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

Lights Out & a Bowl of Rice

There are times in life when we don’t realize what we have until you are without out them. As parents we try to teach our kids to be grateful for what they have. Whether it’s having a roof over our heads, food on the table, a loving family, etc. we want our kids to understand that many people in the world do not have all of the luxuries that we have. With that said we recently spent one evening without lights and by eating a very simple dinner.

Our dinner for the night consisted of a bowl of rice for each person by candlelight and flashlights. For the rest of the evening we left the lights off and continued to use candles and flashlights to light the house. With the TV off, the computer off, the video games off and everything else off we had an opportunity to talk, play games and share things that we were each grateful for.

As we explained to the kids, our experience was still very different than many in the world. Although we did not have a large meal, use lights or electronic entertainment for the night, we still had a pantry and refrigerator full of food if we needed it. We had medicine in the cabinets (which we actually needed: Benadryl), we had running water, a furnace and many other things that others in the world do not have.

The way that we view the world has changed since we began sponsoring our child through Compassion International. The sponsorship has given us an opportunity to see, that as people that have been blessed in abundance that we need to share that blessing with others. We pray daily for our Compassion child and the kids are reminded daily of our little girl in Thailand that we have the opportunity to support.

In the end I think this was a good experience for all. The thing that surprised me the most was that none of the kids complained about the simple meal of a bowl of rice. With four kids it seems like someone is always complaining about something at the dinner table.


Chris

Fall Fun & a Quilt Surprise

With the beautiful November that we've been experiencing the boys had a chance to enjoy the fall leaves. Cari received a special gift (a quilt rack) that she likes very much and came as a big surprise.

Chris

Weekend Getaway to Bluefin Bay

I realized today that not all of our friends and family use Facebook so they could not access the pictures that I posted a couple weeks ago. Here are pictures of our Bluefin Bay trip. I've included 3 pictures from our first trip to Bluefin Bay. Let's see if you can pick them out. :)

Cari and I were able to get away for a weekend for the first time since we've had kids (that's over 8 years!). We went to the same resort that we went to for our honeymoon, Bluefin Bay in Tofte, MN. It was a great weekend getaway. It rained much of the time but we did get one afternoon where the sun came out and we were able to enjoy the beauty of the north shore of Minnesota.

Chris

Nathanael's Birthday

It was the start of another birthday weekend in the Payne house. We celebrated Nathanael's 2nd birthday with presents, making personal pizzas, a movie, and cupcakes. Enjoy the pics. At the end of the album I added some pics from when Nathanael was just a few days old.

Chris

Annual Packers Picture

Here are some pictures from our annual Payne family Packers pictures. Here's a link to last year's blog if you'd like to see pictures from previous years:

http://paynetrain99.blogspot.com/2008/09/payne-boys-annual-packers-picture.html

Chris

Headaches Update

On Wednesday Cari had her follow-up appointment to get the results from the tests that had been run recently. The tests all came back saying that she doesn’t have anything wrong, which is good but a little frustrating since she continues to have headaches and we have not been able to pindown the root of the problem. The doctor gave suggestions for a few prescription medications, vitamins and homeopathic methods as possibilities to help with the headaches. For now we continue to pray and look into the suggestions that were given.

My mom has been out for a few days helping out with things around the house. It has been great. The kids have really enjoyed her being here and we have been able to get a few extra things done that we have wanted to do for quite a while. Thanks for coming mom, we really appreciate it.

Chris