Holly's home and some other stuff

All my chicks are back in the nest!

That makes this mom really happy.  Holly's been home for a little over a week and we've been keeping her busy.

John got a wild hair and decided to move Sasquatch so they are making a cement platform for him in the woods.

There we is, waiting to get moved to his new spot.

Don't worry. We don't make her work all the time.

In other news...some people decorate the outside of their house for Christmas.
The Hiemstras excavate.

Don't even ask.  I have no idea.
In an effort to Christmasfy (this is a word right?) my porch (the one outside area I have control of) I hung some Christmas undergarments.  My two youngest kids LOVE it.  Not.

The red underwear say "naughty or nice" and were a gift from a friend.  The kids keep asking me to take them down.  They claim it's embarrassing when their friends come over.  I have no idea how I raised such sensitive children.

 The youth group had a people scavenger hunt at the mall the other night.  We were encouraged to disguise ourselves so the kids would have trouble finding us.  I did pretty good.  The only group that found me was made up of girls that don't even go to our church.

I started running again.  I hate it.  I don't want to talk about it.  I'm just putting it in here to hold me accountable.

Can you believe they are selling almond patties from Sioux Center, Iowa here in Lynden, Washington??!

And this makes me really happy...almost as happy as Holly being home but not quite.  The price of my favorite wine was lowered!  

Just in case it was some sort of Costco error, I made sure to buy a case...or two.

Thoughts for your Thursday

Facebook has got to be one of the biggest time wasters ever but every once in a while you find a gem on there.  The other day a "friend" (who are these people anyway, most of them are not my friends) was talking about how busy she was.  A "friend" (who knows if it was actually a friend though, it's hard to tell) commented that busy stood for Being Under Satan's Yolk.  Wow.  That's good.  And tough.  It seems to be that a lot of people say they are busy as some sort of badge of honor, as an indication that their life is full.  Is it possible for your life to be too full?  There's a lot of stuff out there to be busy with (especially at Christmas time) and a lot of it is really good stuff but maybe we're not suppose to be doing it all.
So, if you find yourself feeling overwhelmed and busy this Christmas season, stop it.  Because who wants to be under Satan's yolk?  Don't let him rob you of the joy of all that Christmas is.  Jesus says, "Come to me all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest....For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."  (Matthew 11:28, 30) Yep, given the choice of yokes, Jesus definitely seems like the more obvious one.  Kind of like when your at the coffee shop and the barista says, "Do you want whipped cream on that?"  Duh?

Thanksgiving

Helping with turkey preparations.

So thankful for my Washington family.

It was my mom's birthday on Thanksgiving.  I'm pretty thankful for her too.

And that cute girl on her left...she'll be home on Friday!  SUPER thankful for that!