A White Christmas at the Huffman's

After having three years of desert Christmas'... I could not have been more tickled to have a white Christmas! The snow started that morning around 8:30 and didn't quit for another 12 hours or so. It was a beautiful white fluffy snow too!
We came home from Stephen's family's Christmas eve to find out we didn't have heat in our house and so we stayed with my mom! (Many thanks!) We were up until 1 am doing all the preparation stuff and thankfully Sadie and Noah didn't wake up until around 8 am! A few hours later the rest of the family came (Jeff and Keenen were missed due to sickness!!), but other than that... we had a great time. Good eatin', presents, laughter, and sweet time with family. This was a true gift.
Looking back at this year, we truly are so thankful for Noah's safe arrival and know that so many things could have gone wrong... but our gracious God and King has a special plan for this little guy. We celebrate Him, His birth, and the truth that He is Savior!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!


Noah's first Christmas morning

Heather and Caitlyn throwing snow balls at the window!

NanNan talking to all the grandkids around the tree

Avee reading the Christmas story of Jesus' birth

Our traditional making of the Egg Nog... delicious!


Auntie Avee holding her little nephew

More snow!

Christmas Week at the Rhyne's

The week before Christmas we surprised family by going down a few days early to celebrate Christmas with them. We had lots of people to see and lots of people wanted to see and hold Noah. We went to a church Christmas program, ate lots of good food, shopped, had coffee with friends, and most importantly... saw lots of family! This was for many of them the first time they met Noah. We are so thankful that after 3 Christmas' away from family, we could soak in this wonderful holiday together, especially with the blessing of having Noah this year. Here are some of the pics we took... hope you enjoy!

3 Generations of Rhyne Men

Noah, his great-grandmother and 2 great-aunts

Sadie Mac opening presents with family... it was a mad house!

Noah and his first stocking

Sadie having fun with cousins on top of the bunk bed

Cousin Kinnley holding Noah

Fun with cousins on the swing set

Aunt Nikki and Uncle Daniel holding and loving on Noah

Grandmommie loving on Noah

Aunt Jen and Sadie Mac at Pizza Inn

Noah, Sadie, and Great Grandma Wicker

Grandmommie and Sadie Mac making brownies

Winter Wonderland

It has been said that "Too much of a good thing can be a bad thing." And, surprisingly I would agree with this statement with the snow we've been enjoying. I've been wanting snow for three years, but c'mon... this has been a lot of snow and a lot of cold!!! Our blood runs a little thinner now after living in the desert. Stephen looked at the weather channel a few days ago and it showed 8 of the next 10 days having snow. We love it... but when it's too much and we can't leave, we get a little bit of cabin fever. My new favorite Christmas song is: I'm dreaming of a white Christmas, just as long as we can drive on the roads...



Sadie Mac and mommy playing in the snow. She was pretty insistent on wanting to try and pull me on the sled.



Daddy and Sadie building Rusty the Snowman. Whenever she tries to say "Frosty" it sounds exactly like "Rusty", so we are now calling our snowman Rusty! They built the biggest and best snowman I've ever seen! He is very dear to her and when we leave, she says, "Bye Rusty, love you." Please also note that Rusty is a Tar Heel fan!

A Different Kind of Angel...

We are in the middle of enjoying our first big snow here in America! We are loving it and playing in it most every day! The snow started Friday night, and it's Tuesday and still going strong! There hasn't been a lot of accumulation, but a lot of wind and drifts so we only stay outside a few minutes because it is BITTER cold! This is very different from our life overseas! Many times it's too HOT to be outside in the sandbox... or too dusty so that pushes us indoors!
As I was helping Sadie Mac make her very first SNOW angel, I remembered her very first DUST angel when we were in the sandbox. And wow, how she has grown!! I think we are like the extremes... hot and cold, who needs in between?!?

O Christmas Tree!!

This past weekend we went to size up Christmas trees and find the perfect one! We had a great time while my sister kept Noah safe and warm back at the house. This was Sadie Mac's first time to ever hunt for a Christmas tree so we searched the entire lot and love the one we bought. We are loving all our American Adventures and this, the most wonderful time of the year!!!

Sadie and two of her cousins

Finding the perfect place for each ornament

Stephen topping off the tree!

