My Dad bought an IPod Nano today...one step in the Mac direction... ;-)

Well, I suppose that it has been a rather long time since I posted last. But, as I have said before, if you knew my family and the things that have been going on in our lives, you wouldn't be shocked that it has taken me so long to write. It isn't that I haven't had things to write about, it is just finding the time. So, since I am absolutely exhausted (we went to bed around 1:00 am last night and woke up at six something this morning) I've decided to post our family newsletter. :) I'll try to be better at posting, but I won't make any promises.

Dear Family and Friends,

What a year this has been! There have been so many changes in our lives it would take a whole book to tell you about them all. Therefore, I will restrain myself and only give you the highlights. Aside from Christa’s wedding which I’ll describe later, I suppose the most significant news of the year would be our move to Illinois. It was very exciting, (and somewhat traumatic) but, we made it! Dad accepted a pastorate in the midst of corn fields, Cardinal fans, and Lincoln license plates.

The church is called Providence Church in Peoria. The name is appropriate because we have seen the leading of the Lord and His providence throughout 2006. We have fallen in love with all the new families here and we’re having a blast getting used to country living! Yes, we actually have a well! Jessica was relieved to find out we didn’t actually have to go outside and draw water out of it to wash the dishes!

Early in November, our dear friends, Jim Bob and Amy Howard, came along side us to bear the blessed burden of Homeschooling Today® magazine. As an answer to prayer, they are now handling all management and operations of the publication. Praise the Lord!

Back home in Texas, the tea room is in the capable hands of our precious friends and part owners, Joey and Faydra Jones and Brenda and Ford Taylor. Please pray for them as they labor to be a blessing in the Katy area.

In addition, we sold Books on the Path to a Christian family in Idaho, the Osborns. Please pray the Lord continues to bless this new family and the work He allowed us to start. We have many precious memories running our bookstore and traveling to conferences, so, the children, as well as Mom and Dad, found the transition bittersweet.

Mom and Dad are setting new schedules for us all. Since Mom and Dad’s business management responsibilities have diminished, they are pleased to be able to focus more on our family, homeschooling, and the ministry of the church. They are also hoping to have time to work on their new book projects, which include more resources for families. And you know Mom – she is developing new schedules and checklists for our lives in the country! Oh, how thankful we are to be getting back to some semblance of normalcy!

As many of you already know, on November 24, 2006 the oldest McDonald daughter, our sweet Christa Marie, was joined in marriage to Daniel Blanchard. As Christa walked down the isle toward her eager groom, we were reminded of our own future Wedding Day—the day Christ, our beloved Groom, will be united forever to His spotless Bride, the Church. It was a simple, yet beautiful wedding and there were many tears shed as she set out to join her new husband, back in Texas. Although we would have loved to have had all of you join us, we understand that the distance was great and the notice was short. Thank you for your prayers and notes of celebration and encouragement. We love you all! For those who trekked the miles to join us, thank you for your efforts and we were so blessed to have you with us. A wedding is such a beautiful reminder of the covenantal way we as Christians should live our lives.

We also experienced our first heavy snow just one week after Christa’s 65 degree, sunshiny wedding! We boasted over 7 inches of snow and watched the thermometer dip below 0! Dad felt his age after shoveling snow with “the boys” and we’re all getting used to scraping our windshields, wearing socks, and actually zipping our coats! (Mom even has her own personal heater with a carrying handle!)

James (23) is still living in Texas but is staying with us for the Christmas season, which we’ve all enjoyed very much. He hopes to move up here sometime in January or February. He continues to do design work for our publications, and is also helping with some legislation efforts at Samaritan Ministries.

Tiffany (20) is now taking on the responsibility of being the oldest daughter in the house. She has enjoyed driving a LOT since we’ve moved, and has acted as Mom’s personal chaperone because of her wonderful sense of direction. She is known as our “walking, talking, GPS system.”

Melissa (18) has especially enjoyed being around birds since we’ve moved to the country. She has the duty of filling the bird feeder every morning and for some reason the birds have taken a liking to her! She is able to distinguish which birds are which and has many of their names and habits memorized. Melissa is looking forward to painting some of the beautiful scenery we have right in our backyard!

