2010 top 10 "moments"

So, I love end of the year countdowns - top movies, songs, moments, pictures, etc. I love the reflectiveness (is that a word) of all of it. I also love new starts to things. New seasons, years, semesters, whatever. A moment in time where something old ends and something new begins. I'm always encouraged and excited.

That being said, two very important people in my life have taught me two very important things. Stacy taught me the value of looking back at what I have learned and what I want to do with that. Adrienne has taught me to look forward to things with great anticipation and expectation of what the Lord is going to do. So, here's my list of the top 10 "moments" of 2010. Some are rather broad and can be multiple in nature. But it's the general idea of it that is a "moment" for me. These are in no particular order . . .

1. turning 30: for some reason, i don't feel like the "young one" anymore in many of my circles. like 30 has a little more clout and maturity. for the first time, i feel like i really have something to offer women in their early-mid 20's. in college, newly married. new mom's. like that's a whole new place of ministry for me.

2. our 10 year anniversary: i'm really proud of us. where we've come from. where we are. where we're going. we have the ability to live fairly independent lives at times - which has it's long list of pros and cons. but i'm thankful for all that we are, how our marriage is definitely something we have to be intentional about and is not easy, and that we're doing this life together.

3. living in community: this would be living at the godwin's this summer and being on assignment. the relationships these times build are priceless. and the growth i see in myself is encouraging. not saying i want to do it all the time . . .

4. 2 1/2 year olds: i am convinced i am a much better parent of children over the age of 2 1/2. having two of them over that age and none under is a new life. i am less stressed, more fun and way more adventurous.

5. breaking free and believing god: although there is much to be done in both areas, both of these bible studies were instrumental in getting me through this year.

6. getting an iphone: please do not think less of me b/c this made my list. seriously, iphones are amazing!

7. injuries and illnesses - my children are not exempt from anything. they are not mine, they are the Lord's. and he loves them more than i do.

8. sickness and death - cancer (2 1/2 year old, 26 year old, 40 something year old) and heart issues are the ones that have hit so close to home and seem to scream that the world is ugly and not fair. but someday there will be no more sickness and no more sadness. and in that there is comfort, hope and joy.

9. god's story - so much this year i have learned that god is writing a story. my story is a small segment of his huge story. but it's important. and he weaves people, circumstances and life in and out in the most beautiful and fascinating ways. with the end in mind!

10. year of prayer: although this was much more a reality for ben, i've come a long way. and the theme was so appropriate. ben and i both feel strongly that 2011 "theme." but that's not for now b/c this is about 2010.

So, there you have it. Big - not always. Significant - for sure.

Happy New Year!

christmas 2010

Christmas 2010 in a nutshell . . . .


I love our Christmas tree. It's the best fake tree ever.


The kids putting together Ben's stocking - which consisted of coffee pods for his Kuerig. Completely full of them.

We opened gifts with the kids on Christmas Eve morning. Which you will find out later why I am completely grateful that we did it that way.


Sophie got a fort. You can make it however you want. It's indoor/outdoor. It'll be great fun!


This was the gift of the morning. It's from Ben to me - a head massager. Oh my goodness!!


Sophie got a giant dry erase board.




Every Monday when Sophie and I are grocery shopping at Walmart, this is the cell phone she plays with in the check out aisle.


Ben's stocking debris.


Ted got the Playmobil stage.

We played all day and then left for New Martinsville. We didn't go to church here in Morgantown. It was just a weird evening for us. Different. One of those sad moments for us and not being in Charleston at River Ridge. We drove through Chik-Fil-A for dinner (missing the "sorry you had to work tonight cups") and then to New Martinsville.

That night, I fell asleep with Ted and told Ben to wake me up for midnight mass with my family. He woke me up at 11:00 and that's when it started. The nastiest sickness I've had in a very long time. Seriously, I'm pretty sure the last time I threw up was when I was pregnant with Sophie. It was brutal.


