Christmas came to the Gaunch house!

Christmas Eve we piled in the car and headed to Charleston to spend the day with Louie's family. We spent the morning opening gifts with Louie's mom and dad, and Louie's sister and her family. The afternoon is basically an open house- their friends and family come and go which is wild and fun and loud! So in the morning, we did the typical thing... we sat in the living room by the tree and the kids opened gifts. Then Garrett and Hannah got their big, big gift from Santa- CAR KEYS! They received a used car. It is a 2001 PT Cruiser. It has 150,000 miles and a crack in the dashboard... but it's all theirs to drive around town.

Garrett was absolutely speechless and Hannah giggled. Garrett has his licence (Hannah just has her learners) so he got behind the wheel. They checked out every aspect of the car and he drove them around the block, with Becca and my niece Adrianne in the backseat grinning. The rest of the day, Garrett and Hannah would randomly saw, "Oh my gosh! We have a car!"

We made it back in time for the Christmas Eve Service as church- one of my favorite times at church all year- the candlelight, the music, and the message of hope- I can hardly stop smiling! We were actually really tired from our week, but managed to stay up a while; just long enough to see it begin to snow. In the morning, we woke up to a White Christmas. :)

I grabbed the video camera- just like I did when they were toddlers- and filmed them as they came down the hall. They had fun opening their gifts... Garrett loves to sing at church, in plays and in his band, Torn in Two, so he got a new microphone and mike stand that bends down... so he can do 'rock star' moves.

Becca is so 'over' dolls and is so grown up now!!! This year it was clothes, music, shoes and make-up. (sigh)

Hannah finished opening her gifts and wanted to enjoy the gingerbread house she made with her friend Karla. Garrett got his first real tool kit for Christmas, so he loaned Hannah his hammer. Hannah with a hammer... is that a good thing?

And there you go- gingerbread, ready to share! It was soooo good!

Later that day, the kids drove over to my parent's house to show them their car, and then later, my parents stopped by. Then, we spent the rest of the day doing absolutely nothing in particular... and it was fabulous! I expect the rest of the break to be fun and full of family time which I'm looking forward to.

One more thing before I sign off this blog-

I read a portion of the Christmas narrative last week that practically leapt off the page. It was from Luke 1:49,

"The Mighty One has done great things for me- holy is his name".

All I could think was, 'This could be my verse'. In similar fashion, I could turn my face toward heaven and say, "The Mighty One has done great things for me- holy is his name". He has provided a Godly husband... gave me strength so I can care for three children... gave me an opportunity to serve Him in my church and in my job at Covenant School where I not only get to teach children but affect eternity. But the greatest thing he did for me was that He sent His Son to not only take away the sins of the world, but my sins. And they were many.

It's the time of year when we, like the shepherds kneeling before the manger, sit back in wonder at the love of the Father. I would encourage you to take a moment to dwell on Mary's words sometime this week. What great things have the Father done for you? I hope all of you have experienced his love personally!

Blessings on you all this Christmas and in the New Year!

Christmas Comes Knocking!

This week, Christmas has come close into view!

Last Sunday, we had the opportunity to participate in an outreach project. Our church is establishing a relationship with a nearby lower income housing project. The kids all caroled from apartment to apartment (and it was C.O.L.D.), inviting the kids to come to the community building for games, a story, a snack and a goodie bag. Becca sang, Garrett read the Christmas story aloud, and Hannah planned a game and acted as a shepherd. I was proud of the kids for giving up their afternoon- and they had a great time doing it!

Then, we had the Covenant School Christmas program which was amazing! The children (1st-11th grades) marched in the sanctuary from every direction singing together. Then the senior class walked in singing a song called "Bring a Torch" hand in hand with my Kindergarten class... it was precious... and Garrett led them carrying a light. But every great production has it's "issues". As I was arranging my class on the stage to sing "Go Tell it on the Mountain", I heard someone whisper loudly, "Mrs. Gaunch, Mrs. Gaunch!!!" When I turned around, I saw a 1st grader from my gym class sitting on the risers with his hands full of vomit! Within seconds, the 1st grade teacher was on stage whisking him away and the show went on. My Kindergarteners sang with enthusiasm! Then, Becca played the trumpet in the band and later, Garrett had a solo.

Just as we turned our attention away from the program and toward final exams, we got our first snow of the season!

We missed 3 out of 5 days of school that week... which Becca loved and although Garrett and Hannah loved it, they were nervous because they were supposed to study all week at school. Amazingly, their calculus teacher made a house call Saturday and their classmates came over to get ready for their final! Becca HAD to challenge Garrett to a snowball fight-

Becca won!

The other day, we drove to Charleston to attend the WV Advanced Placement Rising Scholars' Dinner. Garrett was notified several weeks ago that he would be receiving an award, so we all went to celebrate with him. Garrett received the award for getting a certain score on 3 or more AP Tests before his senior year. (Hannah received that certain score already on 2 tests before her junior year) What I think is funny is that Covenant School has chosen not to offer AP classes so that they can teach a Christian curriculum. So actually, Garrett took tests on material he wasn't specifically taught in class. But, he received equivalent knowledge of the material from the Covenant curriculum, which is great! The governor's wife spoke to them, along with a spokesperson from College Board (the people who administer the SAT).

