Happy Birthday

Today is the birthday of someone very special, someone who is still very dear to all of us, though he is not here with us to receive birthday greetings.

Today is Albert's birthday, and I am sure he is having one of the happiest days of his life. Unlike the rest of us, he's living in eternity on the other side of mortality, and I'm sure heaven is grand! He's seeing what the rest of us can't even imagine, hearing sounds only resurrected ears could discern, and worshiping around the throne of the King of kings!!!

I was just recalling New Years Eve 2008 where we brought in the New Year while lifting our voices in praise to God with Albert at the old upright piano in the Langemann's music room. I was very pregnant with Hope, and she had been sleeping in the womb most of the evening. 11:30 pm came, and as we gathered around the piano to use the rest of the energy we had in singing praises to God, our little daughter whom we had not yet met, woke up and started frolicing within me. The music woke her. I'm sure of it. This is how she knew her Grandpa.

This New Years Eve we're with my family at the farm. With both daughters sleeping, and with lots of hands to hold them if they woke, I stole away for a few minutes at the grand piano, playing by the light of the Christmas tree beside me. I played old songs... songs I remember Albert playing. Songs like "Think About His Love," "When I Look Into Your Holiness," "Jehovah to Me," and "Thou Art Worthy." My remembrances commenced with this song, the song we sang with Albert accompanying as 2008 turned into 2009.

Let the words beckon your soul in joy!

"My heart can sing, when I pause to remember,

A heartache here is but a stepping stone.

Along the way that's winding always upward,

This weary world is not my final home.

But until then,

My heart ill go on singing.

Until then with JOY I'll carry on.

Until the day,

My eyes behold the city,

Until the day God calls me home.

The things of earth will dim and lose their value,

If we recall they're borrowed for a while.

The soul of man is like a waiting falcon,

If it's released, it's destined for the skies.

But until then,

My heart ill go on singing.

Until then with JOY I'll carry on.

Until the day,

My eyes behold the city,

Until the day God calls me home."


Happy Birthday, Dads.
I love you.

Merry Christmas, Pt 2

Hello again! I'm making an exception to my normal Sunday computer fast to get these photos from yesterday uploaded while I have the chance. We're taking off for Foremost tonight to visit with my family and grandparents for the week, so I don't know how much I'll be blogging in the next few days. :o)

So for now, please enjoy the pictures from Christmas Day at 40 Greenwood Dr.

Our tree. Can't believe all those presents were for just us four little people!
Hope's first discovery of the day - a little table & chairs set from Grandma. (Lorrie)
Hanging out with her baby doll while Josh cooked some pancakes and I got Joy and myself ready.
Reading part of the Christmas story. In Langemann tradition, we read the Christmas accounts in segments throughout our day.
Hope finds a present. Daddy had to tell her this one was for Mommy, not her, but she didn't mind. I had fun curling Hope's hair for Christmas.
Watching Queen Elizabeth II's Christmas address. It is a nice speech if you care to take a few minutes.

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/12/25/queen-xmas-speech.html

We also watched Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Christmas speech, and I was cheering by the end of it. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/12/23/harper-christmas-message.html
Helping each other open a gift. They did lots of this all day long, as I was nursing Joy a good deal of the time we were opening gifts.
"Can't see, can't see.... what is it?"
A Winnie-the-Pooh and Eyeore from Daddy to go with her Piglet and Tigger.
Time-out for a diaper change for the wee one.
And a cookie for Hope. The table and chairs were put to use right away, as you can see.
This gift took the prize for the most creatively decorated! It was a book from her Langemann uncles, decorated with ladybug chocolates. (Doodle-Bug...Lady-Bug... you get the idea)
New shirts for Josh (from me.)
Holding one daughter, helping the other. :o) What happiness!
Stickers!!! And a sticker book! Now this is a perfect gift! Auntie Melody has great ideas.
I couldn't be happier.
Nor could she.
...of course... "Eyes...nose...mouth...ears...hair." Hope checks for the vitals every time. :o)
Time-out to make a little pot of cranberry-apple cider. I usually poke the cloves into orange slices, but I thought I'd try apple slices this time. Tasted great.
Josh took a few minutes to step out and pick up the mail. Hope snatched up his hand and put it on herself as soon as he got back.
"Outside, outside..." I think she wanted to go out and play, but it was pretty cold, and nearly naptime so...we kept her indoors. Hopefully she'll get lots of outdoor time at the farm with her aunties & uncles.
Brewing myself a cup of Candy-Cane-Lane tea in my new Tim Horton's mug. It's a beautiful mug, with each of Canada's provinces and territories depicted in a little picture on the bottom.
Modeling Mommy's new scarf from Melody. I think that's the first homemade scarf I've ever received! I like it very much, and I wore it to church today.
A spinning top!!! Another perfect gift! Hope loves it.
Cider and cookies for Josh and I while Hope naps.
Hope was so content to play with each gift as she opened them, that it took all day for her to actually open all her presents. We saved the last few for after naptime, so she'd have something new to explore while Mommy made supper.
Like this one - alphabet letters for the fridge. And yes - it was my own doing, I brought it totally upon myself, so I have no one else to blame or thank as I step on letters all over the house. Oh well! It'll be a great learning tool. I'm looking forward to starting to teach Hope the alphabet with them in the New Year.
Daddy was helping her spell her name and Joy's name.
Speaking of Joy... our last picture for this post shall be of her.

