(Tim) Our extended family came up to what we call the Michigan House to celebrate Christmas. We arrived in batches Wednesday and Thursday, and are leaving in batches yesterday and tomorrow (Saturday and Monday). The first pic is of Ben and Michal's youngest--Zion Bjorn. I tell them they spelled it wrong--that "this one is Zion Born"--but they don't listen.
The house bubbled with chidren. Here Joseph reads a book to four while the others are...somwhere else. Eating, taking a nap, in the bathtub, nursing, having their diapers changed, eating, having their nose wiped, eating, playing ping pong, eating, and asking questions--Josiah's specialty.
Twice, we've been over to the Michigan Dunes State Park to sled, and it was there we came to know what it's like to suffer through a Sahara Desert sand storm in mid-winter Siberia.
Bitter wind blowing snow and sand--horizontally. We stood at the top of the dunes facing into the wind coming off Lake Michigan, thinking hard about sliding down the hill so we could climb it again. 
And came back the next day to do it again (but decided to stay on the back side of the dunes the second day).
On the way home from the dunes, we stopped to admire Jeff Davis' seventy-five foot tall tree fort. Magnificent. Jeff stood patiently out in the cold without a coat, explaining the fort's lights, height, and history. 
Then, a real gentleman, he posed in front of "Mr. Wood," another one of his creations. A few years ago, he'd built Mr. Wood to advertise wood for sale to summer campers driving by on Red Arrow Highway.
Of course we made a snow man, but he's vertically challenged.
Yesterday, Ben and Michal and Joseph and Heidi, with their kids, left for home, so Mary Lee, Taylor, and I, Doug and Heather, Lucas and Hannah, with our kids have been left behind to hold down the fort.
This morning, we worshiped at our favorite church-away-from-home, Sawyer Highlands Baptist Church here in Sawyer, Michigan. We always appreciate Pastor Jeff Dryden's ministry, along with the sweet spirit of the congregation. If you're anywhere near Sawyer, Michigan, I strongly urge you to visit this faithful church, and if you don't have a church home, make this one yours.
We thought we were going to leave this afternoon, but we decided (you can do that, you know) to get snowed in. Since we arrived Wednesday, it's not stopped snowing and it's snowing harder now than it has any of the previous days. 
Here's a picture out our front door, followed by another picture taken out the living room window of two deer standing knee deep in the snow.
Most of the family is at the table playing Mexican Train (dominos) while 
Jonathan and Nathan are playing Madden NFL on Taylor's Touch and Lucas is writing a six-page paper on the entire Middle Ages while Bayly looks on, transfixed.
Life is filled with perfect gifts from our Heavenly Father. Here are some pics you may enjoy, including one of the fam gathered around the computer using Skype to talk with all the Zambia Wegeners.
