Facing my fears

As I mentioned in the last post we were blessed by taking an extra car home with us when we left my parent's house. My parents recently bought a new truck and no longer needed their VW Passat. We were excited when they told us that they would like to pass it us. God is amazing...we have been so blessed by cars being given to us...we have never had to pay more than $1, 000 for a car and have never had a car payment! Thank you so much Mom and Dad!
One interesting thing about this car is that it is a stick shift! Jason and I had a stick early on in our marriage. When we first got it I tried to learn but gave up soon after because it made me too nervous. So that car ended up being the one Jason drove. So now that we have another car that is a stick shift it was time for me to face my fears. I have had 2 days of driving it and so far it has gone pretty well. The first day I did not stall at all and did really well. Today was a different story. I tried to drive it to church this morning but kept stalling as I was trying to turn out of our neighborhood. I ended up getting out of the car (waving and mouthing "sorry" at the person behind me who had waited through 5 attempts of me trying to get it to go) and changing places with Jason. Later on after church I drove some more and did much better, I even drove it on the highway. It takes some time to get used to but I think I'm going to like driving a stick. I told Jason the first day I drove that it was fun except for the feeling of needing to throw up because I am so nervous. Today I was only slightly nauseous:) Emma's comment today as I was trying to get it to go was "mom, you make the car talk!":)

Our Christmas

We had a great Christmas! We had some good time with our family, I was able to spend some time with a good friend from college, Jason and I got to go on a date thanks to my mom and sister (saw Fireproof...great movie, really uplifting for our marriage), Jason got to drive home a "new" car and we were able meet our newest nephew just minuets after he was born:)

And now for the pictures....

Nothing says Christmas like some some holiday baking:)

This year for Christmas Eve my mom, sister and I took the girls to a Moravian Love Feast in Old Salem, NC. This was a tradition that we had every year growing up since I was about Emma's age. It was fun to share that tradition with the girls. They did really well through the service and enjoyed eating a special orange roll and holding the beeswax candles at the end (Even though Becca was deathly afraid the whole time she held her candle because her mommy said she'd better hold onto it or she could burn down the place...sorry Laura, I couldn't resist:).

We mainly gave the kids stocking stuffers this year...Brice had fun pretending with Daddy and playing with the rubber duckies in Bamma and Granddaddy's bathtub:)

Spaghetti night at Bamma and Granddaddy's...they decided it was more fun as body paint:)

Good pictures of us in our hats:) I FINALLY figured out how the size the hats so that they fit someone other than an infant:)

Baby Aireon was born Dec. 28th at 2:25pm, he weighed 7lbs 12oz and was 20 1/2 inches long. We arrived at the hospital at lunch time and had a great time waiting for his arrival. The waiting room was great because it has a big window to look into the nursery. Emma, Brice and I were easily entertained by watching newborns get their first baths and bottles. When Aireon arrived we were able to greet him through the window as well:) Better pictures of Aireon to come....