simply grateful

Safety never takes a vacation!

What a wonderful month it has been! I wanted to post a little something to encourage you that I really will get back to blogging soon. Our days have been full of friends and family, travels and treasures, all to return home. There is much to catch up on, but for now, the big news is that Karissa took her first steps while at my parents' house in Texas. Here are a few pics. I cannot believe the littlest Petro is growing up so! Here she is taking her first steps to Aunt Jayme! and then to Mama back to Daddy back and forth to some very proud parents!

This month, we are trying to read a bible verse and do a craft everyday to learn about Christmas. Yesterday's lesson was about how the angel Gabriel told Mary she was going to have a baby and name Him Jesus. "But the angel said to her, 'Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.'" Luke 1:30-32a Just in case you can't tell, Makayla painted Mary and Elijah painted Gabriel. A good friend encouraged me to just let the kids paint how they wanted to paint...the controlling inner school teacher struggled with this just a wee bit...until I saw how proud they were. I have a lot to learn about preschoolers! There are some wonderful websites for this. I wish my ideas were original. Not so much. Pretty much every good idea I have is stolen...er, I mean, borrowed. Here are some sites I visit regularly for ideas...

One of our favorite holiday traditions is packing a shoebox full of goodies for a needy kid around the world. We do this through Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child. This is a terrific organization who meets spiritual as well as physical needs. Every child who receives a box will be taught about Jesus. I was just looking on their website and they are still taking donations if that is something you are interested in doing . It was even more fun this year because Makayla is old enough to kind of get the idea that the box is going to another child far away who may not even have toys. She gave a teddy bear a bit of love before putting it in her box. Elijah enjoyed packing his box too...although the lid did not quite want to go on. I know the economy is not good. It seems like all ministries are hurting financially. But we are still so blessed and if one kid could come to know Christ because of a simple shoebox, it is all worth it. If you are interested in knowing more...

Not long ago, our town had an open house at the police station. The kids loved it! They had lots of cool things to look at: police cars, robots, mobile headquarters, drug dogs, the works. We even got to see McGruff the Crime Dog. Let's just say that Elijah is NOT a fa n. He wailed! But, Dad always makes things better...