sola gracia

On the Beach

Originally uploaded by josephs2877.

Sadie and Todd tied the knot this last week in Hawaii. It was a fun family adventure with the Ondicks and the Swensons. The wedding was on a quiet beach near Waikaloa. The dress was cream white along with all the trimmings. A round of memories for everyone! Hurrah!
Found a great fish guide that shows many of the fish found along the reef when snorkeling in Hawaii. The guide can be found here (pdf).

Well, we kind of missed the window for an acceptable Christmas Letter, so we’ve resorted to celebrating Valentine’s with a letter just for you, our friends and family!
The life of Joe:
Well, I started working for a pretty cool company last year known as Nxgen, and I am now the Director of the IT department! Now, don’t get too excited, I’m still the computer game loving Jesus Freak I’ve always been, just with a bigger paycheck. I’m very happy at my job and am constantly being challenged to tear myself away from my desk to come home for dinner! I am thrilled to have now successfully hooked my wife onto computer games, and we spend our children-free time IMing each other!
The life of Kelly:
I have successfully carried and given birth to two babies now! Life, and body, are finally starting to come back to normal, though neither will ever be quite the same, eh? Very excited to be a stay at home mom with our three children! Spending time developing my cooking and cleaning skills, while my extra evening time has seemed to be consumed with playing computer games with my husband…haha, my brothers will love that! I do have many granioso plans to become creative and domestic as it were, though that lovely new sewing machine has yet to be used in the last four months, sorry Mom.
The life of Nilla:
First grader, and seven! I am happy to have a little baby sister, though I still love Isaac! I am getting more creative with my drawing and still enjoying my ballet/tap classes. I like making new friends at school and church and having sleep overs! Popcorn is still my favorite snack and I always enjoy a movie with Daddy and some Skittles!
The life of Isaac:
I am turning two in March and I’m a little man! I really enjoy playing with my sisters, though, Nilla seems to get around a lot quicker than Abby. Life is still in diapers, so I really do not have much to report! Still a huge fan of cars and trucks and things that make lots of noise!
The life of Abigail:
bahhbbbbbaaaaaaaa! Haha, Abby is healthy and a very, very content little baby! Everyone deserves a little baby as easily managed as Abigail! She is going to turn 1 in March, just a week after her older brother. She’s climbing the stairs, walking around furniture and walls, but as of yet not walking on her own. She is Papa John’s little girl and is a dimpled cutie!
We are both very excited about all that this year has brought us! Happy to be in a new home that’s warm and safe! Happy to have three very healthy and energetic children who don’ t drive us to Looneyville, not yet! Our punctuality could be better, i.e. Christmas Letter!
Very, very Happy Valentines Day to all of you! We hope that you know how much you mean to us all!
Much love,
Joe and Kelly Swenson

I just watched the trailer for Steven Spielberg’s new movie “Munich”. Wow.

Well we are finally moved into the house. Yeah! Boxes are piled up and we figure we will be unpacked by mid-2006. We are also trying to find a good VoIP (Phone over the internet) service and are trying Vonage, Skype, and Gizmo. If you want to reach us, our Skype username is : josephs2877 . Have a happy day!

Front of the house

Originally uploaded by josephs2877.

Here is a photo of the new house that is being built. We are so excited and thankful for a place to live. The house is slated to be finished at the end of July. We can’t wait to move in.

We had a really great sermon today in church about our freedom that God has given us. What a wonderful gift to be free from the laws of death and embraced by the Father of love. In the notes we had an outline and so I was compelled to make a flowchart.
1 Corinthians 10:23-11:1
The purpose of the chart was to evaluate my own actions and run through this checklist. I think the verse that sums it up is 31. “All to the Glory of God”