My sweet hubby!

Whenever I try to get a picture of Stan and I together or of Stan with one of the kids I always get a crazy face like this.  Here Stan is acting like he is asleep while I take a picture of us together! I always give him a little punch in the arm when he does this but really it cracks me up when he does this and it is what makes him him! He has always been the jokester and I have always loved that about him, and how he makes me laugh.  We have been through alot in our almost 10 years of marriage.  More than most people I can imagine.  We still have alot to work through and with having five kids all so young it always makes it hard to spend time together alone! So I treasure the special date nights we get, the times when we are walking together and I am following him and he puts his hand behind his back so I will grab hold of it as he leads me through a crowd.  When he opens the car door for me, or really listens when I talk! He is the only one I can truly be myself with and know he still loves me! He takes care of our family and provides for us even though the responsibility of that can be quite overwhelming! He has stayed with me even when times in our marriage have been really really hard, when it would have been easier to leave than to stay! I want to start out the new year and show him in more ways how much I love him and my faithfulness to him! I have told him before if he ever decides to leave me I am just going to go with him!!;) I am so thankful for him and I love him so very much! I couldn't do this job of raising our kids without him! He is my rock that I lean on, and I am so thankful that God put us together! I pray our marriage brings Him glory!! I truly don't deserve him and the blessing he is in my life!

This is our attempt at getting all the cousins pictured together! Morgan was not happy about it and refused to smile!

The 3 Bintz kids!

Great Grandmom and Great Grandpop with Caleb!

So I didn't do so well on posting the 100 joys this Christmas! We did have a wonderful Christmas down in Florida with my family! I was afraid it wouldn't be as special since we weren't in our own home, but it was really fun and loved having my grandparents with us after two years of not being with them on Christmas.  I know they are not going to be with us much longer, so every time together is special for us! This picture is on Christmas eve after the kids got their new Christmas pajamas.  They were so excited about them! We are so thankful for our Savior's birth! We finished up our Advent Christmas eve with my dad reading the Advent book and my Mom reading out of Luke 2.  How special this was for me! I am so thankful for my family and we are looking forward to the new year and what the Lord has in store for our family! I pray we desire to know Him better and draw closer in our walk with Him!

Joys of Christmas!

In my old blog I had started 100 joys before Christmas.  I was up to 10, so I am going to start again and just get in as many as I can before Christmas! I got this idea from a friend and I really like it.

1. Yesterday we had a homeschool thing with our group from church where we made crafts and Christmas cards, and then we brought them to a local nursing home.  When we got there we sang Christmas carols while the residents ate their lunch.  While we sang, Kimmy who has been diagnosed borderline autistic and ADHD, went up to each older person and gave them each a big kiss and hug.  I knew she would love going there and as I watched her I was in awe of God loving those older people through my sweet daughter! Most older folks love kids so to see their eyes light up when they got a hug from Kimmy was one of the sweetest things I have seen! I could barely sing the carols from choking up, and trying to hold back the tears! She is so special and we are so blessed to have her in our family!

2. Is thankful to be doing advent with our kids again this year.  I love to see how they can't wait for their turn to light the candles!

3. The other day Caleb asked me if I knew what his favorite part about Christmas was, thinking he would say presents.  It made me so happy and thankful when he said, "my favorite part about Christmas is baby Jesus being born."

4. I feel so blessed to be a part of our churches choir this year and sing in the Christmas musical, even though I don't sing very well it is just fun to be a part of and sing praises to Jesus, and hear the amazing talented singers and see their love for Jesus!

So the other night I was trying to delete my old blog and had been writing on my new blog and making it better when I accidently deleted the new one instead of deleting the old one.  So I am trying this again.  I wish I was more computer smart! I really like blogging and reading others blogs! I hope I can figure all this out again!