1.01.2013

It is now 2013

Christmas was beautiful.
It always is when the four girls are together.


Emmanuel, God with us.

This is true every day and every Christmas.

But, this Christmas...

The very truth of the statement was needed on so many accounts.

As many of you know, a pastor's daughter here in Kalispell died 4 days before Christmas.

She was 5 years old.

Her name was Lenya.

She died suddenly from a severe asthma attack.

Heartbreak.

Christmas wasn't all smiley and giddy this year.

There were tears for many.

Tears that are still falling.

This is Ashley and Rachel's pastor at the church where they serve.


Fresh Life Church.

This morning our family watched the service from Sunday.

May I encourage you all to go to freshlifechurch.org

and watch the video that was just added... Aftermath.

It is uplifting and the perfect way to begin the year 2013.

The Christmas Eve service (here) will inspire you as well!

It is different than what many might be used to.

The message is the same.

From Jesus.

To You.

HE IS FAITHFUL.

At the end of the service they also sang a song that was cut from the video clip.

It is beautiful.

Matt Redmond  - Never Once




And,

It has been gloriously white here.

Ashley captured a photo on her phone of snowflakes.  It is perfect.







































I might get in trouble for showing this next photo.  I stole it from Rachel's collection.




























Our streets are covered in the lovely white stuff.







































Ellie has been enjoying the white fluff as well!  Pink ball and all!






































And there has been a bit of craziness thrown in to the mix as well!


I have Ashley to thank for all the lovely photos (except for the one I stole from Rachel!)  Some you all have seen on her instagram but I know there are several blog readers that don't have instagram and that includes me!

Lauren is safely back in Australia now.



And Steve and I are headed down to San Diego bright and early tomorrow morning.  Steve has been sick the last few days.  Today he has a fever again!  Would you pray for him to get better?

I might be off the grid for a bit as my computer will be spending the night at the San Diego Apple Store.  Hoping it will make a full recovery!

Hopeful that your year will be filled with an eternal focus that you (we) have never experienced before.

Jodi

4 comments:

Lauren said...

What a lovely post. Have fun in San Diego! :)

kristina said...

I love your blog. I miss you all, and I enjoy seeing pictures of Kalispell.

Jodi said...

Hi Kristina!

We miss you too! Thank you for reading and for commenting!

Jodi

kristina said...

I miss you too. I always think of the girls when I hear songs on the radio that they sang in church. And I pray for your friends Chuck & Dawn (I think their daughter is Britney?) Anyway there is a store here that reminds me to pray for them.