New Year's Day

We were able to spend New Year's Day with BOTH of our parents! My parents drove up to Springdale to spend the day at Wade's parents' house. It was neat to be able to all spend the day together. Wade's sister, Janna, and her family were also there. Thanks to the blizzard in Colorado, they weren't able to travel home, giving us several "unexpected" days together.

The whole crew (l to r) John, Rachel, Caleb, Linda, Carly, Jason, Janna, Jerene, Josh, Joanna, Wade & George

The main event of New Year's Day....cheering on the Razorbacks in the Capital One Citrus Bowl

(Unfortunately, the Hogs lost by 3 points, but we still had a fun time cheering them on...especially since we ate AQ chicken during half-time!)

Our friend, Laura Simpson, came over on New Year's to visit with us for a little while. Laura was our VSM (Volunteer Student Missionary) last summer and spent about 8 weeks with us in Legazpi. Laura became a part of our family while she was with us and we really miss her. It was good to have a few hours to spend together "catching up."

Go Hogs Go!

While we were in the States, we had the chance to take the kids to their first Razorback basketball game!

Of course we all had to wear Razorback Red!

And what made the day extra special was that we got to share it with several family members. Here Carly and Caleb pose with their cousins, Josh and Rachel Burns, and their uncle, Sam Reddin.

In the museum of Bud Walton Arena, the kids compared their height to a former Razorback player......

...and also shoe sizes!

Caleb and Josh pose with one of the mascots, Pork Chop.

It's all about the fashion!!

The kids pose with Papaw


Caleb's favorite part of the day was when Mom got a funnel cake! He couldn't bear to let any of the powdered sugar go to waste!

Carly and Rachel got to visit with some of the cheerleaders after the game!

Christmas in Springdale

We were also blessed with some time at Wade's parents' house in Springdale. Obviously, we hadn't planned on being in the States for Christmas, so we weren't able to be with the whole family, but we did get to spend a few days with Wade's sister, Janna Burns, and her family. Carly and Caleb were sooooo excited to see Josh and Rachel!

Josh got a new gameboy from Mamaw & Papaw and was so good to let Caleb play with it also.

(Mamaw had already bought all our Christmas gifts and mailed them to the Philippines several weeks earlier. Caleb knew he was also getting a gameboy, but it was somewhere between Arkansas and the Philippines. Thanks, Josh, for being so willing to share!)

Christmas at Mamaw and Papaw's wouldn't be complete without a Christmas "play." This year, we were missing a few actors, but the four of them tried to make up the difference!

Caleb took his role as shepherd very seriously!

Since older cousin, Landon, wasn't there, Uncle Jason got to be the donkey. Josh and Rachel were Mary & Joseph.

Carly had several roles, including the angel.

The actors ended the show with a song.