We talked about how everyone worships differently, and sometimes the best way to worship is to watch others express themselves to God in different ways. So all over the sanctuary were different spaces set up for us to use our unique gifts to worship in different ways. There were easels with art supplies, kneeling pads placed at the foot of the cross, artwork around to reflect on, and soft music playing. They gave us about 15 minutes of pure freedom, to worship as we saw fit--through writing, drawing, sitting in silence, painting, kneeling, etc. At first I though, "oh dear, this Presbyterian church isn't going to know what to do with this." And some didn't. But many loved it. Many tried something new. Many were exposed for the first time to the idea that drawing can be worship. Writing can be worship. It was beautiful.

One elderly woman, probably in her 80s, almost immediately got out of her pew and made her way to the front of the sanctuary towards the cross. She was beautiful. She radiated God's love and joy. As I watched her, I wrote this:

Frail hands

Hands that have touched, caressed, soothed, and held many in their years
Hands shaking slightly
Raise above her body. Both hands, raised,
Stretching, reaching out towards the cross.

Her stark blue sweater stands bright in contrast with the gray stone walls.
Hands raised in exuberant praise
And exaltation to the One who is clearly the
King of her life.

Frail knees shake and creak as she lowers herself upon a kneeling pad,
As she kneels before the cross.
Those hands, those beautiful, wrinkled, shaking hands
Stretch out once again, raised in adoration, raise with abandon
As a child reaches out and raises her hands to her Father.

Friday Family Update!

Here's the latest from the Kennedy household this week!

**1**

Last night I innocently asked my husband if he wouldn't mind breaking out his manly power tools next time he took a day off from studying to help me mount/brace a really tall bookshelf to the wall (it was mounted at one point but not into a stud and had come loose). He says "sure, lets do that now." This turned into a 4 hour long project that involved removing every book, labeling each book with our names, categorizing them by subject, alphabetizing them within their categories, and then labeling the shelves they went on so we know what's on each shelf. (Yes, the shelves got anchored into studs as well). It was quite the project but it looks great now! And when the big earthquake strikes the shelves should stay upright :)

**2**

Last Saturday I got the chance to spend the whole day with the girls celebrating Tera, as she's only about 3 weeks away from marrying Dave! We drove up to Santa Barbara for a nice lunch and some wine tasting. I definitely loved spending such a gorgeous day with such great friends!

**3**

My little niece is already three months old!! I can't believe how fast she is growing up and how much I adore her! Seriously, isn't she just precious?? I got to video chat with her yesterday--she's holding her head up, making great eye contact, smiling away and constantly moving, kicking and wiggling. I love her!

**4**

I get the chance to speak to the youth Sunday morning at church which I am kind of nervous about! I'm supposed to give my testimony, which is fine, but I'm trying to come up with some kind of creative or more narrative way of presenting it rather than just saying "so I was born into a Christian family...etc etc" I've been thinking about it a lot and am not sure I have a great solution yet but I'm working on it!

**5**

Both of us have been sending out resumes for ministry positions all over the place. Right now, we're not so concerned about location as getting some contacts made so we've been checking church staffing websites daily and sending out resumes quite a bit this week. It's a long process, most ministry positions can take 6-12 months to fill from the time they start accepting applications, so we're not anticipating having anything lined up in the next month but hopefully by the fall we'll have an idea of what might be next for us. Right now we are kind of in a "don't ask us what's next, we don't know, we'll let you know when we do know something!" phase of life :)

**6**

My other new project is thinking about a big change I'm contemplating making for Lent. Charles and I have talked about it a bit, and are doing research, but we are seriously considering going vegetarian for those 6 weeks. I have several reasons for contemplating this, and I'm kind of excited! My hubby says he's game to try, so we'll see. Stay tuned as Ash Wednesday gets closer to see what we decide and how this plays out for us!