These are the slides they showed...

Showing off his certificate...

To top things off, he got his first college acceptance letter! It was from Marshall University which is my alma mater and the university here in town. He's qualified for and applied for the Yeager Scholarship at Marshall which would pay his entire tuition if he was chosen. We'll see...and he should receive word from Wheaton College, his first choice, by January 1st!

Tonight, as we were getting ready for the excitement of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, there was a pounding on our door.

Some kids from our neighborhood, including a few who attend church with us, came caroling at our door. It was so, so cool. It absolutely made my night! Louie and I listened to them and sent them away with chocolate covered peanut butter balls.

I can't wait for tomorrow!

Thumper!

This is the finished tree. I think it turned out really well. Everyone had a hand in decorating it. I hide the Christmas Pickle first and they hunt for it- which is hard in a real tree! The branches are thick and you have to push them aside to look. Becca won this year by finding the hidden pickle first. It's a goofy tradition. I read it to them from a library book about Christmas traditions in other countries. They were in elementary school at the time and they thought it was a joke. Nope, I said, it's serious stuff! And a tradition was born.Here are a few of my elves...

As the volleyball season wrapped up, Becca came to us and asked if she could play middle school basketball for Covenant School. I was pretty surprised because although she's always been really active, Becca's never played a lot of team sports. We were thrilled for her to have the opportunity for routine exercise over the winter months, so we said Absolutely!

Now, Becca has never played basketball and so Louie took her down the street to see what she could do. After pointers from dad and several weeks of practice, they had their first game- an away game at a Christian school over in Kentucky. We all went to see our sweet little Becca in this new role of "athlete". Hannah even painted her face!

There aren't very many middle school girls, so I knew she'd get to play a lot... and she was a starter. She was the shortest girl on the team (no surprise there) so the girl she blocked was a head taller. Becca loves her coach, Mrs. Taylor, and when she hollered at Becca to get in front of her and be more aggressive, Becca listened! Before long, my sweet little baby daughter earned a foul! They were winning with a minute left when Mrs. Taylor told Becca to wait under the basket. She had an older girl pass the ball to Becca, who laid it up and made her very first basket- 2 points! Woo-Hoo! She scored the last 2 points of the game and Covenant School won their season opener.

She was so excited that she talked non-stop all the way home. Practice was canceled the next day and she was disappointed! So cute. The next morning she was thrilled to discover that she had a huge bruise on her arm from where she was elbowed during the game. I have a feeling that kind of excitement will wear off.

The next day, I spoke to her coach. She said she'd given Becca a nickname. I held my breath. This could be good or this could be bad... Thumper. Thumper? Yep. Like from the movie Bambi. Why? I asked. She said that Becca reminded her of the bunny from the movie because she is constantly running/bouncing up and down the court and the sidelines, eagerly. She always has big eyes and a smile and is super enthusiastic.

Thumper. I like it.

The holidays are here!

Ah, the holidays are here! I KNOW Thanksgiving and Christmas fall during the same time every year and yet like everyone else, I always have this unexplainable feeling of shock and surprise when they're actually here. This holiday season has started out a strange mix of the old and the new.

One new thing I've done this year is visit the Paramount Arts Festival of Trains and Trees. Back in October, the mom of one of my students began coming into the classroom and making ornaments with the kids. Our class decorated a tree for this fundraising event and our theme was "God keeps His Promises". All the ornaments related to the story of Noah's Ark because that was our Bible unit at the time.

As we walked through the displays of trees with the kids there were trees of various themes: recycling, breast cancer awareness, Traditional themes like Charles Dickens and even business themes like the Chick-Fil-A cows! We loved seeing our tree lit up- it was the only one we saw that had a Biblical theme.

An old thing we do at Covenant School is hold a Thanksgiving Feast where Secondary students (7-12th grade) serve their teachers and express their thanks... in song, in reading Scripture and in written notes. Garrett played guitar and he and Hannah sang "It is well with my Soul" as their contribution. Hannah is also on student council, so she decorated for the event.

...I had a feast of a different kind. A new thing I did was participate in the other Thanksgiving Feast Covenant School holds every year- the Kindergarten Feast. (I WISH I could post pictures of my students from this special day, but obviously to protect their privacy I won't post their pictures.) Half the class dressed as Pilgrims and the other half as Indians. So... Mrs. Eplin, the other teacher dressed as a Pilgrim and I was by default, the Indian. They recited facts they learned about the first Thanksgiving, sang and taught their parents about the four food groups (our Nutrition unit). My friend Kelli caught me just as I was taking my tee pee and heading back to class... oh, the things I will do for those sweet little five year olds!

After two days of "Feasting" at school, we were ready for our real Thanksgiving break. We spent the day with Louie's family doing the usual turkey day stuff... eating turkey and the trimmings and hanging out. It's a really casual day. We helped Louie's parents decorate their tree, Louie and his sister played... I mean, cleaned up in the kitchen, and Garrett went outside with his cousin to shoot his bow. We all took a turn shooting!

