Our Home At Christmas

Cracker Barrel cooked our Christmas dinner this year. It was great! They got us whatever we asked and they even did the dishes! That part was really great!! No fuss! No mess! I think we may be on to something here. We should probably consider making this part of our family's tradition.



















The baby ate first!






The guys always try to get to play at least one game of checkers.







Gift Exchange. It would take too much space to post all of our gift exchange pics but here are a couple. FYI, our family LOVES to use huge boxes stuffed with--- well, STUFF to disguise what treasure really may be hiding inside its dark depths!





Warm & cozy!








The pony princess! She loves it, especially the clippy clop of the horse's hooves.











I think he likes the digital camera. What do you think?







D was more than delighted with his Jack Nicklaus golf club set.







Daryl and Rob loved the Air Hogs battling helicopters. They "shoot" each other with laser lights. If one gets hit by the other's laser, the copter is grounded and momentarily disabled.

This blue cross was a special gift given to our family by Samantha, our caseworker. This was her way of telling us that our new baby is going to be a BOY! You can read the Adoption Update to the right side of this page near the top for specifics. Of course, it doesn't matter what the baby is as long as he or she is a healthy baby.

Play With Fire - Get Burned!

You know how 15 year old boys like to experiment with many kinds of things if they are normal, and our 15 year old son is indeed, one of those normal boys. The experiment would have worked fine except that when D should have used gunpowder, he grabbed and used what happened to be flash powder. Daryl received second and third degree burns on his hand. The pictures below are various stages of his injury. We are so thankful to God for protecting his face and head and sparing D from even more serious burns or worse in spite of a stupid mistake. I am thankful that Daryl was with us for Christmas! We are so blessed!

Evangelistic Tabernacle's Live Nativity

"HALT! Ceasar's census. How many and where are you from?" Our third annual live nativity was held over three nights. In spite of the frigid temperatures, our wonderful church family banned together to fill the various stations and took turns so that no one would freeze. Sunday PM the temperature was -2 degrees F with a windchill factor of -22 degrees F. Our wonderful church family also believes that once advertised, NO canceling. This ministry is important to them as well. In the pictures that follow, you will see different couples as Mary and Joseph and different shepherds and shepherdess'. The photos were also taken over the three nights. You will see our Roman soldiers, our Welcome cabin where people were greeted and given homemade cookies and hot cocoa, our shepherd pen, wisemen, the stable, and our candy cane backdrop where angels passed out candy canes with the legend imprinted on the wrapper. We broke our record attendance again and we thank God for His help throughout another form of ministry to share the gospel with our community. Enjoy the "experience."

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Instead of a big production for a childrens program this year, some of our teachers masterminded the incredible idea of having a birthday party for Jesus!. Since the parsonage basement had been decorated with a gingerbread house for the church dinner, we could use the same theme for the party! We modified the dining area and the table settings just a little and brought our bus kids in for a fancy party celebrating the birth of our King! The parents were invited to come in a little later to share with their children. This venture turned out to be a great success to the glory of God! The kids LOVED the fancy decorations and were, in fact, so awed by the "beauty" that their rambunctious behavior of the norm was diffused. If you've read our profile, then you will remember that Mark drives public school bus and his route happens to be our bus kids from church. He said that the kids were so impressed by the party that they can't stop talking about it. I hope that you enjoy the party with us!

Each child was given a cupcake with one burning candle. We sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus and then each kid blew out their candle. The kids were so excited!

Each party attendee was given two cookies and some small cups holding icing and various different sprinkles. The kids decorated their cookies and then bagged them to take home for mom and dad or someone else special to them.

The kids enjoyed watching a DVD of "The Legend Of The Candy Cane."

"Gingy" even came to be the pinata for the party. Before all was said and done, Gingy lost his head.

Our Minister of Outreach donned a Santa suit to capture the attention of the children and shared the history of how Saint Nicholas began the legend of Santa Claus. He transitioned into the real meaning of Christmas and told the kids that Christmas was really about the birth of our Savior and not the fat man in a red suit!

The kids gathered together in a group with their parents watching, and the teachers let the kids pick some of their favorite songs that they had learned throughout the year to sing for moms and dads. The last song that was chosen by the children was "I'll Say Yes, Lord, Yes." The children sang as they had never sung before and the holy presence of God settled into that birthday party. It was awesome!!

This is Michelle. She spearheaded the party arrangements and came up with many wonderful ideas for the kids. Michelle is gifted by God to LOVE children and our church family is blessed to have her be an important part of us! We love you, Michelle!

This is Linda. She is making hot cocoa for the kids. I think this picture rivals Betty Crocker any day!