Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Christmas Letter





2009 has been a busy year!
BUSY is not our style… but we like what’s been keeping us busy:

Tori- She turned four in June and in the Fall officially started preschool.
Siah- He turned two in October and never stops unless he is asleep.
Adoption- We are officially licensed through the California foster/adoption system and just waiting for a placement. We’ve requested a boy or girl younger than Josiah. However, if you ask Tori- it depends on how the day is going with her very loud and active little brother. She’s known to say, “I’ve had enough BOY time today,” and follow-up that statement with, “I’d like a baby sister, NOT another baby brother.”
Infrastructure- To prepare for our 3rd child, we bought a minivan (something we never thought we would do!) We are also in the process of adding another bedroom and bathroom to our home (adoption rules). Jeff has done almost all the work himself. It’s been a very tedious process but he has done an amazing job.
Fun - We vacationed with friends and family at Hume Lake, San Diego, Bass Lake, and Yosemite. On September 4, 2009 we celebrated our 10 year anniversary and enjoyed some time away from the kiddos in beautiful Santa Barbara.

Hope you enjoyed the Yosemite photo this year. We (oh, let’s be honest here… it was Bethany’s plan, not Jeff’s ) wanted to take our family Christmas card photo in front of our newly painted yellow home but as time went quickly by I decided to eliminate some of the unnecessary things on my to-do list. I realized that I needed to refocus and truly enjoy this Christmas season. Dropping the picture idea was only one of the many things dropped from my list. I’ve realized that when I get too busy I lose sight of what is really important… the gifts do not make Christmas, the food only adds unnecessary pounds, the traditions are fun, but what is this really all about? It’s about a baby born over 2000 years ago who came to change this world. Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart & with all your soul & with all your strength & with all your mind; and love others as yourself.” Luke 10:27

This question has been on our minds a lot lately… “Do we love others as ourselves?” Sure, our friends and family, but what about those “others” we don’t know. What about those in difficult situations that we don’t understand or relate too. We live in such a wealthy nation that it’s hard to fathom that life is not like this for a majority of those living in this world. When faced with the reality… we get overwhelmed and honestly just want the problem to go away. However, if we turn off the TV, turn the page, or simply stop listening… the problem doesn’t go away. Lately Jeff and I have been asking ourselves, “What more can we do?” We’re trying to refocus our priorities and instead spend minimally and give generously but more importantly share with others what it means to, “love God and love others as yourself.” We hope that our lives are a testament to the love God has shown us. Our prayer is that when you interact with us you see Jesus as He intended to be known. That we inspire you not to “be religious” or to “go to church” but to instead seek or deepen your personal relationship with Jesus. Hopefully our lives prompt you to ask, “Why do you do what you do?” “What inspires you to love others?” In reply we want to truly answer, “Jesus!”

Happy Birthday Jesus! Our blogsite: cofferclan.blogspot.com

Love the Coffer Family

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Tori's Excited

I was so pleased today that when Tori said she was excited about Christmas there was no mention of presents. I asked her why she was excited and she said because, "Grandpa, Grandma, and Auntie Shelley are coming and we're all going to Mimi & Papa's". I was actually expecting an answer like... PRESENTS! Thankfully that wasn't what was on her mind.

I have plenty of updates to write but not enough time. Thankfully, our cards have been mailed so expect yours soon. If you don't get one... I'll post it here on Christmas Eve. However, I think most of the people that read this blog get our Christmas cards.

We're off to get hot cocoa, view Christmas lights and try to spot the Christmas train. Should be a fun evening.

Monday, November 30, 2009

Home Group Gone Wild

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Feast with our Home Group and as the night wore on the kids all took off their shirts and started dancing around and shouting. It was soooooo funny and very LOUD. Look at TJ's diaper sag- CLASSIC!

A new tradition

Tori and I started a new tradition on the Friday after Thanksgiving... no it's not Black Friday shopping! Instead, we went to coffee/hot cocoa and read a book together. Then we got our toes painted. She chose a snowman and I got a snowflake. Then we bought ingredients for a tasty project. As we were leaving the grocery store there was a beautiful rainbow and Tori said, "God is really amazing!" I love spending time with my girl.Here we are making a Fruity Pebbles Christmas Train. It's like a rice krispy treat but with fruity pebbles and shaped into a train.

It was pretty fun to create.




Our Little Helper

This little guy is really helpful. He wants to help whenever he's allow so we try to find safe ways for him to get involved. Notice the safety glasses. Here he is picking up the wood I cut, loading it into the wheelbarrow and then we'd take it over to the wood pile and he'd unload it while I continued cutting the wood. Tonight Jeff was chopping wood and Siah wanted to be helpful so Jeff loaded the wood into his dump truck and he'd drive it over to the house and unload it.

He was so proud to be helpful.

Dinosaurs

Tori has been really into dinosaurs lately. It's pretty cute. Here she is naming all the dinosaurs she can remember.

Thanksgiving 2009

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family. It was a BEAUTIFUL day so we ate outside.






Traditional shoot the persimmons. Siah taking note.






So much to be thankful for!