Christ is Lord!

While Christmas was quieter this year, the simplicity of it all was as it should probably always be. We have slowed down...way down...and it has been welcomed. It has been a huge year of growth for Soul Farms, and my amazing husband needed some time to rest. And when there's so much hustle and bustle there isn't a lot of space to reflect on what Christmas really means and why it is important and WHO it is about. Jesus is our great Savior, the one we daily thank for the live we get to live and the life we will live eternally. Praise Him!

While Daddy and Frazier were in Iowa, us ladies and the little guy went and chopped down our Christmas tree.

All loaded up on top!

We were quite pleased with ourselves to have it chopped, hauled and set up before Daddy came home.

I love being the librarian at the kids’ school on Mondays. This year my read-alouds have been focused on building empathy in the students. We completed a unit on homelessness, and the school invited families to donate items for Welcome bags. Welcome bags are given to children and adults when they first arrive at a homeless or domestic abuse shelter and contain snacks, drinks and encouraging notes.

Mary-Michael’s 5th grade class came and helped me sort all of the items, so that they were ready for each class to pack their bags.

Back at home we packed almost 100 more bags with all of the extra donations we received. 

All in all, we’ll get to deliver almost 200 bags and all of the extra snacks will go to our friends with RVA Hope Center who serve in Creighton and Mosby Courts.

We had great fun caroling, giving out hot chocolate and breakfast sandwiches and praying with families in Creighton Court on a December Saturday.

We loved gathering with some of our favorite people for our annual Christmas dinner.

Time to top the tree with the star!

Some very colorful gingerbread houses were made this year!

Leila won the Christmas spirit award for the entire middle school with this outfit!

What a gift to have a calf born on Christmas Eve.

For advent this year, we thoroughly enjoyed Ishtar’s Odyssey, which is a fictional story based on the wise men’s journey following the star. We loved the lessons and discussion it brought up, and the children loved lighting candles each night. Such expectation anticipating Christ’s birthday!

Christmas Eve found us taking a break from quarantine life and going out to look at Christmas lights. This was one of our favorites.

Thanks to a sweet neighbor who gave us a homemade cookie decorating kit, the children were able to decorate cookies while Daddy and I cooked Christmas Eve dinner.

Making Christmas cards for our annual Christmas morning gift delivery. We continued the tradition of delivering coolers of meat, bread and gift cards to neighbors. This year, the kids masked up and delivered 7 coolers. They are so much braver than they were when we first began this several years ago. Now, they just hop on out of the car and fearlessly knock on doors. I love it!

Benaiah was thrilled to find this under the tree in Christmas morning!

Love these 4 so much!

Merry Christmas from the Lawrence Family!

Happy 9th Birthday, Frazier!

Dearest Frazier,

Well, your birthday celebration didn’t turn out how we expected, but you proved to us once again that you are flexible and can still find joy amidst challenging circumstances. Two nights before your birthday, we found out your teacher tested positive for Covid and the flu, which meant we needed to self quarantine. So, instead of going indoor skydiving and having the grandparents over for birthday dinner, we enjoyed donuts, made your birthday cake, watched movies in the almost finished 3rd floor, said hello from afar to a few visitors and enjoyed games and Legos together. You declared it was one of your best birthdays and focused on the positive as you so often do.

You are growing into an incredible young man with a “let’s get dirty and explore the woods” mentality coupled with a compassionate, tender spirit. You are really into fishing and hunting, as well as building legos and anything that allows you to use Daddy’s tools. You have created a very dynamic and interesting fort in the woods out of scrap pieces of wood and old furniture. Currently, you want to be an engineer or do what Daddy does when you grow up. You continue to declare that you will run Soul Farms when Daddy retires and live right here in our house. Looks like you’ll be taking care of us when we are old and gray!

You are doing well in 3rd grade and are friends with everyone. Your teachers say that you are definitely the one that makes everyone laugh...but you need to work on your timing of when to joke and when not to. You continue to love math and science. Reading is not your favorite but you have really come so far in your fluency, and I think when we can find the right books it will be something you really enjoy.

At home, you are Benaiah’s best buddy. He was the one you couldn’t wait to see after your 5 day trip in Iowa. You continue to give your sisters opportunities to grow in patience and grace...but I know they love you and your desire to be with them and invite them into whatever shenanigans you are up to. 

I’m so thankful that you will still snuggle with me and dance about the house with a boyish grin looking for fun. Stop growing up, little man. You are such a delight, Frazier, and we love you so much.

Momma

Iowa Trip for the Gents

Geoff has wanted to travel to Iowa for many years as this is where our business partner and friend, Doug, is from. In Iowa is Doug’s family and the farming roots that helped to partner us up with Doug many years ago to start our own cattle farming business (the beginning of Soul Farms). Geoff, Frazier, Doug and another friend, Brooks, left before 4am for a 17 hour drive on Thursday morning. They pulled a horse trailer as that was the original reason for the trip - to pick up a new barrel riding horse for Doug’s daughter. 