**7**

One of my favorite moments of the week came when I was hanging out in our apartment courtyard chatting with some of the women. A three year old came up and asked us how the words to "Rock a bye baby" goes so two of us started telling her. We got to the line "when the bow breaks..." and before we could say "the cradle will fall..." she interrupts us with "Daddy will catch you!" We decided that was a much better way to end the song. And a pretty great testimony to her daddy's parenting--she's only three and already knows that when she falls, Daddy will catch her. I wish the teens in our youth group still believed that about their parents. And in some cases, I just wish it was actually true, that their parents would indeed be there to catch them instead of making them feel horrible for their mistakes.

1,000 Gifts Week 4

This week I am thankful for...

61. Playing "Epic Musical Chairs" at youth group on Wednesday (NOT just a game for a 4 year old's birthday party!)

63. Dinner with Jenn and Becca on Tuesday evening. Yummy soup, bread, wine and salad.

67. Coffee dates with two great high school freshmen.

70. Getting to see The Blind Side last weekend--a terrific movie!

72. Getting to video chat with my smiling, giggling little Lily yesterday :)

75. A sweet text message from my honey this morning while he was at the beach.

76. Getting to talk to Papa on the phone for about a half hour Monday (I never get to talk to him!)

79. Time spent laying in the grass in a park watching the clouds while on my jog the other day. (Yes I got exercise too, the cloud watching came while doing sit ups in the grass!)

How bout you? What are you giving thanks for this week?

Menu Plan Monday!

I know I haven't done this in awhile, I've been working on the monthly menu plan, but this month for some reason I drifted away from it a bit. I think a couple of the recipes didn't go over as well as I had anticipated so I don't want to make them a second time just for the sake of sticking to a plan. So I used the same ingredients and found different recipes. This is what's for dinner this week:

Monday: Broccoli Cheese Soup, french bread, salad
Tuesday: Leftovers
Wednesday: Youth group
Thursday: Pesto Chicken Pasta and salad
Friday: Lentil Sausage stew
Saturday: Enchilada Casserole
Sunday: Left overs

7 Quick Takes Friday

Your weekly update from the Kennedy household...
**1**
I finally finished up our 2009 photo album, uploading all our year's worth of digital pictures to shutterfly.com in order to create a photo album to have printed for us. I did it last year as well and for our wedding album and they turn out beautifully, so I'm excited for this to arrive! 100 pages chronicling our first year of marriage...

**2**
If you have seen the news this week you know that southern california has been hit hard by some impressive storms. I haven't seen anything like this since 95 when our whole town seemed to flood! The rain and wind have been so strong we even lost the life of our neighborhood squirrel. He didn't make it through the storm. Our part of town hasn't been dealing with flooding although there are a few trees down in the neighborhood, but other parts of the city are a mess. I still think it's a nice change from the monotonous 70 degree weather though :)

**3**
I think the weather is making me really tired and unmotivated though. That would be the one downside. I've been wanting to do nothing but curl up under a blanket with a book this week (which makes sense since it's down-pouring outside). So it hasn't been the most productive week ever.

**4**
Plane tickets have been purchased! I get to hold Lily again on February 11th! She's being baptized on Valentines Day so I'm heading back to Providence for a long weekend with the family. Charles will be attending Dave and Tera's wedding here in town that weekend--we're both sad we can't be at both events but this was one of those weekends where we had to decide to divide and conquer!

**5**
We watched an unbelievable movie last night at the recommendation of my cousin Jeff. He mentioned it this summer when we were in Seattle and we finally got around to seeing it. The Power of One came out in 1992 and is a story about apartheid in South Africa, and the power of one white college student who was determined to take steps to see it end. It was an incredibly powerful story that both of us loved. When I see movies such as this, about racism, the Civil Rights movement etc, I'm always struck by a strong sense of the injustice that was at work (which is probably appropriate, the way blacks were treated by whites for centuries has been nothing but unjust). However last night I was struck powerfully with a new response. The whole time I was watching I felt a deep sense of shame at the color of my skin. I wished I wasn't white in that moment. I felt so ashamed of the history of oppression that has been brought upon countless countries and societies by white Europeans throughout the centuries and I wanted nothing to do with it. It was an interesting experience that I'm still processing, but one I think we need to have ever now and then in order to keep the cycles of oppression from returning (not that they have ever gone away, but that's another blog post for another time....)

