We had an amazing time with friends and family. As I mentioned before, exhausting but amazing. God truly blessed the time we had with our family. We enjoyed not traveling and having family travel to us. It was a blessing to come around Derek's sister and her children as they are going through a difficult time right now. It was so neat to have them all here in our home. Enjoy the photos as I try to recap all the happenings of the last two weeks...
UGLY SWEATER PARTY...ACTUALLY UGLY EVERYTHING!
We had the most hilarious time we have had in a very long time. Derek and I decided to throw an "Ugly Sweater Party" and it was too fun. We were so surprised that everyone got into it as much as they did. We said ugly from head to toe...and..we will let you be the judge. Speaking of judge, we all put some money in for a prize and then voted on the "Ugliest". Congrats to Kristy S. for clinching the title. The trophy is picture below. We all agreed that it is now a traveling trophy as this may be a annual event. We enjoyed tons of food, laughter until our cheeks hurt and a white elephant gift exchange {see nasty gifts below}...
{we should have used this one for our Christmas card this year!}
VISIT FROM GRANDPA JIM AND GRANDMA CHERI{as well as all of our other guests but I blogged about them already!}
We had a wonderful time, as always, with our Grandpa and Grandma. They bring us so much joy when we get to spend time with them. They came in on the Sunday after Christmas and we were ALL here together for one day- all 15 of us. After everyone else took off Monday morning we straightened up the house got ready and then had our Christmas together. It was so fun to open gifts, talk and laugh. We had nowhere else to be. After we were all done and the girls had played for awhile with their new toys we went to Yaos for lunch. It was yummy. We are thankful for our parents and how they love and support our family. What a blessing.
PRINCESS TEA PARTY
Kirstin had a tea party for all the "little ladies" in her life the week after Christmas. She was sweet and invited myself and the girls but also my mom. We had a nice time visiting, sipping tea all dressed up and playing games!
CAST OFF FOR ADAH LOU
Adah had a cast on for about two weeks for a possible fracture in her heal. I was totally amazed at how little she complained. I learned a lot about my little girl in two weeks time. They put a cast on to help her slow down. If you know her at all, it didn't work! She got it off last Thursday and she is doing quite well. She is gaining the strength back very quickly. She is very glad to have it gone, though.
What a great Christmas. We covered a lot of ground. Some of my favorite moments that were not captured on film{now it's digital}:
*Starting Christmas morning with praise and worship and prayer
*Sledding with all the kids{7 of the 8} by myself- I even drove the 15 passenger van!
*Going to the Leigh Yawkey Museum to see the candy exhibit and then paying a visit to Sugar Ray's {a new old fashion candy store in town}
*Worshipping on Christmas eve and Sunday morning as a family
*deep talks with my nephew- thanks Austin, Aunt Christy thinks you are WONDERFUL!
*making homemade donuts with Austin
*watching movies with the boys at night
*all 13 of us going to the movies to see Yogi Bear {and getting the "group rate"}!!!
Some things you just can't capture with a camera! Thank you Jesus for protecting us and helping us to keep our eyes on YOU!
Addis Ababa Time
Wow, everyones 'ugly sweater' outfits were great!
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