Jessica (16) still enjoys acting and drama very much. She is helping put together a movie with some other young people at church and hopes to one day have something ready for Vision Forum’s film festival. She is still a book worm and reads every chance she gets! Sparked by her recent reading of the Scarlet Pimpernel, Jessica is looking forward to studying the French Revolution this year. Tiffany, Melissa, and Jessica are also arranging their own music and are having a lot of fun singing together!

Caleb (10) is growing up so fast! He’s becoming a man right before our eyes! He is all “boy” and loves swords, guns, dirt, bugs, and animals. We recently had a secret and uninvited “visitor” to our garage. Caleb read all about shrews and helped us catch him! When Mimi and Papa came to visit us in November, Caleb had a great time fishing with Papa in our lake. He even ate the fish he caught! Mimi and Papa surprised Caleb with a BB gun—and no, he didn’t shoot his eye out!

Abigail (8) is also growing up quickly. She has become quite the “young lady” and tries very hard to be like her big sisters. She loves to help in the kitchen, whether it’s baking, cooking, or cleaning and enjoys helping with the younger children. She is a wonder of creativity, working on yet another novel already!

Virginia Grace (5) is our family chatter box. She loves meeting new people and likes to do whatever Abigail does. She is the newest reader in the family, which will earn her a brand new Bible this year. She is especially excited about having her name engraved on the front! She loves school and is looking forward to a busy school year. All the children are looking forward to learning Latin this year!

Emma Katherine (4) is our youngest and busiest maiden. Competing with William for Mom’s lap each morning, she still likes to pretend she’s the baby of the family. Emma is learning her letters and likes to “do school” with the big girls. Emma also enjoys helping around the house and follows Abigail and Grace wherever they go (they’re our three little peas in a pod). She loves to play “mommy” and tote her “baby” about the house. Sometimes (much to his chagrin) William gets to be her baby!

William (19 months) is growing way too fast! He’s the family hunk-a-chunk and loves to cuddle. He is learning many new words, both real and made up. His favorite song to sing during family worship time is one he made up himself. It is called “God” and apparently no other words are necessary and the tune is irrelevant. However, he intently stares at his hymnal and belts out his sweet song to the Lord!

Many times these types of newsletters ooze with all the good and exciting things a family has experienced and ignore the real stuff of life. Yes, God has been amazingly good to us and yes, He has poured out His mercy on our undeserving family, allowing us to see many exciting days, traveling to new places, meeting new friends and rejoicing with old.

However, 2006 has not been a year filled with waltzing through gardens or mornings of dew covered roses. As we lived life in 2006, we found more valleys than mountaintops. Yet, even in the darkness of the valley, God was with us, making it clear that He was the one orchestrating our lives and guiding our steps. Our much too hectic schedule, coupled with unforeseen opposition, left us broken and empty at times—thirsting for His strength. We became keenly aware of how weak and unworthy we are and how awesome and powerful God is. Busyness sapped our strength and strained relationships. We learned that doing more isn’t equal to accomplishing more.

God has humbled us and purged a little more dross from our rebellious flesh this year. Our motto for 2007 is “Promise less and do more.” We are learning to thank Him for showing us our sin – as excruciating as it is. We are also learning that it isn’t wise (or godly) to polish our magnifying glass for the purpose of looking at the sins of others. Rectifying our own sin should keep us plenty busy.

As Christians, we should put others interests before our own, love our neighbor as ourselves, and let our speech be gracious and our answers soft. If we could purpose to spur one another on to good works; to serve one another sacrificially; to live in humility and peace; to focus on correcting our own sin first, rather than jumping to shine a spotlight on the sins of others; to pray for one another; to encourage one another; to lift up those who have fallen; to visit one another; to practice hospitality one to another—what a year 2007 could be!

May God bless you and your children for generations to come.

Soli Deo Gloria,

James and Stacy, Tiffany, Melissa, Jessica, Caleb, Abigail, Virginia Grace, Emma, and William Alexander

snow update...and photos!

