For Derek, winter now means wrestling season. After being instructed by his football coaches (who are also his wrestling coaches) to “get big”, he moved up a weight class from last year. He has happily complied, as lifting and eating are favorite activities of his (not necessarily in that order).

Jim was invited to participate in practices so he could drill with and help coach the heavyweights. For Jim, it was like wrestling with his sons in the family room, only on a mat with no fear of putting holes in the walls. Both he and Derek came home beaming. One of them walked in limping.

And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” (Luke 2)

Over a span of two days, Ruth and I baked over 11 dozen gingerbread boys and girls, to be used for both a cookie exchange and gifts. It was good bonding time.

What is perhaps more amusing than seeing a polished family smiling in a photograph is seeing the progression of how they got there.

Alright, kids, can we get a shot of just you guys?

There we go.  Hold it right there.

Our marriage is 21 years old today.
Until death do us part.

So let us know, let us press on to know the Lord,
His going forth is as certain as the dawn;
And He will come to us like the rain,
Like the spring rain watering the earth. (Hosea 6:3)

Back by popular demand, we hosted the second annual Meatopia last weekend. It is becoming clear that smoked meat is Jim’s love language.

Molly can’t control herself around the barbecue aroma, so she becomes Jim’s best friend during the preparation process. Ruth decided Jim needed more free space to season, smoke and slice, so she put up this sign at the kitchen entrance.

Unfortunately, the dog cannot read, so she remained as a speed bump in the kitchen.

When all was said and done, we served nine different types of meat,

sides,

and a chocolate fountain for dessert.

These guys were the first to show up, then more came as the afternoon wore on.

Some started by filling two plates, while others made their way through the kitchen several times. We were surprised at how little meat was leftover when all the guys went home. It was fun to send them home with full bellies!

Ruth’s favorite part?

After dropping Jake off at the airport last Sunday, we picked up a wonderfully smelling tree and decorated it into the night, with Handel’s Messiah playing in the background.

The boys were in charge once again, putting up lights, ornaments, garland, beads, and the village underneath to complete it all.

Some of our ornaments are from Jim’s growing-up years. As the kids were gleefully placing ornaments on the tree, Jim stopped everyone, held up a big glass ball with “Jimmy 1977” written in glitter. As he held it up proudly in front of him, he exclaimed, “All I have to say is…JIMMY 1977!” Then, with everyone’s gaze on the ornament, it dropped from the hook, fell on the hardwood floor and broke into several pieces. There was utter silence, then Derek replied, “Well…so much for Jimmy 1977.” You’ll be happy to know that Jim successfully superglued the red ball back together and it is hanging on the tree once again. Ahh, family memories.

Another way we kicked off the Christmas season was by making a hospitality wreath.

It’s easy and fun, and makes people happy. Just glue pieces of candy onto a wreath

and hang it by the front door for guests to pull off and eat when they come over!

Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. (1 Peter 4:9)

The Friday after Thanksgiving was full of celebrations. My brother’s birthday, my niece’s birthday, and my mom’s retirement.

We started off at the Gieres’ new home to celebrate birthdays, and played a quiz game called Kahoot, testing our knowledge of the birthday girl.

As usual, things were lively.

Then later that evening, everyone came over to celebrate Mom’s retirement, where the liveliness continued…

My cousin had a baby a few months ago, and the kids (and adults) were magnetically drawn to this newest member of the family.

(Almost as much as Derek was magnetically drawn to the leftovers on Saturday)

It was a great weekend from beginning to end. We are thankful to God for this family. Here is everyone, minus my sister-in-law the photographer:

The Bible instructs us to “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” I love that at least once a year, we are reminded of the importance of giving thanks. And not generically, but giving thanks to God.

We did just that when we gathered as a family last Thursday evening. Dad shared a devotional, pointing our eyes to the Giver of all good gifts.

After all the food preparation was complete,

in large part thanks to these three sisters,

everyone sat down and enjoyed a delicious feast. Thanks to modern technology, we were even able to say hello and speak virtually face-to-face to the fourth sister and her family in North Carolina.

Surely, a highlight of the evening was when my Grandpa Barker walked in the front door with his flight jacket, from his time in the Army Air Corps during WWII.

He has not shared much about his time in the war, which made this gesture even more meaningful. He had a rapt audience.

He talked through his “yearbook”.

These two have always had a unique bond, sharing an uncanny love for engineering; and after this evening, I think the bond grew even tighter.

But we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever; from generation to generation we will recount your praise. (Psalm 79:13)

Two goals of Thanksgiving weekend each year are to rest and play. This year, we achieved both goals.

It was so good to have Jake with us. He had not been home in five months, and consequently did experience a bit of a culture shock. Just being able to wear “civies” (civilian clothes) was a first. He spent much of the weekend catching up on sleep. The little guys were eager to play with him, but alas, had to wait until he awakened.

While on the subject of Jake, he evidently has adopted a new habit while at USAFA: sleeping on the floor. Due to the strict room requirements at school, most of the cadets end up sleeping on the floor so they don’t mess up their beds. Jake now has a hard time sleeping on a bed because “it’s too soft”.

Thanks to my brother and his family, we were able to bring Molly up to Michigan with us. Jake enjoyed the extra time with her, and Molly was the object of much affection from the cousins.

We played lots of games, both electronic

and otherwise.

