Decorating 2008

A 99 cent stocking with a little bit of puffy paint may not seem like a big thing when you think about it... but when looking at it through the eyes of a 13 year old boy... it's a pretty incredible...

Last night we decorated our Christmas tree. This is our 3rd Christmas living at Joe's Place but only the 2nd with the boys here. It has turned into quite the event in our house. There is something so different about being able to celebrate with these 4 guys and to experience the excitement with them. Tyre couldn't stay away from the stocking with his name on it. I'm pretty sure the paint I used to write his name with is a little messed up because he just couldn't stop touching it.

Last night, Matt (who is a friend and also an intern at our church), joined us for the fun. He is working on a documentary about Joe's Place. He'll be at the house a good bit over the next year getting footage of the guys. The only hard part is that the guys want Matt to hang out... so it's hard for them to totally ignore him. I think this picture is great because they talked Matt into playing a game with them.

Tyre also wants to keep looking through the lens. Matt has been so great with them.

Steven continued the tradition of being the one to carry in the tree.

I was the one who ended up doing most of the tree decorating because apparantly working on the outside lights with Dan is much more cool.

Steven did help with the tree topper. It's actually a picture of Dan. When Matt asked him on camera why he put a pic of Dan up instead of the star... Steven said it was because Dan is our angel. I think he was kind of joking... but it was still sweet.

I guess we're going with a blue and white theme this year... which I just realized makes sense because those are the school colors.



The almost finished living room...


I also wanted to post the link to a story that was in the St. Louis Post Dispatch today. The article is about safe haven laws. Dan was interviewed for it over the phone yesterday. I thought they did a great job explaining Joe's Place.