The Holiday Season

...Is a insanely busy season!  

There has been so many exciting things happening as we get to celebrate at lots of different events!

 On our way to a Hanukkah ladies tea.

 I'm not bias or anything, but I'm pretty sure our table was the most exciting.  ;)

Eden and I.

 We had fun taking some group pictures.

 It isn't every day you meet a trio of twins...

 We spent an evening with our dear, long time friends to celebrate Christmas.  We just pick up where we left off with all sorts of fun things!  I found this neat sword they had on display.

 The Nutcracker is special to all of us, so we went to see the ballet perform it with our good friend, Tabitha W.

Now that is some artsy lighting and we weren't even trying!

 And then we had a lot of fun at our church's Hanukkah party.

An amazing highlight was putting a group together to see Handel's "Messiah" and "Judas Maccabeus" in concert!  Wow, what a phenomenal event!  Beautiful music and beautiful words.  This is something I hope to do again next year.  And thanks to Evan S. who took this lovely picture.

So yes, I am trying to keep everything updated... I still have a couple more posts that are waiting to be posted, but right now I can just squeeze this one in!

Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas to you all!

Posted By:

~Bethany

Disney World Fireworks

How in the world can I fit an amazing ten day trip to Florida in just one blog post?!  The answer is: I can't.  You will just have to bear with me as I try to keep up with our trip posts from November.  (The business of the holidays are upon us, so I am doing my best to get the posts up without getting buried under more of it!)

At the Magic Kingdom, we watched the firework show.  It was just beautiful!  It was amazing to see how they used the castle as a backdrop for their shows.  I couldn't help but smile when I passed a worker watching the firework show with wonderment as if it were her first time seeing it.  It really is spectacular!

Just beautiful!  And if you didn't get enough of the beauty of lights, here are some night scenes I was able to snap. 

 Walking down Main street.

The carousel with what I think it the moon above it.

 Overnight they put up Christmas decorations!

 Riding the ferry back... I love lights on the water!

My favorite picture!

Posted By:

~Bethany

Thanksgiving

“What if you woke up today with only the things you thanked God for yesterday?"

That is a sobering thought.

We have so much--so much--to be thankful for and often we forget some of the greatest things and take it for granted.  I love this verse in Psalm 40:5 "Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered."  The God of this Universe thinks and blesses me!  How can we not read that and feel overwhelmed by His amazing love!

I am so thankful to the Lord for the wonderful things that He has blessed me with.  This year in particular stands out to me as I have experienced so much of the Lord's goodness and faithfulness.  As the scripture says, if I were to list them, they are more than I can number!

I want to echo these words all my life: "To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever." Psalm 30:12

Happy Thanksgiving to each of my special friends!

I would recommend that you read this from Charles Spurgeon.  It is excellent and so timely.

"O that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men."  ~Psalm 107:8
"If we complained less, and praised more, we should be happier, and God would be more glorified. Let us daily praise God for common mercies-common as we frequently call them, and yet so priceless, that when deprived of them we are ready to perish. Let us bless God for the eyes with which we behold the sun, for the health and strength to walk abroad, for the bread we eat, for the raiment we wear. Let us praise Him that we are not cast out among the hopeless, or confined amongst the guilty; let us thank Him for liberty, for friends, for family associations and comforts; let us praise Him, in fact, for everything which we receive from His bounteous hand, for we deserve little, and yet are most plenteously endowed. But, beloved, the sweetest and the loudest note in our songs of praise should be of redeeming love. God's redeeming acts towards His chosen are for ever the favourite themes of their praise. If we know what redemption means, let us not withhold our sonnets of thanksgiving. We have been redeemed from the power of our corruptions, uplifted from the depth of sin in which we were naturally plunged. We have been led to the cross of Christ-our shackles of guilt have been broken off; we are no longer slaves, but children of the living God, and can antedate the period when we shall be presented before the throne without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. Even now by faith we wave the palm-branch and wrap ourselves about with the fair linen which is to be our everlasting array, and shall we not unceasingly give thanks to the Lord our Redeemer? Child of God, canst thou be silent? Awake, awake, ye heritors of glory, and lead your captivity captive, as ye cry with David, "Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy name." Let the new month begin with new songs."

