Merry Christmas from the Horkens

David and I began the year with a trip to Florida to spend time with my brother, Roger and his wife Lee Ann.  We had a great visit and created some wonderful memories.  It was a total blessing!!

 

Greetings!

David enjoying the beach.

 

Great time with Roger and LeeAnn.

 

 

On our return trip we stopped in Albany, Georgia to see my sister, Her husband was out of town on business.  We had a short but very fun visit.  

 

 

 

February brought six inches of snow in Le Mars and David switched from his swim trunks to his goose down coat to blow snow out of our driveway.

 

[It is at this time that we realized that our time in Le Mars was coming to a close.  We totally enjoyed living in Le Mars, raising our children here and being apart of the LeMars Community School System, but now it was time to make a move.]

 

 

 

 

March brought Josiah's (age 8) Pinewood Derby Competition....

 

And fun visits to the Ice Cream Parlor with Jagger.(age 10)

 

 

 

In April we began to spend more time outdoors.

David with Hannah, Eliya and Josiah

 

[It was during this time that we slowly began to try to sell our house ourselves--but to no avail.  We began to tell our friends that we felt God was directing us to move to the Omaha area. Each day our move was becoming more real.]

 

 

May brought more cousin sleepovers. 

Jagger and Josiah were all tired out after bike riding and running through the sprinklers.

 

[During this time things were coming together for our move to the Omaha area.  It was time to REALize what we had been praying about for about three years.]

 

 

In June we celebrated Hannah's 7th birthday and Eliya's 10th birthday.

 

[We listed our home with a realtor and it quickly sold. Funny how things fall into place when you do things God's way and not our own!!]

 

 

In July we spent a week at David's brother's lake cabin in northern Minnesota.  We completely forgot all our cares and all our responsibilities and just had fun!!

 

Besides lots of swimming and fishing, we spend a day at Itasca State Park where the kids enjoyed crossing the Mississippi River at it's source.  It was a perfectly beautiful day together.

 

[David and I were secretly hoping the "Packing Fairies" were back in LeMars hard at work!!]

 

 

David and I were acting like we didn't have a care in the world.  I guess that's what vacations are supposed to be about!!

 

 

On August 1st we moved into our new home in Papillion, NE.  We are now officially Nebraskans and Husker fans!!  It had to be one of the hottest days of the year when we unpacked the trucks and moved into our new home in Shadow Lake.

 

We enjoyed learning our way around our new neighborhood.

 

 

And checking out the bike paths around Walnut Creek.

 

[While we were getting settled in our home, we stopped to have fun with family and friends.]

 

 

We enjoyed fun times with family....

 

 

.....in the many activities that come with kids....

 

 

 

Doing what they love to do.....

 

 

August brought the first day of a new school year.....and things began to settle down some.

 

 

September brought apple picking time at the orchard in Nebraska City.  I froze apple pie filling in preparation for all the pies that we would enjoy later.

 

 

In October we attended Jagger's football games when we could....

 

 

 

November was warm enough to enjoy some walks...

 

 

Basketball games.....

 

 

And fun times with cousins.....

 

Teagon (16) Jade (14)

Josiah (9)Jagger (10)Hannah (7)Eliya (10)

 

 



Sunday, December 2nd just happened to be warm enough to take our kayaks out.  We did it just because we could.  We wanted to remember that we did this in DECEMBER!!  In Nebraska!!

 

 

 

Two weeks later we were bundled up and shivering while taking a carriage ride through Shadow Lake Town Center.

 

It's been an eventful year....a year of change....a year of joy!!  David and I have stopped many times over the course of this year to thank God for all of His blessings.  We are so grateful!!

 

David and I pray that your Christmas is filled with peace and joy as you stop to reflect on His great plan to send Christ into the world because of His great love for us.

 

Love from

 

David and Karol



Okay...so now we are really in winter!!  It was 5 degrees this morning and it was tempting to stay under those covers!  Can't do that for the next three months, however, so time to face the day with a smile!!  Because we moved this year, we decided to forgo our time in Florida.  Hope we don't regret that!!

However, just one week ago we took our kayaks out on the lake.  David scoped out the docking area to make sure we wouldn't have to get into the water.  He did wear shorts and sandals just in case.  I think he thought he might have to save me and he wasn't going to ruin a good pair of tennis shoes over that!!

 

Notice the fur on the vest!!

