December

This month...
Cora was in her first Christmas pageant at church. She and the other 2-3 year olds were angels. They got to run up the center aisle at the part when "suddenly there appeared a host of angels" to the shepherds. Then they gathered around Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus. I heard Cora did a great job, but I didn't get to see much because I was playing the piano for the congregational singing and was mostly hidden behind the back wall of the stable. I hope I can get my hands on a video recording and watch my little angel!

We had 10 inches of snow in one day! It was crazy for Grand Junction and was almost record-setting. School was canceled for the second time in 24 years. It has stayed cold enough since then that most of the snow is still around!

Brad, Cora, Peter and I went snowshoeing on the Grand Mesa. Brad decided that Cora is big enough to do her own snowshoeing so we'll have to see if we can scrounge up a pair for her! I guess she's getting heavy to carry at 30+ lbs. Peter did great. He fussed a little and then fell asleep in the Snuggli I was carrying him in.

I had surgery on the 19th to repair an umbilical hernia. I believe I developed the hernia with my first pregnancy, but I didn't know what it was till after Peter was born. Since my health care deductible was met for this year with Peter's delivery the surgery will be completely covered by our health insurance so we decided it was a good time to get it taken care of. It was wonderful that Mom and Dad Bierma came down for the day to stay with Cora and Peter and give us help. Everything went well and after a few days of exhaustion, weakness and being quite sore, I'm starting to feel much better.

Brad tore down our fireplace. We've finally decided we wanted a corner more than a fireplace. If you've ever had a living room that has no corners then you understand our longing for one! There is still a little work to do to patch it up but it's a small project and we'e very excited for the little bit of extra space it give us...and the corner.

Brad took the high school youth group on a unique excursion. He snagged a deal with the curator of the Museum of the West, here in town, and got a special "behind the scenes" private tour of the museum. The students really enjoyed it and it was a great "Destination Unknown" for a cold weekend.