Christmas morning fun

Christmas day was a blast at the Thompson home this year. I think that all the kids (and adults) had a great morning and were very happy with all the gifts that they received. Not many things that need to be returned or exchanged.










Faith played Santa this year and handed out the presents to everyone.

Mary and Noah opening presents...














Mark Jr. and his scuba diving instruction book.

Noah enjoying one of his favorite presents, his spiderman scooter.

Christmas cookies

With all the crazy, busy-ness of our lives right now, we have had no time to do any Christmas baking. Now with the kids out of school and grandparents here, we have finally had the chance to make some cookies. Each of the 3 younger kids took a turn in the kitchen making their own batch of cut out sugar cookies.

Then armed with clean paint brushes, loads of powdered sugar frosting in a variety of colors, and some tubes of writing icing, they set out to decorate them. Somehow I don't think that these cookies are going to last very long around here.

A new blogger in the family

My wonderful husband has decided to join the online blogging world too. At first when I told him that I had started a blog, he looked at me like I was crazy and asked me "WHY????". But now he has seen the light and has started his own blog. I love the title...Man vs. Trip. It fits him well as he travels so much for his job and most of the trips are an adventure. The address for his blog is manvstrip.blogspot.com

Walking the Dog

Who would have known that a simple walk with the dog would turn into such an ordeal for him. Yesterday while out for our morning walk, the dog had some type of seizure or reaction to something. He seemed to recover and we continued on the walk. A few minutes later he had severe stomach problems. Again he seemed fine afterwards, so we continued on home. I watched him all day to make sure that he had recovered alright and saw no signs (other than needing to go out more frequently than usual) that there was anything amiss. Well, this morning, when I went down to take him out, his face was swollen to twice it's normal size. His eyes were almost swollen shut and he looked really misserable. A trip to the vet and 3 shots later, he seems to be recovering quite nicely. Evidently he had a severe reaction to an insect bite of some kind (we are not sure what??) and now whenever we go for a walk, we have to carry an epi-pen. The first picture is him a few days before the whole ordeal, and the second is him today. Most of the swelling is gone now, but you can still see where his lips and eyes are puffy.

A Worthy Cause

I received an email newsletter today from The Bipolar Child. We regularly receive newsletters from this organization because one of our four children has early onset bipolar disorder. Evidently there is a young man in California who also has bipolar disorder and has been raising money to donate to genetic research on this illness. The way it works is that he has set up an e-commerce website. The website has links to major retailers and he gets paid a commission for every purchase made through those links. The consumers do not pay any more for the products that they purchase. So, if you are going to be shopping online this holiday season anyway, why don't you check out this link and help donate money to a worthy cause. The link is samscause.org.

I can't believe I am doing this!

I have resisted joining the ranks of online bloggers. I don't even journal for my own enjoyment. For me, putting things on the internet for all to see is a scary step. But, I guess there comes a time when we have to put our fears aside and step out of our comfort zone. I hope that through this blog, I will be able to bring glory to God and share with you just how Awed and Amazed I am by His grace!