Within a few hours our Granddaughter Aurora will be turning 8. We will be on a road trip to a family wedding so we celebrated her birthday yesterday. I told Aurora I was going to take her on a birthday date. We could either spend the afternoon at my house or I could take her out to do something. She picked to come over for the afternoon. I arrived to pick up Aurora in the birthday mobile. Since balloons make the world a happier place I filled the back seat up with balloons. We had a fun afternoon doing several different activites making some great memories together.
Aurora is an amazing girl. She has such a wonderfully sweet spirit with a love for life and all the people in it. With such a sensitive and tender heart she makes the world a happier place. We thank the Lord for the precious gift that Aurora is to our family.
Happy 8th Birthday Aurora! Have a great new year ahead. Keep bubbling over with that joy and happiness that is inside of you!
Every Wednesday morning we have a Fellowship group in our home which is made up of staff and students. It is a good time of connecting, getting to know each other better, and to cheer each other on spiritually. I have REALLY enjoyed our group this fall and I will miss our times together. Our last Wednesday of the semester we had a bit of a party. I got some props together to get some fun pictures taken as we made one last memory together as a group. Here are a few of the pictures.
Ten days ago we made a road trip to Chicago. We had just been through quite a snow storm the day before and all our roads had been closed. However, we miss out on so many family events we really wanted to make it to Chicago for my family's Christmas party. We are thankful for the safety God gave us on the roads. About 12 hours after getting into the city we were quite excited to pick Titus up at the airport. We had not seen him since we dropped him off at school the middle of August.
With coming from a large family of 15 children it is close to impossible for everyone's schedules to work out to be together. However, there were 13 of us 15 siblings that were able to make it to the party. With all of the spouses and children we were a pretty good crowd. It was a special joy this year that Seth & Camille and family and Caleb & Kristina and family were also able to make it to the party. For my parents to be able to see their great grandchildren was a special treat. Also, since I had three of our children in Venezuela my siblings missed out on seeing some of our children as babies. I loved that the extended family was able to enjoy getting to know our grandchildren.
One highlight of Christmas Eve was building a HUGE snowman. Vern, Caleb, Titus, and all the grandchildren but Gavin enjoyed playing in the snow. The snow was a bit heavy so I was worried the men would pull out their backs. I think they did an awesome job on "Frosty". Vern, Caleb Aurora, Gideon and Jeremiah also went sledding which they all really enjoyed.
