Opening Presents

We had a great time opening presents this morning! Isaac really got into it this year. He was mostly interested in ripping the paper more than anything else though. He got SOOOO many great gifts from friends and family. Thank you everyone!

 

Christmas Eve

It's Christmas Eve! :) Isaac slept in today (until 7:30am). It was an answer to the prayer I prayed last night at midnight when we finally went to bed! We were up wrapping presents. We still haven't put any presents under the tree because when I tried doing that a couple of weeks ago Isaac started tearing into them. So he will have a big surprise tomorrow morning when he comes out of his room to a bunch of presents! We can't wait! He catches a glimpse of them from time to time when I open the closet and he gets SO excited.

I am spending the day cooking. We traditionally have a Mexican meal for Christmas Eve dinner. This year I'm making El Paso Green Chile stew (kind of a Mexican version of potato soup), but spiced up a bit. It's so yummy. I will also break out the quesadilla maker for a yummy side to the soup. I couldn't find tamales this year so we will have to do without. After dinner we all open one present. :) Then we TRY to go to sleep. Who am I kidding? I have NO trouble sleeping these days. Hee-hee.

Have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

O Christmas Card, O Christmas Card

Here I go...avoiding writing the Christmas card. The only thing going through my mind right now is that song from "Rent." 525,600 minutes...how do you measure...measure a year? This isn't helping me a bit. Truly, how do you sum up a year?

If you have any suggestions, please write me back. If not, then the card this year will consist of this: Attention all Christmas card list recipients: Blogging is the end of Christmas cards as we know it. It's an actual way to update your friends throughout the year than trying to squeeze all that you've experienced on one piece of paper that may or may not be read due to the fact that we get 100's of these at ONE time! :)

Like father, like son! We have to keep the door shut to our bedroom or Isaac would be on the computer all day!  

Where's Isaac in this picture? 

Maybe we should get him some boots? 

Okay, I know his coat is a little big, but he was warm! :)  

Snow, snow, snow!

Last week we had our first BIG snow! We had 4 inches (don't laugh Jess)! It is finally getting cold here. It's in the 40's during the day and 20's at night.

We are looking forward to Christmas and hope to buy our tree tomorrow. We were going to get it sooner, but were debating about whether or not Isaac would try to climb it. Some have suggested a small tree on top of a table. But that just didn't seem right. Then we thought about not getting one at all and that just made me cry. So we decided to get a big one tomorrow. And if our boy tries to climb it, then so be it! It will be a great story for the future and maybe we can write the script for Christmas Story 2.

By the way we saw the epic movie Narnia - The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe last night. What a GREAT movie! I was moved to tears (so was Mo - but don't tell him I told you). Mo grew up reading the Narnia books and actually read them to me when I was pregnant with Isaac so they are close to our hearts. But I think anyone would enjoy the movie, even if you haven't read the book.

The farm house.  

There's Mo! He's always taking the pictures, so he isn't in very many of them. :)  

It was a beautiful day. Isaac loved running all over the farm.  

The family (I won't name them all for you!) 

At the family farm for Thanksgiving...the tradition continues... 

The gang's all here!  

The grandkids! It's hard to get a good pic of 6 kids. Although Caleb is my fav in this one! :)  

Back in The Blog of Things

Forgive me for being a lazy "blogger."

We have had a busy couple of months and now with the holidays upon us, it will only get busier! Needless to say, a little update on the little man.

Have you ever met anyone who loved music? Not like they own 500 cds love music. (Or as Mo would say - have a gig of music on their hard drive.) But someone who has music DEEP in their souls. Where every little jingle on tv resonated with them.

I have never met anyone like that. Until I realized that I was raising one! I started realizing this the week at Grandpa and Grandma's house while Mo was on his mission trip.

I was desperate and tired of telling Isaac to stop trying to eat Grandma's house plants. So I did it. I turned on the Disney Channel. Now let me remind everyone that at our house we don't have cable - so this isn't even a temptation for Mommy at home. But again, I was desperate.

The show that was on CAPTIVATED my son(and by captivated I mean Isaac watched the tv for the full 20 minute show). It was the Doodlebops. Have you heard of them? They are a group of 3 (I think grown-ups) from Canada. One is purple (that's Dee-Dee), one is Blue (that's Rooney) and one (my personal favorite) is yellow (that's Moe). :) They sing and dance and sing a lot!

When we got home Isaac kept gesturing to the tv. He couldn't get enough. So we found them on the internet. Now I have to tell you...my son has now learned how to use a mouse to click on the Doodlebops songs! It's amazing!