So, this is me. This is where I went to bed at 9:00 pm on Christmas Eve and crawled out of bed the morning after Christmas. I tried to do gifts with the kids Christmas morning but that lasted through Sophie's stocking.

The following pictures belong to my mom . . .







Ted got more playmobil, lots of dress up stuff and a Leap Frog Explorer. Sophie got lots of princess dress up stuff, a vacuum cleaner, aqua doodle, and other fun things. I've discovered most of it as I've unpacked today.

Sunday morning I was still feeling not so great. We hung out with my family some and then Uncle Andy and Aunt Courtney came. Funny how all these year's Ben and I have worked around Christmas Eve and Sunday church and now that we don't have to Andy and Courtney do!


Ted got a transformer costume and wore it for 2 days straight - took it off to sleep. Today he wore his new pirate costume all day. Simply b/c the transformer costume is still packed away in someone's suitcase.


I slept a large part of the day. Oh yeah, I neglected to tell you that Christmas evening my sickness (I'll spare you the details) started all over again. So I self medicated with some peptobismol. Only to wake up an hour later with a huge rash. Thankfully the benedryl actually let me sleep for more than an hour. I was so tired after 36 hours of up every hour.


Mario Kart was our family game of the year. Well worth it if we only played it these three days.


This is what Doh and Pap's living room looked like most of the weekend. Just rotated people.


Bumble Bee the transformer.


Sophie the princess. Ted was dressed up as a princess for awhile b/c there was nothing else to dress up in. Made Ben nuts.

So, we were supposed to go to Parkersburg on Monday night and Butler on Tuesday. We decided not to do all of it and to come home. I'm still not feel 100%. Our house has absolutely EXPLODED with laundry, suitcases and many small pieces of many toys. I'm not handling it very well. Ready for the tree to come down and the toys to be put away.

So, it was a weird Christmas all the way around. We're hoping for a relaxing week and some good family time.

This picture pretty much sums it all up . . . Ted took a 3 1/2 hour nap today.



PS - that penguin behind him is the prize he won for playing Bunk(c?)o yesterday. He said that was the best part of Christmas - winning a prize. And his new transformer underwear. I should keep that in mind for next Christmas. In case you wondering, that's his pirate costume he's sleeping in!

PPS - i will say that the only good thing about me being sick over Christmas is that I didn't eat my weight in scotch-a-roos. See's the bright side to everything!

Merry freakin' Christmas!

most wonderful time of the year (part 2 of 2)

As I mentioned before we started baking and couldn't stop. Let me remind/inform you that I have made three (count them, three!) batches of homemade cookies EVER. And that in the past 2 months. So I was invited to a cookie exchange where I had to bring at least 6 dozen cookies. Kind of inspired me to do something better than a tub of chocolate chip cookie dough from Sam's.

I started with oatmeal cookies and then moved on to chocolate chips - which were my fluffiest (if that's how you describe cookies) and yummiest yet.




Ted helped.


Then he "washed" the dishes in the sink.


We baked all weekend. Chocolate chip cookies. Oatmeal cookies. Lemon bars. Peanut butter fudge. Seven layer cookies. Shrimp dip. Ben made most things. But I helped. And it was fun! I might do this again next year.

Then we hosted our annual "Christmas Vacation" party. Cameron, Sarah, Looch, Gina and Derek came over. Most of them had never seen the movie in it's entirety - can you believe that? You had to come dressed in character . . .


Ben loved being Cousin Eddy.


And so did Cameron.


Derek was Clark at Christmas dinner. Looch was Clark some other time. Sarah was "fried pussycat" (brilliant!). I was Ellen at Christmas dinner (can't really tell). And Gina was Audrey. Next year, everyone has to dress like someone from the dinner scene. So fun. LOVE that movie. It's the ONLY movie I will watch over and over and over again.


Then I went to my first cookie exchange! WOW! So fun and I cam home with some serious cookies!




I took the kids to the Wow Factory. It has awesome pottery that you can paint on your own. Great stuff. We did ornaments. We were too late for them to be done for this Christmas - they had to be left to be glazed and baked. But the ornaments were 50% off by the time we painted them. So it will be fun to have them for next year. Ted picked the hardest one and left a lot to be desired. Sophie mixed her colors together for her standard gray color. It was so fun though!


