The Wassons: January 2013

Monday, January 28, 2013

January Project

I love January!

Why?

Because it is probably our slowest month of the year. We get to just be home most of the time without the pressure of trying to get ready to be somewhere else all the time.

Ahhh...

So, we have time to tackle some projects!

(And this is the time of year when John likes to work inside...)

So, we are remodeling the guest bathroom...

can you tell what color it is now? :)

He loved the war paint until it dried and made his face feel like it was cracking!

Saturday, January 5, 2013

Shepard's Salvation

The highlight of the year...

was at the very end of the year.

Our most joyous news of 2012 is that Shepard decided to follow the Lord on December 30th.

Another sheep in the fold... we are THRILLED beyond words!

As parents we hesitated a little... he's 8 years old and we wanted him to really know. But in our discernment, we believe that this precious child had really already made his commitment to the Lord in his heart. He just needed to make his commitment known and confirm it with us. His heartfelt prayer to follow the Lord all the days of his life was so precious!

So, as Shepard loves to say now, "He's BORN AGAIN"!

I snapped these two pictures with my camera that evening with Shep...

(They are really grainy, but it's good that we don't have to have great pictures to have the memory in our hearts.)

January is so cold... but we are trying to work out a baptism soon in our pond. :)

Thank you, Jesus, for bringing Shepard home! Our hearts are FULL...

Baby Clara

As soon as the ice and snow melted a day later, we headed over the mountain to go see my family. They couldn't all be there, but we did get to see some of them!

Here's me with my newest niece, Clara! She's such a doll... LOVE her! I was just aching to get to finally meet her.

And Shepard took this picture of his cousin, Caden, (Clara's big brother).

Sure wish we could be around these kiddos more often... Tennessee is so far away! :)

We really loved all the time we got to spend with family!

Christmas at Home

It was so different this year...

we were at home on Christmas Eve for the very first time.

We lit our advent candles and read together...

But we were so far behind in the book that we spent {maybe an hour!} on Christmas morning catching up so that we could finish the advent story with Jesus' birth. {All before we opened gifts... I guess we are working on making very patient children! Actually, they were very patient!} We enjoyed our Sara Lee butter struesel coffee cake while John read... a MUST according the boys on Christmas morning! :)

I am SOOOOO grateful for how John pours himself into our family!

He is a good shepherd and he consistently leads us to the Lord!

Lots of Christmas pictures!

Here's everyone with their stockings...

Opening gifts...

Watching the snow come down...

it's seems so magical when it comes on Christmas day!

But, we didn't get to go share Christmas with the Willoughby's because of the snow/ ice... it was just too risky to drive over the mountain. I was SOO sad to miss that!!! :(

We spent the rest of the day relaxing in our mess...

and cleaning it up!

Just feeling... GRATEFUL!

Christmas at the Wassons 2012

The weekend before Christmas we all spent two days hanging out together at Ken and Shelley's...

it was a LOT of fun! So much wonderful food and lots of laughter!

We managed to get a group picture...

I love the setting out there in their pasture.

And here's one of Ken and Shelley with all the grandkids...

(Will was nursing an eye injury so he had a hard time getting his eyes open, but he was so tough!)

One of the highlights of Christmas for me each year is when Ken shares a devotional with all of us before we exchange gifts. This year he asked the older grandkids to participate and Josiah read a scripture to all of us. He was nervous, but he did such a great job. Here he is preparing for his part...

John and Will were all cozied up together...

And here is Ken in costume for the devotion time... we all love it!!

Opening gifts..

And my favorite... I've never seen anyone actually get coal before! This was awesome... John's mom gave him coal for finding his Christmas gift early. :) LOL.