The wonder of being a child at Christmastime

As Andy was remarking yesterday, it is so amazing to think that the God of the universe was born as a baby and lived on earth. At one point, he was 13 months old and fell down as he was learning to walk and babbled as he was learning to talk. The God of the universe learning to walk! He emptied himself and lived a sinless life to ultimately sacrifice himself for our imperfections so that we could have an eternal relationship with him, full of everlasting joy both here on earth and in heaven. Thank you Lord Jesus for saving us when we have nothing to offer you. Thank you for loving us that much. Thank you God for your infinitely wise and grace-filled plan to save us from the beginning of time. I love you and offer you my life in joyful worship to you, full of wonder and awe just like a child.

Merry Christmas

We hope and pray that each of you has a blessed Christmas, pondering and celebrating the joyful news that Jesus, fully God, became fully man on earth - to live a sinless and sacrificial life and allow us to come into joyful and personal relationship with the God of the universe!

Annaliese "dancing" to "Little Drummer Boy" in her high chair

We got a new camera... a DSLR! It is so much fun playing with it as we try to learn what an awesome tool it is!

Playing with the camera... but you can tell that we have a fake tree (oh well)!

Napa

All new moms and dads should definitely get away for a night or two. We took the opportunity in mid November (I'm a little behind in posting) while my parents babysat Annaliese, or rather got to have a sleepover party weekend! The Thomases and Ji Hae also helped out watching her, so we are very blessed to have family and friends who would bless us like in this way and apparently they enjoyed it!

The weekend so wonderful to reconnect, invest in our marriage and soak up the time together while our daughter was in such good care. We wrote letters before we left about what we love about one another and what we will individually work on in our marriage (not a laundry list of what the other person should work on) and read them at dinner on Saturday. This verbal affirmation was a highlight for me. Napa Valley was beautiful, the wine was exquisite, and the ambiance was memorable. Truly, I don't have words to express just how thankful I am for my wonderful husband and how much he shows me that he loves and adores me.

...Cakebread Cellars...

classic napa

first place we went to

our favorite wine that we tasted

met a nice couple from Florida

...Castello Di Amorosa...

litterally a modern day construction of European castle set on the hill

boutique wines only available from the tasting room

bought a fun and unique dessert wine

...Sterling Vineyards...

gondola ride up to the tasting room overlooking a gorgeous view of the valley

self-guided tour through their wine-making process

randomly met up with the couple from Florida again!

enjoyed tasting a couple of extra wines in the final tasting room

[camera batteries died]

...Rutherford Estates...

the couple from Florida joined us

the draw was "Reds and Chocolate tasting"

it was ok - our least favorite wine/tasting room experience

got 1 piece of dark chocolate though!

Dinnner at Farm at Carneros Inn

recommended by a kind gentleman

beautiful mod decor and ambiance

half the fun was just enjoying the atmosphere, so we soaked it up for a couple hours

on Sunday

Brunch at Fume Bistro

my smoked salmon omlette was among the best breakfasts I've ever tasted

...Black Stallion...

a new winery on a drizzly day

liked their Chardonnay actually (I'm not a fan of many whites)

bought a souvenir magnet

In short, the whole weekend was nothing short of amazing. Words fail to describe the complete experience. I love you, Honey.