Christmas

These are some random Christmas pics from yesterday and this morning. We had lunch yesterday with some of the staff at Lyndel and Cheryl's house...don't you just love Michelle's cheesy smile! :) But my favorite is the picture of Cate & Andrew...too cute! I really wanted to get all of the staff kids together to get a picture, but in the mix there is a 3 year old, two 2 year olds and a set of 1 1/2 year old twins so you can see why that would be difficult!
Andrew now has more toys than he'll ever need!! Hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas!!

Family Christmas (Day 5)

Yesterday my Dad came to town and we had our family Christmas together last night. My sister, Mindi, was recovering from hopefully food poisoning and not a stomach bug that we all will get later.
Anyway, it was a great time with family. Earlier in the afternoon, I got the chance to go to the movies by myself. I often like doing that as a way of just zoning out. Anyway, pretty cool movie.



Ok, and now some pictures of the festivities...or basically Andrew.



Gee Pops, thanks for decking Andrew out in all this rock and roll gear. That noise won't be maddening at all!



I think that Andrew got a bit overwhelmed with everything...



Andrew with Pops before bed time. I think they like each other.

Ok, this is Wednesday and we are now going to leave tomorrow. Andrew is ready to get home. So, next blog will be from the Volunteer state (I'm sure all you TN people are proud I know that...)

New beginnings and Old Friends (Day 4)

Well, Monday provided several unique opportunities. First of all, it was Andrew's first professional haircut! Nana treated him to Cool Cuts for Kids...



One of the most challenging parts was getting him out of this waiting room!



This was his barber chair with Jay-Jay the Jetplane on the TV.



Our wonderful hair-cutting professional, Julie, fast at work! She did an amazing job moving with Andrew's head thrashings!

Later that night we got a chance to have dinner with old friends, kids who graduated from our last ministry and some very significant others that we had to approve! Of course, they all passed with flying colors. It was a great time at Chili's.



Amazingly Andrew did great even at 10 at night! Thanks to Matt's hat for being a readily accessible distraction. Seems that every time I take a pic with these guys now Andrew is on my shoulders. Hmmmm...

The Lord's Day Without Church (Day 3)

First of all, not going to church on a Sunday was totally weird. That's probably the first time in, oh, 8 years or so. Seriously.

Ok, today was my family's Christmas. I'm fighting through a head cold which means I probably seem loopy all the time. Not fun. Survivor's season finale is on right now. I don't care at all. Am I the only one? Here's the day in some pictures...


Keep in mind that Andrew is this tired the whole time...


A majority of Drew's day was chasing these dogs while people were watching football...
Trust me, there're dogs there.


Is it proper to greet your cousin with a booty bump? (And on a quick note, if my cousin has a baby, what is the relation to Andrew? 2nd cousin or first cousin twice removed?)


This was Andrew's present at the gift exchange. He loves him some tractors!!
(I scored my own gift [best buy giftcard] in our family chinese christmas gift exchange. Is that wrong?)


I think this sums it up. So tired, but still the energy to play with the truck. Got to love him.

Ok, time to take some medicine and zone out. For some reason my mom and sister are pulling for this Ozzie guy. Don't know him. Don't care. Hope someone literally wets their pants on the show. Now that would be reality worth watching...

A Day at Mamaw's (Day 2)

Well, we spent the day at Mamaw's (Christi's grandmother). There were lots of her family there. We had to wait around for awhile for her 2 sisters, but it was worth it. Andrew did great even though he had cold symptoms. I even got him to nap in a strange place!

Anyway, the pictures here are Drew running like crazy with some of his cousins, a kiss between Drew and Alyson (which she did not like at all; too messy), and then the park we went and played at for a bit. I've stupidly come down with Christi's cold. Great. Hopefully it will disappear soon. Today is my family's Christmas lunch. Should be good times. Love you guys!

Just getting started (Day 1)

Well, today didn't offer too much excitement. Andrew did not sleep well on his first night. We tried this sleeping bag thing with an inflatable bottom. It failed. Tonight is a concoction of other things that seem to be working. We'll let you know.
Andrew is obsessed with On-Demand kids shows, mainly Teletubbies and Boobah. If you've ever seen either one of these shows, you'll know that it's driving us insane. Here's Drew and momma watching the TV...



Well, here's hoping we have some good rest. Tomorrow is another 3 hours round trip to have Christmas with Christi's family. Should be some good times.

Blessings to our readers!

Made it!

We made it to Texas, just so you know. We'll keep you posted on what goes on. I know you can't wait!

HOG and OCC

So, wow, life has been crazy these last couple of weeks. Last week we went to Atlanta for a couple of days to help out in an Operation Christmas Child (OCC) center and it was really amazing.
To see all of those thousands and thousands of boxes (and that's not even all they are getting and it is only one of 6 locations!) and realize that there is a child represented by each one! It was really neat to get to sort through them and see all of the care that (most) people put into making their box. I cried a couple of times thinking of the children who will be receiving those boxes and how grateful they are for things that are so ordinary and commonplace to us. I did go through one box that was filled with screws, nails, a hammer and a screwdriver! All of those things were "acceptable" according to OCC regulations, but please don't ever do that to a child! Luckily OCC has toys and candy available to put in boxes such as these!
In case you're wondering what HOG stands for, it's Hanging of the Green. When we returned from Atlanta on Saturday we had practice for HOG and then the actual service was Sunday night. It's always a neat service and our church people really like to get dressed up for it.

Andrew wasn't really cooperating for pictures, but this one turned out ok. Sometime before next Thursday we have to finish our Christmas shopping and get everything wrapped because we are leaving for Texas then. We are really looking forward to spending time with our family. In January we will be flying to Florida to spend some time with my dad, so things won't slow down for awhile.
I pray that in all of the busy-ness of this time of year we dont' forget that Jesus is the reason we celebrate. If you're like me, you have to make yourself slow down and take a breather and think about His sacrifice in coming to the earth. There is no greater gift!