Enjoying our Christmas gifts....

We have enjoyed putting together several puzzles together as a family. The kids have also been enjoying their new paints!

I should also get a picture of Alanna playing with her Polypockets and Pet Shop animals. She LOVES those!

We could have glued this puzzle together, but we decided that we would rather enjoy doing it together every Christmas! Its beautiful!

Day after Christmas at the Beach

Over 20 of us headed for the beach on Saturday! It was the perfect day for sand and sun! I did get in the water for a bit and jumped the waves with Kristina. But it just wasn't hot enough - I preferred the warm sand. :) Others swam quite a bit though - it was pretty nice for December!

Day after Christmas at the Beach, cont.

Happy 9th Birthday Brianna!!

Happy Birthday to Brianna,

Happy Birthday to you!!!!

:)

Instead of a party with all her friends this year, Brianna chose to work down at the Seminary construction site!! It was Daddy's idea - but Brianna was all for it! :)

Of course - we didn't get any pictures of the kids working at the site. But, here's some pics of later that day. We did take some time to celebrate her special day!

Then, later that evening, we had a houseful for a special Christmas Eve candlelight service and fellowship. It was beautiful!

Mama's first evening here and Kristina snuggled right up to her! :) All the kids are thrilled that Grandma made it! We had 4 days of rain - and MAMA's plane was late due to the low cloud cover here in Cape-Haitian. At 4:00 the clouds lifted and the sun began to shine-for the first time since Saturday!!! We were rejoicing! :)

The kids (all 4 of them) are working with Brett this morning at the Seminary site. There are still lots of finishing touches to be done before the dedication of the new Seminary in a few weeks. Sylove, their babysitter, and the Folkeringa family (3 wonderful teenage boys) are with them - so I am sure that they are well looked after. :)

We are thrilled to have the Folkeringa family back in Haiti with us for a week! We enjoyed a wonderful time having them over for supper last night followed by Legos and indoor "Hide and Seek". It was a LOT of fun!!! :)

This afternoon we are heading to the airport to pick up MAMA. The kids are excited about grandma coming! :) Of course Brett & I are too - but the kids show it a bit more .... they were announcing it quite loudly first thing this morning! :)

The kids are enjoying their Christmas break! We are also joyful about the return of the Hubele family this week. They are farmers from southern Illinois (great place! :) who come to help us in MANY ways and then return home for planting season.

What a joy it is to have Rachel just next door to pop over and talk to! The kids are enjoying having their playmates back! :) And Brett is grateful for not only John's friendship, but also having another man on the field to help fix things!!