Our Family Advent Calendar

December has arrived and that means Christmas time!! The shopping, the trees, the lights, the cold weather and big warm jackets, the singing and carols and of course the family traditions. We are starting a new one in our family this year: an Advent Family Calendar. I was reading a magazine and got the idea from this blog:

http://www.likeawarmcupofcoffee.com/home/2008/12/telling-his-story-and-offering-him-gifts-an-advent-calendar-and-jesse-tree/

For each day in December we have a way to look forward to Christ's birthday as well as His returning. We want to teach Sadie and Noah the true meaning of Christmas, not just giving and receiving of presents.

Each morning we pull the card from the sock and see what we are to "do" that day. On the first day, we read the Christmas story and on the second day we bought gifts for children who don't have toys and got them ready to pack in Christmas Shoeboxes. We plan later in the month to make cookies for the post man and other ways to serve those around us as well as shine the light of Christ. On the last day, the 25th, we will "CELEBRATE JESUS!!" I took the ideas from the "Warm Cup of Coffee Blog" and tweaked them for our family and am excited about this season for all the above reasons, but mostly to celebrate the Savior, who is the true meaning of Christmas. We look back and celebrate all He did and look forward to His returning!

Thanksgiving and more!

Happy Thanksgiving! Hope you all enjoyed lots of fun with family or friends like we did! The weekend before Stephen and Sadie Mac went down to Ellerbe to celebrate with family there and Noah and I stayed here due to his little size and not wanting to get him sick. Sadly, Stephen forgot the camera, so no pics of our family from there! On Thanksgiving weekend we were with my family in Boone and we had a great time enjoying TURKEY (which we hadn't enjoyed in 3 years!!) and all the fixin's! We are so thankful for this special time of year and how blessed we truly are as a family. The Lord's provision over Noah's arrival was something we were especially thankful for, along with enjoying the company of family and cold weather all top the list!!



After dinner, we all went down to the club house that my mom just had built for all the grandkids. As a fun way to "break it in" she had all the little ones paint their hands and put their hand prints inside the house! It was a great way to remember our day and potentially go back to it each year and see how they have grown!




Noah wouldn't keep his hand open, so we decided to do his 19 day old foot print instead!


Earlier in the week, my sister had come up so we could get some good quality time together, and that we did! Cousin Caitlyn and Sadie Mac made bird feeders with pine cones Sadie and I found in our yard along with peanut butter and bird seed! The girls only lasted a pine cone or two, so my sister and I ended up really doing the project! It was fun though!!

Someone new at our house...

Sadie Mac got a new baby doll and her name is Molly. We thought it was hilarious that she is a smidge bigger (and for sure "thicker") than Noah. He is doing great and growing oz. by oz! We had to go back a week after we left the hospital and he had gained 10 oz in one week so he was up to 4 lbs and 13.5 oz!! He's making a go for the 5 lb. mark and we're thankful. He's a great sleeper and a big time eater when he's awake! We're so thankful for this little blessing and addition to our family. Sadie Mac loves him so much and loves to have him hold her finger.

She went to church today and a friend asked her if there was someone new at her house and she answered with a "YES!" The friend asked, "Well, is it a boy or a girl?" Sadie said, "A girl." Then my friend said, "What's her name?" Sadie answered, "Molly." So it seems she is a little more impressed with her baby doll than her little brother.

Noah's Story

Watching and waiting for Noah was one where we all had great expectations! When we woke up and went to our doctor's appointment on Monday, November 8th... we had no idea that night we'd have our second child and finally know that "it" was a he!!
During my 37 week appointment, the doctor noted that the baby seemed small and so after an ultrasound and some fetal monitoring, the doctor saw that his heart rate would drop every few minutes and then go back up. They decided to admit me to the hospital for further monitoring. As I was checking in, Stephen said, "Maybe we should go ahead and finalize the name!!" After a little more monitoring of the baby's heartbeat and seeing that his heartbeat continued to drop, my doctor decided to induce labor around 3 pm that afternoon.
Our little guy came storming into the world at 8:25 pm with a knot in his umbilical cord and a few other complications that showed us how the Lord was watching over him. The nurses were calling him "miracle baby" and the doctor said that the timing of my appointment was amazing because potentially if I had gone in 24 hours later, he could have been still-born. We are so thankful and amazed that all is well with our little bundle weighing 4 pounds and 1 oz. at birth and gaining oz. by oz.
Thanks for joining us on the journey!


Telling Sadie Mac that she had a brother, so she could announce it to the family who was in the waiting room

Sporting her "big sister" sticker

Little brother

All 4 pounds 1 ounce of him, safe in daddy's arm

Little guy resting soundly