It Can't Be December Already!

Whooa...I think we missed a post or two! Wow, how time flies! Where did November go?

Our November was really full. To start it off was Sara's 10th - yep, count 'em - 10th birthday. She celebrated by having six girl friends from church over for a two night sleep over. Whew, how'd we get by that one! I have some pictures to share, but its been a while, and I didn't realize how shy 10 year old girls are! All you can see in most pictures is the back of their turned heads or a pillow where the smiling face should be...smile. But they all had great fun.

And then Pam and I marked our 5th anniversary on the 19th. Again, how time flies. We were married in the fall of '03 and then moved to Oregon in the spring (April) of '04. And we have been here since, loving it, with no plans to leave.

And then on the 27th, yep Thanksgiving Day, Pam marked her **th birthday! We made our celebration on the Saturday prior since Sara was due to fly out to New Mexico and see her Dad on Wednesday before Thanksgiving Day.

So you can see that November was pretty full for us...but wait, not finished yet. We also endured a fender bender and one car in the auto body shop for a week, and the corker, a broken arm to end the month! Yes, the same Saturday we celebrated Pam's birthday, Sara slipped in the house and went down, tried to catch herself with her hands and broke her left arm just above the wrist...oh, did I mention she was rollerskating?! So we spent hours in the emergency clinic to get an x-ray, and then made an extra trip to Portland to get a cast. But the good news is that Good Samaritan Hospital has lime green casting material. You see lime green is Sara's favorite color. And so, when she learned that she had indeed broken her arm and she knew they made colored casts nowadays, she was determined to get a lime green cast. And sure enough, Good Sam had just that color on the shelf, waiting for a 10 year old girl. In the pictures you can see how proud she is of her green cast!! And I am told all her classmates were duly impressed...smile.

So you can see that our November was very full. But oh, I'm not done yet. We also had so many medical visits that I lose count. Let's see, Walt went to the dentist twice, once a cleaning and check up and a week later to repair a chip out of his front tooth...not sure how that happened, just one day a snagglepuss grin. And then he made several doctor's visits to Portland related to follow up from his cancer surgery. And then Sara went to the dentist for a cleaning...and a perfect report we are proud to say. At-a-girl Sara! And then Pam had two trips related to a concern she had, and then two more trips for her first colonoscopy. Oh, did I mention that we are a family who believes in colonoscopy now? Yep, a serious year long bout with colon cancer has convinced us all. I hope you have learned from our experience. Don't put off the test. Unpleasant sure, but not nearly so difficult as repeated abdominal surgeries, and chemotherapy. Trust me, get it done!

So that was our November. Pretty full, but through it all God was faithful and kind. We are all doing well, and eager about the season of celebration of our Lord's advent. For our readers who love the Lord Jesus, remember as you sing and give gifts this year, there was a promise and thousands of years waiting for fulfillment prior to our Lord's first coming. And then when he left following his resurrection we were given a new promise of his coming yet once again, and this a final time. And we have been waiting for thousands of years since. So...perhaps next year! Wouldn't 2009 be a good year for his final return?! Even so, come our Lord Jesus!

For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.

- Paul, Epistle to the Philippians, 3:20-21

Walt, for the three of us, +dog...smile.

P.S. A couple more really cute pics of daughter.