The sayings of the wise

"Do you see a man skilled in his work?

He will serve before kings;

he will not serve before obscure men."

Proverbs 22:29

This verse reminds me of my husband.

Besides being very skilled in what he does at work, Tim is also a skilled artist. He made some lovely christmas cards this year. Here he is working on the one he gave to my sister Emily...

Here it is. I'm not all that great at cropping it from the photo, so it looks slanted--it's actually not in real life! Isn't it great?

Here are some pictures from life and of our apartment.

This is me with Annie before Christmas. I'm so glad she's at WSU!

Our first Christmas tree--we eventually put more decorations on it

Oh yes! I made some Baozi (pronounced like : 'bow' to the king and 'dz'). They are very tasty steamed buns (I had them rising in the oven).

Now for some views of the apartment!

Kitchen The kitchen is pretty spacious and bright

Bedroom

The bedroom and livingroom were actually just one big room, but Tim creatively put up some curtain rods and made a separator. Yay Tim!

sorry about the blinding light on the top of the picture. But you can see the curtain separator...

Here you can see the livingroom and a little into the bedroom portion...we have these random closets (hidden by off-white curtains on left), but because it's just the 2 of us, it's really not a problem at all that the house is a funny design. We really like it!

Between the living room and the kitchen is a random little space about 6' by 10' where I've setup my office. I'll try to post a picture of that space too!

We really like our little place! It's nice and warm and it's ours.

Hope

Hope is an interesting thing. It always has a foundation. Sometime I lose sight of the foundation and then wonder why my hope is fading. Have I forgotten what my hope is?

My hope is Jesus Christ. Most basically, I have a true relationship with God and eternal life. This is because Jesus took the place of the punishment for my sin (and the sins of the whole world) when he died on the cross, and then he rose again, conquering death, and now he lives to constantly intercede for those who believe in him(for me!). This means that Jesus is my intercessor--and it allows me to come directly before God and to talk to him directly. It also means that Jesus' righteousness is given to me in place of my own filth, which he cleansed away by his own death in my place, and which he continually cleanses as I confess, repent.

But there is more hope. Mostly right now I'm thinking of the hope of God's promises and the truth of his word.

Sometimes the enormity and guilt of my sin nearly overwhelms me, and I lose sight of God's work and the promise of his sanctification. While it is good for me to see, to some extent, what God has rescued me from, it is not healthy to dwell on my own short-comings and failures. God says that "when we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness". So when confession is in line, then I need to confess and let God forgive me. And when he has forgiven me (which He is prompt and faithful to do), I need to be thankful to him and not to downplay the wondrous love that God has and displayed when he reached down and saved this sinner.

It's also very encouraging to know that God's work is not complete in those around us who believe in him, but that He will complete it. Sometimes it seems hopeless, but nothing is outside of God's grasp. "Your ways, O God, are holy. What god is so great as our God? You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples" Psalm 77:13-14
and
"I thank my God every time I remember you...being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Phil 1:3&6

I will trust in the Lord.

"I will give thanks to Thee, O Lord, among the people I will sing praises to Thee among the nations; for Thy steadfast love is great, is great to the heavens, and your faithfulness reaches to the skys."

Christmas!

After an early Christmas at the Marstons on the 23rd of December, Tim and I headed toward Yakima to spend Christmas with my family! We arrived on Christmas eve and played music for the Christmas even service at church. Kate, Jane, Annie, Trudy and I sang, Tim played guitar, and Ray played bass. Christiana read the Bible portions for the service very well (her reading aloud skills are quite impressive!). The late service was at 11pm. That's pretty late! But we survived and they were nice services...

Christmas: This year the little kids slept downstairs and they slept in!!! until a little after 8am. We got up and got the stockings, which mom so amazingly filled. I don't know how mom does it, but she manages to put the most amazing and interesting things into them. I got a great pair of socks and a cool, super-duty magnet for the fridge. We also got potato guns and botan rice candy which is possibly my favourite candy. You can eat the rice-paper wrapping...
Anyway, we --the kids-- always head downstairs and open and enjoy our stockings and admire each person's gifts. We converse and have a lot of fun...

