Very sad night at the Marshall Household. The neighbor dogs (three large Rotweillers) broke through the fence and poor, sweet Charlotte was attacked and killed. (I'll spare you the gory details. Just trust me when I say that it wasn't pretty.) Thankfully, she was at peace and didn't struggle or cry out. Matt had the horrible task of relieving her of her suffering, but we're pretty sure that she passed just before he actually did. I hate to throw around the word "traumatizing", but that's really the only word that truly fits what we went through. The only blessing we can glean from this is that we're pretty sure she had cancer and would have suffered more from that in the near future. God was sparing us worse heartache, I think.
As a farm kid, I have seen lots of death -- not so much for my husband and kids -- but experience doesn't make it any easier. We will all grieve her loss. She was very loved and will be sorely missed. There's a small, furry void in our house, now.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the Marshall Boys!

It was a quiet day for us. The boys got up, made us coffee, and attacked their stockings while Matt and I dragged ourselves out of bed. We then started breakfast and the boys opened gifts (Matt and I open our gifts to each other the night before, after the boys go to bed). They made out like thieves, as usual. I had a headache most of the day, and Matt had to work the next day, so we just kind of laid around and relaxed. Had a ham dinner and then went to bed. It was just perfect.

Drew's First Piano Recital & Rob's Baptism

Today was a super busy day! First, it was Drew's first piano recital at church, then the Christmas Children's Program, then Rob's baptism. Later that day, Drew had a SECOND recital at another church. Needless to say, we all slept well that night! What a blessed day!

Rob's baptism was so sweet. This kid has been persistent and inquisitive about his salvation for at least a year or two. By the Grace and Work of God, despite us, he got saved this summer and has been pestering us to get baptized for months. It's so special that Matt got to baptize him.

Drew started piano lessons mid-November and picked it up FAST. He loves it so much!