 

 

We asked someone on the walking path to take our picture so we could prove that we kayaked in Nebraska---in December!!

We enjoyed a day with our good friends from Le Mars, Ken and Donna Kleihauer. 
Great visit and great food at Cheddars!!

 

We attended Eliya's music program earlier in the month....

 

 

And Hannah's music program a few days ago!

 

A

 

 

We enjoyed many beautiful days in November.  It was a joy to hike near Walnut Creek (less than a mile from our house).

 

 

 



We had a pie baking session with some new friends.  Lattes and pie!!  Life is very good!!

 

 

 

We had a great Thanksgving together!  Here are all six of our grandkids!!  They certainly are growing up!  Teagon is driving now!!  How could these kids be getting older while we are not!!

 

 

The kids enjoyed the pool table!!

 

 

 

The girls came over to our house at 10:00 a.m. and helped me in the kitchen until everyone arrived for our dinner at 5:30.  We had a great day.  Hannah made place cards and Eliya made menus to put on each plate.  We watched Christmas movies while we interacted in the kitchen. 

 

 

 

 

After all the tummies were full, we decided to take some pictures.  Here is our final picture---a silly one!!

Football season turned into basketball season.  Here's our Jagger who plays on the South Sioux City, NE. team.

 

 

We enjoyed the Tree Lighting Celebration in the Towne Square.  It was a perfectly beautiful night.

 

 

 

Fireworks  (Picture taken by our resident photographer--Stephanie)

 

 Santa Claus

 

Can you believe Stephanie actually got this picture??  Talk about being in the right place at the right time!! (And a few Photoshop techniques.)

 

 

And a few other characters....

 

 

 

 

Recognize these characters??  There were so many people there that Josiah found a great spot on Jared's shoulders.  He could see everyone from there.

 

 

 

 

 

The malls are decorated so beautifully this time of year and the music is delightful.  Makes for a great shopping experience.

 

Hope you are all enjoying the preparations for this special season.  We are trying to keep everything simple so we can keep our focus on the Christ Child.

 

Love, Dave and Karol

 

 

 

 

 

 

The summer clothes have gradually transitioned into the jackets, sweaters and slacks.  It's actually been a very beautiful Fall.  We try hard not to think of what follows Fall.  My family from Georgia and Florida laugh when I say that we have moved south.  They think it's not south enough!!!  We may agree with them come January!!!

In the meantime we are feeling at home in Omaha and have even ventured out beyond our neighborhood.  We still choose to do so between the hours of 9:00 and 3:00 to avoid the traffic that we are not used to......yet!!! Our city kids laugh at us!

Here are some pictures to share our October activities:

Dave, Tim and Jagger enjoyed a weekend in Minneapolis at the Vikings Game.  It was a great time!!

Those are some serious fans!!

 

 

And to top it off, the Vikings won that day!!

Hannah (7) and Eliya (10) are painting their pumpkins at the Pumpkin Fesitval

 

Josiah, too!  (Age 8)

 

 Shooting pumpkins with Grandpa and Luigi.  Great fun!!  It was a perfectly beautiful day.

 

This is our Cub Scout all ready for his camp out.  Please don't ask Dave how cold it was that night  (and he was only assigned the 6:00-9:00 shift)!!

 

 

Dave found this great bike path around Zourinsky Lake.  Ed Zourinsky was a Senator from Nebraska.  This property is gorgeous....and get this.....it's only about five miles from the Oak View Mall!!  Who knew??

 

 

It's seven miles around the lake.  That's perfect for me and Dave can always go again because it's a perfect place to read a book.

 

 

It's always fun to have friends stop by.  This is Pam Schweisow from Le Mars.  We had a great chat and a "snack" (right, Pam) at Wheatfields!!

 

 

Dave got his pool table for his "man cave."  I will have to say that it is a lot of fun!!  I do think he practices in the middle of the night, however.  How else could he win ALL the time??  The kids (of all ages) love it, so it was worth it.

 

 

 

All Husker Fans have to take a break sometime.  Here's our Jagger Tait (age 10) during half time.

 

We've met some really nice people here so we are enjoying some fun get-togethers.  We also have checked out what is happening in the Omaha area.  LOTS is happening!!   

 

We are looking forward to seeing family and friends over the holidays.  If you are in our neighborhood (anytime), give us a call.  We'd love to see you.

 

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving,

 

David and Karol