Our Decembers are always crazy. 2014 was no exception. It started out at a gallop and only increased speed from there until after Christmas, when we crashed for the week - enjoying the absolutely-nothing-to-do pace. Here are the highlights:
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| Picture from our Christmas Cards this year. They're SO cute! |
We revived an old program and sang at a few select places to raise money for
The Havens. We had five singing engagements overall. One of the highlights was singing at the
Voice of the Martyrs Christmas Party on December 12th. There were over 250 in attendance, one of our largest crowds.
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| Backstage - waiting to sing |
Two days after VOM we had our annual Christmas Program at our church. All the kids did such a wonderful job - I was so proud of them!
On Friday the 19th, we headed to Dallas for my cousin's wedding. Enjoyed taking a few pics there. Congratulations Brittnay & Marel!
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| My cousin Danielle's daughter Olivia Jo dancing while her mom snaps photos - she was so hilarious! |
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| (And no, we weren't trying to color coordinate - that was just a coincidence!) |
On Saturday four of us drove down to the 6th Floor Museum and Dealey Plaza. I've always loved history and this was AMAZING. So moving and well done. We saw the corner window where Lee Harvey Oswald fired those three shots and many other interesting items - including 12 civilians' cameras used the day of the assassination (of special interest to me!). We couldn't take pics inside, so we took some on the 7th floor and outside.
(In the picture above on the right, the window he shot from is located all the way to the right side of the building - on the sixth floor of course. The window is partly raised to recreate how it was on that day.)
The next day we sang at a church in Sherman, Texas where we have good friends. This was our last stop in our fund-raising quest for The Havens. This year I believe we raised about $2000.00 - we were very excited about that! And it was a great way to end our stay in Texas - we returned home late that night. The next two days were a blur as we finished last-minute shopping and details for Christmas. Aaron's fiancee joined us on Christmas Eve for a few days. Christmas Eve festivities began with our annual Christmas Eve Candlelight Service, held this year for the first time at the small chapel at the campground. It was the perfect setting.
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| Love-Love-Love |
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were bustling and enjoyable. We opened presents, watched movies, played games, but mostly just enjoyed each other and the slow pace. Laura got me the best gift: A passport cover. Perfect!
Two days after Christmas some of us headed to Arkansas for the Wilkins' Family Christmas:
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| The Wilkins Siblings |
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| Malinda & little Mallory - so sweet! |
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| Aunt Denise reads family stories |
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| Cousin Mary-Kathryn and little Maven - adorable |
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| The two littlest |
We closed out the year quietly at home. So much to be thankful for in 2014. What an amazing year it was. I cannot express how much I learned & experienced this year. And yet I still have so much to learn, so I'm looking forward to 2015 with anticipation and expectation. :)
