Monday, January 19, 2009

Shenandoah's Baby Shower

Several weeks ago, the families in our church had a baby shower for Shenandoah. It was wonderful!!!
Here are a few pictures.


Shenandoah all dressed for the day!


Shenandoah's Banner


The food table


The gift table


Mrs. Blevins and Shenandoah


Our family


Opening gifts


Shenandoah and I. Isn't she cute?!


Shenandoah's gifts. Thank you all for everything!!!

A Trip To Kansas City

In January, we went to Missouri to attend the funeral of mommy's uncle Jimmy. Though it was a very sad reason for our trip, we enjoyed the time we were able to spend visiting with family and friends (it was fun to be able to introduce Shenandoah to them for the first time!) Here are some pictures from our trip.


The kids in the back of the van.


Shenandoah did such a great job on the trip. She is such a good traveler!!!


I got to drive too!!!


Grandma (daddy's mother) seeing Shenandoah (in person) for the first time.

On Tuesday after the funeral, our good friends the Pentimone's had us over for dinner. It was so nice to see them again. Thank you for your hospitality!!!

The Pentimone family (minus Mr. Pentimone who was unable to be there that night).


Sienna, Carissa and Shenandoah


The kitchen clean up crew!!! It was fun working together!!!


The younger children playing.

Wednesday

We were so happy to be able to visit with grandpa (mommy's father) again. It had been a while! In this picture, Seth is enjoying a ride on grandpa's wheel chair. (Grandpa was in a car accident 6 years and broke his neck. He is now paralyzed from the neck down.)

For lunch on Wednesday, we met our Uncle Todd and Aunt Moe at "On The Border". It was a lot of fun!!!

Aunt Moe and Shenandoah


Eating lunch


We had a great time visiting with them!

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Friendly Game Of Aggravation

We were playing 'Aggravation' as a family today. If you've never played it before, I highly recommend it. It's a great game for all ages. The goal is to move all your marbles around the board and into your home. However, if a player lands on a square occupied by another player they knock them off and send them back to their starting point.

In this particular game Savannah was about to win so we all decided to go after her.





Savannah was pink. Do you think she felt like she was being ganged up on? I was green. Sabrina was orange. Sienna was blue. Stasia was yellow.

She didn't have a chance...



-- Posted by the Patriarch

Friday, January 2, 2009

Happy New Year From The Cochran Family!!!

The Challenge: Trying To Take A Good Family Picture

Does your family have the same trouble getting a decent family picture that ours does? It took us about 300 tries this year before we could get a good one (thankfully we have a digital camera)!!! Below are some of our bloopers!!

Note: Typed by Savannah with commentary by Daddy and Mommy.

Day One

"No, this won't work - Stasia's playing with her hair and the baby is crying."


"The baby's still crying."

Another day, Another try...

"The baby's not crying this time, but Seth you need to open your eyes and smile!"


"Seth, my son, you've got a weird look on your face."


"You three younger ones need to stand up straight and smile!!!"


"Boys, now you're just being goofy."


"That wasn't too bad, but now the baby is crying again!!"

Another day, Another try...

"All right, the baby is asleep in her car seat. Let's try to get a good one now. Boys you're going to have to do better than that."


"Oops, I cut Sabrina's head off and Sayer has a goofy smile."


"I don't think we're ever going to get a decent picture."


"Yes, I'm about ready to call it quits!!"


"That's it - we've gone crazy - hopefully we'll recover before we have to do this again next year!"

P.S. The picture we finally used is the one you see in the above "Happy New Year" post!!

The Valley Of Vision...

...is a wonderful book of prayers and devotions. There are many beautiful writings in it. I thought I'd share two prayers I was reading the other day.

Year's End
O Love Beyond Compare,
Thou art good when thou givest,
when thou takest away,
when the sun shines upon me,
when the night gathers over me.
Thou hast loved me before the foundation
of the world, and in love didst redeem my soul;
Thou dost love me still,
in spite of my hard heart, ingratitude, distrust.
Thy goodness has been with me during another year,
leading me through a twisting wilderness,
in retreat helping me to advance,
when beaten back making sure headway.
Thy goodness will be with me in the year ahead;
I hoist sail and draw up anchor,
With thee as the blessed Pilot of my future
as of my past.
I bless thee that thou hast veiled my eyes
to the waters ahead.
If thou hast appointed storms of tribulation,
thou wilt be with me in them;
If I have to pass through tempests of persecution
and temptation, I shall not drown;
If I am to die, I shall see thy face the sooner;
If a painful end is to be my lot,
grant me grace that my faith fail not;
If I am to be cast aside form the service I love,
I can make no stipulation;
Only glorify thyself in me whether in comfort or trial,
as a chosen vessel meet always for thy use.

New Year
O Lord,
Length of days does not profit me
except the days are passed in thy presence,
in thy service, to thy glory.
Give me a grace that procedes, follows, guides,
sustains, sanctifies, aids every hour,
that I may not be one moment apart from thee,
but may rely on thy Spirit
to supply every thought, speak in every word,
direct every step, prosper every work,
build up every mote of faith,
and give me a desire to show forth thy praise,
testify thy love, advance thy kingdom.
I launch my bark on the unknown waters of this year,
with thee, O Father, as my harbour,
thee, O Son, at my helm,
thee, O Holy Spirit, filling my sails.
Guide me to heaven with my loins girt,
my lamp burning, my ear open to thy calls,
my heart full of love, my soul free.
Give me grace to sanctify me,
thy comforts to cheer, thy wisdom to teach,
thy right hand to guide, thy counsel to instruct,
thy law to judge, thy presence to stabilize.
May thy fear be my awe, thy triumphs my joy.