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So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David because he belonged to the house and line of David.

He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.
While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her first born, a son.  She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.  

An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.  But the angle said to them, “Do not be afraid.  I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.  This will be a sign to you:  You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”  Luke 2:4-12

After the kids finished acting out the Christmas story they sang Happy Birthday to Jesus. There is nothing sweeter than hearing those little voices sing to Jesus!  Merry Christmas!
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  • Aaron and Shannon - That is too cute! Merry Christmas!ReplyCancel

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  • Marc and Sarah - Nice acting, Joel — we’re sure you were a fantastic donkey! We would like to see a live theatrical presentation of the donkey sometime — we’ll cook you dinner for it.

    Seriously, though, that is the reason we celebrate. How sweet was all of that!ReplyCancel

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  • Brad, Kara, & Braden Janzen - What a CUTE angel!! Hope she was feeling better for Christmas. It was so good to see you for a while over Christmas. Hope next time we can bring the kids!ReplyCancel

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  • The Veers - How fun!! What an adorable angel!ReplyCancel

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  • Warm n Wonderful - Such an adorable picture of your sweet angel child.ReplyCancel

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  • Anonymous - I just found your blog last night and you all have been in my thoughts and prayers all day. I started to go back and read some of your Christmas post and saw the post for “the reason we celebrate” and the picture of Cora as the angel is amazing….. I don’t have any children and cannot imagine what your feelings are but I have seen your faith in your posts and know that God is right there with you. There are lots of people praying for you guys. Thank you for sharing with everyone your precious daughter.ReplyCancel

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Too busy to blog last week.
Here is a glimpse of what we were up to:

I managed to get all the Christmas cards addressed and headed to the post office on a VERY cold and snowy day.

This is the ONE convenience we have living in the country.  We have a cute little post office right by our house and there is NEVER any lines to wait in.  I love it!
Cora had to get bundled up for our outings.  How do you like the black eye?  We aren’t really sure where that came from!?
The presents are wrapped and under the tree.  I LOVE wrapping paper and ribbon.  Wrapping presents is one of my favorite parts of Christmas.  Weird, I know.
Cora got to open her first Christmas present at a Christmas party we went to.  Of course, I think she liked the paper more than the gift!
At our Christmas party we had a white elephant gift exchange.  Joel and I had fun digging through our basement to find the “perfect” gift.  You would be surprised to know what treasures we have.  I was disappointed not to get this beautiful wig.  Joel Smith is aging so nicely, don’t you think?
No wig, but Joel did get this new outfit.  Nice!
We also hosted a Christmas party for our small group.  Another white elephant gift exchange AND an ugly sweater contest.  The best was a Christmas vest with a musical tie.  Even little Emry had a Christmas sweater.
Joel’s sister was in the Homecoming Court.  She is the one in the pink dress on the left AND the new Miss Berean.  She looked beautiful!  My camera battery died, so this is the best picture I have.  Congratulations Ivy!
We had a Christmas gathering at Fred and Ruth’s house on Saturday.  Here is Cora with all her cousins on Joel’s side.  Man, it is hard to get little kids to all look the same direction for a picture.  They are a cute bunch though!
And in between all these events I have spent some time at the doctor’s office.  My little girl is STILL not better.  She is using a breathing machine now, has had three shots, and started a new antibiotic.
Poor baby.  Poor tired mom and dad.  I am ready to have my happy little girl back.  Hopefully by Christmas.  That leaves only two days!!

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  • james - it’s great to see your pictures, jess! i was thinking of you this morning actually as i wrapped gifts–wish you could give me some assistance. 🙂

    thanks for putting up pics of cora and the other little ones. they’re all growing so fast.ReplyCancel

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  • The Boccias - OK–you’ve made me want to rewrap everything under our tree! I think next year I might have to make the effort to use some pretty ribbon instead of just sticking bows on all the presents. I’m so sorry that Cora isn’t better yet. She’s still adorable though! Merry Christmas!ReplyCancel

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  • Julie - I, too, LOVE your present wrapping. I tried to use ribbon on Sharla and Sophie’s presents but they look weird. 🙂

    Looks like you have had an eventful week. I can’t believe little Cora isn’t better yet and hope the breathing treatment works. I wanted to see a picture of you in an ugly Christmas sweater too. Also, your Christmas cards were absolutely adorable. It’s hanging on the fridge. Ours will go out late–hopefully next Monday. Everything is addressed at least (WalMart is just being INCREDIBLY slow printing them; not that we sent them in last minute or anything. Ha).

    Merry Christmas! Hope to see you sometime next week.ReplyCancel

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  • Aaron and Shannon - Jess, we feel your pain with Cora not feeling well. Eli is on breathing treatments as well. Hope she starts to get better soon.ReplyCancel

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I thought Cora would enjoy playing with all the Christmas decorations as I put them up.  She did for about one second.

