New Years Eve 2014…

As the sun sets on 2014 I’m sitting at the island in the kitchen relaxing with a glass of wine watching Chris and Rahab make stuffed mushrooms for our New Years eve gathering this evening.  I’m reflecting on the year we’ve just completed and are just embarking on.  Certainly I’m in a more relaxed and steady state of mind than I have been on some of the New Year’s Eve’s we’ve been through over the past five years.  We’ve had a wonderful year this year.  The kids are great, we have a beautiful new house on a lake with a view, Alaska Airlines managed to keep our pay checks coming two times a month throughout the year and so on and so forth…  And we are looking forward to a promising  2015.  We were just talking in the car on the way home from the movie theater this afternoon that this coming year marks 15 years since we graduated from high school and 15 years since we met as freshman at the University of North Dakota.  Fun milestones to think about and reflect on! I’m excited to see what this new year will bring; for our family, for our children, at church, at the airline, at seminary, and with our relationships with people throughout the world (Nepal, Africa, Ireland, Mexico, Indonesia, Australia, etc.).  I’m excited to begin the new year with a new small group.  I’m hopeful.  Hopeful that the Lord will deem our sacrifice of worship worthy.  Hopeful that we can serve each other and the Church well.  I’m hopeful that throughout 2015 the Lord will bless you  and keep you and that we’ll learn how to be people of blessing together…  Happy New Year!

With love,

The Ireland Cabin

Christmas Letter 2014

As is tradition at the Ireland cabin I’ve written a Christmas letter and most of you have probably received it in the mail, but we’ve lost contact info for many of you or keep track of you through Facebook (and other less personal ways), and so as is also tradition, here is the Ireland family Christmas letter for 2014…

Merry Christmas from the Irelands!

December 8th, 2014

 

Dearest family and friends,

 

Merry Christmas, We’ve moved again! That has been our big story for the last couple of months. Chris and I were just talking in the car on the way back from Christmas shopping with the kids about what a huge blessing our new house has been and how excited we are to share it with you all. Wait one minute you might say, you wrote in your last Christmas letter that you had just bought a new house out at Lake Lawrence… you would be rightJ However early this summer I noticed a for sale sign on a house that I had actually worked on in high school. I remembered the 17 year old me standing in the unfinished great room thinking about how great this house was going to be when it was finished and how neat it would be to live in a house like it someday. So you can imagine that I simply couldn’t resist the temptation to ring the doorbell… and the rest as they say, is history. We moved in at the end of August and have been having a great time adjusting and settling in.

 

One of the many things we are blessed by in our new house is a room dedicated to homeschooling the kids. Esther has been plowing through the second grade. We are very proud of how she is learning to work independently on her lessons and on her Bible studies. She is still working away at her dance and piano lessons (and is coming along nicely in piano I might add). Jadon has been enjoying his first year of preschool this year. He surprises us with how much he is learning. He is even spelling occasional words on his own. Jadon enjoyed his first year of soccer and T-Ball this spring and had a great time learning our great past time (he had fun kicking a ball around too). I will also give a warning that Jadon has become a little bit of an UNO ringer (He is so good he might own you if you give him the chance). Rahab continues to tag along, learning and working alongside her older siblings. It should be noted at this point that she runs the place…

 

We’ve been busy this year as usual traveling the country and the world. This past March I was blessed with an invitation to join in a trip to Kathmandu, Nepal to celebrate and encourage the recent graduates at the Rescue, Training and Development Center (otherwise known as RTDC). I was amazed and encouraged by what I saw the Lord doing in the lives of the girls at RTDC along with their leaders. RTDC accepts young women who come from difficult backgrounds (we’ve had several classes with young ladies who don’t know how old they are or who have been sold into slavery to pay debts) and teaches them everything from basic hygiene and meal preparation to business skills and small business development. It gives these young women a chance at a life with dignity and along the way introduces them to the saving gospel of Jesus. I was very blessed to spend two weeks with these young ladies and their leaders.

