December Photo Shoot

Israel Friends

Jeff and I were extremely blessed by my parents this past spring with a trip to Israel. It was life changing for us. I still need to blog about everything we saw. We went with my sister and her husband. And my parents kept four grandchildren for ten days!!!! God just really opened our eyes to the importance of Israel and it's people. It is a very special place! We went with about 80 people on a tour led by Chuck Missler. We were only with the group for less than two weeks. But we have developed some friendships that will last a lifetime. Jeff and I said it was a glimpse of what heaven will be like. When everyone's first love is Christ, the fellowship that happens is so sweet. We really enjoyed getting to know two couples that both live in Texas. T and Mikki live in Austin and Anne and Randy live in Aledo. We actually found out they live in the same neighborhood as my aunt and uncle! Both couples are just wonderful. We planned a little reunion recently to just catch up. It was so nice to see them!

Randy, Kasey, Jeff and T

Mikki, Me, Anne and Jen

Santa visits Emma's school!

Emma's school had Santa and one of his reindeer come for a visit! The kids were very excited! The school hosted a breakfast with Santa and had all kinds of shopping also. I had the fun job of serving burritos all morning :) But it was worth it. It was a fun morning for the kids!

Bethlehem Revisted

Kasey recently celebrated a birthday. He said he wanted to eat at Mercado Juarez and then go see Bethlehem Revisited in Waxahachie. We were so excited!

It was soooo cold that night. So, we bundled the kids up!

The kids loved all of the animals.

Here is a Roman soldier grilling the boys about why they were there. He asked if they were coming to pay their taxes. Everyone plays their part so well. A little too well for Noah! He was very concerned about the Roman soldiers! One lady told him they didn't have enough money to pay their taxes. Noah told her, "You know what I am going to do to those soldiers? I am going to beat them up!" She tried not to laugh! And every time a soldier came near Noah, he would give them the evil eye!

Emma working the olive press

Instead of a birthday cake for Kasey, Jen baked sugar cookies! She opened up the container to give everyone in our group a cookie. And one man saw them and told his daughter, "Wow, this place is great! They even pass out cookies!" He then reached in and grabbed several! It was pretty funny!

This production is so wonderful for kids. They are right in the middle of everything. So, it really makes the Christmas story come alive for them. The wisemen came through and said they were looking for a baby born that night in Bethlehem. A lady said she had heard one was just born in a stable. They said that they must go see if this was the Savior they were looking for. They asked Emma if she would like to go with him. And she nodded her head and followed them. Jeff was running after her! But it was so sweet. Here she is following the wisemen to the stable.

The birthday boy

What a fun daddy!

Jeff wanted to surprise the kids by putting Christmas lights on their clubhouse. So, one night he told us he had to run an errand. Jeff snuck around to the backyard and started working on the lights. The kids and I were having a good time in the house. About an hour and a half later Jeff rings the doorbell. He told Emma and Gabe that they could bundle up and play in their clubhouse in the dark! Of course, they were so excited :) When they got outside, they said, "We need some lights daddy!" And Jeff turned on the Christmas lights! Lots of shrieking and screaming from two excited kids! They felt pretty special :)

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree!