Groundhog Day!

I've noticed that my "followers" (readers of this blog) have been dwindling. Guess my posts are not that interesting ;)

It's February 2nd, which means..it's Groundhog Day! Punxsutawney Phil once again saw his shadow so this means 6 more weeks of winter.... oh how I wish that was true. Here in Sioux Falls, SD it's more like 14 more weeks until the end of winter :)

This week I've been pretty busy! Monday was my 2nd to last Chiropractor appointment - my back has improved pretty drastically over the last 2 months! Wednesday we had our friends Mel & Tim over for dinner, Thursday was my morning Bible Study (Isaiah) and later that evening was our home group. Friday I introduced two of my friends (Marie and Anna). Recently Marie moved into a house that is directly across the street from Anna! They both have little babies so I thought it would be good for them to meet. Saturday I spent about 3-4 hours with Gage's cousin Monique and her fiance Nick, taking engagement photos of them. I took over 600 photos and have now narrowed it down to about 300. My goal is to narrow it down to 200. Sunday after church we went to Cici's for lunch with Gage's family, then I went to Falls Park with them and took some photos of the family for them. The rest of the day I was home with Zoe :) I spent every spare moment I had editing & enchancing many of the photos. I'm hoping to have all of the photos ready by Thursday.


Here are some fun "facts" I found at Groundhog.org! Reading this made me laugh. Such a silly holiday!

Looking for answers to your Groundhog Day questions? You've come to the right spot! Click the links to the left to learn about various aspects of the Groundhog Day holiday, and how we've been celebrating it in Punxsutawney since 1886.

Here are some answers to Frequently Asked Questions about the holiday:

Yes! Punxsutawney Phil is the only true weather forecasting groundhog. The others are just impostors.

How often is Phil's prediction correct? 100% of the time, of course!

How many "Phils" have there been over the years? There has only been one Punxsutawney Phil. He has been making predictions for over 120 years!

Punxsutawney Phil gets his longevity from drinking the "elixir of life," a secret recipe. Phil takes one sip every summer at the Groundhog Picnic and it magically gives him seven more years of life.

On February 2, Phil comes out of his burrow on Gobbler's Knob - in front of thousands of followers from all over the world - to predict the weather for the rest of winter.

According to legend, if Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter weather. If he does not see his shadow, there will be an early spring.

No! Phil's forecasts are not made in advance by the Inner Circle. After Phil emerges from his burrow on February 2, he speaks to the Groundhog Club president in "Groundhogese"(a language only understood by the current president of the Inner Circle). His proclamation is then translated for the world.

The celebration of Groundhog Day began with Pennsylvania's earliest settlers. They brought with them the legend of Candlemas Day, which states, "For as the sun shines on Candlemas Day, so far will the snow swirl in May..."

Punxsutawney held its first Groundhog Day in the 1800s. The first official trek to Gobbler's Knob was made on February 2, 1887.

So the story goes, Punxsutawney Phil was named after King Phillip. Prior to being called Phil, he was called Br'er Groundhog.

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Penguin Awareness Day!

Today is not just Inauguration Day....it is also Penguin Awareness Day! I just couldn't resist posting something about this, hehe. Today is a day to learn about our adorable little waddling friends. They are just so cute! One of my favorite things to do is learn about different animals, the complexity of God's incredible creations is always so fascinating to me.

Here are a few facts about Penguins that I did not know until today:

• The largest living species is the Emperor Penguin which averages at around 3 ft. 7 in. tall!
• The smallest species is the Little Blue Penguin that averages at about 16 inches tall.
• They do not fear humans, they will actually approach humans. However if humans get within 3 meters of them they start to get nervous.
• Penguins cannot breathe underwater.
• Penguins are often seen surfing the waves to the land!
• The average swim speed of penguins is 15mph.
  
• The only time they are ever airborne is when they leap into the water :)
  

Click here to check out the Penguin Dance!

And for another familiar Penguin dance...




Enjoy!

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New Years Resolutions for 2009!

I've never really made New Year's Resolutions before but I figured what better year to start than this year ;o)

I am going to try and make these resolutions realistic. I will set about 20 resolutions and at the end of the year I'll look back on them and see how many I managed to fulfill.