 

Additionally, Chris’ cousin and Aunt honored me tremendously when they asked me to officiate their weddings this spring and summer. We packed up the children and headed to Walker, MN for Aunt Annie’s wedding this spring and then again to Hot Springs, AR for Zac Ruth’s wedding this summer. Along the way we had a wonderful family time vacationing as a family together. It really is part and parcel of our life that we spend a lot of time traveling. We also spent time cruising the coast of California with my brothers and their families, camping along the Snake River in Eastern WA with some dear friends, and celebrating our first ever Bar Mitzvah in Salt Lake City, UT (Congrats Asher!) Recently we’ve just returned from a wonderful week in Phoenix, AZ where we were blessed to spend some wonderful time by the pool for Thanksgiving with Chris’ parents.

 

Over the course of the year we were blessed by much happiness however we were saddened by the loss of my Grandma Ireland in March. She was dear to me and a wonderful example of a life lived in devotion to our Lord, so much so in fact that we named Rahab “Rahab Elaine” after Grandma Ireland. We wanted Rahab to have that heritage in her name as she grows in her own faith. We’ll miss Grandma however we know that she has entered into the heavenly city and we will see in just a short while…

 

Chris continues to do a wonderful job making a home for us. She made a momentous decision to resign as the Children’s Ministry Director at Crossroads this year. The Lord was laying it upon her heart that as our family was changing and growing so was her area of service. She has focused a large part of her effort on schooling the two older children (and if you ask me, has excelled greatly). As for me, well I just try and keep up with all that’s going on around here. I was excited to learn that I had a December flying schedule this year that allowed me (without any tricks, step trades, bribes or other skullduggery) Christmas eve and Christmas off… After contemplating all of the places (and by places I mean hotels) that I’ve spent Christmas over the last ten years (Oakland, Anchorage, Albuquerque, Chicago (twice), Kona, Vancouver BC, etc, etc) I feel truly blessed to simply be present with my family this year. As we do our advent calendar, host our second annual gingerbread house competition, go shopping, hunt for a tree, sip eggnog, play family games, and all of the other myriad of activities that make up the season, I’m trying hard to see Christmas through the eyes of my children and to remember that their faith is what the baby king said I should strive after…

 

“May the Lord God bless you and keep you; May He make His face to shine upon you and be gracious towards you; May the Lord turn His face towards you and give you Peace”

 

Love,

 

Greg & Chris, Esther, Jadon and Rahab

The Ireland Cabin

B.A.

We had an amazing blessing join us this Christmas.  Her name is B.A.  Blessing Angel, pronounced (bee ahh).  She arrived early December and truly blessed our home.  We had been praying about how to make our Christmas more of a sense of wonder and awe.  We did several things to make this happen; 25 foot tree in our home to decorate, daily devotions,  gingerbread house party, etc.  We are thankful God answered our pray with B.A., who brought a sense of wonder and excitement to our children every day!

DSC_7581

Every day the kids woke up to find B.A. in a different spot with a new activity, note, or something fun pointing us to Jesus.  The LORD has given us an imagination & creativity and we want our children to hold on to that before the world starts to take it away.  We are thankful B.A. continued to fostered those traits in our children’s life.

We can’t wait for her return sometime after Thanksgiving.  What an amazing gift our family received this Christmas.

-C

Introducing B.A.
Introducing B.A.

 

Marshmallow Bath
Marshmallow Bath
How big was the Grinch's heart?
How big was the Grinch’s heart?
Sack Race
Sack Race
Puzzle Time!
Puzzle Time!
Done!
Done!
Power out?  Roast Marshmallows!
Power out? Roast Marshmallows!
The Very First Christmas
Reading The Very First Christmas
Hiding & Seek
Hiding & Seek note
Hiding
B.A. Hiding
Hiding
Barbie Hiding
Hiding
Groovy Girls Hiding
Cars
Cars hiding
Lego Party
Lego Party
Uno game for Jadon's birthday
Uno game for Jadon’s birthday
Piano
Piano
Make a Birthday for Grandma
Make a Birthday for Grandma
Make Cookies
Make Cookies
Art time!
Art time!
Finish product
Finish product
The reason for the season
The reason for the season
Read the Christmas story before presents!
Read the Christmas story before presents!

Jadon turns 5!