**6**
Tonight we're going to dinner and to see The Blind Side (finally!) to celebrate our 10th monthiversary (which was yesterday). It's been a couple weeks since we've gone on a date and I'm ready! (And I'll be able to cross off two movies off my 28 movies to watch this year list after this weekend!)

**7**
For those who were wondering if I was still a fan of my new Kindle now that I've done some reading on it, the answer is YES! I love it! I have read all of Dan Brown's new book and am almost done with the third Twilight book and I really am enjoying the convenience of it. I think I read faster on it too, I'm not sure how that's possible but I seem to be getting through books faster these days. My Kindle also has a new name. Her name is Rory thanks to Jenn :) Rory is my favorite Gilmore Girls character who loves reading, so it seemed like an appropriate name :)

Happy weekend everyone!

1,000 Gifts week 3

This week I am thanking God for...

41. The rain that is providing LA with much needed water (even if it's a bit of an over-load in places!)

47. A two day Company of New Pastors retreat in Malibu Monday-Wed. (more about that in another post)

49. Celebrating 10 months of marriage this week

50. Making homemade French Onion Soup last night (something I'd always wanted to try) which turned out delicious!

53. Watching The Power of One last night-a beautiful, tragic and inspiring movie about apartheid in South Africa.

60. A fun trivia night at youth group on Wednesday. I ended up on the all boys team which turned out to be a blast :)

Jesus, thank you for these and the many other gifts--great and small--that you provide for us.

1,000 Gifts

I recently came across the blogs of two members of my Seattle church that have been so inspiring and encouraging for me to read. Both Susan and Kimberlee wrote this past month about cultivating and practicing thankfulness in our lives, and I thought I'd share those with you. As I read, I realized they were both talking about a community of people and bloggers out there who are intentional about practicing the spiritual discipline of gratitude. They explained that the practice was simple--it was all about making a list of things you are thankful for and actually thanking God for them. I have done bits and pieces of this in the past, but usually fairly sporadic. What I like about this practice, however, is that it forces us to be aware of and recognize the tiny things in life that are so simple and so beautiful. It forces us to remember to thank God for the laughter of a child wafting through the open window, or the sight of a neighbor's beautifully kept rose garden. Susan wrote that "intentional looking leads to seeing more and more of what would have been unnoticed." I decided a few weeks that one of my disciplines for 2010 was to participate in this Gratitude Community. You can do this in a number of ways--by listing a few items each day, or creating space to make a longer list once a week. Several people who have done this have taken the time to create beautiful gratitude journals that are truly pieces of art, however I simply picked up my gratitude journal a friend gave me years ago and started a new page. Each week I'll share a few of the things I listed that week with all of you. In a season where there is so much chaos, confusion, and pain on the nightly news, I wonder what would happen if we all stopped for a few minutes and attended more deeply to the small delights around us?

My list with the actual numbers on it is at home but here are a few of the small gifts I am thanking God for this month:

Time this week to catch up on so many unfinished projects

My beautiful new baby niece is now 3 months old and perfectly healthy

Savoring a mocha in a Portland coffee shop with my best friend

Getting completely lost in Dan Brown's latest book--a book that was purely fluff and entertainment!

Seeing Christmas card photos of friends and family members who I only get to hear from once a year.

A friend's courage and honesty with me.

My husband ignoring his alarm clock today in order to spend an extra hour snuggled up next to me

The fun and ridiculousness that is the TV show Glee

The opportunity to share my testimony with the youth in a few weeks.

A chance to interview with and hear about the children's ministry program at a church here in this area.

