All Tucked In

Phil called a bit ago and reported that he arrived safely. I had a sweet evening with the kids tonight. We miss Phil, but God is good, and He filled our day with lots of nice surprises. Some friends of ours from Phil's class stopped by to visit this afternoon and then stayed for dinner.


We've been reading from Little House in the Big Woods at bedtime. Does anyone else love this book to pieces like I do? O.k., maybe the whole series?



I found this great full-color edition at the library. Look at these sweet pictures! We read from the Christmas chapter tonight. We were so happy when we read this portion:

"The day before Christmas they came. Laura and Mary heard the gay ringing of sleigh bells, growing louder every moment, and then the big bobsled came out of the woods and drove up to the gate. Aunt Eliza and Uncle Peter and the cousins were in it, all covered up, under blankets and robes and buffalo skins...when they came in, the little house was full and running over."

It reminded us of our first Christmas here in Spokane! Aunt Corinne came to visit us the week before Christmas, and Aunt Becky and cousins Morgan and Lindsay arrived Christmas night in the snow, all bundled up. Aunt Becky's "sleigh," though, was a 10 passenger van! Although a mistake on the part of the rental car company, it was just what we needed. There just so happened to be 10 of us here, all snug in our little house.

Before reading this chapter, I put a little of this peppermint lotion on each of the kids' hands.



I noticed them sniffing their little hands while I read of peppermint sticks and making pictures in the snow. And they all gasped and clapped when Laura finally got her very own doll!

Thank you, Lord, for these sweet moments today.