It's the most wonderful time of the year!

I love Christmas. No really, I LOOOOOOVVVVVEEEE Christmas! Everything about it brings happiness to my heart. What could be better than taking some time away from the hustle and bustle of life to celebrate the birth of Christ with family and friends? I love the food. I love the quality time. I love giving gifts. I love Santa. All of that is so much fun! But, the part of Christmas that brings the most joy is knowing that God gave us the most amazing gift by allowing His son to be born on this Earth in a manger, and because of that gift we get to celebrate every year and think about all the blessings that gift has brought us over the year. The Christmas story brings goosebumps every time I hear it. It is the most wonderful story ever told!

It has been so fun watching Sawyer get excited for Christmas this year. He likes to talk about baby Jesus and might understand a tad bit that He is the reason for the season, but at his age it is hard to grasp the whole story. However, there is one thing he has a full grasp on...SANTA! He definitely understands who the jolly guy is in the red suit. He also understands that the jolly guy is the one that is hopefully going to bring him the things he wrote on his wish list. What did he ask Santa for? Well, let me show you...

Yes, this is the official wish list that Sawyer gave Santa when he sat on his lap, and yes, he did tell me everything to put on the list. I must clarify though, there is only one thing on this list that he talks about DAILY, and that is Buzz Lightyear. If Santa doesn't bring that gift we might have a sad little boy on our hands. I sure do hope Santa comes through for us! :) We were so proud of Sawyer when he went to see Santa this year. There were no tears!! In fact, now that he has sat on his lap successfully, I think he would do it again and again. He hasn't stopped talking about Santa and his reindeer since that night!

We hope and pray that you and your family have been as blessed as we have been this past year! Wishing you a very Merry Christmas!

Loving Jesus and Waiting for Santa,

The Wilks Family

Chris's "Super" Birthday

Sawyer has been excited for Chris's birthday to arrive for a long time now because he picked out his present for him over a month ago! I took him to Kohls and told him to look for something for daddy's birthday and after walking through the store for a long long time he finally said, "that one!" He was so excited when he picked out the perfect gift. I had no choice but to buy it! It was indeed a Superman Snuggie!! One morning a couple of weeks ago Chris had on his Superman pajama pants (which I assume is why Sawyer thought he would love the Snuggie) and Sawyer said to Chris, "daddy's birthday? Superman birthday?" Little did Chris know that he was telling him what his birthday present was!

Chris's birthday weekend started out on Friday when we took Sawyer to Springfield to see Despicable Me in the theater. We got home around 9:00, put Sawyer to bed, and popped in a movie for a relaxing evening. About an hour later the doorbell rang. Chris got up, looked out the window puzzled (not a lot of people ring our doorbell out in the middle of nowhere), and said, "someone is really here." He opened the door and Ryan and Angela were standing on the other side with big smiles. I think Chris was really surpised and he was so excited to spend his birthday weekend with great friends.

When Sawyer woke up Saturday morning and I told him it was daddy's birthday he immediately went to the closet and pulled out the present. We wrapped it with care and very special sesame street paper and dog stickers. He could hardly wait for daddy to get up and open his present! He was so proud as he watched him open the very special gift!

We had a great weekend with friends and family! We are so blessed!

A Wickedly Good Time

Some might be surpised to find out that I love broadway musicals and plays of any sort. You might say that my secret ambition is to star in such a production, even though I have no singing ability at all! (it is sad, but true) So knowing this you will understand why I was SO EXCITED when my mom got us tickets to go see Wicked the musical!! I mean what could be more fun, really!?!?!
If you take out the part of the trip where I got car sick and we had to eat lunch at a greasy hamburger joint with stick on air fresheners all over the walls for decoration...it was a perfect trip and so much fun! (even the hamburger joint was fun, mostly because of Kye's comments about how horrible it was! ha ha)
From the green water to the green lights on the building to my green face from the curvy ride there, everything was "Wicked"!! I LOVED IT!!!!!

Now to start planning my next dream adventure...New York City!!

It sure is fun to be a pirate!

What a great season! We are so proud! The Pirates finished the season in the second round of state playoffs with a loss to Lee's Summit. They played their hearts out but those big city teams are tough!! It was such a fun experience!

District Champs!

Praising HIM for the big win!

WE DID IT! Pirates are District Champs for the first time since 1998!!!!! I am always proud to be a Pirate, win or lose, but it feels so good to WIN!!!!

It is not about the game, it is not about the win, it is about our God and giving Him the glory. Thank you Lord for giving us legs to run, arms to throw, minds to coach, and a heart to make a difference in kid's lives for your name's sake! Thank you Lord for taking a young man with a heart of gold and giving him the calling to go out and be a football coach and mold and shape young boys into men of Godly character who can go on the field and off the field and shine for YOU!

I am constantly amazed to see how God has worked through my dad's life to impact these boys, not just in high school, but for the rest of their lives. What a fun way to bless him!!

Team Hancock is so excited, thankful, and happy today!

Crazy Football Fun

Well last week we had a crazy game against Kickapoo (really...the refs were CRAZY!!!), but we managed to win in the last seconds with a field goal kick into the strong wind and rain! It was so exciting, frustrating, and CrAzY!!!!

We have already guaranteed ourselves a spot in the state playoffs, but a win tonight against Nixa will do 3 things...
1. Give us the District Championship Title
2. Give us a bye the first week of playoffs
3. Give us home field advantage at our first playoff game

These things are huge and would really help us out!! I am nervous and excited. I will let you know how it goes.

So now, you might ask, "What does the Hancock family do the night before a huge game like this?" Easy...we have a costume dance party to celebrate my niece's 4th birthday! It was tons of fun and my dad even took some of his nerves out on himself by painting his face and dressing up like an army man from Toy Story...hilarious! (Sawyer did not think it was hilarious at first, but he warmed up to him eventually) ha ha ha!!!