Last night (Dec 22), we did our annual "sleep by the light of the tree" sleepover. We let the kids open their Christmas pj's (which are not Christmas themed) and slippers. A little secret: Sophie picked out those very slippers at Old Navy earlier the same day!! I know - horrible.


So, we drug both kids mattresses downstairs and put up the air mattress. We watched "The Grinch" for about an hour. Sophie could not sit still and then could not lay quietly. She lasted until about 8:45 when we took her back upstairs. She was out within minutes. She just needs her own space. I ended up planning a last minute, early morning trip so I slept upstairs. The original rule was that you had to be in a big kid bed to do the sleepover. I think I'll change the criteria to age 3 minimum.


So the boys won the award for actually doing the sleepover. Good times.

We are opening presents tomorrow morning (Christmas Eve morning). That gives the kids a chance to play for most of the day before church. Then we'll head to the grandparents after that. I am SO EXCITED for Christmas this year. Both kids will be so excited I think. Can't wait to share it with them. This has really been a fun few weeks leading up to Christmas!!

most wonderful time of the year (part 1 of 2)

We've been busy the past two weeks and having LOTS of fun! There were too many pictures for one post. So make sure you hit them both. I'll try to be brief.


We made goodie bags for all the leaders during finals week. We drove all over Morgantown delivering them. I'm glad we took the kids with us. I love when they connect with the leaders and the leaders love on them.


Ted helped with all my Christmas letters - stamping and return address labels.

Then, for two weeks in a row it snowed everyday - or almost everyday. Most schools around us were canceled several times. But not Mon County. It did snow kind of crazy one afternoon and they let kids out of school early. So we played outside. I was so excited to have all the snow stuff ready to do - snow pants, mittens, hats, coats, everything!


Sophie HATES hats and mittens/gloves.


She mainly just walked around the yard being barely missed by runaway sleds with crazy boys on them. She stayed on her feet the whole time though. This was her first time playing in the snow, I think. Last year she didn't have any snow gear and I hate being in the snow so that was a good excuse, too.


Ted and Sam


No hot chocolate to warm them up - just a good round of "Just Dance." BTW, Ted is saving up for "Just Dance: Kids!"

Then we started baking . . . and we couldn't stop!


Ben made sugar cookies with the kids. He's obviously never made cut out cookies with a 2 and 5 year old. There was no way he was making an armless or legless ginger bread man. And everything had to be just so. Took WAY longer than just doing what came out.


Flour everywhere.




Sophie pretended to ice her cookies. But when no one was "looking" she was licking the spoons - and the cookies! She had her own special pile of cookies.




Leftover icing.

Moving on to part 2 . . .

2010 christmas letter

If you didn't get our Christmas letter this year, I'm sorry! The Christmas postage budget was a bit small this year. So, here you go. Virtual Christmas cards.

As a disclaimer, if you did get one in the snail mail, this little man did ALL the stamps and return address labels. So, if something was askew, give the guy a break!

I just re-read our 2009 Christmas letter. Pretty much everything about our lives has changed in the past year. But, I’m thankful to say it’s all for the best!

In January, we started praying about where God wanted us and what we should be doing. By the end of February, we knew that He was calling us to move to Morgantown, WV. The Young Life Area Director job was open. It was a pretty big spot to fill which made it all the more scary and adventurous all at the same time. Through that process, we have seen the Lord in miraculous ways – individually, in our marriage and family, and in ministry.

We didn’t have to put our house on the market as a friend bought it. We moved out in June and into some very dear friends’ basement (all of our stuff went into storage at another friend’s house). I’m thankful to say we’re still friends! Ben and I finished up our jobs at River Ridge Church (worship and family ministry) in June. We spent the month of July at Rockbridge. Ben had another fantastic month of program with a great team of people. It was hot, hot, hot and I was super thankful that both kids loved the pool and lake. Ted actually conquered the diving board and the water slides. There were lots of kids on our assignment this year, which made for great fun. After assignment, we got our stuff out of storage and moved to Morgantown. Some other great friends from Charleston are allowing us to rent their house which suites us so nicely.