But now, whenever we go anywhere, the music is in his soul. He hears the music in the store he dances in his stroller. A jingle plays on a tv commercial and his little head starts shaking! And now Christmas music...he can hardly stand it. His little bottom starts bobbing up and down...his hips shake back and forth...his spins...he waves his hands. This is someone with music in his soul! :) (Mom tip - whenever Isaac starts to have a little meltdown or doesn't want to have his diaper changed I've always sung a little song in his ear and that gets us through it without complaining)

If only we as adults could enjoy music this way. Don't you think life would be less stressful? I hope your holiday season is going well. And if you get stressed just turn up the Christmas music in your living room and dance! I bet you will feel so much better.

Our Team! Left to right: Pastora (Honduras), Mo (Richmond, VA), Rebekah (Ft. Walton, FL), Sherril (Boston, MA), Ginny, Ray, Pat and Wayne (all From Richmond). Picture taken by Jimmy. 

A young boy entertaining himself while waiting at the clinic. 

We had our clinic in this Catholic church on the second day. 

Taking the gospel to the ends of the earth! 

Our multi-talented driver Jimmy helping with some patients! 

Honduras Update

Hey everyone, Mo here. I've finally have some time to sit down and blog about my recent trip. Sorry it's taken so long. :(

The trip was an amazing experience. It was great to be in a place where we could express God's love to people who have not experienced it before. The main purpose of the trip was to set up medical clinics in remote villages. The villages that we went to could only be reached by four-wheel-drive vehicles, so prior to our missionaries work, there had been no evangelism done in these areas. While the medical personnel and translators were working, a group of non-medical, non-Spanish speaking, but extremely willing members passed out evangelistic cassettes door-to-door. The cassettes contained 21 stories narrated by native Hondurans that told the story of Christ, from His birth to His ascension, in easy to understand narratives. Most of the people in the villages had access to a tape player, so they were able to listen to the cassettes.
I was part of the distribution team, and by the second day, I was going alone with local believers distributing the cassettes. My Spanish improved to the point that I could communicate with the villagers and our partners. These men and women lived in these towns and had a passion to reach their neighbors for Christ. You could hear it in the way they spoke, the way they walked with purpose, and by their very countenance. They were emanating Christ’s love and wanted to tell everyone around them the Good News!
I was humbled by the people of Honduras. They don't have a lot by our standards, but they seemed content with what they had. The majority of those we saw had food to eat, a roof over their head and a way of providing for their family. The eyes of the children lit up with wonder when they saw us and their laughter was infectious. The Honduran people were patient, sometimes waiting all day to see the doctor for cold medicine and vitamins. We were able to show them that we loved them enough to come to their villages from our homes in the United States. We were able to lend credibility to the work that had been started and lay the foundation for follow up by our missionaries and local believers.
At the end of the third day, we had just closed the clinic and were driving out of town when a man ran alongside the last vehicle and banged urgently on the windows. He informed us that his four month pregnant wife had been bleeding since early that morning, and begged us to help her. He lived down a steep rocky path and she was unable to walk to the vehicles, but our driver was able to make it down and transport her to the top. Our doctor and nurse attended to the mother and assessed the situation. Our nurse’s specialty was OB/GYN and she knew exactly what had to be done. They left for the hospital with the husband riding along with them. If we had not been there, the mother would have surely lost the baby, and maybe even her own life! Instead, they gained eternal life! Our team members shared with both the husband and wife on the way to the hospital and both accepted Christ as their personal Savior! They were able to make it in time to the hospital, and both mother and child were doing well when we left. It is so humbling to see God work through our lives and how everything is according to His plan. The right people were there at exactly the right moment.
Coming back from a trip like this is always hard. There is so much I want to say, but not enough words to communicate all the emotion that I have been feeling. I am attaching a few pictures that I hope will tell a little more of the story. Thank you so much for all the prayers and support that I felt as well as Alisa. We are truly blessed to have such wonderful friends and family!

What a cutie!  

Brennen Zachary!

It's a Boy! We want to welcome Buck and Jesseca's new baby to the world. Born November 8 in the morning. Weighing in at 8lbs. 2ozs. and is 20 inches long. :) Congrats!

Playing in the grass. 

Froggie with G'pa. He had the best view from up there!  

More froggie fun by the pond. 

The little froggie caught a fly by the pond. Nice tennis shoes! Hee-hee.  

On one of our walks down my parent's country road.