December

 Welcome back!

We hope you all had a fabulous December!! 

During December, Norah, Mom, and I went to TX with a group from our Church to work with Samaritan's Purse at Operation Christmas Child's factory in Dallas, Anna also had a Piano Recital, we attended a Christmas fellowship at Church, Maddy and our Grandma visited from Colorado for Christmas, and Christmas!!

Well, shall we begin?!

A group from our Church and two other Churches Texas bound!

Right before we reached our Hotel for the night!

Julie and me

~The Next Morning~

Going into work our first day at Operation Christmas Child!

All the assembly lines of boxes

Our assembly line station

The whole "factory." Their system is pretty amazing!

On our way to dinner that night

The whole group <3

Poor Mr. Detwiler had to put up with being the only male on the trip!

While Norah, Mom and a few other ladies went to the Mall, Julie and I decided to check out the Bass Pro in Dallas since we both had never been before

Not as big as Springfield's but it was still neat!

<3

~The Next Morning~

The waffles at the Hotel were pretty cool!

Day two of working at Operation Christmas Child

My how they prayed over all the boxes! It was so amazing to get to see how the boxes truly are used to carry the Gospel of Christ to nations that would otherwise be unreached.

<3

Dallas, TX

Not everyday you see this much smoke in a restaurant when they're cooking your food!

Such a neat set up!

And their tables and benches were super neat!

Taking advantage of the pool in the Hotel before we head out in the morning

~The next morning~

On our way home we stopped at this fancy gas station called Buckee's!

 Not only did it have a super nice 26 stall bathroom, it also had a buffet, a coffee section, a general store, and a rustic accessory section!! 

Some of the signs they had there. 

All these are great! Haha! XD

I ended up buying this for Dad :)

A farm kid and a little calf his size is one of the cutest things ever!

Photo credit: Anna

During the first couple weeks of December, 

our power continually went out due to high winds. And candlelight meals became the new norm.

Anna's Recital Bound!!

Amazing job, Anna!!

Wow! Can these two (Lisa, Anna's Piano teacher, and her brother in law) play beautifully!!

All Lisa's students in 2021

~The Christmas fellowship at Church~

"Silent Night! 

Son of God love's pure light.

Radiant beams from Thy holy face

With dawn of redeeming grace,

Jesus Lord at Thy birth

Jesus Lord at Thy birth."

It was pretty cool with the candles, I will say 

She's back!! It was such a blessing having Maddy and Grandma with us for Christmas! <3

Her phone was stolen quite a few times for selfies!! XD

It's exhausting catching up with a sister you haven't seen in a few months!

~Christmas morning~

Sadly we didn't get many pictures on Christmas morning, but Maddy did snap a couple pictures of me opening the grand present of the year.

Anna gifted me a brand new cello.

 I had been saving up for one for a year, and she ended up making the trip all the way to Kansas City to pick out a specific cello (that I had looked at (and loved!!) a few months prior) with my cello teacher, stored the cello at a families home from Church, picked it up on Christmas Eve, and kept it in Mom and Dad's closet until Christmas morning.

I was honestly in total shock, not expecting it at all!

Apparently my words when I saw the cello for the first time were, "Oh no!" 

I couldn't believe she had gone so much out of her way to bless me with the exact full size cello that I had been saving for (it also sounds so much better than my old 3/4 size cello)! 

I am truly blessed beyond measure. Anna, you are also the legit bomb! <3

Christmas Dinner

Sadly this is the best picture that was taken of everyone.

It's extremely difficult to get a nice picture of these people.

So we went out to the woods to try and get some better ones!

Everyone is a vibe of their own in this picture.....

I look like I'm freezing, Maddy is staring at something beyond the camera, Katherine looks like she could be a model with that hair twirl going on, and Peyton looks focused.

Everyone with Grandma <3

Just the sibs

Grandma and the boyz!

Just sistas! 

All our different heights are something else! XD

The original four amigos!

"We look so good!"

Apparently, Joe was feeling left out

Thanks for helping us not take life too seriously!

The original three amigos!

Oh, let Anna adjust her jaw first!

There we go!

We all know life would be incredibly boring without me stealing y'all's phones and snapping selfies

It was great having you back with us, Maddy! Come back soon <3

My buddies, who faithfully sat in my lap while I worked on these past few posts

Phew! And now I am officially all caught up on the blog! Sorry that took so long.

Also, meet our new addition to the fam: Kona!

She has a big thing for chewing on fingers.

Her 10 minutes later......

Merry Christmas from our family to you and yours! <3

Thank you so much for stopping by!

We wish you all a happy New Year and a blessed January.

Blessings, The Coulter Family

"And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in the manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angle of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger." And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

"Glory to God in the highest,

and on earth peace among those with

whom he is pleased!"

When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us." And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. And when they saw it , they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them concerning this child. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them."

Luke 2:6-20