My New Years Resolutions:

1. Study the Bible daily.
   
2. Read the entire Old Testament.
3. Learn to be a better wife and mother.
4. Spend an average of $200 on groceries each month.
5. Have at least $3000 in the savings account at this time next year.
   
6. Make exercise a habit.
   
7. Loose 10 lbs. to get back to pre-pregnancy weight (Preferably 30 lbs but 10 is a good goal haha)
8. Read a minimum of 10 Books.
9. Write a letter (snail mail) to someone every month (Particularly my Great-Grandmother and our Compassion sponsor child, Fabiola.)
   
10. Try 100 new things (foods, sports, events, activities, etc)
    
11. Go on 3 road trips, even if they are short ones.
    
12. Learn how to use the Sioux Falls freeways. There are TWO of them, which is nothing compared to San Diego...you'd think I'd have this down by now, after two years of living here, but nope. My sense of direction here is pretty much non-existent. I always avoid using the freeways because I have no idea where they lead- what off ramps are on there or which direction they go haha.. I'm totally lost in this city most of the time.
    
13. Complete my Photography Diploma Program! I started in the summer of 2007 and have had to extend my time an additional 6 months - twice! If I don't complete this in 5 more months, that will be $1000 down the drain so... I really do need to finish it. Trouble is finding time to take a darn photo of a woman outdoors in this crazy cold weather. Why did that have to be my first project? Ugh.
14. Meet at least one new friend this year.
15. Complete the following Scrapbooks / Photo Albums: Our Honeymoon Album, Zoe's 1st Year Scrapbook.
16. Find, sort, and organize ALL of our photos (digital and prints) up until Dec 2008.
    
17. Learn to Sew.
18. Travel somewhere I have never been.
    
19. Work on my Family Tree
20. Get outside more!
    

If you're into setting goals and working to accomplish them, check out 43things.com! I started my list two years ago but kind of forgot about it for the past year. I plan to start using that site again. It's a pretty cool site.

Ok that completes my list of resolutions for the year of 2009.

Have a Fine 2009!
(I just couldn't resist!)

-Shaina

Celebrate His Birth!

Joy To The World
Isaac Watts(1674-1748)

Joy to the world! The Lord is come.
Let earth receive her King
Let every heart
Prepare Him room
And Saints and angels sing
And Saints and angels sing
And Saints and Saints and angels sing

Joy to the world, the Saviour reigns
Let Saints their songs employ
While fields and floods
rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy
Repeat the sounding joy
Repeat, Repeat, the sounding joy

Joy to the world with truth and grace
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness
And wonders of His love
And wonders of His love
And wonders and wonders of His love

No more will sin and sorrow grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He'll come and make the blessings flow
Far as the curse was found,
Far as the curse was found,
Far as, far as the curse was found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And gives to nations proof
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love;
And wonders of His love;
And wonders, wonders of His love.

Rejoice! Rejoice in the Most High,
While Israel spreads abroad
Like stars that glitter in the sky,
And ever worship God,
And ever worship God,
And ever, and ever worship God.

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Praise the Lord, for He has provided us with a SAVIOR!

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Zoe's Christmas Outfit

I just adore this outfit! It is so so soo cute! She wore it yesterday at her dedication at church and then she'll wear it again on Christmas. She's soooo cute!

Halloween 2008 Photos!

Our Halloween ended up being pretty fun after all! I dressed Zoe up as a Pumpkin and we went over to my in-law's house, ate Chili, hung out with the family, handed out candy to trick or treaters. The evening resulted in so many amazing photos of Zoe in her pumpkin suit..I don't know which ones to post! I also have pictures of me carving my very first pumpkin *ever* in my life and the end result turned out pretty awesome! Here are a few of my favorites.

To check out the full album of photos, click here! :)

Halloween and Reformation Day

Happy Halloween!
and
Happy Reformation Day!