My new 2010 day planner that I am kind of in love with.

Jesus, thank you for these gifts, and the many more we are unaware of in our lives.

Being Haunted

Being Haunted. It’s been quite awhile since I have been “followed” by a book, you know, in that “can’t get it out of your head,” “can’t rest until you know the conclusion,” “look over your shoulder throughout the day to see if the characters are behind you” kind of way. But over Christmas, I was followed, no, I was chased, by Barbara Kingsolver’s fictional, theological, tragic masterpiece, The Poisonwood Bible. This book literally appeared in my dreams on more than one occasion, as I found myself walking the red dirt roads of the African Congo with the Price family.

The Reverend Nathan Price is an arrogant, eccentric, overly-zealous Baptist minister so obsessed with “saving souls” that he risks his own life and the lives of those closest to him when he moves his wife and four daughters to the Congo for a supposed one-year stint as missionaries. This later turns into decades of tragedy for this family as he refuses to leave and return home. He carries nothing but his determination to show the pagan village of Kilanga the errors in their tribal beliefs and practices, proclaiming Tata Jesus as their one true God and demonstrating an unwavering obsession with getting their children baptized. Rev. Price moves his family without the sanction of the Baptist Missionary Society, without training, without any knowledge of the culture or language, and while his terrified wife and four daughters sneak mild comforts from home into the Congo hidden in their underclothes Nathan Price bulldozes his way into a village that would have been happier had he never set foot on their soil.

Nathan may have a very authentic belief in Jesus, and a deep desire to see other’s come to know Jesus as Lord, however it is his arrogance that ends up destroying his family and changes the lives of the villagers he is attempting to serve in a less than positive way. Because he chose not to study the language of the people prior to his trip, and because he does not always trust the interpreters, Nathan chooses to attempt preaching in a language not his own. Sunday after Sunday he boldly proclaims “Tata Jesus is bangala!” In the native language Kigongo, the meaning of words depends upon intonation. So while he is attempting to say “Jesus is precious and dear,” he is actually proclaiming week in and week out that Jesus is poisonwood, a local tree that causes immense pain, itching, and misery. People attempt to correct him and he will hear none of it. He knows Jesus. They don’t. He’s right. They’re wrong. And he can’t figure out why no one is flocking to be baptized into the family of this itchy, miserable Jesus.

Throughout the novel Nathan’s arrogance rears its ugly head time after time, leaving a wake of misunderstanding, pain, and heartache in his path. The amount of hatred I felt for him surprised me, I don’t normally have such a strong reaction to fictional characters. The level of spiritual abuse he rose to with his family and the villagers he was attempting to convert was astounding to me. And it would be really easy for me to sit here in judgment of him. But I found myself having to ask the question as I read, ‘have I ever done this?’ Certainly I haven’t bulldozed my way into an African village proclaiming Jesus is a poisonwood tree, but have I ever looked at non-Christians with a sense of arrogance or lack of humility? In interactions with my non-Christian family members do I assume I have it all figured out and they are simply stumbling in the dark? Do I ever wear my faith like a badge of honor? Do I misunderstand the culture and language of those I am attempting to minister to because I fail to take the time to really listen and learn? I think the answer is yes, I am guilty of these things. I know I’ll continue to make these mistakes, but The Poisonwood Bible is a book I know I’ll be re-reading every so often, partly because it’s a phenomenally written book, and partly as a reminder of the approach and heart we as ministers are to adopt as we look at a broken world desperate for the Good News and compassion that comes with knowing Jesus.

Your kitchen tip of the week

Well I don't exactly give you kitchen tips all that often, but I found one that is AMAZING and totally works! So I don't know about all of you but one of my pet peeves is when the brown sugar turns rock hard and you end up chiseling it out of it's container. I came across something in a magazine awhile ago that said if you kept a marshmallow in the container with the brown sugar it somehow keeps the brown sugar soft. I wanted to test it, so several months ago I tried it and tonight discovered the brown sugar soft and fresh. You gotta try it, it totally works!