Well, on our very first snowfall, we were snowed in. The private drive to our house was piled high with snow, making it impossible to get out. Our neighbors had a wedding rehearsal to go to, so they climbed into their car, backed out of their driveway, and didn't make it very far. Actually, they got stuck in the snow and not only was it impossible for them to get out, but they couldn't get back to their driveway either. :) So, James, Caleb and another neighbor helped them get back home.

But, we did have a blast outside yesterday. We don't have very large hills, but the ones that we do have we used for sledding. Grace suggested making a snowman, so I figured that they couldn't be that hard to make, so we set out to make one. For some reason, the snow didn't roll and stick together the way it does in the movies, and making the snowman was almost impossible. But, being the stubborn person that I am, I decided that we were not going to give up. So, we made a snowman. He's not the usual three layer one, but he was bigger than the one that we made in Houston the year we had a bit of snow for Christmas. That one was only has big as my finger. :) His head is much too small for any of our hats, so we pulled a branch off of a tree and gave him hair instead. He ended up looking more like a Caesar snowman than Frosty, so we named him Frosty Augustus.

And, of all days that we could run out of coffee, guess which one it was. Yes, the day we were snowed in. We were only able to make half of a pot yesterday, and today we have not had any. We were hoping (I guess rather selfishly, ;-)) that the Evans's power would still be out so that they could come to stay with us. But when they arrived back home, their power was on. So we were not able to host them, and they didn't get to come out and bring coffee. :) Hopefully, we will be able to get out for church tomorrow...

Here are some photos that we took. I also put a few on my photo blog.

Guess what????? It's snowing!!! Hurray, our first "real" white Christmas! I'd get pictures, but the camera battery is dead...tomorrow, though, I should have some.

Well, we are adjusting to life without my sister being around. It is very interesting how one can get so easily set on a schedule for everyday life. We've decided to wait a while before we do this again. :)

We went to the Evans's house last night for dinner. Colton taught me how to play...oh bother, now I can't remember what the name of the game was, but I believe that he won. There were more black pieces than white pieces on the board, and since that was his color, I think he won. :) My baby brother has also decided to be a preacher when he grows up.



On Sunday afternoon, we put up our Christmas tree. My grandparents wanted to have an early Christmas while they were in town, so here are some photos from that. It was rather strange doing this without Christa here. We miss you, dearie.

My Sister's Wedding

For twenty years, my sister had to put up with me. For twenty years, my sister was always there. For twenty years, one of my dearest friends, my sister lived with me. Until now.

Today, Daniel has taken my sister, my friend. The service was beautiful, fellowship sweet, such a memorable day. Even though her attention was focused more on her guests and her beloved, I will always treasure the glances that she threw my way throughout the day. It will take some time for me to fully grasp the fact that she is now gone, but I know that she will be happy with Daniel. Please keep them in your prayers as they begin a new life together.

I was a little more laid back about taking photos today. I almost carried the camera instead of my bouquet, but the silver and black on the camera didn't exactly go with her theme. ;-) I figured that other people could take up the slack and just pass them along. So, for those of you who were able to attend would you mind sharing the photos? :) Here are a few that I did get...

Yesterday was one of the most depressing days of my life. My dad went out to get our new license plates, and he did the unthinkable. Yes, all of my dear southern friends, you might want to sit down, take a deep breath, brace yourselves...now, are you ready? He bought plates with the face of you-know-who on it!! To top it off, he didn't customize them at all! No southern flair to the icky things at all. So, if you want to come out for a cry party, you are more than welcome to...after the wedding. ;-) After all, two is better than one.

And, we only have two more days...

Six more days.

The most common phrase in my house these past few weeks has been:

"After the wedding!"

Funny....

