Lot's of pictures......each filled with a thousand words!

This past week has been filled with Christmas traditions, fellowships, and fun!  Here's a look at some of our memories from this Christmas week 2010!

(Sunday night we enjoyed our home church's Christmas dinner/fellowship.  We had a great turn out and everyone had a great time!)

(Callie got to try out her new car seat that we got her for Christmas....actually, the one we bought at a yard sale fit Silas better, so we gave Callie his old one.)

(One of our Christmas traditions is for Kami and the kids to bake cookies to hand out to families.  This might be their best batch yet (Chocolate Mint Cookies, Snickerdoodles, and Sugar Cookies with melted chocolate frosting!)

(This is Beth working on our newest Tradition!  She is making a stocking for Jesus.....we actually got this tradition from our friends in Plattsburg, NY.  When we wake up on Christmas morning, we each will place a gift for Christ in His stocking.  It could be note with a promise to do/not do something this coming year.  It could be to give Him something in our lives that doesn't need to be there.  Then next year, we will open the stocking at Christmas and see the gift that we gave Him and see how we did!)

(Last night we went to Kami's parents house to open Christmas gifts.  We had such a wonderful time and had a dinner of BBQ from Sonny's!)

(Callie helped Grandpa open his gifts, she probably ate about 2 yards of wrapping paper!)

(Joshua and his gift for Grandma!)

(Every year, Great Grandma June has given us some Christmas money for our family.  She has been such a huge blessing!  Over the past 10 years, we have divided the money among our family and the kids get to buy a small gift for each member of our family.  This year, since we were in town, they also bought a small present for each of their grand parents.  Each of our kids think that buying gifts for others and seeing them open them is truly the best part of Christmas....they have truly learned that it is better to give than to receive!...but don't get me wrong, they still love opening gifts!)

(Beth bought Grandma "fat squares" for quilting)

(The girls with a couple of their gifts.)

(Kami's parents bought her some fabric for quilting.)

(Silas loved his rocking horse...he also stole Grandpa's hat that Joshua gave Grandpa!)

(I love to hunt and fish and since I can't do any hunting in the West Indies, Mom and Dad bought me a hunting/fishing game for the Wii.....Josh and I will have a lot of fun playing together!  Remember, there is a place for all of God's creatures...next to potatoes and gravy!)

Thank you mom and dad for the wonderful Christmas memories.  We are so glad to be here with you this Christmas!!!!

Things are slowing down......

     This is the time of year that missionaries see a slow-down in their calendar because most churches do not schedule missionaries in December due to Christmas dinners, cantata's, etc.  

     This "slow-down" in our schedule is a big blessing for us for a couple of reasons:  1) Our children are catching up with their school work (it is tough keeping school going while traveling from place to place). 
2) We are getting to do some Christmas shopping instead of waiting until the week of Christmas!  (Every year, our children use their Christmas money from Great Grandma to buy gifts for other people.  They love buying and wrapping gifts for others.  Joshua and I were out shopping and he said, "Dad, the best part of Christmas is not getting the gifts, its buying them for other people.  I love the excitement of seeing other people open gifts you bought for them!")  3) We are getting to spend time with family and do the family "get-togethers" (although I think that sometimes we end up traveling more going to "get-togethers" than we do when we travel for meetings!)

     Last Sunday morning we had a great time at Grace Baptist Church in La Belle, Florida and then in the afternoon we were able to be a part of our home church's Christmas Cantata program.  Our kids are also looking forward to being a part our home church's youth programs tonight (Wednesday) because there will be Christmas parties and gift exchanges.  Needless to say, we are enjoying the Christmas season!

Our next meeting is on December 26th at Beacon Baptist Church in Jupiter, FL.  Please pray with us about this meeting.  This is a wonderful church and the people are such a blessing. 

We hope every one of you have a great Christmas season and make sure that you tell someone else about the real meaning of Christmas!!!  Jesus is the reason for the season!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!