Merry Christmas

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 

We have a (barely) white Christmas this year. We woke up with a little "white stuff on the ground!"

Sunday night we had the Gerber Christmas at our house and then our family Christmas on Christmas Eve. Pictures to come soon!

Tomorrow morning we are heading up to my uncle and aunt's house in Vermont, so I'm sure I'll have more pictures to show!

My Cousins Baptism

 I got home on Monday November 12th at 9:30 PM from my trip to IL. That Friday, I left for Michigan for my cousin Kasi's baptism, with my family and my friend Rachel.

We left around 1 PM and arrived in Akron, OH around 10 PM. We stayed overnight at a friends house and then hit the road again Saturday morning. Sometime mid-afternoon we arrived in Alto. To give our hosts a little more time we stopped at Heidi's Farmstand and Bakery. 

Didn't know I could run a farmstand and bakery in MI while living in CT did ya? ;)

Sunday morning before church

Rachel playing the piano

Us

Us and the hosts

The Beutel Crew :)

The older Beutel girls (just missing two)

Rachel, me, my cousin Kasi, and her little girl Amy

Rachel and I (would've been good if I was looking!)

My siblings and I with Kasi and Amy

David and Kasi and Amy

Dad, Kasi, and Mom

You've already seen this picture, but I'm putting it up again :)

Sunday after the baptisms, my uncle and aunt drove Rachel and I to Midway airport. We got home around 1 AM on Monday. Mom, Dad, and my siblings, stayed in Alto Sunday night and then drove to Tremont, IL with my grandparents. They stayed that next week and spent Thanksgiving with my dad's side of the family. 

I came home because I had school and I had the privilege of doing the chores since Evan wasn't home. I spent Thanksgiving with my mom's side of the family.

It was a long week, home by myself and I was glad to see my family come home!

11 Days Before Christmas

twas' 11 days before Christmas, around 9:38

when 20 beautiful children stormed through heaven's gate.

their smiles were contagious, their laughter filled the air.

they could hardly believe all the beauty they saw there.

they were filled with such joy, they didn't know what to say.

they remembered nothing of what had happened earlier that day.

"where are we?" asked a little girl, as quiet as a mouse.

"this is heaven." declared a small boy. "we're spending Christmas at God's house."

when what to their wondering eyes did appear,

but Jesus, their Savior, the children gathered near.

He looked at them and smiled, and they smiled just the same.

then He opened His arms and He called them by name.

and in that moment was joy, that only heaven can bring.

those children all flew into the arms of their King

and as they lingered in the warmth of His embrace,

one small girl turned and looked at Jesus' face.

and as if He could read all the questions she had

He gently whispered to her, "I'll take care of mom and dad."

then He looked down on earth, the world far below

He saw all of the hurt, the sorrow, and woe

then He closed His eyes and He outstretched His hand,

"Let My power and presence re-enter this land!"

may this country be delivered from the hands of fools

I'm taking back My nation. I'm taking back My schools!"

then He and the children stood up without a sound.

"Come now My children, let Me show you around."

excitement filled the space, some skipped and some ran.

all displaying enthusiasm that only a small child can.

and i heard Him proclaim as He walked out of sight,

"in the midst of this darkness, I AM STILL THE LIGHT."

Happy 25th!

Today marks the day that my parents have been married for 25 years!

Dad got Mom 25 red roses

Here they are 25 years ago! Aren't they cute? :)

Happy 25th Anniversary Mom & Dad!

Love, Me :)

Hat Day & IL

Over a month ago, I went to supper at a friends house and we were supposed to wear an ugly hat. My Mom found a hat in the closet that was my great uncles so I wore that.

This is the best picture that I had. Taylor was making faces in almost every one we took :)

I think this one was supposed to be a funny one but not too many participated :)

On November 9th, I got up at 2 AM to catch a 6:30 AM flight out of Boston. I met 6 other girls at church at 3:15 and we hit the road! That night we went to bed at about 11:30 (which would be 12:30 our time), so I was up for about, oh, 20 hours, no big deal (ha). 

We went to Fairbury, IL for invite a friend weekend. We had a great time and I met a lot of people (most of whom I don't remember their names).

Here's the group of girls that went out and the two people that picked us up at the Midway airport.

The girl in the front right corner (Tess) and the girl with the blue scarf (Gina) picked us up at the airport. I stayed with Tess for the 3 nights that I was out there.

