I know it has been forever since I've blogged!!   The more behind I got, the more overwhelmed I felt with it and just put it off.  But a new year, a new day, right?  

First things first....please meet the newest member of the Rauch family......

Oliver or also known as "Oliver Peter Rauch" affectionately by Elli : )   We had been contemplating over the past few months getting a kitten.   We had some stipulations for our kitty too:  male, orange-haired (gotta fit in with the rest of us red-heads), and 2-3 months old.  Not too hard to find that in the coldest time of the year, right?  As we left for Christmas to PA, we had no kitten in our plans.  However, at Christmas Eve, my aunt mentioned that her neighbor had kittens a few months ago, have us her number and the rest is history.  It was amazing, when we called, she only had 2 out of the original six in the litter left and it was exactly what we wanted!!  So, we came back with Oliver to IN : )  He's been very loved by our family so far and really great with the kids, lets them hold him and carry him around.  Of course, he also knows how to run for his life too, but we've been really glad he's part of our family so far.  The kids love him too : )

We had a great Christmas in PA...got to see lots of family & friends.  My high school class, along with Jon's had a combined reunion while we were there, so that was fun to see everyone too.  We also got to go to Christmas Candylane at Hersheypark, which the kids loved!  Jon's brother Pete and his girlfriend, Jessica got engaged as well, so we'll be traveling back to PA in March for a wedding!   Along with being happy for them, I'm also glad to be going in March b/c we didn't make it to Philly, which was the only disappointment, but we should see lots of our Philly friends then. 

Posing with Grandma and Grandpa

My Nana with the five cousins (yes I only have five cousins total!)

Before we went to PA, we stayed overnight at my parents' house and all went to see "It's A Wonderful Life" at Amish Acres together

All the grandkids on Jon's side with G.G.

This was at Jon's cousins' house, we hadn't all gotten together in years and it was fun to have a big reunion!

Fun at Candylane!

We've done a little bit of house stuff since Christmas too....Jon got me a new comforter set for Christmas and so we painted a wall in our bedroom and totally rearranged the furniture.  I love it, it looks so much more like a bedroom now and not the free-for-all room, which is what it was turning into...so much more inviting and peaceful!

We also found a great deal on bunkbeds from Craig's List and so Ethan and Elisha moved into one room and the other room is a playroom/spare room.  They've been doing pretty well adjusting so far.  Naptime is in separate rooms, but overall, it's been going really well. 

Elisha's tubes are scheduled for February 13, so I cannot wait to see how it hopefully improves his speech...that is my prayer.  He really does continue to improve with his words & sounds though.  I'm also going to start potty training full force, hopefully it will go fast like it did with Ethan.  That would be so wonderful if it did!  Notice I didn't put a starting date down, I'm still building up the motivation : ) 

Elli is not taking dance class right now....she had a break before the next semester and really expressed wanting to try t-ball instead, so we hopefully register for that this weekend.

Ethan is a game-a-holic right now!  He just loves Candyland, Chutes & Ladders, Spill the Beans, you name it.  It's so fun being able to play games together.  He's growing up so much. 

Well, that is my long overdue update, hopefully, the blogging will continue more frequently!  Oh, if you are looking for a great deal....www.moneysavingmom.com is offering a link for a free photobook.  It's a few posts ago, but it's called Hooray.  I still need to check it out, it expires Jan. 20th.  

Bye for now!

I've had this headcold for the past few weeks and I'm ready for it to go away, but at the same time, I'm actually thankful for it too.  Huh?, you're probably saying.  During this same time, I've really been praying for wisdom with Elisha.  Apart from the lovely two-year old tantrums, there's also the lack of communication going on between us, since his speech has not been developing very quickly.   Lately, I've felt like I have no patience with him and would get frustrated really easily.   After asking God to intervene, I believe He really did by bringing me this headcold.  I know I won't ever really know how words sound to Elisha, but having fluid in your ears has got to sound similar to a headcold.  Anyway, I really feel like it's given me more sympathy & compassion for Elisha and just helped me to have more patience with him.  I know I'll continually struggle, but this was just eye-opening for me.  So, thank You Father for headcolds, at least this one : ) 

Jon is in Philly this weekend for CE National Board Meetings & it's also Urban Hope's 10 yr anniversary this weekend!   I would love to be there too & wish it would have worked out to go....I'm hoping someone video-tapes it and can see it that way.  

Jon's parents came out to visit last week, it was great to see them and spend time with them.  They actually came out so Jon & I could be a part of our church's Halloween outreach, Judgement House.  It's an interactive skit that Grace has done for the past three years.  It's really moving...Jon and I were actors in a scence--he was a husband having an affair and I was the mistress trying to get him to leave his wife.  At the end of our scene he decides he is going to tell his wife he's leaving her and then dies in a car crash a few scenes later.    It was fun doing it together, I really enjoy acting, but haven't been able to do something like that for a while.  You walk though a bunch of different scenes, following the lives of three main characters and the end scene is the judgement seat.  The gospel is shared with everyone at the end and a chance to make a commitment for Christ & then talk with a couselor.  This year, praise God, there were about 80 salvations and about 160 rededications!!  

These pictures are late in coming, but better late than never!