This year, I decided to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day by making an Irish Lamb stew, having root beer and watching The Gnome Mobile with the kids.
A leprechaun left the kids a little surprise – a bag of green M&Ms and some chocolate “gold” as well as a Shamrock necklace filled with bubbles.
The kids enjoyed The Gnome Mobile. Noah even picked out a “jaunty” car from the prize box at school the next day for his reading group prize.
Kaara’s preschool Christmas program was originally scheduled for December 19 but the “Arctic Blast” caused it to be rescheduled for January 6.
I was afraid it was going to be cancelled altogether when we woke up to 2 inches of snow on January 5 but fortunately the rain came and the program proceeded on January 6.
We came home from practice and I fortunately decided to have her try on the dress for the program, which I thought was hanging in her closet. But when I went to her closet, there was no dress. Wasn’t in her dresser drawers either. Have no idea where it is and so Kaara and I made an emergency shopping trip to find a Holiday dress. Fortunately, the new Penny’s opened last fall and they had several dresses to choose from. Kaara liked this pink one right from the start so that’s what we went with. Unfortunately, I didn’t think any of her shoes would go with it so we headed to ShoeSource and found these pretty silver ones that matched the buckle on the dress – the shoes cost more than the dress!
The kids did really well on their songs even though they hadn’t practiced in 3 weeks.
We were awakened by our darling children on a snowy Christmas morning – at 4 am. (Note the time on the clock on the mantle in the picture).
I tried to tell them to go back to bed to which they responded rather disheartened that they would just go downstairs and watch TV until we got up. So Dad and Mom dragged ourselves out of bed and made coffee and we commenced to begin celebrating at 4 am.
The kids opened their stockings while Mom and Dad tried to wake up and get breakfast together. Then Pat read the Christmas story from Noah’s Bible and we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and ate birthday cake – chocolate lava cakes provided by Grandma and Grandpa Keener before they flew to Colorado a couple of days earlier.
A couple of hours later and all the presents were opened (while snow continued to come down outside adding to our already more than 14 inches of snow). Mom and Dad were failing at this point and managed to get about half of the kids’ presents freed from their anti-theft packaging before stumbling back to bed for a nap at 6:15. A few hours later, we roused to finish the process of freeing the remaining toys.
We were originally going to Grandma and Grandpa Knock’s today to celebrate with them and Aunt Kathy but decided against it with the roads in such rutted and yucky conditions. We will have a second Christmas with them on New Year’s day.
We had pizza for lunch, some crackers and cheese, and then Chinese food (in honor of “A Christmas Story”) for dinner.
The kids are all tucked in bed. The snow appears to have finally stopped and we are grateful for the gifts we have been blessed with throughout this year – health, employment, family, good friends, and the love of the God of Heaven who came down to be with us always. May you know His great and everlasting love today and always.
Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you.” – Joshua 3:5
We began 2008 with a sense that something new was on the horizon for our family this year, though we weren’t sure what it would be. Pat celebrated 10 years with WaferTech in June and finished his college classes, earning his Associate’s degree in Industrial Water Treatment. We visited our friends in India in the summer and saw the amazing work God is doing there. Noah played coach pitch in the spring, graduated from kindergarten, started taking karate, and is now in the 1st grade (reading at the 2nd grade level) and a raving Star Wars fan. Kaara finished her first year of preschool, took a beginning dance class, and is now taking a Chinese dance class. Kris has managed to keep her job despite the real estate market and is continuing to help with the FCC website and Kaara’s preschool website.
In September, the much anticipated change occurred. Pat was hired as a Sr. Facilities Tech at SolarWorld in Hillsboro. This job will provide him with new opportunities, including, we hope, the chance to go to day shift in the next couple of years. As the economy struggles, we are grateful to be part of a growing sector, and looking forward to buying a new house in Hillsboro/Beaverton (possibly even in the neighborhood where Pat grew up) next year, and reconnecting with old friends (though we shall miss seeing our Camas/Washougal buddies as frequently).
We pray that you may grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God this Christmas and always.
Merry Christmas,
The Keeners – Pat, Kris, Noah, and Kaara
