Little Ballerina

Today Faith participated in her first ballet class. This was something that she had been looking forward to for quite some time, so needless to say, she was beyond excited! And she loved the class, so that was great. As Shane and I watched in the back of the room, I immediately began to wonder if Faith has too much energy for the beautiful dance of ballet. Maybe it was the first week excitement, maybe it was just her love to dance, but she was extremely energetic. Of course the other moms thought it was cute that she had such enthusiasm. I was more worried that the teacher was not appreciating it! Regardless, Faith had a blast and can't wait to go again next week! Here are some additional pictures. They are not the greatest quality as the camera battery was running low, the lighting was poor, and the subject was anything but still!

Looking the part!

Faith did the best when all the girls were up and moving. The waiting your turn thing, watching others leap across the room, was more challenging!

Enjoying herself

An action shot! And this is actually exactly what she is supposed to be doing - jumping off two fee! Way to go!

Jana Alayra

This morning I had the wonderful opportunity to hear Jana Alayra speak and sing. She has an incredible testimony! Despite crushing circumstances, she was able to feel the love of God and use the trials in her life to bring honor and glory to him. If you ever have the opportunity to see her, I highly recommend going! She lives in Irvine, CA, but travels the country sharing her story. One of the other parts of her ministry is singing for kids. At the end of our morning, the kids were brought in to do a song with Jana. Faith was so excited to do this, and she enjoyed every moment on stage! Here are a few pictures!

Faith and friends with Jana!

Doing the motions

Loving every minute of it!!

Beach Walks

One of the things that we enjoy about living in Ventura is the chance to take walks by the beach. After a few years of taking the same route when walking at the beach, we found a new place to take our walks this past fall! It quickly became a favorite place to go, for both us and the kids! Not only is the path even closer to the ocean, but it is less traveled, which enables Faith to ride her big wheel! Since it is something that we frequent, I thought I'd share some of the pictures from one of our recent walks.

Faith looking at the big surf as she rides

Shane's favorite way to take a walk!

Faith discovered the joy of riding through puddles! (it had rained the night before)

At some point towards the end of the 2.5 mile walk, Faith needs a little boost - thus the need for the big stick I am using to give her a push!

Christmas Recap!

I think we have finally recovered from all of our celebrating from Christmas and New Years! We had quite a bit of fun, and it has taken almost a week now to recover (or just get caught back up on life and back into the swing of things!!). We are thankful for wonderful family to celebrate the birth of our Lord with, and we will cherish the memories we made this past Christmas season!

Shane on Christmas Day - full of excitement!

Faith loved the bells she received!

Look at that cool guy!

We capped off a busy and fun Christmas day with dessert at Renee and Joe's house! Faith always loves the entertaining games that Aunt Renee has for her!

On the 27th we left for Grand Rapids to celebrate the holidays with my family! Our first major event (after getting patted down at the airport and the plane ride) was a Christmas party with the Swagmans. Faith had such a great time with them, especially Great-Grandma!

Sharing some ice cream!

We visited the Frederick Meijer Gardens. They had tree decorated to depict Christmas around the world. Faith is standing in front of the tree from the Netherlands.

We arrived to a winter wonderland! Faith could hardly wait to go outside and "make tracks in the snow!" She LOVED the snow!!

We also were able to celebrate Christmas with the Bruinsma side of the family. One of the highlights at Uncle Gord and Aunt Cathy's house is the drum set! Both kids spent quite a bit of time on the drums, and we know they would love a set of their own! They'll have to keep dreaming!!

Steve taking Faith for a ride in a sled.

Again, we had a wonderful Christmas season and feel so blessed! As we begin 2010, we look forward to what the year ahead has in store, and look forward to making many more memories as a family!