She has been fighting an ear infection for over a week now.  Two visits to the doctor.  Two antibiotics.  I’m still not sure if she is better.  When I set her down to try to get something done it usually turns out like this.  Lots of crying.  Poor baby.  Let’s just say not much is getting checked off my Christmas “to-do” list.
We did finally get the tree up and some Christmas decorations put around the house.  I LOVE Christmas, but this past week has been a little stressful and long.  Hopefully this week will be better.  Lots to do…
finish shopping, 
wrap presents,
Christmas cards,
Christmas parties,
family gatherings…
Hopefully Cora will be well enough to enjoy all the festivities.  Hope you are getting lots checked off your Christmas list!
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  • Aaron and Shannon - Jess, I know exactly how you feel. Poor kids and their ears.. Hopefully she’ll get better and have a Merry Christmas! I’ll be praying for you guys. Let me know if there is something I can do to help!ReplyCancel

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  • The Moffats - Ugh – can totally relate to your post. We have been passing around the stomach flu bug and it has not been pretty. Between the move and everything else I have hardly checked anything off my list. Still have almost all of my Christams shopping to do and much to accomplish. Pretty sure we won’t be doing Christmas cards this year. Let’s just say this Christmas may not be everything I was hoping for 🙂 Maybe next year 🙂ReplyCancel

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  • Matt, Rachel, Ellie Renee, and Baby Boy - This comment has been removed by the author.ReplyCancel

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  • Matt, Rachel, Ellie Renee, and Baby Boy - Poor Cora! I hope you all are having a better day today. Ear infections are no fun…and hard on you too! Even though you haven’t gotten too much done, your tree looks beautiful! We can’t wait to see you soon. Love you!ReplyCancel

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  • james - the tree looks great! wish i could be there to celebrate with you all this year!! hope cora feels better soon.

    sheng dan kuai le!! (that’s merry christmas in chinese!)ReplyCancel

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  • PamperingBeki - Awww, poor girl!! I hope she’s feeling much better soon.

    Merry Christmas to your family!ReplyCancel

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  • Shawn - Jess and Joel–
    I’m not sure if you are checking any kind of mail–I know your priority is taking care of Cora every second that she needs you, and she needs you every second.

    We are keeping posted through your dear friends and their blogs as well as from Gary and Vi, Sharley, and Kathy. Please know we are sending every possible wish of love and strength to all of you as this difficult time challenges you. We love you and think of you each minute.
    Shawn and Charlie; Maura, Simone, and LucasReplyCancel

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That describes my weekend.  Shopping, shopping, and more shopping.  With a few birthday parties in between.

We braved the Black Friday craziness.  Rachel and I headed to Wichita at 5:30am.  My sister had already been to Walmart at 5:00am and met us at Target when it opened.  As you can see by all the bags we got some pretty good deals.  I think I am getting too old for that early morning shopping.  I was tired!

We came home to celebrate this little girl’s birthday.  She was so excited!
Ellie got lots of fun little girl presents.  This is her new doll cradle and dolly from Gramps and Grammy.  My mom made that cute little quilt.
My dad was helping with the present unwrapping.  He always put a goofy bow on his head when we were little too!
Ellie got a play kitchen from her other grandparents.  Cora liked it too!
And here is the little two year old.  Happy Birthday Ellie!  
And yes, a little more shopping.  My sister-in-law, Leah (on the far right), turned 30 on Thanksgiving day.  We all surprised her on Saturday morning and stole her away for the day. We headed to KC for a girls day of shopping.  I kept forgetting my camera, so this is the only picture I have.  Happy Birthday Leah!
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Enter his gates with Thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise His name.  For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.  
Psalm 100:4-5

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with SO much to be thankful for!

We spent Thanksgiving with my family at my parent’s house.  My mom bought this cool cardboard house for Ellie.  You can even color it.  She thought it was great and was zooming (as you can see in the picture) in and out of it.  
She especially liked it when someone would come in with her.  What a fun grammy!
There was lots of fun cousin time.  
Ellie liked giving Cora hugs and kisses.  This reminded Anne and I of our childhood days. My sister was ALWAYS smothering me with hugs and kisses and I HATED it.  I was a child who needed my space.  Cora may be a little bit like her mamma!
My grandparents joined us for Thanksgiving.  It was great having them!  Grandma helped take good care of Cora during all the festivities.
Here are the boys working so hard cutting the turkey.  I’m not so sure about that grandpa in the overalls though.  It looks like he may just be eating the turkey!  I didn’t get a picture of my mom in on the cooking action.  She did MOST of the work.  Thanks mom for the delicious meal!
Our Thanksgiving dinner was followed by lots of laughs.  It was so fun to sit around and be goofy together.
And this…
This was the reason for a lot of our laughs.  We got out the play dough for Ellie, but I think the grownups had more fun with it.  It turned into a whole story…with characters and play dough food.  Joel was the photographer and I have TONS of pictures of the “play dough drama”. Maybe we will save that for another post! Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving too!
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