June Bug's Reflections: 2016

Cooking and baking are two of my passions in life and I love sharing that with my kids. We are always making something in our house. I have two of the best helpers ever! They always like to be right in on the action. It makes for a messy kitchen but a lot of fun. Although I can't say to much as I am pretty messy when working in the kitchen myself. Here is some of our creations from this last year.

Noah with the raspberry cheesecake I made for our 4th wedding anniversary

Pasta with kale, mushrooms and béchamel sauce

Spring rolls with soy ginger dipping sauce

Crab Rangoon ready to be fried

Austin's rainbow of chopped peppers for salsa

Our finished salsa

Blackberries that the kids and I picked this last summer

Thick spiced Italian Hot Chocolate

It was so fun getting ready for Christmas this year. The kids were so excited and we had lot of fun things we wanted to do. We started listening to Christmas music well before December but I waited for the first of December to start the decorating and baking. The kids and I spent a day with a friend and did our Christmas shopping. Noah took us around town a couple times in the evenings to look for lights. I set a goal to make a homemade gift for each of the kids this Christmas and I did it! I finished them early and was not up till the middle of the night the night before trying to finish them in typical Mary fashion. We went and spent Christmas day at my brothers house with my parents and family. We had an authentic Italian fest with all the trimmings. My Mom planned some fun games and activities and we did our annual White Elephant gift exchange. We were able to see my grandparents and introduce Carson to them. We had a busy and wonderful month.

While all these things are fun I pray that my children will remember the birth of Jesus and why He came to earth. To save man from his sins. He died on a cross to bring salvation to man kind.

Luke 2:11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.

1 John 4:14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.

The Lord has been so good to us and brought my family safely through another year. We are all healthy and had the wonderful addition of a new little one, Carson James on November 13th. The Lord has provided us with everything we could possible need and then some. We made lots of wonderful memories and got to spend time with lots of different friends and family over the course of the year. We look forward to what this New Year holds and pray we keep trusting the Lord and looking to him to led us.