today hazel is a month old. she has been such a blessing to our family.

here are some pictures of her over the last month.

trying to wake up one morning when Mimi (my mom) was holding her. mama came and stayed a few days a couple of weeks ago.

hazel and i with brian's grandfather, who we visited Thanksgiving weekend.

napping with daddy

sunday morning bath. she likes baths a little more now.



there is always someone willing to hold her

dressed for the cold weather that blew in on sunday

she is still not sleeping well at all. since she is always in someone's arms during the day, she thinks she should be as well in the night. she won't sleep anywhere but right up next to Brian or me, and she makes all sorts of noises in her sleep, keeping us from getting a decent night's sleep.

Brian and i have been really sick for the past few days. we've had fever and chest colds and have just been miserable. i got sick first, so Brian was able to take care of me. but then he got sick, so now we're pretty worthless together.

despite feeling awful, we attempted a family picture on sunday. it's what you call keepin it real in the Wells family - tired looking parents who both had fevers, John with water all over his shirt because he had been sent to wash his face right before the picture, a cross eyed baby, Lucy with electric eyes....

we're not going to use it for our christmas card though. we're going to attempt some more picture this weekend when (hopefully) everyone is feeling better.

and one more picture...

hazel watching her first Charlie Brown Christmas. she was fascinated by it!

the past month has gone by so fast. it seems like it took november forever to get here, and then in a blink it was gone.

other news....

we've still been plodding along with school, though this week we've been rather sloppy with our lessons since i've been sick. i think we'll continue doing our lessons all the way up to the weekend of christmas to make up for lessons missed this month. we have some fun activities that we plan to do. i'm going to let them each make gingerbread houses represent things they're reading about in literature. it should be a whole lot of messy fun. we also plan to have a feast to go along with our history studies, which, for Margaret and Samuel would be a Roman feast, and for John and William, a colonial feast.

yesterday we went to the funeral of a dear man and his wife. Jackson and Barbara Boyett were killed in a head on collision last week. Jackson was our pastor for a couple of years during a pivotal point in our lives. i went to his little church, Dayspring Chapel, with my parents before Brian and i got married. brian and i did marriage counseling with Jackson. i can still recall some of the words of wisdom he offered us. he had us read through R.C. Sproul's Intimate Marriage. Jackson was the one who introduced us to reform theology and really got us to think. his sermons were so good and stirred you up to want to dig deep into the Word.

Jackson married Brian and i, wearing a Geneva robe and using the Book of Common Prayer, which to two kids who grew up charismatic and southern baptist, seemed so retro-cool.

it seems such a tragedy to lose such a wonderful couple as the Boyetts, but there is comfort in knowing that they both died together, not leaving one behind to grieve, and knowing that they are both now rejoicing in the presence of the Lord.

here is the obituary that ran in the Statesman a couple of days ago -

Jackson and Barbara Boyett On November 29, 2011, the Lord saw fit to call home his devoted servants, Ernest Jackson Boyett, Jr. and Barbara Diane Buis Boyett. Jackson, as he was called, and Barbara died in a head-on auto collision just west of Austin on Highway 290. Jackson was born in Austin on July 5, 1947, the son of Ernest Jackson Boyett, Sr., and Sylvia Bolt Boyett of Junction, Texas. Barbara was born in Angleton, Texas, on March 20, 1947, and was the daughter of Reid Buis and Aleen Whittaker Buis of Angleton, Texas. Jackson and Barbara were graduates of the University of Texas, both holding Bachelor of Arts degrees in English Literature. Jackson graduated with a Master of Divinity degree from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary in 1976. After working in a variety of ministries, Jackson began a Bible study group that grew into Dayspring Fellowship located at 5500 Avenue G in Austin, Texas. Jackson was also a friend, counselor, teacher and former chairman of the board of To Every Tribe Ministries in Los Fresnos, Texas, and a board member of Providence Theological Seminary in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He and Barbara were both active in the Right to Life movement in Austin. Jackson and Barbara loved their Lord Jesus Christ. They loved Dayspring Fellowship, and they loved Texas, especially Austin. Jackson's father had served for a time as personal secretary to Governor Coke Stevenson and as Sergeant at Arms for the House of Representatives. Jackson is survived by his stepmother, Frances Boyett of Austin, a stepbrother Ben Lindsay and family of Austin, Trent Wilson and family, Dannie Bolt and family, Carolyn Bolt Moore and family, Buddy Bolt and family, his cousins, all of Junction, Texas. Barbara is survived by her brother Kenneth B. Logan of Portland, Oregon, and her cousins Shirley Miller of Alpharetta, Georgia; Gwen Howard of Shreveport, Louisiana; Dorothea LaGrone of Carthage, Texas; Karen Simpson of Naples, Florida; Lanny Latil of Beaumont, Texas; Linda Holbrook of Lake Charles, Louisiana; and Jean Adams of Tyler, Texas. We would be remiss not to mention their cats whom they loved: Sophie, Phoebe and Zachary. Visitation will be held at Weed-Corley-Fish Funeral Home, 2620 South Congress Ave. on Monday, December 5, from 6:00 until 8:00 pm. Funeral services will be conducted by Weed-Corley-Fish Funeral Home at High Pointe Baptist Church, 12030 Dessau Road, Austin, Texas on Tuesday, December 6, at 10:00am. Burial will be in the Junction City Cemetery, Junction, Texas, on Tuesday, December 6 at 3:30 p.m. Flowers may be sent to Weed-Corley-Fish Funeral Home at the above location. Donations in lieu of flowers may be sent to the Jackson and Barbara Boyett Memorial Fund at Dayspring Chapel, 5500 Avenue G, Austin, Texas 78751

well, baby is calling for me.