Christmas Day

Opening stockings Christmas morning

Ian with his candy & pringles from his stocking.

After handing out presents at the hospital, we had lunch with Amanda Volkman and Christina and Rebecca Warkentin.

We opened presents as a family in the afternoon.
The kids each gave each other a few little things that they had made or toys or cards they had that they knew the other person would like.

Stephen got some fabric with bright colors and spiderwebs.

The fabric got away from him!

Just what I wanted- Cookies with chocolate & peanuts!

Christmas 2012 & 2013

Christmas 2012- We had our 4th Christmas in the Congo

Christmas 2013- We spent Christmas in the US, traveling between Tennessee and Kentucky.
We made lots of good memories with family!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!

These are a few pictures from our Christmas Eve party for the mission staff.

Ian, Isabelle, and Caleb recited Luke 2:1-20. They did a great job!

Christmas Day

We started Christmas morning with homemade doughnuts with cinnamon glaze. They were a big hit. :)
Then Stephen went to round at the hospital, while I wrapped the Christmas presents. The kids took copy paper and worked on making more wrapping paper for me to use.
We had the opportunity to pass out gifts to the patients at the hospital. Pictures and more details about that are in the post Christmas in Congo on our mission blog.
By the time we finished that it was about 12:30. The kids were very anxious to open their presents, and they finally had a chance.
They spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying their new things, and I made some cinnamon rolls to take over to the pediatric patients.
We ended the day by having the Ralstons over for supper.
Our first Christmas here was enjoyable for everyone.

Advent

This year I made an advent calendar for the kids. It is filled with slips of paper that say things like-- eat skittles after lunch, watch a Christmas movie, have pancakes for supper, or go to the basketball courts.
Each morning they take turns pulling out one of the slips of paper at random. They all look forward to eat every morning, and they have started counting the slips of paper that are left to see how many days there are until Christmas.
We are also reading Jotham's Journey in the evenings. I found it used this summer (for $.25) and we have enjoyed the story that it tells.

Christmas Day in Eastern KY cont.

These pictures are of the kids opening their presents from Granny and Grandpa Wegner. I don't know why we didn't get any pictures of Ian. But don't worry, he got presents, too!

Christmas Day-Eastern KY

On Christmas Day, we drove from my grandmother's to Stephen's parents. Considering the fact that the kids had been in the car for over 4 hours, they did well for their pictures in front of the tree.

The last of Lewisport

These are the last of the pictures that I took at my grandmother's house in Lewisport. The shirts that Isabelle and Kathleen are wearing are some that my grandmother made for them.
I love the pictures of Ian. He has discovered reading chapter books over the last few months. When he is reading, he doesn't notice anything going on around him. His favorite right now is the Magic Tree House book series.

More from Lewisport

Happy New Year! We are in St Joseph, MO, on our way back to MT. The kids have done well over the last 2 days of driving. We have lots more to go!

These are more pictures from my grandmother's house in Lewisport on Saturday (Dec 22.) Once I saw the pictures, I realized I didn't get pictures of everyone, and I only took one of my grandmother the whole time we were there. I seem to do better when it is nicer weather and we are all outside. I just don't think of taking the pictures inside as much.

Jack (my cousin Carrie's son)

Joy Beth (Carrie's daughter)

Susie (my aunt)

Granny

Curt (my cousin) with Summer (his wife). That was the first time I met Summer, so I'm glad they were able to come while we were there.

Rick (Carrie's husband) That is the edge of Carrie's head on the side. That is the only picture I took of her!

More Eastern KY pictures

These are some more pictures that Stephen's uncle took. The house is affectionately called "Granny's house" and belonged to Stephen's great-grandmother. That is where are things that are in storage will be. I'm not sure what Ian and Isabelle are playing, but they sure look like they are having fun.