Christmas Thoughts

 This isn't actually the tree we selected, but it was big and unwrapped so we used it for our photos!

 We had to take pictures to include in the dossier...

 We got a free pine cone with our tree!

 Mr. Muscles hefting the carefully selected Pensyl family Christmas tree onto the roof of the car

 We spent quite a bit of time securing the tree to the roof for the 1.3 mile ride home. Quite a bit of time...

 Goofball

The tree is up and wonderful - a much better experience than last year! We love getting our trees from Way Fruit Farm - they're the perfect tree every year!

I love Christmas time, Christmas lights, Christmas cookies, Christmas music, Christmas pups who sit under the tree (waiting for what I'm not quite sure). I love the candle light service at church as Christmas! The music, the quiet, the warmth, the flickering light - mmmm it's all so magical and wonderful! Marc is playing this year at the 7pm service so I'm super excited to see him up on stage strumming away (is that what you do with a bass? Strum?)

You know one of my favorite parts of the Christmas story? Luke 1:38 when Mary says to the angel who tells her that she will become pregnant and give birth to the Son of God, "I am the Lord's servant. May your word to me be fulfilled."

I love how Mary, presented with perhaps the most shocking news of her life, pushes "herself" aside and embraces the honor of being a servant of God and trusts fully in what she has been told even though she is aware her life will be thrown into a turmoil (unmarried, pregnant, etc). It makes me do a self check - do I throw myself at the opportunity to be a servant of God every chance I get? Do I do it trusting fully in God?

Merry Christmas to each of you - we hope it's a blessed season for you and those you love!

A Plupdate (a picture update...stick with me here)

I've been terrible at blogging lately to keep you up on the latest and greatest in the lives of the Pensyls - here a quick pictorial of events over the past two months:

 No reason for a fly swatter when you life with Tucker Pensyl (see the fly on the back of the chair?)

Abigail picked a bug bite on her arm and there was a little blood - no worries - Marc Pensyl was on the scene. After sharing a thought or two with a non-present Erin and Jay for not having a readily accessible first aid kit in the car, Marc pulled out his own first aid kit. You'll see here he has the site of the injury elevated above her heart and he is applying pressure. Mr. Hoy would be so proud. Later a band aid was applied. Again, let me mention that there was only one drop of blood. I would have wiped it off on my pants and told her she'd be fine. 

Things I like about this picture:

1. That Marc (over)reacted - it makes my heart burst to see him love like this!

2. The look on Abigail's face. It really says it all.

3. That David is holding Marc's finger

David holding Marc's hand while we were riding in the car. P.S. I also love how Abigail's legs are crossed at the ankles in this picture.

Our friend Andrew is a member of the Geek Squad at Best Buy. I had to take a picture of his badge because it made me laugh. Yes, I burst out laughing when I saw the picture. Yes, I probably embarrassed him by taking a picture of it. Yes, I probably destroyed his self esteem in that moment. But he still talks to me so I think it's all a-ok :)

Andrew was the first of his friends to turn 21 so Marc and I took him out for his first drink. We felt bad that he "had" to celebrate his birthday with his old youth leaders so I touched base with him before hand to make sure he actually wanted this! Our conversation went like this:

Sara: YOU'RE 21!!! Happy Birthday!

Andrew: Thanks! I was going to go to a beer distributor at like 11pm and stand outside for an hour and walk in right at midnight and buy something...but I decided that was too much work.

Sara: And you would have looked desperate. Be cool, be cool.

Andrew: Oh right. I guess I'm in the big leagues now, I have have to keep my rep up.

Sara: Totally. You're with the big dogs now.

Andrew: I guess this means I have to find all new friends who are at my level...can't be seen with those preschool chumps anymore.

I laughed - needless to say I think he had a good time anyway :)

 We don't know what this stands for, but if anyone wanted to buy us this (quantity 2) for Christmas we'd love it!

I hit 85,000 miles in my car! 

Just planking on a snowy Saturday afternoon in late October 

 Megan, Desiree, and I had our girls weekend the other weekend and it was amazing (as always)! Now that we're all married it's hard to have a complete girls weekend, but Abe cooks for us (he knows the way to our hearts). This was a (from scratch!) flourless Mexican chocolate cake topped with vanilla sauce. It was literally the best thing I've ever put in my mouth. I had a picture of the roasted veggies and pumpkin cheese fondue he made us (in a real pumpkin!), but the picture got deleted between phone to computer sending. You'll have to trust me that it was delicious!

Marc and I have been leaving the dogs out of their crates when we go out lately. Today Marc put down a blanket on the couch so they wouldn't get dog hair on the couch while we were out running errands. Tucker was kind enough to scoot it to the side and then lay directly on the couch. I guess he didn't get the point. That blur you see? Lily jumped up on the couch when I took the picture.

Hanging Out with Abigail and David

(This post is WAY overdue!)
In early September we took Erin, Abigail, and David to Delgrosso's Amusement Park - what a great day! We went on the little kid roller coaster The Wild Worm (or something like that) and Abigail had been teling us for days how she was going to scream on the roller coaster (she had been on before back in July). She went on the ride three times in a row - once with Gramps, once with Mom, once with Auntie Sara and didn't make a peep the entire time (meanwhile we all screamed like complete goofballs to demonstrate how much fun we were having!)

A few pictures:

 Erin, Abigail and I went on the Spinning Teacups - Abigail was having a scream of a time (literally) until she scolded Erin and I for spinning it too fast...you can't take us anywhere!

 He has until he's 16 before using hands is necessary...

 David was unsure about the Flying Elephants - they went a bit higher than we expected! He still looks pretty cute though, doesn't he?

 Miss Confident was a-ok with the Flying Elephants!

Don't worry - the cotton candy was merely for photo purposes, although I'm sure Gram did slip her some...

Tucker Turns Four

Tucker turned four on November 1 - a glimpse of the day through pictures:

 Started the day out with a nap (on the couch, because it was his birthday)

 An afternoon nap to recover from the morning nap...

 Frozen woofies to celebrate!

 Singing happy birthday (patiently waiting for the song to end)

 Yum! Happy birthday buddy!

 Yumyumyumyumyum

 Opening up his present!

 Getting a post-woofie drink of water while wearing his new blanket

 The clean up crew (she got her own woofie, don't feel too bad)

All wrapped up in his new blanket ready for bed! It was a good day! We love you Tucky!

You might think this is a picture of Marc Pensyl as an infant, but it's just our adorable nephew Drayke. We can't wait to meet this little guy in person!

Rusty Containers

I have a lot going through my head at the moment, but I read this and it intrigued me:

“…All of us as human beings have fallen short…The church is made up of fallen people. The pure, clean water of spiritual truth is placed in rusty containers, and the subsequent failing of the church down through the centuries should not be projected onto the faith itself, as if the water had been the problem. It is no wonder that those who assess the truth and appeal of spiritual faith by the behavior of any particular church often find it impossible to imagine themselves joining up.”

                                      -Francis Collins The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief

I don't want to be a rusty container that spoils Jesus. Makes me think how am I doing that and how I can not be rusty.

Two fun things:
1. A spot-on post about Lily and Tucker - let us know if you agree or not!
2. Our newest nephew Drayke, could not look anything more like his Uncle Marc (although Drayke's mom's Marci (Marc's sister) can probably take more of the credit...). At least we know what our future children will look like...