First Flowers of Spring? in January?

Yup...it's Friday, January 27 and the daffodils in the front yard are not only up, but blooming!!!! What are they thinking? It is still winter...but alas, they have been fooled into thinking that it is springtime! Hopefully we don't get a winter snowstorm in February! For those that know our house, these are right by the front door along the driveway! The first of over 150 bulbs that I planted in the fall to bloom!

I noticed the blue in the flower bed in the back yard out of my bedroom window and had to go down and check it out! There they are...the first primroses in the yard, rain or not, they are sure that spring cannot be too far away!(obviously the slugs are alive and well! Notice the little holes in the leaves and around the edge of the flowers! I may just have to go slug hunting with my flashlight and salt shaker! Both Dave and I have been known to do it a night when we get really tired of them! He holds the record number killed!) 

Meet Matthew .......the newest member of the Crusade Human Resources team who has just reported after raising his support. He has been living with us the past two weeks...so wanted to introduce you to him....he has enjoyed lots of games of Sequence with Dave and I! That's what he gets for moving in! (he will probably be happy to be in his own place soon
 

I couldn't resist buying these primroses at the Save On store on Tuesday...they were so colorful and look great by my front door! ;-) 

SEQUENCE...our latest favorite game! We first played this years ago with good friends in Calgary(Ron & Inge, Reiny and Irene, and Karl & Karin, you guys remember when we came to visit you in the campground?)

A Christmas gift from Jamie and Megan, you can play it with 2 players to 12! This week we tried it out with 10 players when we had the new staff come over for an evening off from their training .....pizza and games! They played in three teams and learned a lot about each other that they hadn't seen before!

For some of the new staff, this was a very serious game!! "Should I make this move? or maybe not?" 

Others didn't take the game quite so seriously. Donna and Tiffany thought it was pretty funny in fact! 

Meet the family's best Salesman(after his Opa that is!). Jeremy, my sister's youngest son, is selling Cutco knives while he goes to College. He called and asked if he could demonstrate for us, so we invited him to come on out to Abbotsford last Sunday and show us his presentation! We had a fun time! 

After Sunday dinner he had our attention while we drank our coffee and ate 'sweets'(Matt always calls them that so I have started to as well) 

Jeremy is a great salesman and we were all excited to be entered into a draw for $1000(worth of Cutco possibly? I can't remember...guess that shows my belief that I would ever win anything!) Thanks Jeremy for a fun afternoon! anyone want to buy Cutco? I know a great salesman! 

Friends!

Friends....I have thought a lot about friends this past couple of weeks! What a blessing they are and how God has given us amazing friends! Old friends, new friends, friends here in Abbotsford and friends around the world. We are so blessed! So to all of you that we consider friends, thank you! For being there, for loving us, praying for us, and laughing and crying with us over the years!

This picture was taken at Matt and Heather's house on Sunday, January 8, actually Megan's birthday. Tom and Ruth are some of our oldest and dearest friends...we go back to our pre-marriage days when Ruth and I were in Youth Group together! They started dating around the same time as us, and we got married a month apart, two good German girls marrying 'Englischer'....that is non-Germans! Our husbands hit it off and the rest is history...our kids call them Uncle Tom and Auntie Ruth and we have been at each other's kids' weddings...all of them! Thanks for being a part of our lives and our children's lives Tom and Ruth!

And to our good friends, Steve and Nancy, here is the picture that I promised you Nancy(the six of us met while we were all celebrating our 25th Wedding Anniversaries on a Panama Canal Cruise...but that's another story of God's Amazing Faithfulness and Friendships!).

Sunday, January 8th- Happy Birthday Megan!

Last Sunday we celebrated Megan's 26th Birthday! It's always fun to honor those special days! I am glad that everyone has made it easy for me to keep track of the birthdays in our family...Darin turned 26 last July, this month it was Megan's turn, followed by Matt in April, Heather in May and my nephew Stephen in June just in time for Darin to start the year off again and turn 27!!

Speaking of Darin and Jody, we sure missed having you here for Meg's birthday dinner. Was so special to have everyone at the table at Christmas...your spots are empty!

Megan, you are and always will be my favorite daughter-in-love...I like that saying! You are a special blessing not only to Jamie but to our entire family and we are so thankful that God added you to our family!

Megan loves Confetti Cake so that's what she got for her birthday! I thought I was so smart to put 25 plus 1 candle on it to add up to 26...however, I was a bit dyslexic and it looked like she turned 125 instead!!!! (my first try the 2 and 5 were reversed and it looked like 152!!!) Some days I wonder if I have any brain cells left! 

After dinner it was time to play games....a Beck staple! We all enjoy playing games and since Dave got a new one for Christmas, we have been playing it lots...Sequence! It is fun for two people or more...we played it with 8 of us on New Year's Day and it was lots of fun! 

Games are always fun! Sequence is a great game to play in teams....guys against the girls! And guess who won? 

Since I don't have grandchildren to post pictures of, the animals will have to do! Tikka is getting to be more and more of a handful!! 

This picture wasn't actually taken on Megan's birthday, but on Christmas Eve.... but it was such a good picture of me and Milo relaxing on the couch that i couldn't resist! 

Happy New Year!

Well a new year has arrived....in uncharacteristic quiet fashion at house! Dave and I just played our newest game, Sequence, into the new year, and reflected on the journey that God brought us on this past year! A year ago Dave was just returning to work fultime after his burnout, we were planning the wedding of our youngest child(our third wedding in less than three years) and we had no idea what all the changes would mean for us and our family. We rejoiced at His faithfulness and rest in the knowledge that faithful is He who has called us regardless of what this new year holds!

Tonight we thanked God for our awesome kids...Jamie and Megan we thought of you as you spend your last night there in Michigan with Megs' family. We love you both and are so glad that you are so committed to family! Thanks Brian, Nancy and Ben for sharing them with us too! We understand only too well how hard it will be for you to say Goodbye to them again later today.

Heather and Matt, it was so fun having dinner at your place last night with Oma and Opa...you do an awesome job of having guests, and you definitely have the gift of hospitality! Tikka and Milo just add to the ambiance of your log cabin in the woods...we love it! Thanks for opening your home to us! It was definitely a memory, not just for us, but for Oma and Opa too....their first meal at the home of Grandchildren!

Jody and Darin, thanks for sharing your first Christmas as a married couple with us, the Beck Clan. Thanks to Donnie and Trudy and the Miles family for sharing them with us even though we know you missed them. It was so good having you both up here and to be able to relate as couples to one another. We treasure the memories in our hearts and will be praying for you as you continue to search out God's heart for your future direction. Saying Goodbye was hard, but made easier because of the good times we had!

God is so good, all the time! Through the good times and the difficult....blessed be the name of the Lord!