Happy Thanksgiving!

We have enjoyed some wonderful days with our daughter, making some fun memories together.  She totally surprised us in coming up here and with her work schedule it does not look like she will be back in Ontario until August.  So it was a special treat to have her home.  This morning we headed to Buffalo to take her to the airport.  (How thankful we are that we did not get the big dumping of snow that parts of Ontario did.)  Ruth is now back home and so are we.  Tomorrow we will wake up and it will seem like a dream, and we will have to ask ourselves, was she really here.  What an extra special Thanksgiving it has been!

Thanksgiving Eve

Since Ruth was going to be leaving on Thanksgiving we had our Thanksgiving Celebration last night.  We enjoyed having family and friends over.  It was also special to celebrate Leo's 1st. birthday.  Many of you have been praying for his little heart.  How thankful we are for how well he is doing.

Engagement Party

It has been a fun filled weekend.  Besides our daughter surprising us, Elisha was able to come here for the weekend.  It was fun to hear how Zachary proposed and to hear how the wedding plans are coming along.  Sunday we had a family dinner celebrating their engagement. 

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Saturday morning Ruth surprised us by coming home for a visit!  WOW!  What a WONDERFUL surprise!  It snowed all day so when we put our Christmas tree up in the evening, it was feeling like Christmas.  It was so fun to have Ruth, Zachary, Elisha, and Aurora here to help.  Aurora definitely added a lot of excitement.  She especially enjoyed dancing around the Christmas tree.  It was our family tradition in Venezuela to put up the Christmas tree and sleep by the tree that night.  This year it was a special treat to have Aurora enjoy that family tradition with us.

Happy 99th Birthday!

It was with great joy that our family celebrated my Grandmother's 99th birthday.  My grandmother is an amazing woman and what a privilege it was to honor her.  She has been one of my biggest cheerleaders in life and how I thank the Lord for her!

Engaged!

We are very happy to announce that this afternoon Zachary proposed to Elisha, and she said YES!  We are super excited for them!  Congratulations Zachary and Elisha!  We are praying for wisdom and direction as to where God would have you settle to start your new life together.   Enjoy these exciting days and may your love for each other grow deeper each day!

Open Market

Last night we had another MK Orientation night in which we had a little open market.  All the children had money in which they could buy anything they wanted at the market.  One of the vendors spoke Indonesian and the other one Spanish.  It gave the children an opportunity to do a little bit of bartering which was a little bit challenging since they do not speak Indonesian or Spanish.  However, I think all the children enjoyed their "open market" experience".  Although there was some candy the kids could buy, I know one boy was pretty happy with the pineapple he was able to buy.  

There will be so many challenges ahead of these future M.K.'s as they head into a new culture and language.  However, we know many children pick up a new language quickly and effortlessly as they connect with other children and adults in their host country doing fun things like playing on the play ground, and playing soccer.  Children also open up so many relationships for their parents.  When we arrived to Venezuela and were learning Spanish so many people would stop and talk to us because they loved our kids.  Please pray for these children and the adjustments ahead of them and they soon will be entering a new culture and language.

Let the Baking Begin!

This afternoon I went in to pick up our mail and there was a card in my mail box saying I had a package at the post office.  When I saw who the package was from I was so excited I was actually giggling in the post office.  The package was from a dear friend in Chicago who does a lot of baking all summer at our church camp.  She also blesses college students with care packages of baked goodies.  She has shared a few recipes with me before and they are always really yummy ones.  Well she sent me a HUGE bag of chocolate chips along with these other goodies and a whole bunch of her "special" recipes!  Anyone who knows me, knows how much I LOVE to bake and here on the campus I always have a lot of people to bake for.  So this care package was like speaking my love language.  WOW!  Thank-you God for blessing my live which such special people!

Caring for M.K.'s

With Thanksgiving and Christmas around the corner it can be a hard time for M.K.'s who might really be missing their parents.  Today I had the joy of baking up several batches of cookies to send to some college M.K.'s whose parents are overseas.  This month many people on face book are going through what they are thankful for.  Are you thankful for the missionaries faithfully serving overseas?  One of the ways you can bless your missionaries is for caring for their children.  Why not adopt an MK this Christmas and send them a care package or gift card.  Let them know someone is thinking of them.

Passing on the Poof

That's right, Vern has passed on the Poof.   Elisha has successfully mastered the art of the poof.  :)