We snuck Rebekah away during some of the party prep and snagged some super-cute portraits of her. Once family and friends arrived, it was party time! Although she wasn't the biggest fan of frosting & cake, she did love the presents she received and all of the friendly attention, laughter and love. 

Check out some of my favorite photos from the day:

Lately, God has been reminding me of this concept. He wants more face time with us than just the 30 seconds before we eat dinner each day. He wants to know us personally, so much so, that when he speaks to us, we would recognize his voice like that of a best friend or a family member.

Sometimes it's easy for us to read the Bible and think that God spoke to people "back then" but that he doesn't work that way anymore. Miracles happened "back in Bible days" but not today, right? I was in that same boat of skeptics until I started hearing God's voice for myself and witnessed real miracles firsthand.

Thankfully, the holidays were very refreshing for both Chad and I, giving us plenty of time to catch our breath, travel, visit with family, and to collect our random thoughts & aspirations. We're brewing up all kinds of fresh, new ideas for 2012! We've got some new business goals, some new life goals, and some exciting things we want to share with you.

Chad and I (and Sock Monkey, of course) were traveling machines for the holidays! We traveled via car, Metra, and Amtrak to get to Jackson, Michigan and Blackstone, Illinois to spend time with our  families. By the time we returned to Kenosha, we had taken 6 different trains and 6 different car rides in just under 9 days. The original intent was to avoid the unpredictable wintry weather. Ha, unpredictable indeed: we didn't end up with ANY wintry weather. When was the last time that happened in the Midwest? Regardless, the relaxation, reading, snacking and movie-watching on the trains were SO worth it. It's our favorite way to travel.

In October, Chad and I had the honor of hanging out with the Johnson family for a couple hours. It was a gorgeous fall day...a little chilly, but the boys (4 and 6 yrs old) were definitely keeping us all moving to stay warm! They were so much fun!

...And are the eyes of every person in this family not GORGEOUS??

Two of our best friends, Charlie & Amanda, had their baby on Sunday!

They welcomed little Kaylee Ann Staniger into their family at 1:10am on 11/13/11. She weighs 8lbs 4oz and is 19 inches long. Her fingers and toes are very long and she has lots of dark brown hair. She's quite the little sleeper...so far anyway. Precious!

Back in October, a few of our friends got together for an epic, first annual event. You've heard of theme parties, right? Well we did it up...Zombie Apocalypse style! 

I had already posted a sneak peek of the Stanigers and their baby bump a while back, but I wanted to show you the full story. Amanda & Charlie are two of our best friends. We couldn't be happier for them!

Love the sweet mystery...they didn't find out if the baby would be a boy or a girl.
Their due date was 11/11/11.

Let's face it…sometimes we get stressed out. Distracted. Irritated. Tripped up. Sluggish. Yes, I realize our lives are full of peaks and valleys, and that there's nothing wrong with that. Wouldn't it be great if the sunshine & rainbows never left, though? What gives…