On the fourth day of Christmas . . . . This picture and the two below it were taken on December 29th when David and I celebrated Christmas with his family. David was gone on Christmas this year (second year in a row he has worked on Christmas Day) and spent Christmas Day flying between Texas, Louisiana, and Alabama . . . who could think of a better way to spend Christmas Day? I spent most of Christmas morning and evening with my family and enjoyed the afternoon spent with David's family. David's mom and Grammy cooked two Christmas dinners this year--one on Christmas Day and one on the 29th when David was back in town. Both meals were delicious and leftovers have lured us over to David's parents' house on several occasions since. David and I are both very hopeful that he will have off Christmas Day next year so we can enjoy our Baby's first Christmas together! Speaking of Baby, I am 31 weeks in the pictures.
L-R Jonathan (David's brother), me, and David.
This picture captures a Christmas tradition that has been going on for several years. A few years ago at Christmas, David's parents gave us a movie entitled
Little Boy Lost. David's parents had never seen the movie before they gave it to us, but considering that this movie was based on a true story and carried the promise of clean, family entertainment, they figured it was probably pretty good. The problem was that the ENTIRE movie was about a little lost boy wondering in the woods of Australia. As you can imagine, this probably made for the most boring plot ever (no joke!). So, the next Christmas, David and I decided to "regift" the movie to David's Dad. Last Christmas, shortly after David's Dad unwrapped the movie, we took the DVD back and hid it in our car so we could have it to regift this year. David's Dad snuck out to our car and found where we had hidden the DVD . . . forcing :) us to purchase copies of the movie on half.com this year as to not let such a wonderful tradition slip away. You can imagine David's Dad's disappointment upon unwrapping two separate Christmas gifts, thinking he was getting something good, and then finding out that all he had was another copy of
Little Boy Lost. As you can see in the picture, David and Jonathan were able to apprehend one of the two DVD copies from David's dad so that we can carry on the tradition next year. Just FYI, we also gave David's Dad some "real" gifts :).
I am about 30 weeks pregnant in picture above. I will be 33 weeks along in a few days and will try to post updated photos of my rapidly expanding belly soon. I am feeling great for the most part and can't believe that the due date is getting so close! As soon as we put the finishing touches on Baby's room, I'll post pictures. I have lists of things to finish for work and around the house over the next month and a half since I know that so much will get put on hold once Baby arrives. David reminded me last night that I should go ahead and pack a bag for the hospital in case Baby decided to come early.....so much to think about and prepare for!! One day at a time!
I decided that over the next month or so, I will make some "2008 in review" posts to recap the past year. This first post is about our most recent trip. David and I had been wanting to go to Europe together for as long as I can remember. Knowing that once Baby comes, it will be a while before another Europe trip is feasible, we decided to go to Switzerland this past November. We still want to visit many other European countries, but this time, we were only gone from the US for 7 days so we decided to limit our trip to one country. I had been to Switzerland in 2000 on a missions trip and absolutely loved the country's beautiful scenery and architecture and overall quaintness . . . so, when David let me pick the destination of our trip, I decided on Switzerland. The picture directly above shows Lake Lucerne with the Alps in the background and the first picture shows us at the top of Mt. Pilatus.
David and I rode the steepest cog railway in the world (48% gradient) up to the top of Mt. Pilatus. The picture above was taken during our ascent up the mountain.
David and Catherine standing beside the cog railway.
Picture of the aerial cableway we rode down the side of the mountain.
We visited several cathedrals in Lucerne (northern, central Switzerland) during our trip. The picture above shows the inside of the Jesuit Church, which was constructed in the 1600s. Although it is easy to be captivated by the beauty of cathedrals such as this one, in the end, even the most ornate cathedrals are still buildings constructed by human hands. Seeing this cathedral made me think of the following verses spoken by Stephen in Acts 7: 48-50: "However the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands; as the Prophet says, 'Heaven is My throne and earth is the footstool of My feet; what kind of house will you build for Me?' says the Lord 'Or what place is there for My repose? Was it not My hand which made all these things?'"
Chapel Bridge, Lucerne, Switzerland - "The Kapellbruecke" (originally constructed in 1333). 