The Saturday after Thanksgiving is on the top ten most traditional days our family has. When Garrett was 4 years old and Hannah was 3, we did something I always wanted to do... went to a tree farm and cut down our own tree. We had a ball and have been going every year since. My kids have no memory of an artificial tree-only hunting and cutting down a real tree.

It usually goes the same way... We take the 45 minute curvy road out to the tree farm and listen to our Christmas CDs. Most years, I torture them with a few minutes of Alvin and the Chipmunks. This was a good year because no one got car sick. When we arrive, we always take the "look how much they've grown" photo when we get there before we start the hunt.

They have five fields of trees, two of which are on a hillside. We (of course!) must examine every tree because how awful would it be to choose a tree and miss the 'perfect one' in the next field. This tree hunt was a bit of an exception because it was C.O.L.D. The wind was whipping through the holler and Becca's nose was numb.

Garrett thought he found a good one... let's just change your name to 'Griswold'... it's a BIT too large for our living room, I think.

Hannah also thought she found one... I guess she was going for more the cute, Charlie Brown variety. It was sweet, but I would like to actually hang some ornaments on the tree.

Then, we found one that seemed just about right. Could have been about 6 inches taller, but bright green and a nice full shape. That'll do. Time for the next traditional photo next to the tree before we saw it down.

Now that the kids are bigger, we let them take turns helping saw the tree. This year's honor went to our 1st born... since we aren't sure where he'll be attending college next year, we aren't 100% sure if he'll be here next year for this special day. (sigh) This realization actually brought tears... not by me this time.

After a good shaking on the cool tree shaking machine and a quick shove through the bagger, we were ready to head home with our treasure. (Of course, we have a whole method and tradition for getting the tree set up and decorated as well- but I'll spare you all that!)

Last but not least, the final traditional photo- the entire family on our special 13th anniversary of tree hunting!

Pumpkin Personalities

You can tell a lot about a person by the way they carve a pumpkin.

It took a few days, but we finally had gotten all three kids together the week of Halloween to carve a jack-o-lantern. Now that they're all old enough to carve their own, I get to sit back and laugh at them and take pictures. (and clean up, of course) They each have their own unique way

of tackling the job.

Becca really, really doesn't like the smell of raw pumpkin, so she curled up her nose the whole time.

She also tries to scrape the pumpkin without actually 'touching' any of the pumpkin guts. That was taking forever so Hannah insisted on helping her out to speed along the process. I must say, though, Becca was creative and didn't use a template but instead had an idea of making her pumpkin look like a disco ball. I found a melon baller which worked great for making all those little holes.

Hannah took a totally different approach. She was far more analytical and aggressive. She reviewed lots of templates before choosing one that looked like Tinker Bell. She taped it to her pumpkin and scored it. Then, she carved it carefully but like she meant it! There were certain tools she liked better than others and she was up to her elbows in goo, but didn't care.

Garrett was Mr. Laid Back as he carved. He found a happy clip art face and glanced at it as he free handed his carving. It was a simple design and didn't take him anytime. The smell and guts didn't bug him at all.




Those pumpkins were tough to carve- they were having to put some 'muscle' into it- and at one point my competitive children were trying to decide who was stronger. Silly, silly, children. Everyone knows I'm the strongest!






So the finished product looked best lit up in the dark but I forgot to get a picture. It's really a snapshot of three personalities!






Then, Becca went Trick-or-Treating with a group of friends. In a big family neighborhood like ours, there are kids everywhere! I'm so glad she has so many good buddies.






Like Becca's costume? I made it with my own little hands 20 years ago when Louie and I were dating. I wore it when I was 19 and in college. (I was teeny-tiny back in the day) Doesn't she look lovely? Too grown up for me!






Then, after what seemed like a thousand practices, Garrett's two weekends of performances wrapped up for Little Shop of Horrors. I must admit, it was my least favorite play he's participated in- this was not children's theater! But his role as the voice of the plant was awesome. He got SO many compliments from community members who saw the show. His big booming voice sounded like a big black man... not a teenage boy!






Last week, I was so fortunate to be able to spend three days with my friends Kelli attending a Christian Women's Leadership Forum in North Carolina. We heard messages from women who have written Bible study materials and books as well as attend break out sessions about how to break down scriptures and teach them to others. We were thrilled to participate in worship services and were encouraged to continue to reach out to women in our communities. I was so happy, too, to spend time with Kelli. We've been friends for 17 years and yet we rarely take time to get away from our lives and just reconnect. Those relationships are valuable and need to be protected. It was worth all the effort!





I was talking to my Sunday school class today and said... "it's just 2 weeks until Advent begins". Oh. My. Goodness. I absolutely love Christmas. Love it, I tell you. I have a stack of books I only read at Christmastime. I have a stack of CDs I pop in the CD player the day after Thanksgiving. And Christmas Movies? Yep. Ask Louie my favorites and he'll tell you that I like them all but there are certain ones that make me sob-or laugh-every time. But that will have to wait for another blog!