Christmas Concerts

Below are links to 3 videos from recent Christmas concerts at church and school.

Silent Night
Away in a Manger
School Concert

Chris

Christmas Letter-2012

Merry Christmas from the Payne's!

     2012 was a year of many firsts for our family.  

          -During Spring Break we took our first family trip to Green Bay for a Lambeau Field tour, Packers Hall of Fame visit, and 2 nights at a water park.  All 3 were a great experience for all of us.  

          -This year Samuel and Josiah played their first year of soccer and Levi played his first year of football.  This meant that we spent a lot of time watching and cheering on the sidelines.  

          -For the first time Cari received some answers, and a name (POTS), to the persistent head pain she has experienced for many years.  Although there are still days with pain she is glad that she now has a name for her condition.  Here is an overview of POTS.

          -This Summer Chris, Levi, and Samuel went to Packers training camp for the first time.  It was a great way to see the players up close without having to attend a freezing cold game during a Wisconsin winter.

          -For the first time we added a four-legged member to our family and yes, it is another boy. :)  Major joined the family this Summer.  He is a beagle/rat-terrier mix and has been a great addition to our family.

          -Chris took his first international trip in October.  He traveled to Moldova with 3 other men to help with a church building project and to teach and preach.  Click here for a detailed blog post, and here for a photo album of the trip.

     We pray that you have a Merry Christmas and a happy new year.

The Payne's

Payne Family Christmas 2010

Santa always makes an early stop to the Payne house. Below are pics of our family Christmas.

Chris

Christmas Letter 2010

Merry Christmas from the Payne family!

2010 was a year of change and a year of seeing projects that we had talked about for years come completion. Levi and Samuel experienced change with the closing of their school. They enjoy their new school, which is actually closer to our house, and they are big boys now since they walk to school by themselves. We completed three major projects on the house. During the summer we had a fence put up in the backyard. This has been great, since the kids can now play outside much more often. Around the same time we tore down our garage and hand a new shed built. In the fall we completed the front porch project by painting the walls and staining the floor. Through all of these projects we are thankful for friends that were able to help with demolition and construction.

2010 was also a year of new opportunities. Chris became a Child Advocate for Compassion International. This gives him opportunities to talk to groups about the ministry of Compassion and how a child can be released from poverty in Jesus’ name.

2010 was a year of new arrivals. We experienced the birth of two nephews within a few months of each other. In the summer we welcomed Kai to the world, and in December Nicholas joined the family.

The boys continue to grow, in size (as reflected by our food budget), and personality. Cari continues her work as coordinator for our church’s MOPS group, and Chris is in his 10th year of employment at Renaissance Learning. We pray that you have a wonderful Christmas and a blessed new year.


The Payne’s

Christmas Decorating and Concerts 2009

The last two weekends have been busy with Christmas decorating and Christmas concerts. We spent much of last Saturday decorating the house for Christmas, and on Sunday the kids had their Christmas concert at church. The video shows (with not the best quality) Josiah in the middle of the screen. The adult Christmas musical runs Thursday-Sunday and has been a lot of fun to be a part of. Enjoy the pics and video.

Chris

Christmas Lights

Hanging Christmas lights outside? Yes, it was a first for the Payne family. As kids, Cari and I cannot remember ever having Christmas lights on the outside of our houses. (Although I vividly remember driving around town and looking at lights on other houses. Especially one of my great-uncles who only decorated one window with lights. We always gave him the award for 'Most Creative Christmas Lights')

After Josiah asked for about the 100th time about putting Christmas lights on the deck we decided to grant his request. His dream would be for us to put lights along the roof. For now, we'll just start with the deck.

Pictures are below.

Chris

The Payne family has competed their 2nd and 3rd Christmas celebration. 2nd Christmas was and grandma and grandpa's (West's) house in St. Paul. 3rd Christmas was at nanny and papa's (Payne's) in Superior. At the West's we had our traditional lasagna dinner on Christmas Eve. The entire faimly was there and we had a great time of food, poppyseed bread and opening presents. Christmas at the Payne's is always exciting. With 9 grandkids between the ages of 8 and 1 it makes for a loud and very fun time. Thanks to both sides of the family for making it another great Christmas celebration.

Christmas Concerts

This has been a very busy week for the Payne's. It started with the kids' Christmas concert at church. Chris was out of town, but he was able to see the dress rehearsal. The kids did a great job and seemed to have a lot of fun. The day after Chris got back from Dallas he had to get ready for 5 nights in a row of choir. One dress rehearsal and four performances. Chris' mom and dad came to town to see Saturday's performance. The choir sounded great and the drama was very powerful. The message really spoke to the people. Chris is now able to check two things of of his "Things to do in my lifetime" list. 1. Sing in a real choir, 2. Sing a solo in a real choir. The solo's went well and he really had a good time.

Christmas Decorations and Ranger of the Year

The Payne family spent Saturday decorating the house for Christmas. I love being able to get the tree from the basement. When it's 2 degrees outside, you can't beat having an artificial tree. I'm sure that some of you are die hard "real tree" people, but for us the fake tree is the way to go. We will also continue the tradition of putting the Christmas presents under the tree about 30 minutes before we open them. This has nothing to do with making the kids think that Santa brought the presents. I has everything to do with our tradition of having an infant/toddler around that would go through all the presents in a flash. Maybe next year we'll be able to put presents under the tree a bit earlier, maybe. The photo album will show the steps of decorating the house.

Earlier in the week Levi received his medal for completing the requirement for Royal Ranger of the Year. To meet this accomplishment he had to earn a certain number of badges, memorize Scripture verses and participate in Outpost events. We are very proud of his achievement.


Preview of next weeks post: Children and Adult Christmas Musicals

Chris