It has been a very busy Christmas season for us this year (as I suppose it will be every year), so this post is a few days late.  Jadon had a wonderful birthday celebration this year for his “5 birthday” as he calls it.  He chose to invite his friends to our house for a lego party.  The boys (and some girls) had a wonderful time building different challenges out of Legos; The tallest tower, A hot wheels bridge, etc.  We celebrated with Chris’ special creation… Lego Cake!

Needless to say Jadon received many different Lego sets from his friends and family.  Chris and I have been amazed and very proud of how Jadon has taken to building his sets.  Even in the past week we have watched him grow into a new phase of his boyhood.  Very fun to watch him follow directions, then modify, then create his own creations and then combine his new creations with his other toys (his brio trains and hot wheels) to form cities and towns.

We had a second celebration for Jadon with just family the morning after his party.  His big sister helped make breakfast for him and we had a fun time opening even more presents!  Overall a very fun couple days…

We love you son and are very proud of you!  Happy “5 Birthday”!

Lego Cake
Lego Cake
Blue Lego
Blue Lego
Lego games
Lego games
Building the tower
Building the tower
Friends
Friends
Candles
Candles
Building Legos
Building Legos
More legos
More legos
Happy Birthday Jadon!
Happy Birthday Jadon!

Merry Christmas!

This year has been the first year since having kids that I was feeling prepared for Christmas!  Its amazing how much more energy I have without a newborn, toddler or being pregnant!  This year I was able to put energy into the meaning of Christmas.  One of the big additions this year was using the devotion Advent Jesse Tree.

Before Thanksgiving the kids and I invited friends over to create our ornaments for our tree.  Each day had a new symbol that pointed to Christ.  We made salt dough ornaments and painted them.  Greg made an awesome tree for us to hang them!

I loved how our focus this December has been on Jesus.  Our children have learn so much about our Savior!  They are constantly amazing me of what they can learn.  Of course we had a huge tree, presents, gingerbread party, cookies, etc.  But all those things were fun add ons, not the main focus!  I really enjoyed the advent season.

The Ornaments
The Ornaments
On the Advent Jesse Tree
On the Advent Jesse Tree
My sweet children
Family
My Children
Sweet Children

Merry Christmas!

-C

 

Choir

Esther sang in our children’s church choir today.  Its always a joy to hear them sing!  So proud of how hard Esther has worked these past months!

The Choir!
The Choir!

1st song

2nd Song

-C

Blessed with the Nutcracker

Today we got a call from my cousin at 10:30am wanting to know if we wanted to see the 2pm Nutcracker in Seattle at the Pacific Northwest Ballet!  His girlfriend’s brother is one of the dancers, who was amazing by the way!  We were covered in flour making sugar cookies at the time.  We quickly finished our cookies then Esther and I headed to Seattle.  We were really excited!  Esther has been learning about the Nutcracker in school & it is their last year performing it!  It was amazing how it all came together.  Grandma volunteered to watch the other two.  Traffic up to Seattle was perfect.  We left Yelm at 12:15 and were in our seats at 2pm with minutes to spare!  We had a wonderful time!  So thankful for such great blessing!

Great Seats!
Great Seats!
Getting ready for the show!
Getting ready for the show!
Intermission:  Playing the harp
Intermission: Playing the harp
Intermission:  Violin!
Intermission: Violin!

Christmas Tree

It has been way to long since Greg or I blogged…We both miss it and need to get in the habit again.  So here it goes!

It has become our tradition to head to the mountains to find our Christmas tree.  We grabbed friends, food,  and warm clothes as we hunted for the perfect tree!  This year we were looking for a tall lean tree.  We found it!

Our drive was gorgeous, the weather was perfect, it was a wonderful day.  We played in the snow.   Enjoyed fellowship with friends.  And of course found THE tree!  Its huge!

Drive Up
Drive Up
She is not impressed with the snow...
She is not impressed with the snow…
Love
Love
Its cut
Its cut
Our Tree!
Our Tree!
Driving in Yelm style
Driving in Yelm style
Love this group!
Love this group!
Its up!
Its up!
With the lights!  - Thanks Tim
With the lights! – Thanks Tim
Morning sunrise!
Morning sunrise!

I have enjoyed watching the faces, especially kids,  as they see  our tree!  Its pretty amazing to see a 25 foot tree inside your home.  Its making our house fell magical this year.  Love it!

Merry Christmas!

-C