Christmas Happenings

Of course getting ready for Christmas is just as fun as the day itself! We decorated although no tree this year as we kinda needed a new one and I was thinking we would be in Texas this year and I would get one there but it didn't work out as I had thought. Oh well, we still loved our decorations!!

The church was the first Christmas decoration that Dave ever bought me!

Forgive the messy table in the background. We were cleaning and baking that day :P

One of our favorite things to do is to do our advent calendar which is quite unique. It is a beautiful Fontanini set and each day you hang a new piece on the nativity with the last piece being baby Jesus on Christmas Eve. Our kids get so excited to do this every year!

We also enjoyed some baking this year as well. Well, Kira and I enjoyed baking, Andrew just enjoyed licking the beaters :).

One of the most fun things that we were able to do this year was that Dave was able to Skype with us through his phone and allow us to be a part of the GFA staff Christmas party. We don't have any pictures but the memories remain as he carried his phone to just about every table and allowed us to say Hi and Merry Christmas to everyone. It was wonderful because I was having a really hard time that day not being there and just missing Dave. It truly made my night!!

And then there is Samson who just enjoyed lounging on the couch with the remote in his paw without a care in the world ;)

Christmas Photo Shoot

I love taking pictures of the kids and Christmas time is no exception. I love finding new places to take their Christmas pictures too :) Last year was the park and this year was the beach. I figured this was the last Christmas we would live close to a beach so it would be fun to capture some fun photos of the kids. They really have a hard time at first getting in the mood but by the end of the pictures, they are all into it and telling me to take a picture here or let's try here - they really are amazing children and I love them with all my heart!! So without any further anticipation, here is their 2011 Christmas photo shoot :)

Festival of Lights

Usually the first few nights after Dave leaves for Texas are the hardest for all of us. In order to help with this, I decided to take the kids to the Holiday Festival of Lights for a fun time together.

We took Andrew's best friend, James with us and we all had a blast!

Every other year we have gone, we have gone during a day that was closer to Christmas. This year we went right after Thanksgiving and it was great. We also went early on in the night. We drove through with literally no traffic at all.

After driving and seeing the lights, I surprised the kids and took the train ride through the county park for a closer look at all the lights.

It was a ton of fun but I must say the most fun was stopping and roasting marshmallows and making smores.

Yum, Yum, Yummy!!

If you look real close, you can see the flame on Andrew's marshmallow ;)

Thanksgiving

We got a wonderful surprise when GFA had offered to help Dave get home for Thanksgiving - we were soooo excited!! Of course there was much preparation to be done and the kids were very willing to help, well at least at first :)

Dave came in on Wednesday night and spent the whole Thanksgiving holiday with us. He left again on Monday to head back but we were so happy for the special time we had. Of course as the man of the house, he had to carve the yummy turkey ;)

We enjoyed a super yummy homemade dinner with a turkey that I brined which in my opinion is the best way to prepare a turkey!

We also enjoyed some family time which we so desperately needed!!

And we even were able to get a quick family photo - our first one in almost 2 years!! Crazy!

14 years and counting....

Dave and I do not really get to go on a date very often. As a matter of fact, the kids and I were talking about it the other day that it has been over 2 years since we have hired a babysitter. Crazy, I know!! We decided that for our 14th anniversary (which was September 6th - yes, a very late post, I know) that it would be wonderful to do one last little getaway before we headed to GFA (which happened a lot sooner than we thought, more on that later).

We have been blessed with a couple of wonderful neighbors here and they were very willing to watch our kids over the long Labor Day weekend while we went away.

We decided to rent a cabin in Tennessee which was gorgeous! It truly was an amazing time together and something we so desperately needed :). Little did we know that it would last much longer than a weekend. About our 3rd climb up the mountain our lovely powerful GMC Yukon XL would struggle to make it's way up. I remember Dave saying that all these little tiny cars were passing us to go up the mountain and how he felt so silly that here he was in the big truck and it couldn't make it ;).

Well, if you remember earlier in this post, it was Labor Day weekend. Yep you guessed it - not a mechanic in sight (or for that matter out of sight) was open. I had a friend in the area who I had not seen in years but was thinking it would be nice to stop by - A huge thank you goes out to Tanya and Dave for not just allowing us to stop by but for them helping to try and get the truck fixed since by this time, it could not even make it up a driveway :(. Unfortunately after some work by Dave and Dave, the truck was still not working correctly. We decided to say thank you and head on our way to try and rent a car and wait to take the car to a mechanic on Tuesday since there were none open until then.

