Our "Twelve Days of Christmas"

One year ago, we said goodbye to friends and neighbors in Billings, Montana and moved in with my (Becky) parents for a season (because we were homeless). It seems like just last month and yet a world ago at the same time. Yet, here we are, in our own home now and still struggling at times to settle into a new life.

Our spirited and boisterous yet very tender-hearted 4-year old Aliya.

I guess I'm the creative writer around here, so I get the privilege of sharing the wrap up of the past year (though Derrick gives me a run for my money with his technical writing skills).  My inspiration comes from nap time snuggles with our spirited, boisterous, yet very tenderhearted Aliya Evelyn. One day, during such a time, I read The Twelve Days of Christmas. I have always found this song quite annoying, that is until I read the back of the book that claimed the song was originally intended to be a sort of hidden catechism for the Roman Catholics under persecution in England, mid-sixteenth century. True or not, I am intrigued and this is how the following DeWilde version of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" came to be.

Our very detailed, cautious yet zany 7-year old Breanne.

Nestled in our own version of the song, you'll notice a theme: change! In our months of transition, while we lived with my parents, I felt like God was giving our family a new name, just as He gave Jacob a new name after Jacob's wrestle with the Lord. I believe the word He gave us is metamorphoo, Greek for changing to another form, to transform. Think, caterpillar to butterfly. Not only our physical states have changed but also our spiritual walks, marriage and family.

Our compassionate, 8-year old, strong leader Madison.

One the first day of Christmas, my "true love" (our Heavenly Father, God) sent to us (the DeWilde family):
A partridge in a pear tree: Christ on a tree! The best gift ever, come in the form of a babe, fully God yet man and offered His life as a perfect sacrifice for us so we can stand before God.
Two WeeKix: Madison and Breanne are in a dance program called Just for Kix.
Three days of preschool: Aliya and mom do our best to learn together at "homeschool preschool."
Four instruments: A new (to us) piano this year, dusted off trumpet and guitar, and vocal chords all tuned up and playing Christmas carols this season.
19405 Canby Court: Our new home in Farmington, MN.
Six little girls: The number of girls Derrick was trapped by when the girl cousins spent the night in July!
Seven days with Grandma and Grandpa: The girls spent a week at the DeWilde farm...Derrick and I had date night every night!
Eight teachers in one year: Pathetic to count I know! I think Madison and Breanne are finally starting to feel settled.
Nine trips to the lake: But still not enough water skiing for Derrick.
Ten days of vacation in Orlando: Including five days at Disney and one at the Sarsota Beach...awesome!
Eleven years of marriage.
Twelve birthday candles: The birthday our nephew Micah celebrated without suffering in heaven this year! We love you and miss you buddy! The Amazing Race: Kracht Cousins, won't be the same without you!!

Blowing you Merry Christmas wish!

I'm thankful that when you sing the song through, number one is always Christ on a tree! Praise be to God! Merry Christmas friends and family!

Overflows

Sometimes my heart overflows with gratitude so much so I can't hardly contain it. I can't tell you how many times I've thanked God for a house full of kids last night. All as sort of a last minute thing, we ended up with three extra kids in the house...friends of the girls. It's been a LONG time since we've been so blessed to have a house full of friends and it was a bit crazy but overwhelmed my heart with joy. I am so thankful that the Winebergers asked for their youngest two to come over and Madi's friend from school came over as well. I will not soon forget Madi's comment, "Two friends over at once, how awesome is that?" Here Madi & Carli wrapped up the night singing the Beatles in Rock Band.

Another joy from the get go of this move (over a year ago already) is cousins! Daniel, what a gentle, compassionate, kind, big cousin...totally girl trapped at Thanksgiving. 

 Madison attended her first 4-H Project Meeting. She made a baby blanket for her teacher at school, due with baby boy the end of January and a bunch of yummy finger foods. She now has her own recipes we ask her to make for us.

Another joy is having both my and Derrick's parents close enough to visit often. My dad caught some morning cuddles at the fireplace

and mom tackled her famous Christmas Cutout Cookie decorating with our little chefs and finger lickers.

Madison and Breanne performed in their first dance recital this past Saturday. What gorgeous little girls and we were so proud to see them perform with confidence and smiles.

 

Thankfully the weather allowed both grandparents to be here for the recital!

