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Strode Family Christmas

So I guess it's about time I posted the other Christmas pics. In early Jan. we went to VA to celebrate with my family. We don't all get to see each other very often, so it was great to be together for a few days. We had a great time and shared lots of laughs.

Aaron, Laura, Tom, Linda, Sophie, Cath & Erik

Sophie opening her Nintendog. She quickly learned that he will bark and pant and play with her if she pats his head. Well, patting turned to hitting, and she has transferred that to any animal she sees...so watch out Minxy-cat.

Giggles w/ Gran & Papa

We went bowling one day...this face doesn't show it, but Erik was the big winner.

And I'm not sure what this face shows...this is my sister-in-law, ladies and gentlemen.

And now you know why she's such a great match for my brother.

Finally, this is me w/ my best friend, Lark, who drove up from NC to see us and meet Sophie. It was great to see you, Quita. Lovies :)

Parks Family Christmas - #1

A month ago we went to Alabama to celebrate Erik's sister, Jen, graduating from surgical P.A. school, Erik's 27th birthday, and Christmas! It was a great weekend with his family and Sophie had the time of her life (until the following picture was taken).

The Parks clan gathered around the patriarch (minus Liesl - Kyle's fiancee as of this week!)

Jenny and Pee Wee...Peter arranged a beautiful version of "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" and they were kind enough to let me sing w/ them in church on Sunday.

Sophie in her Christmas dress with her Gigi...you can't tell from Sophie's face in this picture, but once we got there she pretty much forgot Erik and I existed. It was all Gigi, all of the time.

One person Sophie didn't forget was her Aunt Jenny. We were greeted at the door by a newly dyed redhead and Sophie was instantly terrified :). Once we all got over the intial shock of thinking we were meeting Claire Danes circa the My So-Called Life era, she calmed down (and incidentally, so has Jen's hair...it's now a beautiful strawberry blond). In this picture she's helping Kyle with his new scarf and coat (Jen made scarves for the whole family, including matching pink ones for Sophie and me).

Sophie with her gift from Pops & Gigi - now she can be just like mom! Interestingly, all the food in the cart is either frozen boxed food, from sub sandwiches to pizzas, or nutritious treats like caramel corn, cookies, and gummies. Now Sophie will know exactly what to beg for at the grocery store :)

Joy

Now that I'm finally getting around to posting pictures from Christmas (don't worry, your thank you notes are coming...eventually) I thought I'd share this series of pics. A week or so before Christmas we let Sophie open one present from her Uncle John and family. It was a pair of polar bears, one large and one small. I will let her reaction speak for itself:

I've Been Tagged

My friend Kelly tagged me to list 7 Random Facts About Me, so here they are:

1. When I was 4 my dream was to be the "Popcorn Lady" at Walmart so I could eat all the popcorn I wanted. Some dreams never change.

2. While I've never been hit as a pedestrian in the States, I have been backed into by cars while walking in Latvia and Italy (minor incidents...no blood involved).

3. I'm completely addicted to an amazing invention called the "UNCALENDAR." A friend introduced me to it in college and it completely revolutionized my life.

4. Throughout high school and college I was known for being incredibly clumsy...thankfully I seem to have finally grown into myself a bit (some may disagree).

5. Up until Sophie was born I could still do a back handspring, thanks to 8 years of gymnastics. Now I'd be lucky to do a somersault.

6. If I could write amazing music, I dream it would sound like this band.

7. My first major crushes were on Gene Kelly and Don Knotts:



















Now the idea is for me to tag 4 people, so I tag Jo Habecker, Bethany Castor, Nina Rice & Kate Castor.

Our Christmas Letter

So since I've been a terrible blogger for the past few months, I thought I'd write a virtual Christmas letter to detail a bit of our lives this past year, and specifically this fall.

