Brianna turns three!

Last month my sweet, one-and-only daughter turned three. And, I am more than just a little sentimental about it! (Sniff, sniff)

David said, "For Brianna's birthday, I would give anything to just not plan anything... but let Brianna decide what to do next all day." So, this is what we did for her third birthday. We planned NOT to plan! (And that is something unique in our family since David and I are King and Queen Planner).

You can follow where our journeys took us on Brianna's big day through these pictures and comments...

We started out in a grocery store. First and most important task of the day: choose a birthday cake. (We do not have an oven yet, or else I gladly would have baked Brianna a cake. Good thing is, she doesn't really know the difference yet anyway!)Got suckers at the check-out. Suckers + 3 kids = sheer bliss Brianna chose to have lunch at McDonald's. We had not planned a party or anything extra here. However, one of the managers who conducted Davey's birthday party in the birthday room last May was working on this day. She fell in love with Brianna on Davey's big day and has always remembered her. When we walked in, she showered affection on Brianna, and I proudly informed her that her little doll chose to eat here on her birthday. She immediately ushered us to her "office" - the birthday room! So, for not a penny extra, Brianna got to sit in the birthday chair and have lunch with the manager who blew up balloons (much to Brianna's amazement because they were done on a machine) while she ate.
Happy girl with her favorite man in all of the world!

After naps (yep, still have to take those even on your birthday if you're only 3 in this house!), Brianna talked to her Mimi through Skype. She hasn't seen her Mimi in over a year, but she still remembers her!

Brianna, with the chocolate cake she chose. (Chocolate... a woman after her Mommy's heart!)

The birthday gift Brianna chose for herself while we were in the store. She has played with these for HOURS!
She will make a great seamstress one day!

Posing with my very best girlfriend in all of the world!

At the end of the day, I gave Brianna her first haircut. It was just a trim, but nonetheless special since it was her first.

Brianna's hair after her trim

There was one other thing that we bought Brianna while we were out shopping... something very BIG. This BIG present took up a large chunk of our day, and I look forward to showing you what it is in my next post!

Any guesses on what it could possibly be?

Sarah had another baby!

To all my friends who know my extended family, I wanted to let you know that Sarah, my sister-in-law, gave birth to another girl. Elisa Faith Knabb was born Saturday afternoon by c-section. Elisa weighed 6.2 pounds. Both mommy and baby are doing well. From what I hear, Elisa has dark hair. We are looking forward to seeing some pictures of her, and as soon as I receive them, I will share them with you here.

JASON AND SARAH JASON AND SARAH'S 5 CHILDREN AT CHRISTMAS

Sarah is a remarkable woman. This is her 6th child, and her oldest recently turned 6 years old (and NO twins in this family!). I have not seen Sarah for three years, but even then (when she already had four children), I was impressed with her laid-back handle of things. I will never forget her response to my question, "Sarah, how do you keep up with everything?" She non-chalantly replied, "Oh, I just take care of whatever screams at me the loudest... whether laundry, a crying baby, a dirty face..." Even now I laugh when I remember her words! How I wish I could be more like Sarah and not take things so seriously sometimes!

My hats off to you, Sarah, for being an incredible example to the world of what a special gift children truly are. God has blessed you immensely, and I know that you do not take this privilege lightly. We have personally been praying earnestly for you, and our entire church here has been praying and anticipating the news of Elisa's delivery.

Congratulations, Jason and Sarah, on the precious new life the Lord has entrusted you with. We already love this baby, and look forward to one day meeting our children's 28th cousin!

Cccccold outside!

ICICLE HANGING OUTSIDE OUR BACK DOOR

We are still snowed in! Amazingly, it all melted away and then returned, just as fierce. Praise the Lord, during that two-day "warm spell" we were able to stock up on groceries. We live down a dirt road, about 1/4 of a mile from the asphalt road that runs through our village. Our car got stuck in the snow about halfway between our house and the asphalt road. If you look closely in the picture below, you can see how David and Igor (the young man who does construction work at our house), were trying to push/lift/carry (everything they could!) the car. I watched from the window as they walked back and forth with buckets of rocks, piled them in front of the tires, and tried to get the car a little further down the road. But, to no avail.
The next day, Pastor Bob and Bro. Tony Hess came to our rescue. David rounded up a couple of village men and they shoveled snow off of the road. Through a combined effort, they were able to get the car out to the asphalt road, where it sits now.

These days, our most reliable source of transportation is the rickety old bus (and you have never seen anything so old!) that makes its rounds past our village three times a day to pick up passengers. We can not understand how they keep the old thing running, but we are grateful. Because of the bus's weight, it is able to do what our newer car cannot do... get up and down the icy hills. So, we are not completely stranded. David took this bus into town today to take care of some work and get us some more groceries. He also bought rope to tie on our tires tomorrow, which will, Lord-willing, get us out to the highway (more than a mile from our house) so we can drive on to church! Our family of five will be treking the 1/4 of a mile through the snow to get to the car, then we will be praying for daddy as he drives us the rest of the way in.

Not long ago a new transformer was put into our village, which has helped stabilize the electricity for everyone out here. So, our electricity has been more dependent these days, which has been a major blessing! So, it is cold outside, but we are cozy warm on the inside!