Our life is nothing short of an adventure...

Wind in our hair and screams of delight but also unpredictable turns and unknown outcomes. We are a family of six; Dave, Susie, Nate, Jake, Sam, and Bella.

God has been faithful in our marriage and through the birth and blessings of our boys.

God has been faithful during our adoption journey and united Bella with us in May of 2008. We were privileged to visit with Bella's birth mother; therefore, Bella's family in Guatemala will always be dear to our hearts.

On October 16, 2008, Bella was diagnosed with ALL Leukemia. We are now battling the disease with 2 years and 3 months of treatment. We believe God will continue to be faithful!

Our family is committed to living life to the fullest...even on the hard days. Thank you for checking in and journeying with us!


Thursday, January 1, 2009

Trolly, Santa and Update

"For unto us a child is born". It truly in mind boggling to me that God himself would leave His holy throne, and submit himself to not only the life of a human, but to start at the very beginnings of earthly life...and humbly I might add. When I truly think about this truth, I realize just how loving and truly understanding my heavenly Father is. He lived this life, he felt our hurts, sorrow, joy and fear. He knows what we are up against, and He set himself to set things straight. It's easy to get wrapped up in the "American" tradition of Christmas....Santa, gifts, hustle and bustle, too much money spent, too many sweets eaten, Christmas music in stores before Halloween in efforts to push spending....its ok to celebrate Christmas this way, my family does too. Some of us want to focus on the spiritual side of Christmas, but truly, the real meaning of Christmas is a day to be celebrated the whole year through. Not just on one day of the year, but every minute of every day of our lives. In all honesty, I find it much easier to teach my children the love of Christ on a daily basis than on this one month of th year that is filled with so many distractions. So every year, my family celebrates the greatest gift given and received, Jesus...but we also celebrate the gift of living in this country and all the traditions that come with it. And we spend daily life taking the gift of Christ and glorifying our heavenly Father to the best of our ability.


I can't even believe its been over a week since I last posted. I can not let myself get this behind again, its too hard to catch up! Our holiday season was wonderful, we celebrated Christmas with my family on the 21st complete with a catored dinner from a Tapas restaurant, gifts for the children, Adult Yankee Swap (I highly recommend this, we laughed a lot) and ended it with a 2 hour Surprise Trolly Ride through the streets of Grand Rapids singing Christmas Carols, delivering gifts to a less fortunate family and checking out the major Christmas light display at our very own minor league baseball field, the "White Caps". It was a very snowy night, it could not have been more magical.

Christmas Eve was spent with just the 6 of us. We went to Christmas Eve Service, out to Dinner and then home for games, jammies and cookies for Santa. I am as excited as my kids for Christmas morning, I rarely get more than 2 hours of sleep if any. This year was no exception...I finally fell asleep at 6 am and my boys were up at 7 am jumping on our bed. Our rule is 7 am. Bella was a little confused but woke up rather quilkly. The boys were thrilled with their gifts but a little disappointed Santa did not bring a Wii. Then I pointed out the tiny gift under the tree that they missed and the race was on. Santa had sent them on a treasure hunt through out the house looking for a gift. As it turns out, our family did receive a Wii and a Wii Fit....santa left clues in all of our bedrooms and we found the big box in the basement! I am not an electronic game player, but I love this system....rediculously fun and entertaining. My family actually got together the day after Christmas and had a Wii bowling tournament.

We spent New Years home, quietly. Bella had chemo that morning and both of us were wore out.

I am so happy to see that all of you had such a wonderful holiday season as well. Praying for health, prosperity and joy for all of you this 2009.

Blessings to all!

I just thought this was so funny! 27 pairs of boots lined up at my parents in preparation for the "Surprise Event"....the Trolley Ride


All aboard the "Polar Express"!


My Mom "Grandma Nance" and Great Grandma Betty


My sister Mary, brother Peter, Nate and Bella


Sam and Dave on the Trolley


Bella and her favorite Uncle, Peter


Snow Princess



My Dad and Joe Joe


Niece Morgan and my Jake


Aunt Erin, nieces Emma and Lauren





Dave and I



The Fam....after a 2 hour fun filled Trolley Ride!




