Winter Reflections

These winter afternoons have been taking their toll on me. I doubt I am the only one that is caged up inside, only wishing for a warm day in which one can go outside and enjoy. All in all, I don't mind this time of year either. I feel that it gives me a lot of time to think, reflect, and reminisce. That is exactly what I have been doing on this blistery, white afternoon as I wait for 5:30 to roll around. At 5:30 I can turn my thoughts toward Nate and getting supper on the table, but until then you are stuck with me.

At work this morning, I checked my computer to verify the date, before I went about writing it on various papers. When I noticed it was 1/16/2015, which makes sense, I paused. 'Today is my brother Todd's birthday,' I thought, 'I better not forget to text him.'

I always wondered what it would have been like to have a younger brother or sister. Although I will never know, I do know that I would not have been half of what my big brother Todd was to me.

As I began to think about the 14 years of age in between us, it dawned on me that we have never really been in similar life stages as one other. When I went to Kindergarten, he had already graduated. By the time I was in the young group, he was already married, and so on.

helping Toddy pick strawberries
#DoubtIWasMuchHelp

Our age difference never seemed to be an issue though. Bob or Toddy (as I refer to him) always seemed to take time for his little sister. Today, as I flipped through an old scrapbook from my childhood, I noticed that there was a picture of Todd on about every other page. He must have been my whole world back then.

watching TV at Bear Lake together
#HeEvenGaveMeTheRemote

A large percentage of girls have not been born into families where there is even a good example found in their father. Yet, I have the blessing of not only having a wonderful, Godly father, but also a brother who spoiled me and set a wonderful example for his little 'sis', along with 3 other older siblings who did the same. 

silly faces
#ThatOutfitOfMine

At 14 years of age, Toddy was introduced to his new baby sister Hannah Joy, and at 14 years of age Hannah was introduced to her little niece, Lexie Jo. I know God had that all perfectly planned out. He knew we each needed a little one to hold and to love. What a blessing Todd and Jessica's little Lexie has been to me. 

It sure doesn't take me long to get lonely for Lexie.

#SheLooksSoYoung #IStillLookTheSame

It has been beneficial for me to take a trip down memory lane and reflect on how much I appreciate the Godly men in my life. I realize that some girls would do anything just to have one man in their life that they could actually trust and look too, especially during the hard times.

 I do not know if Todd will ever read this, but I still want to thank him for the time, love, and prayers that he has invested in me over the years. I have so many good memories with him, and I hope that there are many more to come. I wish him a wonderful birthday and will continue to pray for him as he manages a business, as he leads his family in the admonition of the Lord, and as he ultimately strives to follow God's will in all things.

Some things just never change.
#LoveMyBigBros

Photography, Crafty, & Christmassy

I never got to share these cute faces with all of you. While, I am not an expert photographer by any means, I do like to play around with my camera, mostly for pure enjoyment. Thankfully my cousin Katy has been good about lending her children over to me for a quick photo shoot every now and then. We both benefit from the deal. She (Lord willingly) can use the pictures for her Christmas card, and I get the enjoyment of using her adorable children to improve my photography skills. 

It took a package of fruit snacks to get this smile out of Lincoln.

Lola was a little princess!

These two are going to be quite the little heart-breakers.

On to the next random subject. The two pictures below show an apron that I made for a friend's miscellaneous shower. I'll admit that I enjoyed putting it together, but sewing is always a little more time-consuming that anticipated. Even if she doesn't get around to using it very often, she will know that it was pieced together with love.

This hot chocolate mix was a gift I made for our mail-lady. It is definitely more cutesy than tasty. By the time I realized that it could have used a bit more sugar, it was too late. I am highly doubting that the postal service was too impressed.

http://cincyshopper.com/diy-peppermint-hot-chocolate-in-a-jar-gift-with-free-printable-labels/

Lastly, here are some pictures from our family Christmases. 

Miss Aubri is slightly obsessed with "Frozen." Her hat is supposed to resemble princess Elsa. Her mom informed me that Aubri is only allowed to watch "Frozen" once per week. Limits are always healthy! #EvenGotTheSoundtrack

This is Colten's "bring on the snow" look. 

This is my little princess on ice, Corinne and her new ice skates. #SheProbablySkatesBetterThanMe

Tessa always has a smile for you. She will be very domestic someday, especially if she starts this young in the kitchen. #ChefAlready
 

Kali is sure to take after her Mom. Staci used to sweep her carpet over and over, in her spare time, for pleasure. You can't judge a person who thorougly enjoys sweeping. #SweeperObsessed #WatchOut4Kali

Maeley is thinking 'did Grandma seriously get me a pizza for Christmas?'  No, it's just that Grandma gets a little desperate for boxes. #StartSavingForNextYearGrandma

Is that New Holland? .#JohnDeereBetrayal #LoganDoesn'tCare

Lexie and Tenley looking quite dashing! #SisterlyLove

Oh, so these 12 little people are the reason that our Fiechter gatherings are slightly choatic. #WouldHaveItNoOtherWay #OurFutureKidsWillBeSpoiledByTheirBigCousins

Stuart & Austyn being adorable.  #NoHand-HoldingInTenYears

The Zollinger clan singing a very heart-felt "Away In A Manger." #CouldHaveUsedALittleMoreEnergy #PeytonLooksThrilled

"Lord, this Christmas stuff is just getting to be too much for me. Please bring on the new year." #KamriPrays

Excited to see what 2015 holds for each and every one of us! Blessings to you all.

Merry Christmas!!

