A Merry Christmas

I will try to post pictures and videos soon, but wanted to update blog for Christmas. Israel, Kristie and I made special Christmas sugar cookies and sent them to Israel's preschool to share with the kids. All the kids and the teachers gave Israel special Christmas cards. That was really special.

On Christmas morning, Israel and Elijah enjoyed opening their gifts, favorites being a kitchen set for Israel and a bongo drum set and guitar for Elijah. We ate Pumkpin pancakes for breakfast and then did Advent Calendar. Our friends came over...we had 2 from our STINT team (Chad and Rhesia) and a family Todd, Karen and their 2 little ones Bethany and Josh. I made a Christmas dinner and Karen brought some food to contribute. Rhesia brought a juice from St. Vincent where she is from. The chicken wasn't done in time so we just ate sides. Todd made a Happy Birthday Jesus cake and we sang to him and the kids blew out the candles. We Skyped all day with family. We took an evening walk through Bascarsija. We put the kids to bed and then Josh and I watched Elf. It was still funny, but not nearly as funny without other people.

I really missed the States yesterday, but there was something special about just being together as a family, especially in the morning when we did Advent...Josh read Jesus' birth story, crucifixion, resurrection, and coming back stories from our awesome Children's Bible (The Big Picture Story Bible.) That was probably my favorite part of the day.

My family is coming on Monday, excited about that! Merry Christmas everyone!

Protector of Truth?

So ever since Elijah was born I prayed that he would be a great protector of truth since his name means "My God is Jehovah" and his middle name (William) means "Protector". I think he's living up to his name. He is constantly wanting to read the Bible, and Josh quizzes him on Bible stories...He remembers all the details and LOVES to read Bible stories.

I'm so thankful for my little boy. If you haven't already, you really need to watch the video of him dancing. It's the top video on the left side of our blog. It will make you smile and probably laugh.

SNOW!

We have so much snow right now. Check out the new videos we posted. we took the kids sledding today with our friends Irma and Djordje, they had a great time. We will post more videos when we download them to Youtube.

After sledding we went to a Christmas bazzaar where we tasted 100% Apple Juice (no water added) and I bought a bottle. We had lunch at an Italian place. Then went home for a nap.

Tonight we attended the Couch's annual Christmas party. Sang Christmas songs and ate lots of goodies. We had a great time. I think the cutest thing was watching Israel and Elijah play with Esther's 2 little boys, Henry and Julian. They were so sweet together. Then during the Christmas singing, Israel sang "Away In a Manger" for everyone. Last year at Janelle's party she sang it for everyone too. I think this is becoming a tradition!

We enjoyed a car ride home with Tom and Kristie, and now the kids are very quietly sleeping. They were worn out from the busy day!

Enjoy the videos!

Christmas Team party

Here's our team (minus Ceca) by our Christmas tree!

We had a great Christmas party last night. We did a "Secret Santa" gift exchange and had a wonderful meal. Griffin made chicken stuffed with zucchini and I made salad. Andrew made mashed potatoes, Chad made brownies, Rhesia brought feta cheese for the salad and Ice cream. We also celebrated Rhesia's birthday. Griffin put together a book of letters from her closest friends and family. Israel stayed up late and ate an entire chocolate Santa Claus.

Thanksgiving

Hey everyone. Sorry for the long break between posts! We had a lovely thanksgiving with our friends, the Brents who live in Split, Croatia. First, we went to Mostar and stayed at the Bible School there. We met with several pastors and the leader of the Bible school and his family. The kids enjoyed playing in their AWESOME playroom.

Then we loved celebrating Thanksgiving with the Brents. Josh met the Brents his 2nd STINT year in Split 10 years ago. They have 3 little girls so our kids were in Heaven. Our dinner was just like American Thanksgiving dinner. I got to make my Nannie's sweet potato casserole and Griffin's chocolate cake. Another family joined us with 3 little boys, so we had a house full of children (8!)