Halo and Cheese Soup...and a few rambling thoughts

Okay, so this was the first day in over 19 years waking up and knowing Alyssa doesn't "live" in our house anymore.  I mean, she has been gone before to camps, mission trips, etc., but she really won't be back soon.  It's very strange for me in a happy/sad sort of way.   All of Alyssa's life we have raised her in the hopes and prayers that she would follow God's will for her life and this is it for now!  I do miss her, but I am happy knowing that she is right where God wants her to be right now and that she is in such an incredible environment as Hume. 

Of course, all this does mean I have to keep up the blog and take pictures much more faithfully.  She wants to be able to read what is going on and see pictures and Facebook is fun, but I don't share all my thoughts and activities of the day on Facebook so this is it. 

So today was spent in starting my "catching up"....and not just from the weekend, but from the whole Christmas season.  With Imagine Christmas I almost feel like I missed our family Christmas.  Imagine Christmas was an incredible experience and I think we touched so many people's lives for God, but I feel like I rushed through the season and didn't get to enjoy it as much as I would have liked.  I did laundry most of the day today because I was so far behind and then straightened up the house, put programs and such back on the computer (I had to do a complete system restore on my computer and, although, I backed everything up, it takes a while to get everything back on).  I also spent time with our business partner figuring out how we will set up payroll now that we have one and finally got to go to the bank to deposit a draw from a client that we have been having trouble with (her bank, not the client) so we can pay some bills. 

That night was "Halo and Cheese Soup" night.  A few friends of the girls and our youth pastor came over to play Halo and some other games and eat cheese soup.  I made this for them all sometime last year while Tim was gone and they decided they loved it.  Of course, you top it with bacon and that's one of the reasons the boys all like it.  Usually I make homemade pretzels with it, but I ran out of time.

Playing video games on one TV (no, the Christmas stuff hasn't come down yet)

Playing video games on the big TV

While some were playing video games, Tara led Sammy and Kyle in ballet exercises

Sammy and Kyle trying to reestablish their "cool" after the ballet exercises.