The typical "Cry Picture"....everyone needs one of these


I know I shouldnt laugh...but it was a little funny


Every year my Mom makes all the grandchildren their Christmas jammies, this is a picture of all the girls...unfortunately, I did not get a picture of the boys in their matching blue snowflake jammies.


Jake on the Wii Fit. Ha!


Bella checking out Sammy's ipod


Santa Came! I am thinking its a midwestern tradition to wrap all the gifts and a southern tradition to put the gifts under the tree unwrapped. Its been fun to visit everyone's blog sites and see the differences.


Christmas Eve after Dinner

19 comments:

Michelle Riggs said...

Wonderful pictures of a beautiful family. I love your Christmas traditions.

Praying for you and for Bella.

Alex and Sam said...

Susie,
it looks like your family had a wonderful holiday.. happy & healthy new year!! praying for Bella everyday

alex

Anonymous said...

aww what great holiday traditions you have!!!!

Bella and the boys are just sooo precious!

Happy New year,Leslie

Robyn said...

What great pics!! Happy New Year!!

The Adoption Journey of Baby King said...

Beautiful family! The trolly ride sounds like great fun. What a wonderful way to spend it with your family!

Happy New Year!

Praying for you and your family everyday and watching your blog for updates.

Jaimee said...

Love the pictures, the shoe one is priceless. Bella looks so happy and you all look like you had a wonderful Christmas. I think of and pray for you guys all the time and I hope 2009 brings you many blessings. Happy new year!

-Jaimee

Pam and Greg said...

I've been following your Ferrick family blog for a while now and praying for Bella's progress over time...what a blessing to read your New Year's update and all the many ways the Lord has answered prayers for your family.. we'll continue to keep Bella and the entire family in our prayers in year ahead!

Courtney said...

Love Bella's Christmas outfit. I also love the cry picture. What a beautiful little snow princess. Glad you had a nice holiday. Trolly ride looks like a blast. I check your blog daily but have not commented. We still think about Bella and your family, we continue to pray for you. Maybe we will meet in 2009.....I am blessed you are my friend. Courtney

Amanda said...

It looks like you had a beautiful Christmas exactly as you should-- with your family. What fun!! The trolley ride and the snow and the magic of spending time together. I love it. I know you had a wonderful time reflecting on this past year and enjoying your blessings.

Much love,
Amanda, Ed and Gabi

demp5 said...

Susie,
It looks like your family had a wonderful time! Bella is so beautiful in her white coat!! Praying for perfect health in 2009.
Love,
Meghan

Cheri said...

I can't believe I missed the trolley ride! I have never done that! I LOVED all the boots in the picture...I wish you'd have gotten one of all the HATS! I've never seen so many winter hats in one place in my life! The Michigan life you lead....FASHION FIRST! Love!

Tracey said...

A Trolley Ride...Awesome! Looks like a blast! Love all the pics, the girls in their jammies was the best!!! So glad Bella is doing well:) Praying for her daily.

Mary Ann said...

Great Pictures! Looks like you all had a wonderful Christmas!!!

Stacy said...

Wow what a fun Christmas!! That tapas restaurant wouldn't happen to be San Chez would it? That is my favorite restaurant!! Anyway so glad to see Bella having fun~except for the Santa thing!!
Looking forward to seeing you soon!
~Stacy

Mama Bear said...

It was so much fun seeing all the pictures and reading about al the traditions. Thanks so very much for sharing them.

The gFamily said...

It sounds like you had a magical Christmas! I love all the boots by the door! A large family just makes Christmas even more special and fun!!

Bella looked beautiful in all her Christmas dresses!! I love the family pic! You have such a beautiful family!

Praying for Bella! Big hugs to all of you!!

jajbs said...

Sounds like it was a FUN time. I so wish we got snow in the south so that our kiddos could experience the magic! I never thought about it, but it does seem to be a southern thing to put the gifts unwrapped under the tree!@

Praying for your family!!!

amanda

Jaime said...

You have a beautiful family (as well as extended family!)

Looks like you had a wonderful Christmas!

Ashton said...

Bella is SO cute! Great pictures! Thanks for coming by my blog! I went to your sons blog and he is an amazing writer!