This Christmas We....

received gift cards to Yogurt Mountain in our stockings,

took lots of pictures,

loved on each other a little bit,

took part in some real male bonding,

put on fashion shows,

goofed off,

celebrated with family,

got another gun from Sarah....Sarah, this is three guns in a row. I will repay you when Bennett gets a little older!

found a few gifts under the tree,

had a dozen plain doughnuts magically changed to assorted Christmas doughnuts by Elfie!

painted ornaments galore,

baked Christmas cookies...and ate a few

needlessly prepared for snow :),

woke to find that Elfie had decorated the tree with underwear.... he also rolled Noah's room with toilet paper one night and did lots of other CRAZY things! None of the others were caught on camera unfortunately.

2009 has been rich in blessings for our family. We began to feel at home in Tuscaloosa and are so thankful for the many relationships God has blessed us with here. We answered God's call to add Selah Evette to our family and have been overwhelmed by the support we've received. We watched our children turn 2, 4, and 9! We had full stomachs, clean water, and warm beds every day. We had opportunities to grow and learn. We had the peace of God's grace and love. We praise Him for our year and ask Him to guide us in 2010!

What happens when Duane gets bored...

Advent Conspiracy

Something to think about.

Thanksgiving

So, because I can't figure out how to arrange my pictures on blogger with my new computer (and I'm too tired to start over), you are going to hear our Thanksgiving story backwards :).

This is the look of a happy boy who spent ALL DAY playing football with his cousins.

This one played all day with cousins too, just not football. That's WAY too organized for him.

And this girl is just happy.

The fellas

Goofy dad, sweet great grandmother, and NaNa - my number one blog fan :)

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Ok, so this was THE highlight of my Thanksgiving this year. The tshirts you see my ENTIRE family wearing are the shirts that we are selling to raise money for our adoption (www.goseeklove.com) . One by one, people kept coming in and they ALL had on our shirts! What an overwhelming feeling of support! I can't wait to show this picture to Selah one day. It will be one more confirmation for her that she was loved and treasured before she was even born. That will be priceless. Thank you family for being the BEST family on earth. Thank you Sarah for your precious idea. Thank you mom for helping pull it off. And thank you Daniel and Sarah for your hard work to make it happen.

My mom and her mom, Ma.

Sophia and Sophia :)

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Lunch at Logans on Friday. I still have trouble throwing peanuts on the floor.

Not a serious moment when these 3 are together

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Sophia loving Thanksgiving dinner. This year mom and dad mixed it up a bit and we had beef tenderloin in lieu of turkey. Yipee. I hate turkey. It was a wonderful meal topped off with mom's first ever carrot cake. OH. MY. WORD. that was good carrot cake. Wish I had a piece right now!

Mom and Sophia watching the outside action from inside the warm house. It's cold in Tennessee ya'll.

Duane installing doorknobs. Doesn't everyone do that on Thanksgiving??

The lift was back. Clark Jr, aka my dad, borrows a lift from my bro in law to put up his Christmas lights. It's really quite amusing.

Yes, my son is up there. It happened before I could protest. Can you SEE how high that is??

Well, there you have it. Thanksgiving from finish to start. It seems like a futile exercise to even attempt to say what I gave thanks for this Thanksgiving. God has given me everything. Everything. So, I will just say that I am thankful for life. A full life. A redeemed life. A blessed life. Life in Him.

1 Corinthians 9:11

You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

I have been made rich in every way. I want desperately for my response to that to be that I might become generous on every occasion. Generous with my time. Generous with my money. Generous with my love. It's so tempting on Thanksgiving to get really focused on how much I have to be thankful for. And I feel really good about my gratefulness. I pat myself on the back for not taking my blessings for granted. It's been a big wake up call for me this year to realize that God has not blessed me so that I can sit back and reflect on how blessed I am. He has blessed me so that I can generously bless others! And if I do that, my thanksgiving and gratefulness are multiplied. The result will be that more people will have more to be thankful for and God will be praised infinitely more than He would have been otherwise. So instead of being thankful, I'm gonna try to live thankful.

Governors Cup

A couple of weekends ago we traveled to Decatur, AL for the Governor's Cup Soccer Tournament. Most of these pictures, however, are from the playground where we hung out in between games :). During the games, Duane and I were too busy wrestling toddlers to take many pictures! They lost both games on Saturday, but ended with a win on Sunday. Nana and Grandy and cousins Andy, David, and Micheal even got to see Saturday nights game. It was a beautiful weekend and I think Noah really enjoyed his first "real" soccer tournament.

I Would Gather Children

Saw this on someone's blog today. Thought it was great.

I Would Gather Children

Some would gather money

Along the path of life

Some would gather roses,

And rest from worldly strife.

But I would gather children

From among the thorns of sin,

I would seek a golden curl,

And a freckled, toothless grin.

For money cannot enter

In that land of endless day,

And roses that are gathered

Soon will wilt along the way.

But oh, the laughing children,

As I cross the sunset sea,

And the gates swing wide to heaven,

I can take them in with me!

~Author Unknown~

Trunk or Treat

For our first time to participate in the "trunk" portion of trunk or treat, we decided our theme would be SHIPWRECKED.

Designing the "trunk". No, I'm not kidding. This is not staged. You are witnessing what is real and true in the Dixon home. And look at the little apprentice to his right....

Shipwrecked Sophia and a young MJ.

The most beautiful shipwrecked girl EVER.

Just call us the Swiss Family Dixon.

She'll be ok on the island as long as she has her daddy.

Fishing for prizes.

Micah.....

Jump house fun.