family christmas

my amazing nicu rn (neonatal intensive care until register nurse) sister has to work 12 hours sifts on christmas eve and christmas this year, so we celebrated early! we decided to make december 21st (the day my sweet mama went to heaven) a day of joy and celebrated my mom’s favorite holiday together. i made our old traditional christmas dinner, skipping lutefisk since i’m pretty sure my grandma was the only one who enjoyed the taste of it, had a little family devotional, and of course opened presents! it was a blast to watch hudson open his gifts and start to understand the real reason for our celebration. brekken was fun to watch too. he just loved all the boxes.

after opening presents we sang happy birthday to Jesus and ate the most amazing gingerbread cake. this will be a new tradition for our family. such a great way to help our children remember that we are CELEBRATING Jesus and the great gift He has given us. the gingerbread cake will stay too, so good.

i am so thankful for my sweet and giving family. i know my mom was smiling down from heaven that night. merry christmas!!

merry christmas from the zielke’s!

one of my favorite traditions of christmas is receiving christmas cards from so many of our friends and family.  i especially love reading christmas letters. even the short and sweet ones. i have been feeling bad that i don’t return the favor with a letter of any sort. i have taken the easy way out each year and just send a card with our family’s picture. i decided i wanted to change that this year, it was just a little too late. so, i am going to write the first ever zielke family christmas letter on my blog. now you can hold me accountable to sending one in the mail next year!

big bz’s 2013 highlights:

celebrating our 5 year anniversary in carmel, california. where we watched our friends get married, hiked big sur, and had our first encounter with a rattle snake (and lived to tell about it).
coming home every night with 2 boys ready to give me big hugs and a couple body slams. (never knew i would have this much fun in a house of boys)
although it was hard to be away from my family, a work trip to india was a true highlight. my favorite being a chance to visit a friend’s church and witness the truth of God changing thousands of lives half way around the world.

cz’s:

turing 30! and celebrating with almost 50 of my amazing friends
watching my boys become best friends (while breaking up several wrestling matches)
witnessing my husband officiate my best friend of over 20 years wedding on the most perfect day in july.

hz’s:

my 2nd birthday party! and everyone else’s birthday party after. mostly for the cake.
going fishing with grandpa and uncle brandon. well maybe not my favorite since i screamed in terror for most of the boat ride. i sure love to tell everyone i meet about this experience though!
my brother getting big enough to play with me.
attending bible study fellowship for my third year with my bff reagan. his teachers say he is very vocal and loves to sing every song, even when he doesn’t know the words.

little bz’s:

my first birthday! i had 2 parties thrown for me and ate A LOT of cake.
learning to walk and say 4 words so far.
attending my second year at bible study fellowship where i am known as the dance machine during hymn time.
getting big enough to hold my own when my big brother wants to play (well almost).

the greatest highlight for our whole family is:

“the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call Him Immanuel which means “God with us”.  -matthew 1:23

God’ greatest gift. the One who made us has come to live with us! 

may you find the peace and joy that only Jesus Christ can offer this year and always.

love & blessings,

the zielke’s