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.