A walk in the park

This past weekend Dan, and I took Halle for a walk in the park on Lake Acworth. When I was pregnant, Dan and I would walk this trail along the lake every night and talk of what kinds of things we would take Halle to do and memories we wanted to make with her. It was neat to take Halle with us this time and reminisce on last year's long walks. 

Halle got to play on the playground for the very first time with Daddy.

Growing Up Too Fast

Our baby Halle will be 5 months old in just a few days. I can't believe it's going by so fast. She has been hitting some pretty major milestones. It seems like the past couple of months she's just grown into her beautiful personality. She's smiling all the time at nearly everyone who talks to her and then turns away in shyness and excitement as she's kicking her legs. She likes when you blow on her belly or under her arm. She has learned how to roll over. She loves to use those vocal cords. She has a high pitched squeal that she loves to hear. It's so high that even she squints when she does it. But then smiles and giggles. She is playing with toys now and wants to grab EVERYTHING that is in your hand. I packed her 0-3 month old clothes away and have brought out the 3-6 month old stuff. We went to her 4 month Doctor's visit this month and got her second round of vaccines...yikes. The Doctor had nothing but great things to say. Halle was in the 50th percentile for weight and 90th percentile for her head and height. She is still pulling herself up and now with only one hand. She is now eating cereal in the mornings and the evenings and doing very well. She loves to watch Baby Einstein everyday. She always wants to face forward when you hold her. She now enjoys riding along in the grocery store. Her big blue eyes are staring at everything in amazement. Her hair is growing and turning dark finally. Our baby girl is growing up fast!

This swing used to swallow her.
There's that beautiful smile!!!
She reaches for everything as soon as you pick it up. She has no clue what it is but she wants it!
Halle really likes it when her Daddy comes home.
Dan and I got her this saucer turn-about loaded with toys for her for Christmas. She really likes it! Amazingly enough with all those toys on there she always goes for those little white tags and can't quite figure them out. 

I LOVE HER TO PIECES!! I CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF OUR HALLE!

Kat's a Baldy

Our cat named Kat had some really bad matts on her back from break, so my good friends at VRSP helped me shave them off. They were so bad that poor Kat ended up bald. The baldness has made Kat quite frisky. She feels free now and unashamed of her baldness. She looks hilarious.

Happy Birthday Aunt Katie and Uncle Jon

I love you..Hope you have a great birthday

ALIENS

Everyone should know that this is not Jessica typing this blog, but it is her strapping, handsom husband Dan who is typing away this cold January day. The reason you might ask? I believe I have a very special story that I feel Jessica might be a little too "humble" to share with you.

As is common on most Saturday nights, I spend the closing hours of the evening typing away, getting some of the next weeks things taken care of for Four Points Church. While I type, Jessica commonly falls asleep next to me on the couch. In all honesty, I find evenings like this very peaceful and serene. Normally, when I finish my work, I gently wake up Jessica and we head to bed together. Last night, as I gently tapped on Jessica's back to wake her up to go to bed, she awoke and began making her way of the stairs. As she rounded the banister towards the first step, I realized that we had better decide how each of us would make it to church in the morning. Since we are in a church plant, I generally have to arrive at the church at 6:00 A.M. to assist our army of volunteers in  setting up everything that enables us to transform a school into a functioning church. Since we have a little baby, we try to find a way that allows her to sleep a little later than 5:30. So I asked Jessica, "Hey babe, what time are you coming to church in the morning?" She looked at me and said, "I going to church with the Aliens" as if this were a completely normal response to this type of question. A little dumbfounded and slightly amused I responded by a highly intellectual (because I went to college) response. "What?" To which my wife responded as though I had some sort of hearing deficiency, "I AM GOING TO CHURCH WITH THE ALIENS". At this points, I did not know if she was joking with me or was in fact serious, so I admit that I raised my voice a little to get an idea of what was happening within the complex feminine brain of my wife. "JESSICA, What time are you going to church in the morning?" My wife response? "ALIENS DAN, I AM GOING TO CHURCH WITH ALIENS!" And with that she turned away and walked up the stairs.

A couple of minutes later, I walked up the stairs to find her barely awake in bed. I asked her if she remembered any of what just happened. She said no, so I decided to tell her all that is mentioned above. We both laughed and fell asleep together on a cold winters night.

Check out the other Friesen at www.FourPointsChurch.tv/dan

A Magical Christmas Break

We had an amazing Christmas vacation. We are so grateful and thank Doug and Karen for such a wonderful trip.  It was a once in a lifetime opportunity, we are truly blessed. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Friesen!

New Years in Switzerland

We traveled to Geneva, Switzerland for New Years Eve and had a Switzerland favorite for dinner...fondue. They brought out a LARGE plate of raw beef slices, a bowl full of bread, french fries, and two big hot pots. One boiling pot was full of a soup to cook your beef in and the other pot full of STINKY but oh so good swiss cheese to dip the bread and fries in. It was a great New Years meal together. 

Before we left Geneva that New Year's morning, we visited the church of the Reformation. It is the home of where the Protestant Reformation began. John Calvin fled from persecution and took refuge there in Geneva. Here is where John Calvin wrote the tenants of the Christian faith. Dan wanted so bad to go to Geneva just for the reason to visit the museum of John Calvin but it turned out that it was closed on New Years day. It was a bummer. So we took lots of pictures of the church from the outside. 

After visiting the church we traveled to Mont Blanc, Switzerland in the Alps. This was by far the highlight of the trip for me. The Alps were amazing!! The photos I got do not do the place any justice. You cannot capture how beautiful this place was. It felt as though you were in a fairy tale where the view your were seeing was painted and not real. Mont Blanc is the tenth highest mountain in the world. In the valley of these mountains there is a beautiful village full of people, mostly skiers. We spent the whole day there.

We got a chance to go up on top of Mont Blanc by cable car reaching 15,000 feet plus in the air. It was AMAZING! The view was breathtaking and the air was so cold!
I could not feel my fingers or toes here.
This picture is of the village down below.

Here are some skiers holding onto a a roped fence that leads them down to the skiing spot.
The Alps were breathtaking. I am definitely making it a point to go back there one day. I would love to be able to take my whole family with me. What a beautiful place.