This year, on Sarah's cool, lower-rates-for-overseas cell-phone plan, we called up our friends in Germany and Slovakia (mostly former exchange students). It was quite enjoyable.

After playing with potato guns and opening our wonderful stockings and talking to our friends from far away, we headed upstairs. Annie had made some delicious orange rolls (a long-standing tradition...) which we consumed with Tetley Tea in our fancy tea cups. It was a nice, joyful morning.

Gifts:

In our family, we purchase and give gifts mostly in groups. A bigger person is matched with one or two younger people and each group gets a present for every person in the family (there is some sneakiness involved when it comes to getting a present for the other people in your group!)
Dad passes out the gifts one-by-one. Each gift is appreciated and admired by all. This process took a long time, but it was really fun....

Kate with her painting from Jane

Emily and Charity

Mercy with Millard...or maybe Fillmore. The twins got these funny little creature-toys and almost instantaneously named them Millard and Fillmore. It was very cool.

Tim opening a gift

Christiana with her new softy

I got some Sesame Oil...very good for cooking tasty things! Thanks!

Annie, her cheerful self...

Jane and Ray

excited about the gift...and rightly so. It was a very cool maternity (she's expecting) coat that Peter bought her...

I love this picture of Noah that Tim took

Dad, trying on his new hat

She got a bump-it! We all enjoyed that one...

Sarah, opening a present

Kate and Trudy

Peter got me these cool gloves...

Peter got Sarah these cool, memory-foam slippers

Kate opening a beautiful scarf

Dad and Emily, wearing the hat we gave her

Dad with cap, pipe and tea

Peter, donning the new sweater we got him

Sarah wasn't the only one to get a Snuggie this Christmas. Eppie (Aka: The Whep, Eppie-glottis, Webster, or Eppie-nephrine...) also got one! It was just for dogs and quite cute

Millard again

Christiana with Eppie

Kate looking beautiful, as usual

Emily

Timothy wearing the man-orange sweater I got him

Sarah

Kate and Mom

Charity, with a lovely smile

Graduation-Pullman

I graduated from WSU with a degree in German and a minor in Spanish (Bachelor of Arts in Foreign Languages and Cultures with a major in German)!

My time at WSU was really good. I'm grateful for the excellent christian community that I've been able to be a part of. I've lived in five places during my time in Pullman:

1. First semester at WSU I lived in Gannon dorm, fifth floor...very close to the rooms in which my sister Sarah and cousin Carrie lived.

2. Pullman House-a year and a half of some of the best roommate-ness ever. Carrie and I lived there. That was a fun and good time. She was (still is) a true friend.

3. Marston House-this was a great time for me...greater than I knew at the time. I got to know the Marstons (little did I know then that they'd be my mother and father-in-law!) and lived there with my sister Jane. I have very loving memories of living there. (That's also where I met my husband! I'm so thankful to God for the time I got to live there and for leading me so faithfully).

-between these times I lived in Germany for 7 months and then got to live in Yakima with my family for the fall and winter of 2008. That was a special and wonderful time. I ran my second half-marathon (first one with Jane, this one with Tim), and had a really great semester spending time with my family.
4-Corcoran home- When I came back to Pullman for my senior year, I had the opportunity of living with the wonderful Mrs. C (and Ana). That was a great time and I felt very comfortable there.
5-Tim and my home!- I love being married and we're settling nicely into our little (but actually not too little) aparment! (pictures to come on a following post).

Now for some Graduation pictures...

I had the most awesome group of cheerers possible! My family came all the way from Yakima for my graduation. I was so glad to have them there. They even made these signs which I could see from my seat down on the floor. It warmed my heart. I think they're quite clever and they did a really good job switching them from front to back.

Liebe Hilary: means dear Hilary

Wunderbar!! means Wonderful!!

(I really thought the signs were great! No one else had signs like these!)

Me with Emily

Mercy and Charity

Mercy and Charity

Dad and Mom (wonderful parents)

Tim, my most excellent husband

Mercy took this one!

He carried me up the hill in the snow!

(Thanks, Tim, for the great pictures! and Mercy...)