All was going well, one year, when two siblings decided to depict the manger scene and dress up as Mary and Jo. They thought all was in fun until........

...........well, until King Herod showed up. That is when things got a little unsettling. All I can recall is that it became a battle between King Herod's sword and Joseph's staff, and I held on to that doll as tightly as I could.

For some reason the above picture always makes me chuckle. Glad to see we were in the Christmas spirit that year. It warms my heart to remember back to Christmases long ago. I am thankful for where we have come since that point but also thankful for such great childhood memories.

Last year, at this time, I was still contemplating my answer to a proposal from a certain somebody (aka: Nate). Needless to say, it was not one of my most enjoyable Christmases, but I tried to make the most of it, knowing that my life might soon be changing.

We are really enjoying our first Christmas together, and neither of us would choose to go back a year in time. We thank God for how He showed himself faithful back then and continues too in our lives. What a blessing to celebrate our Saviour's birth together as a couple.

I'll post more about Christmas at a later time, but for now I plan to go spend some quality time with the best earthly Christmas present I ever received. MY HUSBAND. Five days after Christmas, last year, I said "YES" to a most amazing man. I am so thankful that we said "YES" to the little baby in the manger, who gave His life for us. Only through Him could we have the joys of celebrating our first Christmas together, and hopefully many more to come.

Wishing all of you a blessed Christmas, and to all a good night!

The Older Teaching the Younger

I have never heard so many ladies discuss their family connections and genealogy. Nope, not until yesterday that is. Yesterday, a few of us girls had the opportunity to host a Christmas tea party for some of the widow ladies from our church. Us girls may have enjoyed ourselves even more than the widows. 

We were privileged to have thirteen ladies attend our party, and they were all encouraged to wear a festive Christmas hat. 

We got quite the assortment of hats, not to mention, an assortment of personalities as well.

Some wore hats that they had made many years ago. This particular hat had each small feather glued on, by hand, back in 1949.

 Some added a bow to make their hat show a little extra Christmas cheer. 

Here, we have some berries and a bird added onto the side. As you can see, they got very creative.

This hat gave me a chuckle. Irma added a blinking snowman, which made her hat very eye-catching.

We served the ladies a nice meal, along with tea of course. We even had a singing tea pot. Who even knew those existed? Not me, I must admit.

  

Even after a nice-sized meal, they still had room for dessert. I wasn't sure if cheesecake would go over very well with this age-group of ladies (I figured they might have preferred pie), but most of them ate every bite. 

After the meal, we had a Christmas gift grab for the ladies. Each of us girls brought a couple gifts and let them go at it.

This was the most fought-over gift. A toilet paper snowman and a paper towel present-looking type thing. Who would have guessed? The ladies all thought it was adorable. Creativity credits go to Janet Sinn for her efforts in coming up with the idea.

All in all, the ladies seemed to have a great time, and us girls thoroughly enjoyed serving them.

Not recently have I thanked God for my heritage and for the examples I have to follow after. These ladies all reminded me that God remains faithful throughout the various stages of life. They may have different struggles than myself, but we all know that the love of God is what truly binds our hearts and souls together. I also marvel at how these ladies stick together, not only as friends but also as sisters in Christ. They are such an inspiration to us younger girls. What a true testimony of Titus 2, the older teaching the younger. They taught me more than they'll ever know.

Everyday Randomness

We have fought a good fight, we have finished the race, and we have completed our 2014 weddings! Just in time for the holidays. Phil and Mariah's wedding actually took place two weeks ago, but I am now just getting around to posting about it. This time Nate was up to bat, as far as he was the one in the wedding instead of myself. It truly is not near as big of a deal for a guy to be part of a wedding, than it is for a girl.

The wedding party was such a fun mixture of people, and we enjoyed spending time together in Sardis. I am pretty sure that we have done a similar pose, to the picture below, in just about every wedding I have been in. Gotta love it!

Phil and Mariah make a great couple, and we were so glad that we could share their special weekend with them. It was our duty to return Phil the favor since he participated in our wedding back in May.

Speaking of May, Nate and I hit the six month mark recently. In a way it feels like I have known Nate all my life, yet it has really only been the last six months that I have truly gotten to know him. I thank God daily for the man He has given me as my best earthly friend.

Nate came home with flowers, along with my most recently discovered favorite drink, a white chocolate latte!! Gotta love when the flower store and McDonalds are right beside each other.

Today, I gathered the few Christmas decorations I had, packed up my fall things, and went to work at spreading some holiday cheer around the house. It really got me into the Christmas mood, and I soon found that I was craving Christmas music and hot chocolate. I gave in to the Christmas music. Although, the hot chocolate may need to wait until later. I have a husband, who also tends to be a hot chocolate fanatic. It's more fun to sip that chocolaty goodness together!

I found an old sled at an antique store that I have been saving for now. I got it out today, and am trying to determine my next move. It could use a little fixing up, maybe some red paint, but I don't want to take away the old, rustic look.

Our living room is decorated around gold and silver, and those are the colors I plan to put on our tree. The thought that my curtains might have an impact on my Christmas decor, never entered my mind at the time I purchased them. It is nice to have a color scheme though.

Nate doesn't know it yet, but I made him a stocking today. My family never did stockings, but I think it would be a fun tradition to start. We'll see if my husband agrees or not. Either way, I figured I better start adding to my Christmas decor pile. I am excited to know that next year I won't be starting from scratch. 

That is all the randomness I have for now, and probably all you care to read about. In case any of you are wondering, my job is going well, but will be keeping me very busy for the next few weeks, until I go down to part-time. Thanks again to all my faithful readers out there.