Getting Away

The night before school started again for the quarter Charles and I headed out to a bed and breakfast in Solvang, CA (past Santa Barbara in wine country) for our Christmas gift to one another. We decided there wasn't really anything we needed or wanted to buy for each other, so we'd rather put the money towards something memorable. It was an absolutely gorgeous day to go, spectacular scenery! We really didn't do a whole lot, we played a board game, enjoyed the B&B's wine/appetizer hour, went out to dinner, and slept for about 10 straight hours which was heavenly! Monday before we headed home we visited the Santa Ynez Mission and the Buttonwood Farms Winery. Enjoy the photos!

I had packed a picnic lunch for us for the drive up, so we stopped on the coast in Santa Barbara for lunch on Sunday. A delicious meal of crackers, gouda, pasta salad with fresh basil, mozzarella and tomatoes.

An overlook off the road heading into Solvang. Such a beautiful valley!Our quaint bed and breakfastThe Santa Ynez missionBeautiful stations of the cross

A perfect Northwest weekend

This past weekend I got to go up to Portland to spend the weekend with Jenn! It was a perfect Northwest winter weekend! On Friday I got to spend the day with Jenn in her first grade class which was a blast--first graders are a crack up! I don't know how she does it all day, I was exhausted after a few hours, but I loved seeing her in action. She is a phenomenal teacher :) Friday night I finally got to meet the famous Sandeep, her wonderful boyfriend :) The three of us spent all day Saturday hanging out--they showed me a perfect Portland day! One coffee shop, thai food, one phenomenal chocolate shop, a wine bar, and a restaurant that has a Mediterranean/middle eastern feel. Definitely some good food and wine! Sunday I got to go to their church and visit a delicious French cafe for lunch and another coffee shop. Enjoy a few photos!

When Jenn was away from the table we took this photo for herA perfect NW day--sweaters, a scarf, and mochas in fabulous mugs. YUM!

We decided the surgeon should cut the chocolate pieces. (Sandeep is a general surgeon). This totally looks like someone I'd want cutting me open!

Saturday night we went to a cool bar that had good wine and board games. So we sat around and drank a glass of wine, shared a cheese plate, and played Monopoly.

January's Monthly Menu Plan

I know January is almost half over (can you believe it??) and I still haven't posted The Plan for this month. And I realize many of you could care less, but because I find it a good discipline to think through what we'll be eating, how our money is being spent etc, the info is below. Sticking to this monthly menu plan in December worked wonderfully--I loved knowing exactly what was for dinner, what I needed to buy each week etc. It made things SO easy! So here's January's plan. Once again, I chose a few main meals that I'll make every other week (so eating each twice this month) and bought the ingredients in one costco/Albertson's shopping trip. Enjoy the recipes! And if any of you come up with a menu plan, I'd love to see what you're making!

Click on each line for the recipe

Club Salad with Honey Mustard Dressing
Cheesecake Factory Chopped Salad
BBQ Chicken and Black Bean Burritos
Pesto Shrimp Pasta
Meatloaf
Twice Baked Potatoes (a side dish)
Ranch Potato Crips (a side dish)
Honey Mustard Chicken Pasta

And I Resolve...

