I stumbled across this poem/quote the other day and well....It made me cry! So I thought I would share it with you all. Although when Heath read his response was "yeah that's cute" "THAT'S CUTE" I hastily responded. Oh how our wonderful creator made men and women so different.

I Will Gather Children

Some would gather money along the path of life,
Some would gather roses, and rest from worldly strife;
but I would gather children from among the sin and strife,
I would seek a golden curl, a freckle, or a toothless grin.

For money cannot enter in that land of endless day,
and roses that are gathered soon will wilt along the way,
but, oh, the laughing children, as I cross the shining sea,
and the gates swing open to heaven I can take them with me.

This spoke to me about how important it is to have our priorities in check. The only things that will go with us are other souls. How important it is to be planting the seeds as the Lord leads us and provides opportunities for us to bring him glory. The possibilities are endless.... our children, our neighbors children, nieces and nephews, and people every where. Many speak of witnessing to our neighbors...but who is our neighbor? the family next door? the lady 6 blocks over? the couple in the next town over? someone in the next state? Or the family in another country? With travel today it has really opened our possibilities of who our neighbor is. We are His hand and feet. We are all Gods creation, we all are from Adam and Eve, we are all from Noah. He delights in every soul that turns to him, and he grieves for every soul that turns away, and he LOVES every one of us with no exceptions. He doesn't' see race or color and there are no boundaries. My prayer for us all in 2009 that we draw closer to him and his perfect love. When we feel and understand his love and sacrifice for us we will begin to love one another with deeper and Christ like love. So lets take time to show Christ love to all and continue to further our Fathers Kingdom.And when those gates swing open for us we will hear the singing and voices of the souls we took time to love and know while on this earth. How Magnificent!!

Christmas Time

We had the special privilege of seeing Christmas through a child's eyes this year, as we celebrated with Lamine. Dec. was a little rough we spent 8 days in the hospital. Christmas morning in the emergency room (Heath was a dear and offered to take him). New years week we were back and forth Mon, Tues, and Wed. They finally decided to do emergency surgery so we spent New Years eve in the Hospital. Through it all he never lost his Christmas Spirit!! I might have but he didn't :0 Not one stitch of Christmas decoration made it up in my house this year. The only way I survived the holidays was by prioritizing and decorating just didn't make the list.

The first celebration was Grandpa Peters Christmas. He was a little shy Aunt Tricia was kind and helped him figure out what to do. By the time we celebrated with Heaths family he was a little more in the groove. Christmas Day and the following weekend was Christmas at my moms (I have dreams about the food she cooks). Aunt Suzie and Uncle Don came all the way from Kansas for the Denlinger Christmas!! It is always so good to see them. Well I'll let the pictures explain the rest. Hope all of your Christmas's were a joy for you and your families. May we all draw closer to Christ in 2009.




Heath and I received this from
Lamine. He made it at school
and was thrilled to give it to us.






Grandpa Peters getting a great big "thank you" hug



Sweet little Will! I was so thrilled to be on his
"favorite list" this Christmas!! He is so fun to
cuddle he is just the right size. It was the best
Christmas gift I received.