We flew out of Midway on Monday (12th) around noon time. By the time I got back to my house it was around 9:30. To say I was shot is an understatement but it was worth it!

Up next: my cousin's baptism in Michigan (which happens to be the weekend after I was in IL!)

I'm back!

For a little while anyway ;)

Sorry for the lack of posts lately...its not because of lack of pictures. I have plenty of those! I was gone two weekends in a row and I have been crazy busy with school.

Speaking of school, this week is my last week of the classes. Then December 10 & 11 we have Reading Days and finals start the 12th. I've got three "finals" on the 12th and one on the 18th.

The whole school has off on Reading Days and the students are supposed to study. We'll see how much of that happens! :)

Here's a picture from when I was in Michigan. This is my cousin's little girl and she is way too cute!

Until next time...hopefully it won't be too long :)

Snowstorm & Apple Cider Making

We now have a couple inches of snow on the ground and it's only the beginning of November! I don't have any pictures but you can read a short article about it here.

Moving on...on Saturday October 20th, we went to Sonny & Verona's to make apple cider. They have an old cider press that you have to crank.

Dad had surgery the day before so this was his job :)

Mom cranking away

Crystal's dog

My alarm is going of at 2 am tomorrow so I can get up and get ready for a 6:20 am flight out of Boston. I'm going out to Faribury, IL with a group of girls for Invite-a-Friend weekend. Should be fun!

Vermont

The weekend of the 13th and 14th of October, we went up to our friends house in Vermont. He was building a green house thing and Evan and Dad helped along with a few other men. The green house thing is really big!

The kids digging a hole "to China" :)

Dad

Carla trying to get in the hole. The kids put a board across the hole and put dirt on top of the board. It was like they had a little cave.

Sunday morning, Evan reading to Micah

Carla's 13th Birthday

It's been quite a while since I posted last! I do have lots of pictures to post, but I also have a lot of homework to do. Which is why nothing has gone up lately. :)

So, to start catching up, I will start with Carla's birthday. Which was October 8th (almost a month ago :)

Opening presents

Singing away....

Apparently Dad doesn't know anything about keeping a tempo

More to come soon! (hopefully;)

On the Front Porch

On the first day, God created the dog and said, sit all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone who comes in or walks past. For this I will give you a life span of twenty years.

The dog said, "That's a long time to be barking. How about only ten years and I'll give you back the other ten?"

And God said that it was good.

On the second day, God created the monkey and said, "Entertain people, do tricks, and make them laugh. For this, I'll give you a twenty-year life span."

The monkey said, "Monkey tricks for twenty years? That's a pretty long time to perform. How about I give you back ten like the dog did?"

And God again said that it was good.

On the third day, God created the cow and said, "You must go into the field with the farmer all day long and suffer under the sun, have calves and give milk to support the farmer's family. For this, I will give you a life span of sixty years."

The cow said, "That's kind of a tough life you want me to live for sixty years. How about twenty and I'll give back the other forty?"

And God agreed it was good.

On the fourth day, God created humans and said, "Eat, sleep, play, marry and enjoy your life. For this, I'll give you twenty years."

But the human said, "Only twenty years? Could you possibly give me my twenty, the forty the cow gave back, the ten the monkey gave back, and the ten the dog gave back; that makes eighty, okay?"

"Okay," said God, "You asked for it."

So that is why for our first twenty years, we eat, sleep, play and enjoy ourselves. For the next forty years, we slave in the sun to support our family. For the next ten years, we do monkey tricks to entertain the grandchildren. And for the last ten years, we sit on the front porch and bark at everyone.

Life has now been explained to you.

There is no need to thank me for this valuable information. I'm doing it as a public service. If you are looking for me I will be on the front porch.

Babysitting & Power Washing

A week ago tonight, I babysat for 5 kids. We had them over to our house and used our fire pit again. We had hot dogs cooked over the fire and smores for dessert. 

Dad did most of the hot dog cooking :)

Although, Ella did some too :)

Miss Lena is way too cute! Even with ketchup on her face :)

Abram didn't want his picture taken so he hid under the table, but I got a picture anyways ;)

Saturday, we borrowed our friends power washer and did the house and inside the breezeway. This is how clean our front steps were

I did some of the power washing and it was kind of fun because you could actually tell you were doing something! {guess that means our house was dirty ;)}