October brought Sophie's 1st birthday, and with that came amazement at how our lives have changed so drastically over the past year. She truly is a huge blessing and a gift from God, and I pray daily that He will make me the kind of mother I should be to raise her in a godly manner. Now that she is 1 it's incredible to see how she changes daily. She's not quite walking on her own, but it looks like she'll take off whenever she summons the courage to do so. She talks constantly (lately she says "no no" quite a bit...perhaps because she hears it about 1000 times/day) and loves to wrestle, be tickled, play with anything dog-related, and go to church to see her best friends. We frequently find her in her room "reading" her books, which does my heart good (looks like I got a "Reader" Parks after all).

Erik stays busy with work, church and family responsibilities. He is enjoying serving in various capacities in our church, which we are constantly blessed to be a part of. The big project he's worked on this year has been a short film titled, "Life in a Waiting Room." He wrote, directed and edited it and is looking forward to screening it soon for those who were involved in the process. In a nutshell it's the story of a college student who has been accepted to law school and faces a critical decision that could drastically change her life. He made the film in cooperation with a couple from Chattanooga who are heavily involved in the crisis pregnancy center there and they have asked for copies to hand out to those who come to the clinic (so much for keeping the "critical decision" a secret). We are hoping and praying for open doors and funding to distribute copies at several pregnancy centers. It's such a blessing to see my husband using his talents to serve the Lord and others.

While I have no real excuse for the lack of blogging this fall, I have remained pretty busy. Some days it's hard to imagine how women with multiple children do it :). While my full-time job is being at home with Sophie and taking care of things around here, I've also done some other writing and research from home, although that has slowed down of late. I recently had the opportunity to join The Nashville Choir - a volunteer choir of about 160 vocalists here in town. The goal of the choir is ministry-related and the first performance I was a part of was on the stage at the Ryman Auditorium singing for the kick-off of the Salvation Army Christmas campaign. Last week we sang at the symphony hall here in town for the Debby Boone Christmas concert. The idea behind the choir is to serve the community (the Nashville Rescue Mission, Salvation Army, etc.) and to bring glory to God by singing, and it's an honor to be a part of that.

Finally, here's just a little glimpse into what we've been learning and what God has been doing in our hearts lately. Through various sources and circumstances we've been forced to consider our way of living and our use of the resources we've been given. It's hard at times not to get caught up in the "American dream" of health, wealth and happiness, and I've been convicted on many occasions lately about my idea of what we "need." We're still seeking truth and wisdom and learning a lot about this, but the following quote from John Piper's book, The Dangerous Duty of Delight has been really helpful/convicting for me:

So the answer to how to store up treasure in heaven is to spend your earthly treasures for merciful purposes in Christ's name here on earth. [. . .] God is not glorified when we keep for ourselves (no matter how thankfully) what we ought to be using to alleviate the misery of unevangelized, uneducated, unmedicated, and unfed millions. The evidence that many professing Christians have been deceived by Western commercialism and materialism is how little we give and how much we own. And by an almost irresistible law of consumerism we have bought bigger (and more) houses, newer (and more) cars, fancier (and more) clothes, better (and more) meat, and all manner of trinkets and gadgets and containers and devices and equipment to make life more fun.

So maybe this isn't the most cheerful of Christmas letters, but the truth is that God is teaching me much about finding my joy and satisfaction in Him alone, and what could be better than that?

Thank you for your love, support, and encouragement to our family this past year. We hope we can love, support and encourage you in the year to come :)

Merry...Thanksgiving!

So I need to catch up a bit with what we've been up to since it has been so long. We were blessed to spend Thanksgiving w/ Erik's family (minus Jen and Peter) at his grandmother's house in Winchester, TN. As usual there was a ton of food with more country vegetables than you can even find on the menu at Cracker Barrel. We had a great time with the family, and enjoyed some nice weather by playing football. Here Erik is showing off the black eye he received 2 weeks prior in a men's retreat football game (and I'm just showing off my superior nostril-flaring ability).

Back row: Carol and me
Front row: Kyle, Liesl, Sophie and Roger

Sophie enjoyed some good grandparent time

A country sunset