Ahhh a new year. 2010. I think it has a nice ring to it. I like new beginnings, and for the first time I am not a student anymore. The fall no longer is the beginning of my year. January is. I enjoy thinking through what a new start means. I realize there is all kinds of research that says January is actually not the best time of the year to try to change habits in our lives--it's the dead of winter and that really isn't all that inspiring for most people! But that hasn't deterred me. (I live in LA, there is no winter here....not "real" winter anyways!) I have had fun this past week thinking through different areas of my life and things I either want to hang on to or things I want to change about my habits, patterns, or lifestyle. I realized just how many facets of life I have (we all have). Usually most of us make a goal that centers on one area of life, without really thinking through other aspects of our lives (this is always what I have done in the past). But I wanted this year to be different. We all have our physical health. We all have some type of spiritual aspect of our lives. We have social aspects of our lives etc. So I decided that this year, I was going to make several goals for 6 different areas of my life. I know, that sounds a bit extreme, but some are simple and some are going to take most of the year to accomplish. This is the first year I have ever written them down on a piece of paper the perfect size to paperclip into my day planner, so I'll have them in front of me each day. I know that many of you are thinking I'm nuts, that I'll probably fail (and you are right, on some of these goals, I will probably fail, but that is not a reason to not try!) I'm not going to share all my goals here, I'll do that with a few friends for accountability, but here on the blog I will share my 6 categories/spaces of life that I thought through, and I'll give you a couple of examples of things on my list this year.

1. Social life--here I wrote down specific people in my life I want to be better about maintaining contact with, and gave myself a goal for how often I wanted to make sure I was working on getting in touch with them. Sometimes I feel a little overwhelmed at the number of people I want to keep in touch with, and it felt really good to make a list on paper and make a plan for how I'd love to do that better this year.

2. Spiritual health--one of my goals here was to practice a technology-free sabbath one day a week. I don't need to be connected to my computer or text messaging all the time, so one of my goals is to turn them all the way off for a day and take space to do something else.

3. Personal life--this was a fun category :) My 28 books that I want to read this year are in this category, as is the goal of learning to knit something other than a scarf this year!

4. Professional life--writing down a specific number of hours I wanted to devote to job hunting, paperwork needed to future ordination stuff etc went in this category.

5. Physical health--goals for how often I wanted to do different types of work outs went here.

6. Marriage--we all have things we do that negatively impact those we live with. I spent some time thinking and praying about a few things I wanted to work on in order to love and serve my husband even more.

I'm not superwoman. I won't be perfect at all of these. I won't even be close on some. But I resolve to stop making excuses as to why I can't work on some of these things. In 2010, I resolve to try. And that's all I expect of myself.

My First Christmas by Lily Abigail

Aunt Sarah said I could be a guest writer here on her blog to tell you all about my very first Christmas! I got to spend 3 weeks in a place called Minnesota with my Mommy, Daddy and my Grandma and Papa. Auntie Sarah and Uncle Charles came to visit me for a week too! It was so fun getting to know my family, I think they like me a lot, even if I am fussy! Minnesota is a really cold place, but I didn't mind too much because every time I went outside I got to be nice and bundled up and someone always carried me zipped into their jacket so I wasn't ever freezing, which was really very nice of them. Here are some of the things I got to do while I was there and some of the people I got to spend time with.

I learned how to smile! Aren't I cute?? Everyone thought so, because when I moved my mouth like this they all started pointing these things at me that flashed and clicked. So smiling must be kind of cool!

