My dad and step-mom Mary came to Colorado Springs for a nine day Christmas visit this year! We had a great time together, and thought it’d be special to take some professional pictures to remember our fun Christmas! Here are some highlights from the Baumgardner photo shoot:

Is here! (tab above)  Enjoy and check out all the great pictures Christina has added to our family website.

Calling all H.A. Rey lovers!! Everyone with children go out and buy this precious pop-out book!! From the creator of Curious George, this activity book “A Christmas Manger” gives you all the beautifully illustrated characters of the Christmas story to pop-out and use as paper dolls. The inside covers of the book open up into a backdrop of the manger scene, and the only text inside is straight from the gospels of Matthew and Luke. LOVE IT!!!!!!!

we love CO, where we can have snow on the ground and blue skies up above! A special thanks to Grammy and Brown Rogers for the wonderful snow gear!!!

oh, and you might notice a certain small brown dog in the picture!! That is the latest addition to our little ever growing family! Her name is Liberty and she is seven years old and a miniature Australian Shepherd. We inherited her from Michael’s family when they moved to DC and we love her!!! (esp. now that she’s finally housebroken! She and Geneva got to go through potty training together! haha)

She is SO one of my very FAVORITE things.

Geneva gets a new ornament every year, usually representing something from that year. This year she got a hand painted green nutcracker from Germany. For some reason this year she’s become really enthusiastic about Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite. She can watch the ballet performance over and over and over (we skip the rats, obviously). She’s getting giddy excited about taking ballet next year, and wants to wear her frilly dancing skirts EVERYWHERE. So she has a nutcracker ornament this year, and just like in the ballet, loves to take him out of the tree and dance around the house with him. <3

This fall Michael’s dad was offered a new job in Washington D.C., so after 40+ years in Los Alamos, NM, the Franciscos packed up, sold their house (PTL!), and made the massive move to Northern Virginia!! They graciously and generously flew us all out to see them for Thanksgiving!!!!! What a treat!! We loved seeing where they are living and working now, and enjoyed sightseeing, playing games, shopping, putting up their Christmas tree, looking at Christmas lights, and even riding a ferris wheel in the freezing wind!, but mainly it was just so wonderful just being with our family. It was so good for us, it flew by way too fast, and we can’t wait to go back. Love you guys!!

Thanksgiving Family Picture!

i love my girl!

weeeeeeeee! Daddy's the best!

playing with papa!

best.pic.ever. YAY Auntie Debs!

Geneva and Mimi

I LOVE YOU MIMI!

ta-da!

We discovered a great little farm in the outskirts of the Springs this fall. It was a drive out there, but boy did they have things for us to do and see!! Highlights included:

a very bumpy and very fun hayride around the farm!

riding a pony

"they smell, mom"

feeding the animals! G was so brave!

the animals feeding on us!! OUCH!!

riding the barrel train

playing in the tires

"YE-HAW! YE-HAW!"

Happy Fall Everybody!

(allrighty, I know I owe you all about a hundred posts. well, here are at least a few after the fact, but still heartfelt, posts about out recent happenings. thanks for hanging in there with me.)

Back in september…….

Auntie Debs came to visit!!! We had a blast with our favorite hockey writer, with lots of great talks, trips to the Zoo and park, and of course a great Rockies game! (where mom was not present and Auntie Debs did like all good Aunts do, and spoiled Geneva rotten with lots of ice cream! She’s really going for that “favorite Aunt” title.)

So we had yet to take professional pictures since Geneva was born until last month. My sweet mother-in-law had offered to take Geneva to get them done, and we did so on her most recent visit. They turned out SO cute - hopefully this will make us get our act together and get them done on a more regular basis. (oh, and for all the grandparents, great-grandparents, surrogate grandparents, aunts and uncles. etc. out there - your hard copies are coming in the mail soon!)

Geneva told me at lunch today “Mom, may I please have butter? My polenta needs seasoning.” hahahaha. LOVE her!

I needed this truth from the Word today.

“The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” Luke 10:16-17 ESV

Most of you (whoever you are out there reading this) know that I’ve been working through a program called Biblical Foundations of Freedom for about the last year.  The focus of this has been rooting out all the seemingly “respectable” sins in my life (bitterness, fear, unforgiveness, etc.), and the areas I’ve given Satan footholds in my life and, consequently, in my body. It focuses on repentance, binding the demonic, taking back ground, and renewing yourself in the Word. Recently I found myself so burdened and weighed down by the process, I realized I had begun to miss the grace in it, and I was reminded that restored relationship and fullness of Christ in me was the goal, not my physical healing. So today I was grateful for this reminder from the Lord, that sure, I have all power through Christ over the demonic forces in my life, but neither my joy nor my focus should revolve around that. My heart and hope should rejoice and center around my position in Christ, who is my Savior and my God.

Here’s also the poem about these vereses that John Piper posted on his Desiring God Blog today.  Blessings!

hm…i totally forgot to post this. oops.

We had a wonderful 4th of July weekend with all the Franciscos in NM. Eric and Mary were there on their summer trip across America, and Debs was home from college - we had to go to be with everyone once again!

Emotionally this was a big trip for us as it was perhaps our last time as a big family together in our hometown of Los Alamos. Michael’s dad found out recently that he landed an amazing new job in D.C., so the Francisco family is leaving Los Alamos! There are mixed emotions over this, but most of all everyone is so grateful to the Lord for providing such an amzing job for Dave, and trusting Him to truly provide where He guides. Dave and Sherry and Kristina are headed out there this fall, so please be praying for them!

Please keep (or start) praying for us.

It’s been 6 months now and it’s getting really really really lonely, and making the transition a lot harder than it needs to be. I could write about the 15 churches we’ve visited in the last 6 months, and why we’re still looking, but today I don’t have the energy. Maybe another post. This is just a simple call to prayer. Thank you!