Dave and I traveled about 25mph in the truck to the nearest rental car place but wouldn't you know it? They had closed early for the holiday. By this time, we were at a loss - the closest rental car place open was at the airport and that was over 45min away and that was traveling the speed limit. Sweet Dave and Tanya got a phone call once again and they were more than willing to help. We dropped the truck off at a shop to sit until Tuesday and Dave drove us to the airport to pick up our rental.

But wait, the kids????? and the dog????? Since the kids were staying at a neighbor's house, they were coming home to take care of Samson. What now? Pat and Kim (our neighbors) had to work on Tuesday and their kids had school. Another phone call to our friends who we know homeschool and our kids were taken care of. And the dog, another call to another neighbor and Samson was all set too.

Oh, there was still this little problem of where we were going to stay since we were supposed to leave the cabin Monday -- another call and a huge discount and a couple more days and the our cabin remained ours!

In all of this, I struggled. What was God doing? Were we wrong in being selfish and wanting to spend time together? As we sat and prayed, it wasn't about us (and I thank my husband of 14 years for showing that to me). God had orchestrated all of this for something He had planned, something we would have never known about if it were not for our truck breaking down. He allowed me to have a friend in the area that even though we had not seen each other in over 20 years, they were willing to show love and friendship to us. He gave us neighbors and friends that were selfless and willing to help. He did not allow the cabin to be booked for the extra days that He knew we needed it. It is in these times that we need to know, none of this happend by coincidence - we know and serve a God who is sovreign in ALL things!! A lesson I for sure needed to learn and realize it's not always about me!

In the end, it wound up being the catalytic converter that broke on the truck and it was fixed and we came home on Wednesday - 2 days later than planned but I praise God because those 2 days mean the world to me now and God knew it and why we needed it even before we did! As it turned out, just 2 months later Dave would leave for GFA without us (more on that later).

This post would not be complete without a huge thank you to our neighbors and friends -- The Johnson's, Mrs. Cookie Lindsay, The Henderson's, and of course Dave and Tanya!

Playing catch-up...

Well, I will try to compile a post that incorporates the last few weeks of October as well as the beginning of November (I mean I cant rightfully start the New year without finishing up 2011, can I? :P)

We did not expect the call we got in October to put the house on the market and get ready to come to GFA. In a matter of a week, the house was up for sale - crazy, I know but we had been landscaping and preparing knowing that one day this would come :)

The rest of October and November consisted of a bunch of meetings for us for support-raising. We spoke at our own church, traveled to a church in Seabrook Island, SC, also spoke at a church in Aiken, SC, and went to Tennessee and spoke at a church there. We were also thrilled to be a part of a large missions conference in Myrtle Beach as well. I think it was more of a blessing to us than we were to them ;). God is good and has continued to raise our support and we give Him all the glory.

A few weeks after the first call to put the house on the market, we received another call from our mentors and leaders at GFA that they really needed Dave there to help in the IT department. After much prayer and consideration, we knew this was God's leading. On November 9th, without me or the kids in tow, Dave made the long 17 hour journey to Carrollton, TX to work in the home office at Gospel for Asia. The kids and I wait here for the house to sell and then we will join him there. I resigned from my job in the neonatal ICU on November 17th and now am a stay at home mom to the kids. I continue to seek out churches and pastors and schedule more meetings for support since we are not 100% supported yet.

Please continue to pray for us as it is hard being away from each other but we know this is God's calling on our lives and we just want to do our part to help bring others to Him even if that means a small sacrifice on our part.

So as you can see, it has been a whirlwind the last few months and that is why this blog has suffered. For the one or two of you that actually may read it, thanks for being patient with me ;).

A special visit to our door!

We love homeschooling - sure it has not been easy at times but we have had a lot of fun this year doing it. There are some great benefits that can occur when you homeschool, like having the kids be able to go to the door one special morning (note, Kira is still in her pj's) and get a surprise visit from some of the locals in the area. It was great fun and the kids had a blast feeding the baby ducks. Who needs textbooks when you have a whole world of learning right outside your door? (Actually, I desperately need the textbooks, just was having some fun with ya :P)