Merry Christmas!

This year I'm trying to save money and not send out Christmas cards. It's actually kind of a relief. That's a huge stress of the holidays! I did design one though and so I'm posting it on here.

December has brought some fun things. Kaycie has had a couple of dance recitals. Maybe I'll post the short video up here if I get some time. Today she has snow day at preschool. They get to play in the snow at recess.

Kendall is only 10 months old and has decided to follow in her brother's foosteps by walking already. She pretty much tries to walk wherever she goes now. If she's feeling real lazy, she'll go ahead and crawl. I think there is no turning back now with her though.

Ty has been in tennis lessons this month. He enjoys it a lot. He also found out about Santa this month. Thanks dad! I guess he had a tip off at school anyway. I don't know if the secret will last long though. He keeps trying to start up conversations with Kaycie that go somewhat like this...."So Kaycie, do you think Santa is real or not?" Ugh.

Scott and Cheryl are doing well. Business is still open but a struggle from week to week. I have to learn to be okay with the fact that we're not going to do well in this profession any time soon. I've been struggling with the fact that we're struggling. I've been a little bitter that after all our hard work and all the debt we've accumulated to get to this point, that we're barely getting by. We've had to be more frugal in the last couple months than in all of our 12 years of marriage. It's been hard on me. Don't get me wrong, I'm not looking to be filthy rich. I was just hoping we'd have enough money coming in to be able to pay off our debts, go on vacations, have some nice things. Scott's been telling me to be positive, we have eachother. He's my rock. But I just haven't been able to stop dwelling on our situation and have been somewhat depressed by it lately. So I've been praying for help with my attitude and boy did help come!

I was teaching my gospel doctrine lesson on Sunday about building up Zion. One of the things it mentioned was helping the poor and needy. I found some additional material on the subject from a talk by Elder Christofferson. He said "As we pursue the cause of Zion, each of us should prayerfully consider whether we are doing what we should and all that we should in the Lord's eyes with respect to the poor and the needy. We might ask ourselves, living as many of us do in societies that worship possessions and pleasures, whether we are remaining aloof from covetousness and the lust to acquire more and more of this world's goods. Materialism is just one more manifestation of the idolatry and pride that characterize Babylon. Perhaps we can learn to be more content with what is sufficient for our needs. The apostle Paul warned Timothy against people who suppose 'that gain is godliness' (1 Tim. 6:5) Said he, 'We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.' (1 Tim. 6:5)" Following that up, I was watching a movie on the holocaust last week and these prisoners were going for weeks without food. They would try and sneak out of their huts to eat a blade of grass. WOW! I'm complaining that I can't go eat at restaurants anymore. I'm complaining about how sick of ramen soup I am. And they were trying to eat blades of grass! I felt ashamed of myself and yet so happy at the same time. This was the Lord's message to me of which I will always try and remember and keep close to my heart. I'm am thankful for my Heavenly Father and that he knows my needs. All we need to is ask for his help. I'm am thankful that my family has sufficient for our needs. I'm thankful for this season. Merry Christmas!