Shari the Red Nose...

A great start to the New Year!

This weekend I received a wonderful gift. My friend Rosie came to visit me for the weekend. We had a wonderful time watching movies and eating great food... We also got to talk a lot about life and the crazy things that happen to us as the years go by.

It was a great start to my new year because I was desperately needing to have a friend for a couple days!

Next weekend I will be able to see some other friends of mine, Darlene and Peggy.

I definitely thank God for the wonderful people He puts in my life that make the daily living so much more bearable.

California Holidays - Part Two

More pictures of Ainsley!



Ainsley and uncle Trevan watch as the Redskins beat the Cowboys to get into the playoffs this past Sunday.


She likes sticking her tongue out when she is chilling.

California Holidays - Part One

Last night we opened our gifts...


But the best part of our entire holiday was seeing our little niece Ainsley! She is wonderfully cute.



Ainsley matching with aunt Shari!

Christmas

We spent Christmas at my parent's house in New Jersey. On Christmas eve we opened our gifts.
After this we headed for New York to a party with some old time friends from Costa Rica. The party started at 9 pm and ended at 5 am! Yeah, we are party animals...

The next morning we went over to my cousin's house and had dinner with a couple of my family members.

We then headed to California to continue our holiday celebration.

Oh Christmas Trees!

Back in Michigan we had bought a very dinky artificial Christmas tree. To inaugurate our first holiday season in our house, Trevan decided that we should get a real tree. It seemed a waste to just let our other tree sit in the storage shed all season, so we decided to use both trees.

We put the artificial tree is our bedroom.Yeah, it is dinky indeed, but we appreciate having some season cheer when we go to bed at night

The other tree we put in our living room. I took a couple pictures of it and Trevan liked this first picture because it came out so weird.

But here is what it really looks like...
I can honestly say that this is the most excited I have been about Christmas in a long time.

I think it's the trees!

Gingerbread Houses

Saturday afternoon we went over to one of our church members' house where a lot of our kids had assembled to create their personal gingerbread houses. There were close to 20 kids, tons of candy, and lots of laughs. Our kids are very cute and creative. Yes, I am bragging, again!

Tragedy

Some sad news.

On Tuesday morning Trevan's grandmother Osborn suffered a massive stroke and passed away that afternoon.

Trevan is in Maryland now with his family. Please keep us in your prayers as this has been a very rough couple months since the passing of his grandfather in August.

Thanksgiving

Ok, so I am really late with this post. Let me make it short.

Trevan and I decided to spend a nice Thanksgiving just the two of us. I made a wonderful meal, including my first, ever, chicken!

It was a wonderful day full of food and football! Happy Thanksgiving season to all!

What Direction? - Part I

In the movie The Devil's Advocate, Kevin Lomax, a hotshot attorney, finds that one bad decision spirals his life so completely out of control that he ends up employed by Lucifer himself. While Nike says "Just do it", and encourages us to make bold decisions like Lomax did, our better judgment tells us that caution is a more trustworthy guide.

We live in constant fear of making the wrong choice; taking the wrong job, marrying the wrong person, choosing the unfulfilling career. So as the major intersections in our lives arrive and we find ourselves needing to take action, we are paralyzed with this fear. We agonize, pray, stress, but mostly make no decision at all hoping that some magical sign in the sky will tell us what to do.

When I was single I lived in constant fear of marrying a guy one day, and then meeting the "perfect guy" the next day. This fear kept me from dating through most of my high-school and college years. Trevan was my first real relationship.

As I look back on those years I now wonder if God put that fear in my heart to stop me from dating the wrong guys. What if fear is not keeping us from true happiness, but preventing us from making that wrong decision that will spiral our lives out of control.

Belize

There are two things that made this year's trip to Belize better than last year's.

1. Trevan was there and got to meet my granny for the first time.

2. The family reunion was much bigger this year. It had been over 10 years since my dad had gone back. My granny was really happy to see him again.

It was a very festive trip because my granny was celebrating her 95th birthday. We had these bright yellow T-shirts made for all the family members to wear to the party.

I enjoyed seeing all the little people again! They grow up so fast and are so cute...
(Yasir wearing my glasses, Trevan and Leah (lives in LA), and Leah, Samane and I - the girls had just finished eating chocolate)

The most thrilling adventure was snorkeling parts of the second largest barrier reef in the world. Trevan even got to touch a sting ray as our guide held it for him.

As I reflect back on the trip I realize that having Trevan meet my granny and my family in Belize was more important to me than I realized. Many of my childhood summers were spent there, and a big part of who I am was formed during those years. It was wonderful sharing some of that with him.

My Niece!

Last Monday I became an aunt! It is one of the happiest things that has ever happened in my life. Little Ainsley Rebecca Ng is the cutest baby ever...I know, everyone says that, but this baby is really the cutest ever!!! I have pictures to prove it.

I told you she was cute!