Yesterday, at the meat market, without even knowing my age, one of the owners told me that I wasn't old enough to get married. ;-)

Today, Jessica and I went out to rake our yard. If you told me a few months ago that I would be raking a huge country yard, I probably would have laughed so hard, I might have cried. But, we did it. We pulled out our music, nice new speakers, and had a ball. We raked for several hours, put all of the leaves into a pile that was about five feet tall, and when we were done, guess what we did...we jumped into it. We ran, we leapt through the air with the greatest of ease and came crashing down into the huge leaf pile. Then do you know what we did...we did it all over again! :) Yes, for those of you in doubt, we are still young enough to do it. Blisters are well on the way, but it was worth it. Ahhhh...the joys of living in a state with four seasons...

Pictures of the birthday bash are below as well. I have a really good one of David, but I wasn't sure if I should post it or not. I'm wondering if there would be any pay back on his part...

Caleb's nice swollen ankle.

What a great party...

The joke of the day was..."How many Presbyterians does it take to change a light bulb?" I'm not sure that we took a count...anybody?

Making Caleb's cake.

Caleb's birthday cake

This doesn't look comfortable to me... 

More build-out of the bedroom. 

We have been so busy, that taking the time to sit down and actually write a post hasn’t been able to be scheduled in. By the end of the day, we are so pooped; we don’t know what to do with ourselves. Let me see if I can give you a nice summary of our lives…

Saturday, (yes my busy-ness dates back to Saturday) we had the Bandy family over. Mr. Bandy and his sons helped with the build-out of our attic bedroom. The girls cooked two hearty meals for the workers. In the evening, while the parents were talking, we went down to the basement for some games. The only one that I think we played was telephone charades which we just learned. Anyway, we had blast, and the pictures are below.

Sunday, after church, the Evans family, Jeremy B. and Anna P. came over for a wonderful evening of dinner and fellowship. Right before the Evans departed; David P. came over and brought one of our missing family members, Caleb. We discussed trading Anna for Caleb, but I’m sure Anna was glad to get back to her family. If she had stayed, I’m not too sure she would have been pleased to find out that taking out the garbage would show up on her daily chores. That night ended with a rather interesting game of The Great Dalmuti, almost complete with costumes. We are still working on merchant and peon garb. We didn’t get too many photos that night, which was rather unfortunate.

Monday and yesterday were full of babysitting for a friend and running errands. Nothing too exciting happened, unless you have heard the Starbucks story…maybe another blog post.

Last night Ashton, Emil and Grace Bandy followed my dad home from the Patriarch meeting, and stayed the night at our house. Today, the Bandy gentlemen helped my dad once more in our attic room, while Grace and us gentlewomen went to do a few things in town. After lunch was done, some of the girls decided to go canoeing, which is usually a fine idea, but today the boat was full of water, and it was a bit nippy out, so they had a bit of trouble getting started. When I went out, they were trying to dump the water out of the boat, while it was still in the water. Accomplishing the opposite of their intent, more water than desired rushed in.

Can you guess what happened next? Well, the incredible strength of the McDonald girls, plus the help of Grace B. did it again! We hauled the boat out of the lake, dumped several bucket loads of water out, then tipped the boat over to make sure all of the water was out, slid the boat back into the water and they were ready to go! And of course, a Kodak moment like this did not get away from me…pictures are below. Ashton and Emil arrived on the dock shortly thereafter, and so two canoe groups went out, coming back thoroughly soaked, muddy, and we cannot forget, freezing…yuck.

Jessica then decided to drop our mop bucket into the lake. It began to fill with water and sink beneath the murky surface. Ashton attempted to save it with an oar, but it escaped. As we started to move the canoe over to get it, Emil used a long board and rescued the bucket from a terrible death. *Some pictures may be blurred for security reasons…ha-ha, not really, the un-named photographer just didn’t get it completely focused. :)

Tomorrow, we have some more errands to run, my Mom has a conference on Saturday, and church and our hymn sing are on Sunday. It’s a wonder that we have any time to breath…anybody out there want to join the family? ;-)

Christa and Anna P. 

The Great Dalumti ~ David P. 

Our feet, and Caleb with his famous eyelid pose. 

Telephone charades. 

Aston, in what looks like a rather painful position.

This is the beginning of a wall. ;-) 

Mr. Bandy getting ready to cut the board...I think. 

This is my hero...