It is that time of year again! I'm torn between whether to really celebrate Halloween or not. Now that I have a child it is especially difficult trying to figure out what the right thing to do would be for our family. I both like and dislike the holiday. I want to celebrate Halloween for the reason that it is a fun holiday and seemingly harmless in many aspects. However, Jesus died to give us eternal life and we Christians are to be a light in this world of darkness and Halloween is a celebration of death, darkness, all things sinful and evil... but at the same time, it is a fun time to just be silly and dress up in fun (decent) costumes, eat candy, and enjoy having children come to your door so that you can give them candy :)

I have no interest in the things of the dead (which is why I hate most scary movies in which most people end up dying.) Witches, monsters, devils, people with stab wounds, "scary" jack-o-lanterns, skeletons, ghosts...I really don't understand the appeal of it all. Death is a mystery (to many people), but is it really something worth celebrating? Some would argue that it isn't a celebration of death, but then what is it? Does it make a difference? Does it glorify God in any way at all? I don't think it does, and I want all that I do to glorify the Lord and the life that he has given me both on this earth and for all eternity!

Some people do like the thrill of being scared, but I certainly do not. The concept has always been a mystery to me - people enjoy being scared. It's just not me. It's a strange holiday with terrible origins and it is still used for terrible and horrendous purposes to this day, but then if you just look at the holiday as a time of trick or treating it seems to be more of a "fun"holiday that I believe can be enjoyed by Christians. I basically believe that the trick or treating is harmless, but everything else associated with the holiday is not. So where do we find the middle ground? Is there one?

It is also Reformation Day (which is a far better thing to celebrate in my opinion haha). On October 31, 1517 Martin Luther posted 95 disagreements with the Medieval Catholic Church on the door of the castle church of Wittenburg, Germany. The chief debate was the matter of salvation (being saved from sins and entering into a right relationship with God). The catholic church at the time was teaching that people could buy forgiveness for their sins. Luther was a monk and a theologian, he spent a great deal of his time studying the Bible and the more he studied it, the more he realized how wrong the church was. Luther's 95 Theses protested their teaching on salvation. Luther and other reformers taught that religion and good deeds could not save people (as the Bible clearly says) and salvation can only come through faith in Jesus Christ alone. Generally speaking, Reformation Day is a celebration of the true teachings of the Bible! How awesome is that?

I grew up never trick or treating, but instead I went to Harvest Festivals at church that consisted of tons of carnival like games, lots of candy, people dressed up as the people in the Bible (and rewards for those who could figure out who they were!), good music, good food, and good fellowship. It was a celebration of life, rather than death.

Now that I'm here in Sioux Falls, I don't know of any places around here that do that. Perhaps by the time Zoe is old enough there will be something like that, and maybe there are church festivals that I just don't know about yet. I'll look into it more as Zoe gets older. If not though, I don't want her to not be able to enjoy the fun aspects of the Holiday.

What are your thoughts? How do you celebrate Halloween/Reformation Day?

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Pumpkins and Coffee

Today is COFFEE DAY!

It is also... PUMPKIN DAY!

Yes, according to GreetingCards.com and a few other sources, today is both Pumpkin AND Coffee Day. Perhaps today would have been a good time to try....

Pumpkin Coffee!!

Maybe next year :)

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Only 99 days left...

...until CHRISTMAS!

Yes. Just 99 days left. ;o)

For the past few years I have started my Christmas plans in October, start buying and packaging things in November, and then I try to leave the month of December for enjoying the season stress-free (at least that is the goal haha). In December I love to decorate the house, put up and decorate the tree, attend special church services and those adorable children's Nativity plays (I very vividly remember being a sheep for two years and an angel for one year when I was a kid). I love to at least make an attempt to bake something, I love to watch Christmas movies, drink hot chocolate, spend quality time with family. Beginning my plans 3 months in advance has been a good system for me.

However this year I came across a couple of websites that have got me super excited for the Christmas season! I think I just may begin my planning a little early this year, hehe.

Organized Christmas

Christmas Organizing

Buy Nothing Christmas

My goals for this year's Christmas are:

1) Create a Budget and stick to it. Spend as little money as possible.
2) Buy a Nativity Set (I've wanted one for a long time but always end up not having the money.)
3) Have a Christmas Party, a small one with friends and family, in our home.
4) Find ways to keep the focus on the birth of Jesus rather than Santa Claus.
5) Create a "My First Christmas" ornament for Zoe with her hand print on it.

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