We kickstarted our Thanksgiving Thursday with a 5K organized by my mom. It’s as official as it gets, with bib numbers, medals…and for the first time this year: t-shirts.

But before the running comes the fueling. Mom and Peter work together to make french breakfast puffs: 60% sugar, 35% butter, 5% everything else.

After loading up on the delicious breakfast, we laced up our shoes…or in Ruthie’s case, put the shoes on while someone else laced them for you.

These guys were happy to be together for the weekend.

We got our game faces on

then stepped up to the start line.

Ellie and Ruth–who ran the “short course”–teamed up to hand out medals.

The 5K organizer and commissioner pausing for a pose.

A great (healthy) way to start the day!

The beginning of this week has been full of preparation. We prepared for two exciting events: Jake’s first homecoming in five months, and Thanksgiving in Michigan.

First, we broke out the paints and made posters:

Even Molly participated, by providing moral support.

Meanwhile, Peter was a baking machine, making acorn-shaped cake pops

and pumpkin and apple pies for Thanksgiving dinner.

Now we are all together as a family for the weekend–dog included!

WA football officially wrapped up its season by holding a celebratory banquet last week. Derek really bonded with the offensive line, known as “the team within the team”.

They love their coach…

…almost as much as they love getting into a three-point stance!

Throughout the season, a group of moms prayed each week for the team. It was such a joy getting to know these dear women and regularly getting together for a common purpose.

It was a late night, and Derek’s “reward” was an extra dose of homework which cut his night to 4 hours of sleep.

Ask him if it’s worth it? He’d respond with a resounding YES.

Over the past two and a half months, the kids learned about the U.S. elections process and completed projects related to it. All along the way, we kept our eyes on the real-life presidential race, which made the learning more interesting and applicable.

Yesterday, the study culminated in the actual presidential election as well as the putting together of the final project.

As I–and my entourage–walked into the polling place, the volunteers were making conversation with the kids, asking various questions. They heartily laughed when I told them that I brought my advisors along. The kids looked over my shoulder with interest (and newly-acquired background knowledge) as I filled in the bubbles.

Our nation is far from perfect, but throughout our study, I remarked to the kids that our freedom is a gift and something to be very thankful for. Freedom to vote, and above all freedom to worship our God.

Another football season has come to a bittersweet end. Bitter because of the final losses for both Derek and Peter. Sweet because we are able to reclaim a couple weeknights.

The first words out of Peter’s mouth when he woke up Tuesday morning were, “I’m so happy we don’t have to be anywhere tonight!” Fast forward two hours later, when Jim calls after a meeting and exclaims, “Drop everything, we’re going to the Hawks game tonight!”

I told the kids I had good news and bad news. The bad news: we have somewhere to be this night. The good news: we are going to the United Center! Someone generously donated their sky box tickets, so we were also able to invite others.

Peter brought his buddy Luke,

a family from our small group joined us, which made Ruth’s night, as she had a shadow-buddy all night.

She was also quite interested in the game.

My parents joined us as well. My mom tried a couple times to get the attention of the jumbo-tron camera, sadly to no avail.

While the rest of the world was watching baseball, we watched an exciting hockey game (AND baseball, thanks to the TV in our suite).

We couldn’t have gone to a better game. The Hawks won big, and their opponent tallied many penalties. Because of this, our fun Hawks experience carried over several days.

Because they scored more than two goals, we got 1/2 off Papa John’s pizza for lunch one day.

And because the opposing team scored more than five penalties, we ate six free Chick-Fil-A sandwiches for lunch another day.

All this from “sacrificing” our first free weeknight since the beginning of football season!

The end of October is a whirlwind in this household, between football season, birthdays and trick-or-treating.

We celebrated Ruthie’s seventh birthday.

Peter made her birthday pancakes.

Because she ate the “R” upside-down, she thought he had made her a rabbit. When she asked for another rabbit pancake, it took us a few minutes to catch on.

We then celebrated with family, and the best gift of all for Ruthie was having cousin time, as all the cousins came down for the weekend.

Jake even joined us for a portion of the party via Face Time!

He gave us a mini-tour of his room.

The next morning, Peter and Hannah dished up delicious blueberry cheese crepes.

They served the adults first, then the kids. As it should be.

After such a full weekend, we hadn’t given much thought to the fact that halloween was the next day. Jeremy and Ruth pulled it off well, though, dressed as Doc McStuffins and a Colonial guy.

Part of Ruth’s costume was Jake’s old lab coat, recycled. Because they had BSF that night, they had one hour to hustle and collect as much candy as they could.

They did better than expected, and I had a chance to catch up with some neighbors. Here is what greeted us when we returned home:

Jim donned the army guy costume and thus became the photo opportunity of the neighborhood.

Thirteen years ago today, when Jake was 5 and Derek was 3, they dressed up as an astronaut and his spaceship.

Yet another arrow pointing to the future.

It was a heartbreaking loss last night as WA lost in the first round of playoffs. They played well, but they could have played so much better, and they knew it.

It was a touching moment after the game when players hugged and somberly said goodbye to the season.

In the stands during halftime, we celebrated Mom’s milestone birthday.

Everyone gathered around to keep the flame burning on the candle while we sang.

A look back on a fun season…
Derek had a faithful fan base every game.

Jim managed to snap some shots of D, snap after snap, block after block.

He was often the first one to celebrate a big play.

And after the season was said and done, he was the one who received much-needed encouragement.