We’ve been in Morgantown about 4 months now. As much as we miss Charleston (which really means people to us), we are making a home for ourselves here. Ben has jumped into Young Life with both feet. He has a different role and is not doing direct kid work for now. He has the great privilege of leading college leaders (who are quite stellar) and working with adults in the community. It’s been a growing experience for him. We’re thankful to have him home most evenings and for a total shift in how our family functions. Ministry is happening here. Kids are hearing about Jesus, leaders are being discipled and we are confident that things will begin to happen financially as a result.

I am not working right now. The shift to stay-at-home mom was not nearly as difficult as I anticipated. However, things that factor into that include Ben being home a lot more and Ted being in school 4 days a week. I miss working but I’m thankful for this time to regroup as a family and my role in that. I’m getting on the sub list here (if I ever turn in my stuff), but definitely not crazy about it. I’m praying that something will come along that suits more of my gifting. Ben and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary in April with a trip out west. It was such great timing as we got back, hit the ground running, and haven’t stopped since!

Ted started a new preschool program this year. He goes 4 full days a week at a public school. He really loves it. His teachers are wonderful about helping us reinforce our hope for him to make good choices and be a good friend. Ted is very kind and patient with Sophie. She definitely gives his life a twist. But he is so helpful. Ted has developed an incredible love of dressing up and telling knock-knock jokes. He has recently discovered drawing and coloring and is interested in starting to spell and read. He’s also the tallest kid in his class. Ted is tender hearted and kind. This was, by far, our healthiest year for Ted and for that we are thankful! He is much more adventurous and loves a good game of “Angry Birds” on an iPhone.

Sophie is 2 ½. She is the funniest kid I’ve ever met. She didn’t say a whole lot until she was over 2. Then about 2 months ago she started talking in full sentences. She has no trouble expressing herself. Hilarious! We’ve turned the corner from toddler world (I’m into everything and have springs on my rear end) to preschooler (I’m more independent and will sit and engage myself in an activity). It’s glorious! Potty training has topped off our year as another major accomplishment and great help to the grocery budget. I’m certain we’ve touched every public toilet in Morgantown! We seem to be on the 6 month plan with some sort of injury: January she had an out-patient surgery for reoccurring nose bleeds, in July she had a concussion while we were at Rockbridge, and just last week had a fever induced seizure and got to ride in the ambulance. I guess we’re up again in June!

Life is different. Life is good. More than ever, this year we have felt incredibly loved. After 9 years in Charleston, we left with more encouragement, love and support than we would’ve ever dreamed. Relationships are wide, deep and enduring. The word that I would use to describe people is GENEROUS - completely, utterly, unabashedly generous. We have been the recipients of so much, in so many ways, I can’t even tell you. We are truly rich.

Joshua 4 shares about God giving the Israelites their second attempt to enter their promised land after wandering in the desert for 40 years. As they crossed the Jordon River (which was at flood stage but God actually made it dry ground) to enter, the Lord told them to take rocks of remembrance from the middle. The middle represented the halfway point. The deepest part. The place of sudden doubt and indecision. The place where you look to what is familiar on one side and then to the other side where all know is that God has called you there. Driving out of Charleston with our U-Haul was our middle of the Jordon. Thankfully, we have many rocks of remembrance that we have brought with us. So that we can always say “ . . . thus far the Lord has helped us.” – 1 Samuel 7:12.

So, here we are. Looking 2011 in the face. “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be the glory in all the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever. Amen!” – Ephesians 3:20-21

With much love,

Ben, Laura, Ted & Sophie

2010 christmas photos

We took some family photos today. Bribed the kids with fun ones if we took some good ones. I think it worked! Sophie is great today - like nothing ever happened. She slowed down a bit in the evening but nothing major.