Visit with Gina...

My good friend Gina was in town visiting her parents for Christmas, and I had the pleasure of seeing her this weekend. Gina is a friend of mine from college and she now lives in Illinois with her husband, Shane, and beautiful daughter, Leah. Leah and Molly are the same age so they had lots of fun playing while Gina and I caught up. It's so fun to catch up with old friends!

Molly's First Christmas!

Molly had a wonderful first Christmas at home. She had a great time opening presents and spending time with our family.

Over the last couple of days, I have spent a lot of time thinking about the true meaning of Christmas. I am so thankful that God sent His Son to save the world. I am so thankful that through the blood of Jesus, we receive undeserved grace.

Happy Birthday, Jesus! :-)

Christmas Eve

Molly--Christmas Eve 2007
Hanoi, Vietnam

Molly--Christmas Eve 2008
Monroe, NC

What a difference a year makes! What a different life our sweet girl has--and what a different life WE have! She's such a gift!

Hines Christmas Fun

Christmas in Winston-Salem

We went to Winston-Salem this weekend to visit Brian's family and had a GREAT time! Molly was such a good girl and loved spending time with her Grandma and Grandpa.

Are we there yet?!

Reading a book with Grandma.

A present for me?!

I'll help you put this thing together!Loving my Great GrandmaFun time with Aunt Marie.
Christmas Parties

We've also been to a couple of Christmas parties in the last couple of weeks. My school party was a lot of fun. We ate at Beantown Tavern in Matthews. Since it was an adult-only party, Molly spent the evening with Nana. She had a lot of fun too--she and Nana met Mrs. Austin for dinner and she got to play with her buddy Colton.

Last night we went to our friends Nicole and Mike for their Christmas party. We've been going to their Christmas party since 2003 so we couldn't miss this year! Molly had a good time as there were A LOT of little friends for her to play with.

14 Months Old!

Our little sweetie is 14 months old today! She is such a sweet girl and we are just loving her more and more. She's doing all kinds of new things--"talking" more, taking more steps (still not completely walking, but she's SO close), and getting into everything! We feel so blessed to have her this Christmas. She was in our thoughts and prayers last year, but it's so nice to have her in our arms this year!

Tara

Well, things around the Hines household are getting ready to change. Things around Benton Heights Elementary School are getting ready to change. One of my best friends in the whole world, Tara, is moving to Ohio to be with her husband Justin. Although we will see her for a little while in January, she is leaving for Ohio tomorrow. Tara has been such an inspiration to me in my life. She has helped me to be a better teacher, a better wife, a better mother, and a better friend. She tells me the truth, even when it hurts. :-) She loves my daughter as if she were her own. Tara makes the world a little brighter for everyone she comes into contact with. I cannot even begin to put into words how much we love her and will miss her. But I know God has big plans for her life and it's His will that she be in Ohio with Justin. Cleveland, get ready for a big blessing!

Mommy's Surprise!

I had to work a little late this afternoon as the week before Christmas is always a fun but CRAZY week in kindergarten. I called my mom on my way home and she said she and Molly had a surprise for me. When I got home, I found a giant gingerbread cookie! Nana said the goldfish hair was Molly's idea! What a smart little cookie! :-)


A couple more pictures of our sweet girl:

Happy 3rd Birthday in Heaven

Tomorrow would be our precious Zeke's third birthday. Although I know it was God's will that he spend his birthdays in heaven rather than on Earth, we miss him here and think of him everyday. We will especially be thinking of him tomorrow and remembering his life and what a special blessing he was to so many people.

"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous--and how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed."
--Psalm 139:13-16

Fun Times!

The last couple of days have been busy, but fun! Yesterday, we had Tara's going away party. She is moving to Ohio to be with Justin next Friday. :-( We are going to miss her SOOO much! We had a great time celebrating Tara's time in North Carolina with all of her North Carolinian friends.

Tonight, our Life Group had our Christmas party. We had a really good time and got some great white elephant gifts! Brian got the VHS Princess Bride and I got a real floppy disk! Woo-hoo!! We had a great time with our Life Group friends but missed James and Anna who are getting their scuba diving certification. Fun times!

Molly's First Christmas Present

Molly's first Christmas present came from our good friends Anna and James. You'll never believe what Molly got for Christmas! Teddy Ruxpin!! Apparently they are bringing him back around for the new generation of little ones--only no more cassettes! He has some kind of little cartridge. But it plays the same songs and tells the same stories as the one I had when I was a kid. I gotta tell you--I don't know who was more excited about Molly's present--Molly or Mommy! :-)

Anna and James were over as we were putting the finishing touches on Tara's going away party tomorrow. For more cute Molly pics from tonight, check out their blog!

Fun Outside

After a stretch of very cold days, we finally had some nice weather today! Molly and Mommy had some fun in the swing outside and then went for a walk through the neighborhood. It was SO nice to spend some time outside.

Christmas Cutie

We got all dressed up and had Nana take some pictures of us for Christmas. But wouldn't you know, Molly's unplanned PJ photo shoot that took place before bed last night produced cuter results! I think these PJ pictures so capture her little personality!

Just because....

She is so stinkin' cute! :-)

Our little cutie has had a rough couple of days as she is cutting two molars at once. But she's starting to feel a lot better--thankfully! I just had to post this messy face picture of her--is she not too cute?!

Art

While we were in Vietnam, we bought this painting. We just had it framed and I think it turned out beautifully! It's a painting of my favorite part of Vietnam: the children. :-)