The countdown is on! Just 7 days. Silly really, because in this home, we're already celebrating. We watched again the the girls The Nativity Story this weekend. And as Madi coined in her Christmas card to me, 

"...So be good for Santa! (ha, ha, ha) I'm just joking! The real resin we get preset is because the Wise Man gave baby Jesus presents, so thats why we get presets on Christmas!"

Real joy is in this momma!

Memories

Here, it's already been three weeks since returning from our family vacation, but what a time it was! I've decided to post simply the highlights from our 10-day vacation in Orlando. For Derrick, Madison and myself, the best part of the vacation was the day we drove to Sarasota Beach along the Gulf Coast. Simply amazing! The gulf coast was the first beach I ever saw (at age 22 mind you...and my girls have seen multiple beaches at this point) and it has always remained my favorite beach. I was thrilled to share this amazing creation of God's with our girls. Breanne described the sand best when she said, "It's like flour!" We had fun swimming in the ocean, digging in the sand, flying the kite, searching for sea shells and sand dollars.

We met many characters at the theme parks, which was Aliya's favorite thing to do.

We were fortunate to have a good friend from Billings and her 4-year-old son join us for half of our stay: Dawn and Gabe. It was so good for me to reconnect with Dawn and for Gabe and Aliya to have playmates their own size.

Here we are waiting for the Toy Story Mania ride with 3-D glasses on and below overwhelmed by all the stuffed animals one of the zillion gift shops!

Of course, no trip to Disney would be complete without meeting Mickey.

We did our Momma-Bibbidi-Bobba-dee-bo Boutique at the townhome we rented and went out for a night at Downtown Disney.

Tinkerbell was mom and dad's favorite character to meet. She was fantastic at playing the part and engaging the girls in conversation!

The fireworks at Magic Kingdom were awesome...took too many pictures. I don't know if Breanne really had a favorite from our vacation. Her reply would simply echo someone else's often, but I do know she really like the shows (I think Beauty and the Beast was her favorite, but Derrick & I really liked the Lion King) and parades.

Our last stop in Orlando...stock up on Disney gear and say cheese!

Surprise

I've heard stories about the parents that wake their children up at 5am and say, "Get dressed, we're going to Disney World." I always thought that sounded neat. When Derrick had the vision to take our family to Disney and we began planning, he asked, "So, when do we tell the girls?" I longed to surprise them somewhat similarly. At dinner, the night before we left, we dropped the news. It's fun now, three weeks later, to watch their speechless reactions. A treasure I will always carry in my heart.

God girl

Aliya is a little Derrick. She LOVES music. She's constantly playing disc jockey at our house. "Mom, can I play a song on your iPod?" is repeated multiple times a day. Last month, we got to take in the Toby Mac concert with Jamie Grace, her new favorite. I couldn't ask for a better role model for my daughters! Aliya can sing at the top of her lungs and I'm so proud of her passion.

October gifts

 On a trip down to Rochester, I said to Derrick, "I think you connect with Micah more because you're a boy. You can talk video games, intelligently about football and you know who the superheros are." I think that got him thinking. He may not have boys, but he has nephews and he can do boy things with them. Here they are playing Mario Kart. Again, it is such a joy to be close enough to family to capture these moments with siblings, parents, nieces and nephews.

So, all I know is princesses and crafts. Honestly, it's what I'm interested in and my girls totally follow suit. So, while the boys Mario Kart race (Derrick would probably want you to know that he can still beat the boys...for how much longer will remain to be seen) the girls watch a movie...cousins snuggled together. Love it!
These pictures were taken the night we went to Litchfield to say goodbye to Micah. And while that was really hard, God is still good and you can begin counting His gifts to us just by looking at these moments captured in picture.
Aliya is doing well in preschool. And honestly, I'm really enjoying teaching her (minus the moments she decides she doesn't want to be teachable). Last week, we make a water xylophone. And while we were at it, mixed the primary colors to make secondary colors. Totally cool.

 Carving jack-o-lanterns is getting a bit more creative around here. Breanne spent time googling jack-o-lanter carving ideas to come up with a plan...a witch, a flower, a scarecrow...so many options!

Aliya had to have a princess jack-o-lantern. (Still not really sure how you're suppose to do that one, but she was content to top the pumpkin with a crown and "wig.") She tried to gut the pumpkin, but that was grossing her out, so daddy had to intervene. What a guy! Always willing to do the dirty work.

Madison is (surprisingly) very traditional in her pumpkin carving. She and daddy are a good team.

