Liddick family Christmas in June

When your family is spread out all across the US (NY, MN, KY, AZ), you celebrate holidays whenever you can and for a family in ministry, that's not always during the actual holiday. We decided to give Christmas in June a try this year and I think it's a new tradition that just might stick. Traveling in June is a lot easier than in December and there's much more that you can do together, rather than being cooped up in the house (not a winter sports family). We decided to meet in Kentucky at Matt and Brianne's house since they just had a baby recently. We were delighted to find this on their door when we arrived.



They had also put out their nativity and a small Christmas tree. It was beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Our first day there was "Christmas Eve", so what better activity than to go Christmas Caroling! It turns out that Matt and Brianne have become good friends with Joe Wells, who David and I knew from his internship at CWC in Michigan. So the four of us sported our scarves (it was probably 85 degrees at the time) and sang "Silent Night" for Joe and his wife. I admit, I mostly giggled and didn't get too many lyrics out.


On Christmas day (which coincidentally fell on June 25, exactly 6 months from and till the actual holiday) we all met at Olive Garden for our main meal at lunch time. Our waitress got a real kick out of hearing what we were celebrating (or at least she pretended real well).


After lunch we all went to see "UP." Loved it! Very heart warming. Brogan was a champ and snuggled his uncle Mike during the whole movie.

We returned to Matt and Brianne's for the remainder of the afternoon/evening and opened presents together.

Waiting for the festivities to begin.

Brogan says thank you for the Cubs blanket Aunt Melissa made him.

I finally upgraded my favorite movie from VHS to Blu Ray!Aunt Melissa was the lucky duck that got to snuggle Brogan during Christmas!

I wasn't sure what to expect, this being our first time celebrating Christmas not even remotely close to the actual holiday. But I was pleasantly surprised. Every family has their own traditions. Being a pastor's family, we've always been fairly flexible with our traditions and have remained open to trying new traditions along the way. There are a few things that have held consistent along the way. The one thing that really truly matters was that we were all together, which was a blessing. Many Christmases that's just not a possibility. I think for us, it's more important to find a time, any time, that we can all be together; and that's what made it feel like Christmas...even in June.

The Liddick family
** June 2009 **

A New Journey

David and I have officially entered into a new journey today. Only the Lord knows how long the journey will be and what the trip will look like. We submitted our application for (domestic) adoption today. We would appreciate your prayers as we continue to learn about the whole process and work through the necessary steps along the way. We're excited to discover what God has in store for our little family!

Food, friends, and flowers

When you are a "trans-plant" to the state where you live, and you have no family around, it is SUCH a blessing to have some "old" friends nearby. Dan and Angie are a good hour north of us, but we're so fortunate to have two fun cities, full of lots of things to do between us. We met on Monday in St. Paul at Como Park for a picnic. We probably spent 2 hours just sitting at the picnic table at the edge of the park, eating and talking. After that we popped over to the Conservatory to enjoy the beautiful flowers. We'd taken my parents to the Zoo a couple of years ago and that was a bit on the disappointing side, but the Conservatory was beautiful. (However, it does make me want to spend too much money on my own flower gardens at home...).

Dan and Angie Leverence

Melissa and Angie
Dan and David

Our new kitty?

Melissa's been doing quite a bit of gardening lately, and we've discovered a cat living underneath our smoker BBQ grill. The grill has a cover, and over the past couple of days there has been a "mewing" coming from underneath. Yesterday the kitten emerged to pull on our heartstrings a little, but we remained strong. If we start feeding this stray, then mom Liddick can't ever come to visit, and we love our parents/inlaws!

This cat has an adorable face with huge "Precious Moments" eyes, but you can tell it's had a few run-ins with other animals in the woods. There's a hefty chunk taken out of one of it's hind quarters and the tail looks a bit weird.

We had our small group meeting tonight and the cat sat outside the open windows and meowed during most of the meeting. At one point it actually jumped up on the window; startled us all to death.

And this is where it sits now. Sitting outside our front door, pleading to come inside. If this keeps up, we may have to call someone.

An Evening Out With Nacho Mamas...

Sunday evening I decided to take my lovely wife out to Stillwater and see what all the fuss was about surrounding a mexican place called Nacho Mamas. For those of you who aren't native to Minnesota, Stillwater is a small berg on the East side of the state nestled up against the St. Croix River. The downtown area is old and thriving! I can't believe that there are this many people out and about in an old downtown anymore. Finding a parking place is extremely difficult due to the lack thereof, but if you ever get the chance to drive up and visit a place called Nacho Mamas, it will be worth it all.

Melissa and I sat down and ordered what we hear is their signature nachos and a smothered burrito. The waitress looked confused, but just said, "You mean the small order of nachos, right?" We said sure and she proceeded to tell us that the large order usually feeds 5 adults. For only $12, it looks like you could eat for less here than your local burger joint.



Our meals came and we knew we were in trouble. The burrito probably weighed about 5 pounds, and the nachos were more than the two of us alone could eat. Fantastic company, delicious food and portions big enough for my old high school basketball team. What a fun night.