Family Life - November & December

If I do not post about November and December soon, I will have to add January to it, and mixing years does not bode well for my strong organizational (I won't say OCD) side! =) Both months were full. There were good days of farm work, laughter, traveling, and holiday celebrations. There were also some emotional moments as we continued to grieve the loss of Aunt Karen, went through the first holidays without her, and I began to clean out and pack up Grandma's house in preparation to sell. And yet, is God still good? Yes. Is He still bigger? Yes. Nothing changes that and never will. 

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or prosecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword...Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:35, 37-39)

In November, Caden was making a trip down to North Carolina, and 
I took advantage of the free transportation and visited with Emma, Stephen,
and James for a few days. Love this little guy so much! 

While out there, I took some family maternity pictures for them.

The face says it all! After throwing a fit in a store, James and Aunt Madeline
retreated to the car to allow his momma to finish shopping. 

Hope, Leah, and Joel doing some work in the tractor. There is nothing 
like working together to bond siblings!

Mom, Ella, and I flew to Kansas to visit Grandma the week before Christmas.

We took Grandma to Walmart to pick out supplies for her gifts to her
caretakers.

We worked on addressing Grandma's Christmas cards to send out...

...and played lots of games.

While in Kansas, I was able to slip off to meet up with my dear friend
and her family for a few hours. I have such a precious friend in Emily,
she faithfully supports, loves, prays, and cheers me on in this season of life. 

Even amid this season of heightened emotion in the loss of Aunt Karen,
we still had a wonderful Christmas celebration with our cousins. 
We got an Airbnb and all of us "kids" spent the night together, played
games, watched a movie, and had a big pancake breakfast.

So, we said farewell to 2023 and greeted 2024. 
May it be a year of glory to the Lord.