From the stories I heard, they had a grand ol’ time eating microwave bacon and powdered donuts for breakfast with Doug’s dad (he is a widower), visiting the country farm store, hunting for deer (all the men shot one a piece) and spending time with Doug’s family. They returned home Monday evening after another long day of driving, but even still, both my boys had smiles on their faces. And I was certainly happy to have them home!

It was a sweet, impromptu father-son trip that both are ready to repeat next year...maybe by plane and not by truck.

Thanksgiving 2020

We enjoyed Thanksgiving in somewhat smaller groups, but we’re still able to see much of our family, and for that we are so thankful. We enjoyed a lot of time with Zach, Christina and sweet little Emerson who is almost one. We had Thanksgiving feasts in Mathews with Nonnie and Grandad and in Alexandria with Grandma and Grandpa. We even had an outdoor professional family photo shoot to celebrate Grandma‘s 70th birthday. We may have had to bribe our youngest one with lots of M&Ms to make that a success. COVID encouraged us to be outside, which led to a very fun kickball game that even Grandma kicked in! We are blessed for sure.

Benaiah getting his picture taken (hopefully with no evidence of chocolate on his face)!

Leila had her hair done by some friends we met a few years back that faithfully come to us and teach this momma about natural hair. 

Frazier getting much deserved wrestling time with Uncle Kam and Jace.

Brotherly love.

Preparing for the original Lawrence 6 photo.

Mary-Michael did not get to participate in her dance recital this year due to COVID, but we took her costumes down to Mathews for our own photo moment.

She’s a beauty!

We were so glad to see Zach, Christina and sweet Emme from Charleston.

Geoff jumping in to the Christmas card takes. 

Why is it so hard to get us all looking in the same direction with a pleasant look on our face? Should have brought the M&Ms.

Anniversary Alaskan Adventure

First off, this would’ve never been possible without Grandma who graciously agreed to watch all four children for all eight days. She gave us an incredible 15th anniversary gift!

When we saw a super cheap flight to Anchorage come across our email, we made a quick decision with excitement that we would be able to visit our friends from El Salvador that we originally met in Niger when they were missionaries there. Six months ago they traveled to Alaska to begin a 12 year mission commitment to serve a church based in Anchorage with church plants in Africa (they speak French fluently) and to minister to the Hispanics in Alaska (they speak Spanish, too). The Rivas Family is very dear to us as they were instrumental in making a way for us to bring Leila home. They are also some of our very favorite people to be with.

In our one week visit, we traveled to Seward, Denali, Wasilla and the Alyeska resort in Girdwood where we had 2 nights to celebrate our anniversary. The other 5 days we stayed with the Rivas. Here's our trip in pictures. 

Seward, Alaska - where many cruise ships dock. I came here as a child when my grandparents lived in Alaska. 

Alaska is so beautiful, especially in the fall with the leaves having changed colors.

A sweet seal!

This is a sea lion we saw at a conservation center.

Almost everywhere we went in Alaska, we felt like we were driving through a painting. This is driving down the road in Anchorage. Soon after I put my camera away, we saw a bear scampering up a hill!

The Rivas are used to warm weather, so Geoff wanted to make sure their fire place was in good working order for the cold winters that are up ahead. 

My best friend and amazing husband - on our way to Denali!

Denali was beautiful, and we saw a moose and mountain goats while there. 

Though Geoff was convinced moose were a myth because he didn't spot one until the end of our trip.

More of Denali. It started snowing on the mountain tops while we were there. 

The Rivas family after our 2 mile hike along this river in Denali. 

I love my friend, Juanita. I am known as Sunshine, and she is Stormy Clouds. We are the complete opposite in many ways!

We saw rainbows almost every day in Alaska. Here's a double one. 

This made us laugh! We ventured to a Christmas craft show in Wasilla complete with reindeer sausage and cheese curds, which seem to be pretty popular there. 

This was my grandparents home when they lived in Anchorage for almost 40 years. It's been renovated and is only about 1 mile from the Rivas' home. 

Wow! This is Mirror Lake. It lives up to its name. 

Love this guy!

At the end of the trip we ventured to Girdwood and stayed at Hotel Alyeska (a popular ski resort). This was the view after taking the ski lift up 2000 feet. 

Quite possibly the most exhilarating thing I have ever done was this helicopter ride that took us to a glacier where we learned to ice climb. 

Here we go! Our first ever ride in a helicopter. I highly recommend it. 

Coming around the mountain and catching our first glimpse of the glacier we're going to land on. 

Spencer Glacier. 

God made a beautiful world. 

A bull moose we saw from the air. We also saw a few black bears, but we didn't capture pictures of them. 

This was an estimated 80 foot deep glacier pool. The blue was beautiful!

Geoff learning to use ice picks with our guide Benny (he was a real expert and does this all over the world). 

Go ahead, Geoff!

That's me.

Did we really just do that?

Trying to look like we know what we're doing. This really was incredible and terrifying at the same time!

We witnessed the bore tide at Turnagain Arm one morning. 

A massive bull elk at a wildlife conservation center. 

Time to say goodbye. 

Love.