To the little girl who stole my heart (a post by Leah)

Little Evelyn,

Although I haven't met you yet, you are very precious to me!  After all, you must know that you are my very special namesake.  Only beautiful little girls have such a beautiful middle name.  When I first saw your picture and heard your name, I knew that you would always hold a special place in my heart.

I want so many things for you, my precious little niece.  I want you to grow strong and healthy.  I want you to learn as much as you can and one day to beat your Dad at Euchre.  I want you to express yourself and finger-paint on every wall.  I want you to laugh everyday and memorize every line from "Christmas Vacation", but only when you're old enough.  I want to climb the mountains of Colorado with you and show you the foothills of Georgia.  I want to bring you to Art Museums so you can bug your Dad with all the "useless information" you learn.  I want you know that you are loved by so many people near and far away.  But, most importantly,  I pray that everyday you will know Jesus as your Savior.  At this time of the year, we celebrate His birth, but He came to sacrifice his life so that you could have your sins forgiven.  What a wonderful thing, little Evelyn, He has done for us.

I cannot wait to meet you, my precious little niece.  And don't listen to anything your Dad says about me.  We love you!

It's Christmas Time! (a post by Leah)

I have posted before how much I love Christmas.  It is such a wonderful time of year!  I have to admit, although I don't miss the snow or cold in Indiana, it does seem weird that Christmas is two weeks away and it has not really been cold here.  Weird, but nice.

As Christmas approaches, we have been busy settling into our new home.  So busy, with new jobs and responsibilities, that we have not been able to decorate for Christmas.  But, of all of our holiday traditions, we are making time for one of my favorites: COOKIES!  Traditionally, I am not a baker.  I don't love making cookies or cakes or anything else that has to be precise.  I like to dump and cook.  I believe that all meals should be this easy.  But, at Christmas, I make an exception.  Every year I make a few boxes of cookies to drive to friends and family.  We started this tradition when Rob was making very little money and we wanted to give back to so many people that had given to us.  After making the cookies, we drove them to our friends or family that live around town.  To my surprise, our friends invited us into their homes to chat.  Some have sent us home with cookies, others have sent us home with wonderful memories of hour-long conversations that I wouldn't trade for anything.  It became such a wonderful blessing.

Now, we get to bring our tradition to a new home.  Although we haven't made many friends down here, I am eager to share our time and baked goods with the people that have been gracious to us these past few months to "love on us".  So, here we come, Atlanta, to share our time, our cookies and Christ's love to you.