Life and death, sorrow and rejoicing

My posts seem to be a combination of events and updates lately, as life continues to be extremely full...the fullest that I can ever remember in my life. The past few weeks have, once again, been filled with many varied emotions. Right before Thanksgiving the Plunneckes lost Mark's father to a brief battle with Leukemia. It has been a challenging few months for them and they have again fought for faith amidst death and suffering. We have grieved with them and the day we got word that he passed was an emotional one for me. This life is hard and the Lord has continued to teach me, through the continued various trials, where our real home is and hope lies.

Right after this, Thanksgiving came. We hosted 2 Thanksgiving dinners here in our home. One for Dave's family on Thanksgiving day and one for my family the Saturday after. Then on Sunday we got our Christmas trees! Monday my dad and step-mom left. That afternoon, Kelly went into a very quick labor and delivered their 4th son after about 2 hours of labor.

Wyatt Haddon Plunnecke was born at 4:49pm and weighed in at 7 lbs, 2 oz. I never made it to the hospital in time, but arrived just after his arrival. He's another cutie and reminds me a little of Ty. So, this week we, once again, got to have some of the Ploon kids stay with us as they eagerly awaited to meet their new little brother, which they did today. I was able to get my old, dying computer up and running with just enough time to post these pictures. It should be crashing again any moment, so I'm hurrying :). But here is sweet Wyatt...

Today is also my big girl's birthday! We celebrated Mckenna's life of 6 years today. I can't believe she is 6!!! It seems like just yesterday I was writing a post for her 5 year birthday. I dropped June off at a friend's and took Ty and Selah to get a dozen Krispy Kreme's to take Mckenna's kindergarten class. We sang to her and the class honored her. It was a sweet time. I wanted to make some cupcakes, but wisely decided that there was just no time in the schedule this week for that...the class didn't seem the mind donuts instead :). Mckenna's request for dinner was mac 'n cheese, so to the store we went this afternoon to get that. This evening was just our family and we had a great time together, eating dinner, opening presents and then decorating our Christmas tree...that has been sitting in it's stand since Sunday. The house is currently a mix match of fall and Christmas decor. We'll see if we can manage to get it looking a little more like Christmas around here before our baby girl decides to show up.


Mckenna, how I love you, sweet one! You continue to bring so much joy to my heart and have been a constant source of encouragement and comfort this past year. Thanks for all the hugs, kisses and reminders of God's love and comfort, amidst life's continued waves of trials. I love the way you remember our little Alivia and have such a solid faith of heaven and her safe residence with our Savior. Happy Birthday, big girl!