The costumes and decisions were not set until trick-or-treating arrived. Day to day (or hour by hour) decisions were difficult. To be Belle or Sleeping Beauty, that is the question.

We ended up with a Tinkerbell...complete with a bundle and wings,

a good witch (because, "what the munchkins want to know is, are you a good witch or a bad witch,") with a wand because the good witches like Glenda have a wand, not a broom,

 and the queen of the fairies with a sparkly wand made by Miss Creative herself.

After the candy is gathered and you're all sugared up, there's nothing like a warm bath and then wrap up in your bathrobe, slipper socks AND slippers. Time to cuddle. I love being a mom!

Tough

I've never had difficulty posting to our blog. But now the words escape me and this is tough. Micah, our nephew has ran the race, fought the good fight with his eyes fixed on Jesus. And now he sees Jesus, not in part, but the whole. As I just finished watching this video again, I am thankful for the terrific parents God gave Micah as he walked this earth and am inspired to point my girls to Jesus as Mike and Traci do their children. One of Micah's favorite verses was James 1:2-4:

Consider it pure joy whenever you face trials of many kinds. Because you know the testing of your faith develops perseverance. And perseverance will do its work to make you mature and complete, not lacking anything.

As Mike said at Micah's memorial service, Micah is mature and complete now. May we be inspired to adopt this as our own prayer.

Feel like a birthday

 "It doesn't feel like a birthday," was the repeated phrase on September 28, Aliya's 4th Birthday. "No one is coming to my house!" It's a hard thing for a four-year old to wait for a party, two days after the birthday. I tried my best to let her pick all her favorites throughout the day. She started with chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast. Apparently, it was really Breanne just talking her into the pancakes idea because after she blew out the candle, she asked for a bowl of cereal. She enjoyed a new favorite: storytime at the library in Farmington and we came home to read birthday books and make birthday hats for our little "party" after sisters returned home from school. Her activity of choice? "I want to play games...like Candy Land." And wouldn't you know, Breanne won. Shucks!

 We woke Saturday morning and headed to Grandma and Grandpa DeWilde's where a new tire swing and playhouse awaited them. They had the greatest time that day! Aliya and Breanne were convinced to ride in the tractor with Dad for a little bit, but the real icing on the cake was when the DeWilde cousins came over to play: Bailey, Trevin and McKenley.

Sunset on the farm

It was truly a picture perfect weekend and the party finished it off. This picture is really fun, but a bummer that we're missing the oldest cousins: Micah and Daniel. The kids played at the park but in retrospect, I should have had water games..it was quite warm. Funny, I wasn't even sure we would be able to have the party outside!

There's nothing sweeter than being surrounded by cousins you love and adore!

A bonus...

Just found this treasure taken with Derrick's phone from Breanne's play, The Wizard of Oz this summer. The cutest munchkin EVER!

The Pumpkin Pie

"That girl's been asking for pumpkin pie all month," Derrick notices Aliya's repeated request. When my sidekick noticed the pumpkins at the grocery store this past week, I couldn't resist her much longer. (However, now I seriously question my sanity...why not just talk her into buying the canned pumpkin?)  But an almost 4-year old doesn't comprehend that a pumpkin in itself is not miraculously turned into a pie by a wave of momma's wand. So, we bought the whole pumpkin and on Friday, the day had finally arrived to excitedly, "Make the pumpkin pie!"

As we cleaned and then began cutting the pumpkin, she thought the pumpkin could also dub as a wig if we placed it on her head. I couldn't convince to try the wig on, even for a quick picture. 

Then, while the pumpkin baked in the oven, we started on the pie crust. This momma isn't the best pie crust maker...I convinced her that we needed to call in Grandma Barb next time, who is the best pie maker ever! (Take note grandma!) The pie turned out WONDERFUL. Best I've ever tasted. I guess momma and Aliya are a good team.

After Aliya retired to a nap, it was finally time for momma to play with her new toy! I don't know that it's normal to be so excited when purchasing a 50 pound bag of wheat berries.

 

But I was. In no time at all, I had my fresh wheat flour ready for baking...but what? Well, we started with whole wheat waffles. Received pretty well by my white bread family. Started some Artisan Bread souring in the fridge to bake tomorrow. Then Breanne was my partner in crime to tackled whole wheat pizza crusts. Terrific! Yumminess...come visit me to get some!