Finishing

We came home from Thanksgiving break to an absolute whirlwind week!  Josh has finished his classes and after he takes his last final on Wednesday, will have officially completed his first semester of seminary!  That hardly seems possible!  I think he read more in the last 4 months than he has the last 4 years!!  Speaking of reading, here he is taking time out from his studies to read Kate's new Bible with her.  It's awesome!  Any of you with kids should look into getting one...it's the 'Jesus Storybook Bible' and all the stories point to Jesus, from Adam and Eve all the way through to the end of Revelation!  It is so cool!

My sweet boy...Gotta love footed jammies :)

The kiddos on the front steps of West Oak

Stephanie and I met up on campus to let the kids play the other day.  It is full of these huge, amazing trees...Here are Kate, Carter and Anna Kate playing under a massive magnolia tree.  So fun!!

Josh had a big week...here he is taking a break from writing his research paper.  And wasn't it nice of Carter to help him with that?

We kept our neighbor's baby one morning last week.  Josiah is a couple months older than Hudson.  He was fascinated and loved watching him play!  Hudson's first playdate :)

Having a little fun with Daddy at Lowes...seeing just how fast the carts can go!

Laney Carson's 2nd Birthday Party...aren't they so cute, all lined up on the couch together?

Here's the birthday girl...love the fancy birthday crown!  And her birthday cake was so good, homemade poundcake made from scratch by her daddy!!  It was delicious!  Good job Hugh!

The kids enjoyed the cake too :)  And ice cream, of course!

I was so glad to find out that Wake Forest does a Holiday Home Tour.  Norcross has one every year, and it's been at tradition to go with my mom and my sister.  So I was feeling sad this year with it being my first Christmas season away from home.  I got to take Kate and have a special girls day seeing many of the beautiful historic homes on Main St.  They had carolers in old-timey costumes and a horse and buggy giving free rides.  This was the highlight of the day for Kate!  She loved it so much, she's changed the lyrics of 'Jingle Bells' to 'a one-horsed open buggy' instead of sleigh :)

Here we are in one the homes with our girls (from L. to R. Kate, me, Tori Beth, Catherine, Moriah and Marion Merkle)

This was so cool...made completely out of balloons!

And the big news of the week...Kate has quit sucking her thumb!  Who knew all it would take is a band-aid?!  She has a sore spot on her thumb and has been wearing a band-aid on it all week.  By the 2nd day, she decided she's done with it and has done so well!  We had no idea how that habit was going to break...she's been going strong with her thumb for 4+ years!!  Praise the Lord that once she made up her mind to be done, that was it!  Now we're going to paint her nails, finally :)  So proud of my girl...

And our other big news...we got a house!!!  We picked up the keys today and will be moving in next week!  What a HUGE answered prayer...God is so good!  As always, He was faithful to answer in His perfect way, in His perfect timing.  So we are living our last week here at West Oak.  I never would have believed I'd feel this way, but I am a little sad to be leaving.  This semester has been a time of intense stretching for us, but we have grown and are finishing our time here with some precious memories made.