This is my Papa, I think he loves me a lot! And I love him too! Papa calls me his Little Squirt. I got to hang out with him a lot while I was there, sometimes during the day and sometimes late at night when I just couldn't go back to sleep. My mommy would sometimes take me into Grandma and Papa's room and Papa would get up with me. I liked those night time cuddles with him, he would wrap me all snug in a blanket, give me a bottle, and then bounce me on the big exercise ball until I fell asleep in his arms. He also helped make me smile and would take lots of pictures of me. Here we are playing Settlers of Catan together. I got to play on Papa's team here and I think I helped him win. Grandma and Papa gave me a mirror for Christmas and it was my favorite present! I smiled and laughed and squealed at the funny little girl inside of it. I don't quite know who she is yet, but she sure is cute! I think I want to be her friend. Papa would look in the mirror with me and tell me the little girl in there is so beautiful. I wonder who she is? Maybe she'll be my friend.I like my baths! At home I have a little tiny bathtub that fits me, but here at Grandma and Papa's house I get to play in Grandma's really really big bath tub. Grandma thought I looked kind of silly, being so little in such a big tub, so she took this picture with Papa's camera. I like being in the water where it's nice and warm, but when you take me out, watch out, I will scream at you!My Grandma is the bestest Grandma in the whole world, she is so fun and she loves me so much! I like hanging out with Grandma! We did all kinds of things together while I was at her house. Grandma calls me her Little Lily Pad, which I like! She is a very good snuggler. She gives me lots of kisses on my head. She read me stories too! She read to me about the 5 Little Monkeys who were jumping on the bed. Those were silly monkeys, they kept falling off! Grandma also read to me a story about a garden, but I got a little fussy during that one because there weren't any pictures to look at! But she tried, she sat on the floor with me and read me her story and one of these days I'll be big enough to hear the whole thing!
This is Grandma reading me her garden story.One of my favorite things about Grandma is that she lets me kick and play on the floor a lot, which I love! When I'm really fussy and am tired of being around a lot of people, Grandma takes me to a room that is quiet and lets me lay on the floor, watch the ceiling fan, look at the Christmas tree, and would talk and sing to me really quietly. It always helped me calm down, I loved it! She sang me songs about Mr. Moon, and about a place called Good Ship Lollypop, which she said my Great-Grandma Nan taught her. I think I like these songs! Grandma would play with my toes, kiss my tummy, and use my hands to help me sit up. That's really hard to do though, because my head is really heavy and hard to hold up! But Grandma helped me practice!

I got to take lots of cozy naps while I was in Minnesota too. Sometimes I didn't sleep for very long, I would pop my eyes open and surprise whoever was holding me because they would think I was sound asleep. Ha ha! I fooled them! But I got to snuggle with so many people, it was the best!Sometimes it wasn't their arms I slept in! Here I am napping on Mommy's legs!I didn't mind, it was cozy!This is my Auntie Sarah, she calls me her little munchkin and Little Peanut. I got to nap with her a bunch too! I spent a lot of time hanging out with her, rocking in a rocking chair, playing on the floor, and helping her win Settlers of Catan. She liked to read, so I napped on her while she read her book in the chair. I think it was pretty great for both of us!Aunt Sarah sang me songs as she rocked me, which I liked too. She sang me the same songs my Grandma did, but sometimes when she sang them, she would start to get tears in her eyes. She said the songs reminded her of her Gramma Nan, who knew I was coming but never got to meet me. She said Gramma Nan would have loved me a lot and would have sang me her songs, but since she isn't here anymore my Grandma, my Mommy, and my Auntie Sarah would have to teach me her songs about Mr. Moon, and a silly song about a Monkey who loves a Chimp. This is my Uncle Charles, who I got to hang out with too! He is funny, when I am a little bit older I think he's going to make me laugh a lot! Here he is talking to me as I swing in my swing.I got to snuggle with him on Christmas morning, he kept me warm and cozy!He also bounced me on the ball quite a bit and helped me get my little bubbles out of my tummy by burping me, which I really needed!I got a couple of fun Christmas presents too! My Great Grandma Hildie made me several blankets and quilts which I just know will be so warm and cozy to snuggle in! The colors are so pretty too!Auntie Sarah made me a book on the internet and had it printed for me. It's called Who Loves Lily? and it is all about people who love me! Every page is a different family member, and each page says: "Who Loves Lily?" then it says "Papa loves Lily!" or "Auntie Hope loves Lily!" or "Auntie Sarah loves Lily!" There are pictures of all my family in it, even my puppy Taylor! And all of them wrote to me about the things they are excited to do with me some day! I am going to be a busy little girl! I really like looking at everyone's faces in the book!And lastly, I had to play dress up a couple of times which I did NOT like one bit! Dresses are COLD!
This is my Christmas dress.And this is my family's baptismal dress. It's been worn by a lot of people, and they wanted to see if it fit me. I didn't like it very much!Happy new year everyone!
Love,
Lily