Dad's Birthday!

Yesterday was Wade's 35th birthday. We started off the celebration with a Mexican spread - complete with Mexican rice and Black Bean and Corn Salad!

We were blessed to have our good friends, Dave and Debbie Johnson, join us for the evening.

(Please ignore Caleb's expression. What can I say? That's a normal face for him!)

Dad got to use the special birthday plate for his Mexican food!

(He was just excited because it was bigger than the regular plates!! LOL)

After our feast, we all gathered around the game table for a game of RISK - Dad's favorite.

But we interrupted the game to eat homemade sopapillas....complete with a birthday candle.

Our game ended up lasting over 4 hours! Uncle Dave and Carly were the last ones standing. Carly put up a good fight, but Uncle Dave ended up conquering the world.

Thanks, Dave and Debbie, for helping us give Wade a special evening!

Christmas Morning

Here are a few pictures from our Christmas morning.

Each year we always read a book about the Christmas story before we open our presents.

Carly and Caleb pose by the Christmas tree (wearing their new shirts from Uncle Jason, Aunt Janna, Josh and Rachel).

The kids show off what they gave each other.

Our "big gift" for our kids was a vacation to Subic Bay. (Watch for upcoming posts!) But here are a couple of other things we got them, including their new Bibles.

And they both got some new things to re-decorate their rooms. Here, Carly shows off her cool new vase and daisies.

And Caleb got a couple of cool new picture frames for his new sports room.

(Can you tell he was tired of smiling for the camera?)

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, we did our "extended family" Christmas. All our family was so sweet to send us packages ahead of time that we decided to split up the "opening" between Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. Here are a few pics from our Christmas Eve event!

The kids pose by the "upstairs tree", which was reserved for all the gifts from grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins.

My almost-grown-up girl still shows her silly side!

"Thank you Uncle Chris, Aunt Mandy, Landon, Nathan and Abigail!!"

"Thanks Mamaw and Papaw!!"

For their "big gift" from Mamaw and Papaw, Carly and Caleb both got cool new chairs for their rooms. (We have plans to redecorate both their rooms in the future.)

Caleb had been eyeing this basketball chair in the mall for several weeks. He began several weeks ago calling it his "dream chair." Needless to say, he was pretty excited to see his dream come true!

And Carly got a new chair in her favorite color....lime green!

The next few pics are play-by-plays just for Minnie.

Caleb's new bongo drums from Minnie and Papaw



Carly realizes that she's NOT getting a new fan for Christmas!

Carly's American Girl horse from Minnie and Papaw.

Thanks, guys, for sending stuff to us to make our Christmas so special! We really miss you this time of year and look forward to the next Christmas we can all be together again. We love you!

(Sorry I didn't get pictures of everything. We were juggling cameras and the kids were too excited to slow down long enough for Mom to take pictures of everything!)

'Tis the Season.....

.....for COOKING and GIVING!

This Christmas, the kids and I made about 12 different kinds of cookies and delivered them to several of our friends around town.

(You know you've made too many cookies when........)

During our deliveries, we stopped for a quick photo with our mountain!

One of the places we delivered cookies was to Ate Ellen's house. We were able to spend a little time visiting with her family.

Over the last several months, the kids have been decluttering their toys. We've been saving several of these with the plans of giving them away at Christmas to some of the kids in our neighborhood.

Carly decorates the bags that we will put the toys in.

Caleb (aka "Santa") delivers toys to some of our neighbors.

(Carly was taking pictures)

Sometimes, when you live in a place where there are so many needs, it's easy to become overwhelmed. We know we can't fix or solve all of the problems around us. We are often reminded of the starfish story....

The Starfish Story

Original Story by: Loren Eisley

One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean.
Approaching the boy, he asked, “What are you doing?”
The youth replied, “Throwing starfish back into the ocean. The surf is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them back, they’ll die.”
“Son,” the man said, “don’t you realize there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish? You can’t make a difference!”
After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish, and threw it back into the surf. Then, smiling at the man, he said…”I made a difference for that one.”

Our prayer this Chirstmas is that we've been able to share Christ's love with those around us and that in the process, we've had another chance to teach our children what Christmas is all about!

Excavation

In our homeschool, we've just finished reading the book Archaeologists Dig for Clues.

So recently, Carly and Caleb decided to have a dig in the backyard.

Unfortunately, I don't think their dig was very profitable. But they did have a lot of fun "excavating"!!

Carly's pics

Once again, Carly stole my camera and took some pictures of her three favorite subjects.

#1 - Mt. Mayon....

#2 - Cali, our cat...

#3 - Cody, our dog.

Christmas Party for the Pastors

On December 8th, we drove about an hour south to Sorsogon City for a Christmas party for the pastors and their families.

Carly and Rucel were asleep as soon as we left Legazpi!

Here are some pics of our time of fellowship together.

Pastor Elvis and family

Pastor Danny and family


Pastor Winnie and family

Pastor Andy and family

Pastor Nelson and family

The Allen crew

After the meal, we all shared a time of singing a few Christmas carols and sharing some testimonies about what God had done in our lives and ministries during 2007. It was a special time together and a great time to focus on the true meaning of Christmas.