Night out on the town Steve took me to one of my favorite restaurants for a date Friday night. We went to Lake Park Bistro. It is on a cliff overlooking Lake Michigan. Steve was given some unexpected money and surprised me with a night out. We sat at the kitchen table which is all by itself right by the chefs. We've come here once before on Valentine's Day 2 years ago. The manager of the rest. for some reason remembered us which was really cool. Later I thought it might be b/c we wore the same outfits 2 years ago :). You get to watch what all the chefs make and your waitress and the manager explain the different dishes as they come up to go out to people. He gave us 2 free appetizers - Lobster Ravioli and Escargo. Yeah we attempted the last one, b/c it is snails. But I made sure the guy didn't tell Steve what it was til after he tried it. They were under a puff pastry which helped, but you could see the little antennae (sp.) coming out of it - ahh! They really only tasted like garlic, but it was a mental/texture thing. Steve ordered chicken with roasted potatoes and I had their awesome hanger steak with shoestring fries. He gave me every sauce they make, so I could try all the different ones - red wine sauce, blue cheese, peppercorn, cream sauce, au jus, and a mushroom cream sauce. I settled with the red wine sauce intermingled with blue cheese. Oh good! We had such a fun time!
Sierra at another coffee shop storytime.
This one was all about a pajama party. The bad thing was we forgot we had to go home and change her before we went anywhere else since she was still in her pj's. :)

Pretty eventful weekend with Sierra letting an unknown dog into my parents' house & then my sister's dog attacks it by pinning it to the floor and going for the neck. My sister got her dog off the other one long enough for it to get up and we helped it go back outside. Very traumatic! Sierra thought the dog wanted to come in. Well it did, but it wasn't meant to :). Today Sierra sticks one of those "pretend earrings" or hard plastic circle stickers up her nose! I couldn't find it and she doesn't seem bothered by it, so I'm hoping it is already in the digestion process. I still don't know what the logic behind that one was. I have a feeling there wasn't any.

Sierra & I while taking a walk at the park.

Sierra and I were talking in the car the other day. We were talking about how God made us. Then she asked, "What did He make us out of?" I said, "He made us out of dust and His breath." She said, "He must have some strong breath!" Oh did I laugh. She is a gem :).

Jason & Kellie Knapp (left) with their family and fellow missionary family in Papua, New Guinea.

I just read an email from some friends who are missionaires in Papua, New Guinea. They are presenting the Gospel in the native language of the tribe they are in for the first time today. There is significant opposition to their teaching from a cult. The cult is trying to draw the people away at the same time the teaching is going on, so they will not hear it. Please pray for the Knapps and the hearts of the people they have given their lives to. It is so awesome to see how Jason, Kellie & their kids have dedicated their lives to first learning the language, developing a written form of the language, and now translating and teaching the truth of the Bible in the tribe's native tongue. Their website is http://www.claypots.org.

Belated Christmas photos :). Some living room decor.
Christmas morning with the "motherload" of presents :)

Here's a picture of our tree & our piano all decked out for Christmas. I'm just taking down the snowman stuff today. Normally I keep it up through Feb/Mar, but we have no snow, so it seems pointless.
Sierra & I went to a "teddy bear picnic" storytime today at a new coffee shop by our house.
Can you tell she loves her new Ariel salon that she got from Nanna & Papa ?

I'm here. I'm just trying to figure out being on the new Blogger, and I'm not doing so very successfully. It took me over 30 min. just to log on, hence no blogging from me recently. Well we have been hit hard with the flu this month. I got it 3 separate times in December. Around New Years almost my entire extended family got it, and now Steve just got done and Sierra is still holding onto it. We ended up taking her to the doctor today since she's had it since Sunday, but the doctor didn't seem too concerned. Thankfully most of us had it for only 24 hours. That is one Christmas present you don't like to get! I'm enjoying looking at everyone's blog about Christmas. Once I figure out how they'll let me comment I'll be doing so. Hope you all had a fabulous Christmas. We were truly blessed to have Steve off for 1 1/2 weeks. It makes celebrating so much more enjoyable. Hope you all are feeling well and the stomach virus doesn't visit your house. Did any of you get the flu shot? I'm really considering it, but never have been a big fan before.