Christmastime events

Yes, today is the 20th, and we would both LOVE to have some cute pictures of our little newborn baby to post on here, but little baby Mathews seems quite content to stay in her nice warm little home inside of mommy for now. So, we'll post some pictures and tell you a little about some of the parties and events we've had lately.

On the Friday night of Josh's last seminar session (the 6th) Dr. Melick, the director of the program, had a Christmas dinner for all the PhD students and their wives. It was a good time of fellowship and getting to know each other outside the classroom. We didn't have the camera so not pictures of this one.

The next evening Stacy went next door to a gingerbread house making party with some of the ladies on campus.

Then the next day our church threw a wonderful potluck dinner and shower for us and the baby. We feel very loved by our church family.

Sunday afternoon was the Christmas program at the preschool. It sure was nice for Stacy not to have to be directing it.

That night we went to some other neighbors/friends' place for a farewell party for two of the couples who graduated and are leaving to go overseas for ministry.

These two (Lydia and Bryce) belong to the Watts and Chartneys, the couples who are leaving. Bryce was born just before we got here last fall and Lydia, just after.

You might remember a picture similar to this a few blogs ago. Here's an update. Liz (due in March, in 11 weeks), Stacy (due today), Shannon and Carsyn (11 weeks old).

Last Saturday night we went on a little Christmas date. We went into the city to a concert in the beautiful Grace Cathedral. It was called a Cathedral Christmas and it was a mens and boys choir doing traditional Christmas carols and songs. Then we went to Cheesecake factory (our favorite).

Rachel Blackwell Photography

A few weeks ago a good friend of ours, Rachel Blackwell, took some pregnancy pictures for us. She is just starting as a professional photographer and has been taking pictures of lots of friends from the seminar and around the area for practice. We think she is really gifted and has an eye for good shots. Here are a couple of the ones she took of the little Mathews family. If you want to, check out the rest at rachelblackwellphotography.com/stacy. (Just remove the /stacy part to go to Rachel's home page.) And be sure to check some of her other photos on her website too.

Thanksgiving Weekend

Josh has let me know lately that I am an obsessive compulsive exclamation point user and I have to confess I feel like I could put it at the end of almost every sentence. So to keep the habit under control and refrain from needing to go to exclamation anonymous I am only going to try and use one in this entire blog. Although I almost put one on the title, ha.

We had a refreshing and relaxing Thanksgiving weekend, and even though we would have loved to be with our families we had a fun time anyway. And my body is grateful that we did not travel. Here are some highlights.

Wednesday - Josh finished a huge paper and I cooked green bean casserole and pumpkin pies. We had our good friends Drew, Shannon and baby Carsyn over to hang out. We used to play games and stuff but now all we need is Carsyn for entertainment and she was so adorable as she made cute little faces while she slept the whole time.

Thursday - Cooked a Turkey and enjoyed it with a couple from school and a family from GGA. The mom of the family had an emergency family crisis so it was sad to not have her with us but the rest of us decided to put on the spread anyway and it turned out really nice. We had a great time and got whooped at Operation and Wii by their kids, Zoe and Zander.

Friday - Slept in and missed the crowds and then did our Christmas shopping early, woohoo. (Just a period)

Saturday - Josh studied, I wrapped presents and decorated the house for Christmas, went tree shopping and found the perfect one, and watched the Beavers get crushed:(

Sunday - Great church fellowship, took a walk in the sunshine (more like a stroll but Josh is very patient), packed for the hospital.

We are so excited that it is December and have a lot of fun things in store with the end of the semester and all the Christmas festivities. We're mostly excited to celebrate the birth of our baby and of Jesus!

Here are a few pics of us and our little tree.

Random thoughts!

Ok we are officially some of the slowest bloggers but we always have a good excuse. I know that's lame. This month's excuse is that Josh has been working tirelessly on his papers for school and presenting at ETS (in Rhode Island). Only one more paper to go and I am soooo proud of him! And I was struck by the plague for about a week and a half. Thank you for all of your prayers!

While I was sick with strep throat last week it attacked my vocal chords and I could only talk at a whisper. Josh was an amazing husband and took care of the baby and I so well. But this prediciment sure did get me thinking.

I have to say that being pregnant around Christmas time and teaching the preschoolers about the nativity story I already have been doing a lot of thinking about Mary riding on a donkey and giving birth practically outside in a stable with hay as her comfort!!!! Yet the Bible specifically denotes her demeanor as one of pondering the reality of Jesus, the Savior of the world being born to her as a little baby, and God using this earthly little couple to be a part of His grand plan for all people.

Well, the whole strep throat business got me thinking about Zechariah and how he literally could not speak for the duration of Elizabeth's pregnancy. It must have been such a huge lesson on faith and humility for both of them and how what God says is what He means. I have to admit I was a little nervous that my voice wouldn't come back and thankfully it has but it is a good reminder to me that I cannot take anything for granted in this pregnancy. It must be the Lord and His strength to live this life.

Aside from my thoughts lately we received a wonderful package today from my sister Cynthia who graciously made a bedskirt, blanket, changer, and sheets for the baby's room. Don't you think that it is just adorable!!!! We are waiting with anticipation for the arrival of our daughter!

FYI

As you can see our blog got a facelift and we just posted three (four including this one) new blogs since we've been so bad about blogging lately. So enjoy and thanks for being here.

A visit from home

Josh's parents drove the crazy drive down from Portland to visit us and we had a wonderful time. The weekend was filled with scrumptious food, grand conversations, a tiny bit of sight seeing and even a few games of zilch.

On Saturday morning we all headed out for breakfast at the Dipsea Cafe for breakfast (a farmhouse style favorite in Mill Valley) and then dad and Josh went on a 20 mile bike ride from our place across the Golden Gate bridge and back. Mom and I went to a baby shower for me and another one of the teachers put on by the Golden Gate Academy teachers. The highlight of the shower was an adorable hat and poncho that mom made for our baby in the softest pink bubbly yarn (the ladies were ready to take orders from mom).

On Sunday, we had a great time at church and then took a beautiful drive out to Sonoma to visit our favorite outdoor garden cafe. We then finished off the night with dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, mmmm. Thank you mom and dad for coming to visit!

Baby Moon 2008!

It all started when Josh was asked to recruit for Golden Gate's Seminary that he thought hmmm how can I make this into an adventure? So with Josh's creative mind he started planning how to combine recruiting at Moody and Wheaton while making it into a vacation, and here are the results. Josh spread the word about GGBTS and then we made a long weekend out of it! It was a really special time and we are so thankful that the Lord provided the time and airline miles to do it!

Here's some pics of Chi-town.

The Hancock building


The Sears tower and Trump's new building from the 96th floor of the Hancock.


Famous Giordano's pizza. Baby Mathews loved her first taste of real pizza.


The "bean" in Millenium park.


Three pumkins.

Wrigley field. Good to be there, sad circumstances this year. Maybe next year.

And some pictures of Wheaton and Josh's old stomping grounds

The Billy Graham Center and old Blanchard Hall

Tolkein's desk and Lewis's wardrobe at the Wade center on campus.

College Church

We finally did it!!!!

Since we are catching up on some blogs this might seem outdated from a few weeks ago. But we still wanted to share the news! Since we moved to Cali we have wanted to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge along with the thousands of other tourists that seems to constantly tread the side walk. So, out of the blue one sunny Sunday aftrenoon Josh said, "Let's do it". I wish fulfilling all of our dreams were this easy. We walked the mile and a half or so each way stopping often for pictures and baby Mathews to rest. She is now officially a San Fransisco baby. (for now at least)