Flossy Giveaway

I'm doing a custom notecard giveaway. Visit http://www.flossystylishdesign.blogspot.com/ for details.

Though I walk through the wilderness, Blessed be your name

It has been a tough week... a busy week... a week of wrestling with the core of who I am and what I believe. I am thankful to have a strong husband who lets me cry and mourns with me over a friend's loss of a child... a friend/business acquaintance he's never met.

I realized that faith isn't as tangible in the good, sunny, beautiful times of life. It's easy to have faith in the good times. I realize that faith and the stuff of the heart shines through in the crappy, sad, dark times. You realize how strong a person's faith is in those crappy times.

I encourage everyone to read the blog of CJ Bergmen. I've never met CJ, but I work with his wife who is a wedding photographer. She took a lot of the photos for my business website. I have always known her to be strong, honest, and full of joy. I considered her a friend after only a few times of working with her. Please read their blog. You have to scroll down to the bottom to hear their entire story. I encourage you to read all of the posts from the past week. This couple is the real deal... the definition of faithful followers of Christ. They experienced the loss of their baby Titus... and used it as a opportunity to encourage others and to share their faith.

I run into people all over who know CJ and Renee in some way. After the memorial service, Eric spoke of how that little baby boy has already had more of an impact and witness for Christ than most of us have had our entire lifetime. I want to have even an ounce of Renee's strength and faith. Please read their story. It's not easy to take in, but it is important. It makes me ask myself how I would respond, how my marriage would respond, and if I'm standing on a rock or in sinking sand. Take time to admire their strength and faithfulness.

www.cjbergmenmusic.com/wordpress

Couches for Sale

Call us if you are interested in our couches. We are redesigning my office and moving the couch downstairs, which means we no longer need our chocolate brown couch and love seat. I am kind of sad to let them go, but we must make a change.

We saw them in a home my Aunt Nancy (Feelz Like Home) redesigned, and we went out and bought some for ourselves. They are two years old (in June). Let me know if you are interested!

All of my beautiful friends and family members who currently have a bun in the oven should check out my Flossy Blog. We had a super cute baby shower last weekend at The Boulders in Scottsdale. Also, Jenna's (Eric's cousin) wedding photos are posted on my Flossy website, so feel free to visit the site. The pictures are AMAZING.

The Shopping Mama

One of my sister's friends (and a new favorite client of mine) has a really cute and helpful blog called The Shopping Mama. She blogs about really great deals and fun finds. Yesterday, she highlighted some thank-you notes that we designed for her son. She also said some very nice things about Flossy, so check it out! I know it's a blog that you will enjoy visiting often. I know I will!

Christmas Highlights

Eric and I gave Mark and Christyna a puppet show.

The Murrietta/Fankhauser/Armijo kids and spouses gave Vince and Theresa a photo for Christmas. Theresa is trying not to cry.

I love my new hat. I'm also wearing a new robe.

Grandma Joyce opening her present we gave her.

Christyna, Mark, and Monica

Summer opening her Christmas present. I was wearing everything I received.

We love puppies.

Mom and Dad opening the Wii

Eric opening his Olympic Highlights

Cortney and Jason on New Year's Eve

Sisterly Love. My mom, sister, and I all wore off-white the day we opened presents.

Pudge and Ellie were sad the presents were gone.

Frosty, our tree, and our stockings

I know it's kind of late to be posting our pictures from Christmas, but better late than never.
We had a really fun Christmas this year. We were able to celebrate numerous times!

Merry Christmas!

Eric and I have been watching Christmas movies every night, and the basic theme has been that presents and material things aren't as important as giving love and spending time with family and friends. I agree, and I look forward to the next few days of family time.

The wisemen brought really amazing gifts to baby Jesus, so I think the gift giving tradition is still important. I discovered that I show love through giving gifts, so Christmas is an exciting time for me. Presents don't have to be expensive or fancy... they just have to come from the heart.

I blogged on my Flossy blog about showing thanks and appreciation for the gifts we're given. I haven't done the best job of that in the past, so I wrote the Flossy blog as a reminder for myself. I hope that we can all show each other how thankful we are, not only for presents, but also for the precious time that we spend together.

Eric and I, and Pudge and Ellie of course, wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. It's such a special time to remember the Birth of our Savior. He truly is the reason we celebrate.

Go Polar Bears!!!!

We have EXTREMELY exciting news. Eric coaches a 16 year-old travel hockey team and they had a big, important tournament in Las Vegas called the Silver Stick. They have regional Silver Stick tournaments all over and the winners of the region will meet in Canada for the national tournament. Eric's team came out on top of our region! It was soooo exciting, as the last two games went overtime. The Championship game was tied 1-1 after overtime, so they went to a shoot-out! It was crazy, but we came out on top. Our goalie did awesome under pressure! I felt very blessed to be able to be there to cheer them on. Canada here we come!!

The boys were champs off the ice as well. The team adopted a family for Christmas, so we went to Target to shop for them. I had a group of four of the players, and they cracked me up. We only had one threat to kick us out of the store, and the boys helped me by trying on women's shoes to see which ones looked nice. They each donated money for the gifts. They are a really fun group of young men.

Here is an article from the Arizona Hockey Union website. We now have a banner to hang at the rink and each of the boys received a pin and a medal. So cool. Eric received one too. There is a quote from Eric in the article below.

Midget U16AA '92sThe Arizona Hockey Union 92U16AA team captured the Silver Stick Western Regional championship in Las Vegas over the December 5th thru 7th weekend.

The team played three tough games in the round robin, finishing with two wins and one loss and earned a trip to the semifinals as the second seed in their bracket. On Sunday, they rose to play the California Heat and it came down to the wire, winning in over time 2-1. That wasn’t the biggest task of the day, as just five hours later they were to play in-state rival Phoenix Jr. Coyotes for the chance to move onto the Silver Stick finals in January. Trailing 1-0 with about 11 minutes remaining, they tied the score. It was to be a battle to the end as both teams were fighting for the go ahead goal. The game ended tied and made it through five minutes of over time still knotted at 1-1. Nine shooters later, the Union 92 team came out victorious in the shoot out and earned their chance to play in New Market, Ontario, Canada at the Silver Stick National Tournament.

Coach Eric said, “It was a tough weekend, but the boys battled and wanted to win this tournament. We came up short in one game on Friday where we fell apart as a team, but they learned from it and found a way to get it done today. They should be proud of what they’ve accomplished.”

It was a great weekend for the boys and Coach Eric (and parents too!). Everyone is very excited to be moving onto the finals in Canada over the January 16th thru 18th weekend.