Thanks to Heather Fehr for the darling Christmas sleeper for Joy!!! It kept her cozy and Christmas-y all day.

Merry Christmas, Pt 1

MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone!

Here's a few videos of Hope enjoying some new toys and her new baby sister.

Upon a Christmas Eve

Good evening!

Just popping on for a few minutes to share some pictures of my darlings from today.

I know our families are missing us as much as we are missing them, but we carry their love in our hearts and seek to give it to our little ones as well. We are grateful to know that everyone of them is safe and warm, and knows the love of Jesus deep within their hearts. It is with sincere fondness and admiration that I remember my dear father-in-law, Albert, in this season that was very special to him. He is with us in peaceful and happy memories at this time of Christmas.

Now for the pictures. :o)

This is how I do Hope's hair most mornings - after breakfast while she's still in her chair.
Joy was content for a few minutes on the table beside us. She likes hearing Hope chatter. I think the familiar sound is calming to her.
After "helping" change Joy's diaper this morning, Hope wanted to play piano. As you can see, she was singing along too.
My little sweetie.
My growing baby girl.
Suppertime. :o) It was the first "full meal" I've made since Joy's birth. We had salad, ribs, honey-glazed carrots, and pasta. The contents of the red popcorn bowl at the end of the table is my other accomplishment for the day - a batch of Carmel corn for Josh. (well, and for me too)
Half a grin.
After supper we decided, in the tradition of our families, to open a gift on Christmas Eve. Hope and Josh explored her new Quiet Book for quite a while. I had one just like it as a kid growing up.
Josh & I opened our "Langemann exchange gift," from Amy. Meanwhile, Hopey-Doodle occupied herself with the ribbon that was on the gift, wrapping it around herself and such... :o)
The gift was a new game - HURRAH! Our game collection is rather small, so this is a perfect gift! Thanks, Amy. Apples to Apples Bible Edition will be fun to play when we have guests.
And, a little awake time with Daddy before reading some from Luke 2 and getting the girls ready for bed.

Sweet dreams, everyone. Looking forward to Christmas morning with an inquisitive toddler and a newborn baby!

"But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart."

A visit from Miss Erin

Me and my two precious daughters after breakfast yesterday morning. They are the best gifts we could ever want.
Needless to say, Daddy was on call for helping us in and out of this pose!
My dear friend, Erin McElroy who stayed with us while we waited and waited for Joy's birth, came back up to see out little "dew drop."
Joy's getting strong in her neck and is pulling her head up/back more and more each day.
"Who are you? I recognize your voice..."
Snuggles for baby Joy.
Hope is such a sweetheart. She's such a blessing to us.
Playin' with her Nativity set from Grandma.
Rocking Joy's new bear while Miss Erin rocks Joy.
Discussing the facial parts...again.
All ready for bed.
Looking at the Christmas lights in our room.
It's neat. I don't know for sure why this is, but if Joy is fussing, I just take her and lay her on our bed and she calms right down. Perhaps it's the warmth of our bedroom, or the softness of the bed or the familiar smell of the quilt made by my Mum. Perhaps she remembers being born in that room. Perhaps she knows it's a safe and quiet place of love... who knows... but it's a place where she's content, and contentment is a beautiful thing.
"Cuddlin' my baby sister..."

Hope communicated very clearly to me this morning that she wanted to hold baby Joy in her rocking chair. She did really good with it, though I was glad Erin was nearby to steady the girls while I took pictures.

Hope got a letter in the mail from Granny, and she no sooner reached into the envelope and pulled out the stickers that she started asking to be put in her chair so she could sit and play with the stickers. I didn't have time to get her pad of paper before she decided to decorate Granny's picture with the stickers. :o) Thanks, Mum!

We had to get one of these for "old time's sake."
We got one like this with Hope when she was a newborn too, and it seems to me Hope was also sorta smiling in that picture. :o)
We wanted one of all four of us, but Hope was still messily eating her "burry," (her word for smoothies) so we opted for this pose. :o)
Friends!
One last cuddle before Miss Erin had to leave.

"Thank you, friend, for being here again and lovin' on our little ones, washing our dishes, cleaning our bathroom, and just being a friend to us! May God bless your socks off in the road of change ahead of you."