Seed of Fruit Fracturer

I'm really enjoying spending time with my family during this Christmas break.

About a month ago, Heather and I wanted to surprise the girls with an outing, so we booked the tickets.

Today was the extra special day:

We went downtown to Local 127 for lunch. Great food and we left stuffed!

After lunch we walked down to the Aronoff Center for the Arts to catch the show. After the girls figured out why we were there, we went to find our seats to watch the Cincinnati Ballet and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra perform The Nutcraker.

It is a beautiful place!

At intermission:

After the show, they had a Sugar Plum Parade, which allowed anyone who wanted to to go up on stage and see some of the set, dancers, crew, etc. While the line was extremely long, it was pretty neat.

We all really enjoyed the show quite a bit!  Check it out next year!

Merry Christmas!

Can you believe it is Christmas already? The stockings are hung by the chimney with care and it appears Santa stopped by for a quick (and, thankfully, light) delivery.

This time of year was busy, just like every Christmas, with holiday activities with the homeschool co-op, American Heritage Girls, church, work, family, and, of course, Joie's birthday party.

Our church's worship band presented, for the fourth year in a row, Andrew Peterson's Behold the Lamb of God. It keeps getting better and better each year. This year, our leader asked me to audition for a very small part (30 seconds?). It was an honor and a thrill to be a part of such a great concert!

Last night, we did our annual trek over to Delhi to visit Heather's side of the family. We ate, opened presents, and enjoyed each others company. When we got home, we noticed the PJ Fairy had stopped by while we were gone to give us all new pajamas, as she does each year on Christmas Eve.

We spent the morning together, just the four of us, sharing just a few gifts with one another. Around 11:00 a.m., we left for Ammaw and Ampaw's for brunch and, yes, more gifts. We also got to sing Happy Birthday to Jesus! We came back home a few hours later so some naps could take place. We went out again later for dinner at a hibachi Japanese restaurant. Yum!

All in all, a great Christmas! Merry Christmas! Pictures will be posted soon.

Merry Christmas!

Every year, we would send out Christmas cards like everyone else does. We did the metamorphosis from just cards to picture cards to letters (with pictures). For Christmas 2006, we just never got them out. We like to blame Joie because she showed up a month early and was born on Dec 22. However, truth be told, we weren’t ready to buy or mail them out anyway. In 2007, we continued the new tradition of NOT sending out cards. In the age of e-mail and Internet, we figured we could still keep in touch without having to be super organized with our time. Somehow, we just cannot get everything done that is on our list. Therefore, please do not be offended if you have not received a card from us (no one has).

This year, we are morphing into another phase. We started a family blog about two weeks ago and are posting our Christmas wishes here. You can keep up with us by subscribing to our blog either via e-mail or via one of the many feeds available.

Now, onto the actual Christmas “card”:

Heather, Olivia, Josephine, and I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a fantastic new year!

Livvi continues in Tae Kwon Do (TKD) and should be getting her red belt in mid-January! She really excels at school (2nd grade) to where she is bored most of the time. As the teachers don't have the time for her (as there are some special needs kids in her class), we've made the decision to home-school her for the remainder of the year. She reads at a better than 4th-grade level and will be starting math at the 3rd grade level in this new home-school class. We'll post further updates here in the very near future. She has also taken swimming lessons and passed Level 1. Also, per a previous post, she joined American Heritage Girls a couple of weeks ago.

Joie turned two earlier this week. She is quite the talker, though sometimes we don't have a clue what she is saying. She is getting pretty good with her words and is forming sentences as well. Oh, and she is incredibly opinionated! She loves "Go, Diego, Go" and TV in general (not a good sign). On a more positive note, she really likes books and being read to. Heather tries to take her to the library for toddler story time each Wed morning. She likes to go to Livvi's TKD class and watch. Some friends gave her a white martial arts belt to wear and she is in character! She bows before entering the room (over and over again) and does kicks and punches. We keep asking for a toddler class at TKD, but they are still considering it. Heather took her to a gym class for 30 minutes each week at the YMCA. She seemed to like that as well. She is also a pretty bright kid and, like Livvi, is a joy to be around!

Heather continues to do a great job of raising our kids! She is so kind, compassionate, and patient with our girls (and me). She is excited and nervous about being a home-schooling mom. It could be a challenge with Joie around as well! She tried something new this past year in teaching a college accounting class at Cincinnati Christian University.

I just "celebrated" my 20th anniversary at Cincinnati Insurance a couple of months ago. Sounds impressive until you think about the fact that that is probably not even half way to retirement! I also continue to serve at iMPACT Church as the pastor overseeing our finances and communication efforts. Our church is really doing great! We added a Saturday night service a couple of months ago and are now averaging around 400 each weekend! We really seem to be reaching those that need to hear the message of God's grace through Jesus. It is really exciting to be a part of this congregation!

As a family, we vacationed in Orlando, Florida back in March. In April, we stayed at the Great Wolf Lodge in Mason before going to the Cincinnati Insurance Company Associate Appreciation Day at Kings Island. We also spent the night in a hotel on Thanksgiving here in town so the kids could go swimming. I got to travel as well for work to Austin, TX, Bismarck, ND, Tallahassee, FL, New York, NY, and Hartford, CT.

Many times, we’ve been told to ponder the sacrifice Jesus made by leaving Heaven to come here and live among us, ultimately dying for our sins. How many of us would have chosen that path? You say, “Well, he is God, so it was probably easier on him.” He was equally man as well when he was here on earth, so he had many of the problems and temptations we have as well. Consider Joseph and Mary and the sacrifice they made as well. How many of us would have been (or are) as faithful to carry out God’s will? It would have been so easy to quit and/or be angry!

Consider these things this season and share the Light of Christ to others.

Merry Christmas! We love you all!

Luke 2:1-20
Glenn Beck's story of Christmas (audio)