and Just like that our holidays slowed down….

December 13, 2013: I thought that this was the day our Hootenanny Christmas Choir was performing in downtown Mooresville. And they did.  And did a great job. and I don't have a single picture of it because i was a little distracted. Because Caleb spent the day looking like this :

Poor guy, the victim of a mom who is too busy and a Dad who was working on church stuff. He was running a fever and I was feeling super torn about where to be - with my sick baby or the obligations I already had. We chose to load up the sick baby and take him TO the obligation - complete with blankets and space heater to keep him warm. 

After killing the power in downtown Mooresville with our space heater (true story) we finished our performances via iPhone lights, packed up and came home. Spent Saturday still having a sick little man, went to church on Sunday because Sissy was getting baptized, Daddy and I got sick on Monday, we were up all night long Monday night with 3 coughing boys and Tuesday finally decided to take Caleb to the Dr.    Stubborn much ?    

We often forget just how quickly a simply illness in Caleb can turn serious. 

At the Dr. we found out that he had strep. Not a big deal, right? a couple antibiotics and we get to go home. right? wrong :(  Caleb's oxygen levels had dropped into the 70's - which is a really big deal - and so our Dr. decided that we needed to go to the hospital for oxygen, fluid and antibiotics. Boo. 

I tried to explain to her that we are people who do ministry as a living and that the middle of December isn't really the best time for a hospital stay - even a short one. 

She didn't seem concerned about our schedule and told us to go to the hospital :)

So, we went to our local ER for O2 and fluid with the understanding that they would transport us to Charlotte to the children's hospital - he was so serious we needed a transport. Well, after assessing him at the ER those doctors decided that an ambulance wasn't quick enough so we got upgraded to a helicopter. Awesome. 

One bonus in all of it was that the other littles and some friends came by the hospital to bring me stuff for an overnight stay. So, they got to see the helicopter!!

and away we go!!

I realize that not everyone gets to see the Charlotte skyline from a rooftop on a clear night. And so, of course, it was picture worthy. We really do have  beautiful city!

sick much? At the hospital he was retested for the flu - which was negative - and also for RSV - which was positive :(  

So, strep and RSV combined makes you look like this and it is very sad :(

After several days in CVICU we were upgraded to a regular room. We were still quarantined because of the RSV and sometimes a hospital room gets REALLY small!  Thankfully we have awesome friends who came to see us and made us seem not so isolated from the world. 

And then this tree showed up. Probably my favorite "gift" of the season and the one that made me ugly cry in a hospital room. We will definitely make this kind of gift a thing we do for others.

I so desperately wanted to be home, if not in FL, for Christmas. 

Christmas in a hospital room just didn't seem ideal at all!  And yet, that is what we got. and ya know, it wasn't awful. It wasn't great but we were together and realized more than ever that Christmas really isn't about what is "ideal" at all but about what WAS necessary. It was necessary for Jesus to leave heaven and come to a place that was less than ideal, to people who were less than ideal, to live and die in a way that was less than ideal, and it was all because of us and the fact that He loved us and wanted to be with us - no matter what the cost. 

Christmas Day!!

Caleb's brothers made sure that his breathing equipment was working just how it was supposed to :)

 and finally 8 days later we were finally oxygen free!!!!

and the day after Christmas some football players showed up!! They were in town for the Belk Bowl and were visiting the hospital. Caleb was so excited!  

All in all, not what we planned for the week before Christmas, but such a great reminder of the fact that our little man (and all our children) is such a treasure and not one we should ever take for granted!

Cadence's Baptism

In December as we were announcing that baptism was coming up and Chris was teaching the kids at church about baptism, Cadence came to us and expressed that she would like to be baptized. 

We were so glad to begin dialogue with her about it. 

In Kindergarten, under the instruction of Mrs. Behr on her videos for school, she had heard the salvation message and all by herself prayed to be forgiven of her sins and for Jesus to be the Lord of her life. She told us this the day she did it and we celebrated with her and praised God for her decision. However, we didn't push the baptism piece of it. Because we believe that baptism is the public symbol of what Jesus has done in your life, we wanted her to be able to decide when she wanted to go public with her decision. Now, if you asked her about it, she would have told you that she had Jesus in her heart - and we believe that she did - but still we wanted her to decide about baptism on her own. 

So, in december as her Daddy taught about it, she decided that she was ready to tell everyone that she was a follower of Jesus. and we gladly agreed with her! It has been an honor to watch her growth over the past couple of years as a "new believer" I love being able to watch her wrestle her flesh and know that she can overcome it because of Who is in her. I love watching her, over and over again, choose to honor the Lord with her actions, words, and decisions and I pray that this is something that will continue her entire life. 

So, baptism day came and she was so excited to have her Daddy baptize her!

I'm so glad that her Daddy is also her Pastor and that he's the kind of man who she can really look to as an example of who Jesus is and how He loves. 

Keep pushing, little girl, and keep fighting for what is right. 

Because in the end our prize is Jesus and He's totally worth it!!

Preschool Christmas Performance

All 3 of our middles are attending preschool at First Presbyterian Church and were all so excited for their Christmas play. We had been hearing songs for weeks! Some about Santa and some about Jesus and all sang so sweetly by our precious middles. and then performance day came...

and no one really wanted to sing….but they went in their coordinated Christmas Outfits (Thank you GAP) and we told them to have fun and sing loud - because that's what parents do. Right? 

and then the performance started…and Liv's face basically sums up how the Andersen 3 felt about the entire performance. They didn't sing, and barely looked up and it took until the last couple of songs for any of them to do any type of motions…and then they were done very small :) 

But we were proud anyway!!  

This is the entire Preschool on stage and ready to sing. 

Ms Lori - their fearless leader

but afterwards, there were cookies!! and presents!! and all was right with the world again!!

November Phone Dump

November?!?  Where did you go?? and how is it March and you're just making it onto the blog??

oh well, life goes on...

In case you can't tell what is going on here, that is a big brother torturing a little sister by taking her picture while she's asleep!

These were the attempts of a picture of Chris and I to go on our Christmas card. 

A couple attempts by a child….

A couple selfie attempts….

and finally the testing and taking with the self timer on our good camera. 

In other news, Olivia has decided that she LOVES babies!  and often carries around multiple of them. If only she could learn to dress them herself, that would be awesome ;)

I love this big girl and the way she chooses to do school. and if it's nice weather in November, maybe you should just do school on the swing set!

Our little Indians from Preschool. 

We also had a 3 year old Pilgrim who decided he didn't want his picture taken!

This baby loves his big sister!

Buying a new Christmas Tree somehow turned into a family affair. It makes me laugh that we're the family who requires 2 race car carts to go to Lowes :)

Creed Samuel AKA SuperHero Guy

Duck Dynasty Andersen Style - Complete with pelican

Our Thankful Wreath for 2013. My favorite parts may always be that Olivia was thankful for Jesus. every. day.   and Caleb was generally thankful for whatever food he had eaten that day.

No clean bowls in the house for popcorn? No problem!  Sometimes you can dump a bag of popcorn on the floor and the littles will eat it right up! But only sometimes ;)

The Andersen Girls

These boys..may they always be the best of friends,

 be able to make space ships and weapons out of tomato stakes, and look super cute in their underwear!

Little Man has totally captured our hearts and occasionally scares the mess out of us - like when he decides to climb the ladder Daddy is using to hang Christmas lights. 

Creed is one day going to be the coolest electric guitar player around - you heard it hear first!!

and finally, our Christmas Tree!!! Complete with colored lights  - because our kids happiness is more important to us than having a nice looking tree!