Posted By:

~Bethany 

The Florida Happy Dance

We spent the beginning of November on the other side of the United States... in Florida!  Last year, we were incredibly blessed to have our short movie, "Him and Her", win grand prize in the video contest we were apart of.  Since that prize covered the trip for half of us, we decided to take the whole family and make it a trip of a lifetime.  And believe me: it was an incredible trip!  I felt so grateful, so humbled, so thankful that the Lord graciously poured out such blessing on each of us.  Wow.  We were able to do so many amazing things as He orchestrated everything in His perfect timing.  I am so thankful to the Lord.

While on our big Florida vacation, we made sure to get clips of some spontaneous--yet frequent for us--dancing to the classic "Happy Song".  I edited all our footage, making it into a video memoir!  Filmed all over Florida... in the MCO airport, Disney World, Epcot, on the road, etc.

And if you've ever wondered... this video does a pretty good job of summing up what goes on behind closed doors: dance grooves and comedy routines.  What can I say?  Our parents are really good teachers!


I have lots of pictures to post, so hopefully I will get those up before next year.  (Just kidding!)

Posted By:

~Bethany 

Slavic Symphony Performance

Recently the Lord has opened the door for me to have a position with the Slavic Symphony Orchestra.  I am thrilled about this opportunity!  The best part is that the orchestra is founded by Christians and the concerts are Christ-centered.  My friend, Kathrina, had told me that they were in desperate need of string players.  I called up the director and ended up auditioning over the phone!  It was pretty crazy.  The director put me as the stand partner of my friend.  And that was just too much fun!  Rehearsals were great as we worked together and tossed quite a few jokes back and forth through whispers and eye contact.  Yes, I admit that there was more than one occasion where we were stifling laughter.  ;)

 Listening to the Scripture being read.

Leaving the stage after a wonderful performance.

 This is our fantastic director.

(Photo credits go to the Slavic Symphony.)

I love how everyone's bows are midair.  Can you see me right in the middle?

(Photo credits go to the Slavic Symphony.)

This was a beautiful location.

(Photo credits go to the Slavic Symphony.)

 My lovely friend, Kathrina.  Best stand partner ever!  :)

 And these are my amazing parents that make everything happen!

And if you would like to check out any of the videos, click this link here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCC4omU4JzD96IbW5Ni7QpSA/videos

To God be the glory!

Posted By:

~Bethany 

Marty Goetz in Concert

It had been about 10 years since the last time we saw Modern Day Psalmist, Marty Goetz play in concert!  We were so blessed to attended a wonderful evening of music and praise.  He is an incredible musician and is serious about spreading the love of Christ through His music.

 Love this picture!

 It was great to catch up and talk for a while afterwards.  :)

It was a very special evening!

Posted By:

~Bethany 

Simchat Torah

Our Dance Team did a special presentation for Simchat Torah:

Photoshoot

One of our family's favorite TV show is Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman.  At first, it was just a girl's movie night thing, but one evening we called Mommy down to watch an episode with us... and that was it!   She was hooked!  Pretty soon we had the rest of the family hooked on the show and it became a regular evening activity to gather around and watch Dr. Quinn with a big plate of chocolate roca.
For a while we had wanted to do a Dr. Quinn photoshoot, but never got around to getting it done... Busyness is something we seem to thrive on.  ;)  Finally there was an open day and we got some really great pictures! 

The Cast: 

Daddy as Sully (obviously)

Mommy as Dr. Quinn

Shiloh as Charlotte Cooper

 Me as Colleen Cooper Cook

Jordan as Dr. Andrew Cook

Eden as Gilda St. Claire

Judah as Brian Cooper Quinn

Havilah as Grace the Blacksmith's Wife

Benjamin as Robert E.

I'm quite pleased with the results!  I tried to edit as best I could (I'm not good at it and dislike it even more than being bad at it). ;)

 Dr. Quinn and Family

Dr. Michaela Quinn and Sully

Robert E. and Grace

 

Dr. Andrew Cook and Colleen

Gilda St. Claire
(The beautiful dreamer... or at least that is the song she sang!)

Brian and Charlotte Cooper

Charlotte Cooper with Brian and Colleen

This one looks so old fashioned!

 

 This picture might not be "in character", but it totally has character, so we'll leave it at that.

Just for fun...  :)

 

Posted By:
~Bethany