Christmas In Kansas

After celebrating Christmas in South Dakota with Amah, we headed down to Kansas for a nice long break -- almost two weeks!  We had a great time!

That is one ridiculously big stocking!

What is in there?

CANDY!!

Nathan checks on his stocking.

Z plays with his metallic goo.

Phin destroys her stuffed dog.  (Is that some sort of cannibalism?)

Yay!  A monkey mitt!

Legos!

Eden got a play-do sweet shop.  Nathan is gamely trying out the various delicacies.

Hungry, hungry hippos.

Still hungry.

Z and Yaya check out the remote controlled car.

Eden discovers her egg.

Eden watches her egg with bated breath.  This is how she spent much of Christmas day.

The hallowed tradition of making the cinnamon rolls.

Caleb at the evening family gathering.

Jake

Many, many cousins and presents!

Eden's present from Yaya and Papu was so big it had to be hidden in another room.

Pure excitement!

Total mayhem.

Ann opening a present.

Faith, Phin and Uncle Abie.

Mom gave Dad a new wedding ring, since his has been lost in the Mediterranean for over 40 years!

Little cuties.

Big cutie.

Phin snuggling with Yaya's super nice Christmas blanket.  I don't think Yaya allowed this again.

It must be getting late.

More posts to follow on the Hitchcock version of chopped and the Stegall family poetry slam!

Little Snow Maiden

Christmas 2013 in South Dakota

We had Christmas with Amah in South Dakota, before we headed down to Kansas.  Nathan gave me a new camera, so we tried it out and took lots of pictures and had lots of fun!

"He Ordains Praise"

I heard Z singing and playing his guitar during his quiet time today.  By "playing his guitar" I mean strumming loudly.  He was singing a song he made up himself, and I managed to write down two of the verses:

Thank you for creating our world.
You are our king.
We love you, oh God,
And Jesus your Son,
And of course the Holy Spirit.

We will trust you, oh God
We will trust you,
We will trust your son, Jesus.
We trust in you and your Son, holy God
You made your Son rise on the third day.
That was the day of trust.

Now I know I'm biased, but I actually think this is a pretty good song!  Theologically it's way better than half the worship songs out there these days.  In the first verse he talks about the creation of the world, and in the second the resurrection.  This is a great juxtaposition of events, since each is the beginning of a new age.  Secondly, I very much like his emphasis on the Trinity.  And finally I really like the last line describing the day of resurrection as the day of trust, since not only is the resurrection God's response to Jesus' trust in him (Jesus' last words before his death were words of trust -- "Into your hands I commit my spirit"), but also, of course, it is through the resurrection that we are able to trust Jesus.

And of course, I couldn't ask to hear anything better than this coming out of the mouths of my babes.