Our Christmas Card

Happy December! I thought I would post our Christmas card on here because we never seem to order enough...as was the case again this year. :-)

We have been super busy these last few weeks. After finishing the semester up and looking forward to a break, we all got sick. I hadn't planned on that, so I didn't get anything done this week that I had planned. But, I got to spend some good quality time with my sick family all week. :-) We are hoping to go to the doctor...Caleb for the second time...in Kansas on Tuesday.

Our yearly travels begin tomorrow morning. We are going to Kansas, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana. We are looking forward to seeing family and friends, and, as of now, I am looking forward to the trip. We are driving, and it will definitely be an adventure. Please pray for us.

I am right now procrastinating packing, and so I had better stop and go get that finished. Hope you're all enjoying the Christmas season. I love this time of year.

Scrapbook Pages

We've been home a lot, and Brandon is going to bed super early. So, I have had some time to do some pages for the scrapbooks that I will probably never complete.  I probably should have been cleaning or something, but this was more fun.  Also, for the last two nights, Caleb has gone to sleep without crying...and he has stayed in his bed!  This is quite out of the pattern of the last several weeks.  So, I am elated.  

One advantage of digital scrapbooking is that while no one besides family really ever looks at scrapbooks, these pages can be more easily shared...over the internet, in digital picture frames, etc.  I do have a goal to print them in a photobook eventually, but I have yet to even print a single page.  

Baby Ali

Aliana is such a lovely baby!  Liz let me practice taking pictures on her last Friday, and we had fun.  It's funny how many photos I shoot to get a few good ones, but I am enjoying trying to learn.  

Since the start of the last school year, I have had opportunities here and there to do some design work for various Cru events.  I have learned lots, and I have even had the chance to do some birth announcements for friends.  Here is Ali's birth announcement that I finished yesterday.  

Update:  (Lots of baby news around here.)  (-:   

Israel's surgery went really well!  God is so good at answering prayer!  Please keep praying for him.  What a sweet little boy He has given the Hoppes.

What a face!

We had a great time camping up in Cloudcroft this weekend...and spent some good time with fun people.  I will hopefully post some pics soon. 

For now, here is another page with pictures I took on his birthday.  

Though, I might add, he wasn't the most joyful little boy last night when he was screaming his head off in the tent and we had to come home.  Poor thing.  And poor everyone else who had to hear him.  :-)  

C and T...more digital scrapbooking

And a few people have asked me how I do my digital scrapbooking.  I do it on photoshop with the free digital kits from designerdigitals.com and twopeasinabucket.com.  I really, really like it because I don't have to print and crop photos, and it doesn't make a mess.  I really like photoshop.  :-)

Happy Father's Day!

Hope you had a great day!

Longs Peak

When we were at our National Staff Conference in 2005, Brandon and I climbed Longs Peak.  I did some scrapbook pages tonight, and this was a fun one to do.  Almost all of the pages I have done so far are about Caleb, so it has been fun doing some of our pre-Caleb days lately.  

We are still house hunting.  We have found a few we like, but we do want to make a financially wise decision.  We would really appreciate prayer.  THANKS!

Our Anniversary

Brandon and I were married 4 years ago today on top of a mountain in the Smokies.  It has been an incredible four years...and they have gone so fast.  

Friends

My second attempt at digital scrapbooking.  It is definitely a lot faster...and cleaner...than the real thing.  :-)

This picture of our staff women was taken in Saint Louis...directly under the arch.  I really liked the light, and they posed for me.  I am so grateful for these women. 

Happy Mother's Day

This is my very first attempt at digital scrapbooking.  It was a lot of fun once I finally learned a few things.  I am very bad at getting cards in the mail in time, so this might be our future.  :-)  

It has been a while since I have updated our blog, but I did want to share some of what is going on with Brandon.  The doctor did end up recommending that we stay home this summer.  It was a very good recommendation, as it turns out, because we received a call on Friday that Brandon does have some sort of genetic predisposition to blood clots.  We will know more tomorrow, but it might mean that he will need to be on blood thinners indefinitely.  He will need to see a hematologist soon.  

Please pray for my sweet husband.  We do know that God desires to use this in our lives, so please pray that we will trust Him with all this.  I don't know what people do without Him.