Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Again, where does the time go???

I am sorry it has been so long since I have written.  To be honest, I was a little burnt out by the semester and haven't wanted to have to do any work since the students took off for home.  But I am rejuvenated and ready to start anew!
We had a wonderful Christmas.  We have an unusual Christmas tradition that many of you know about.  We do not open gifts until New Years Day.  Christmas is focused on Christ.  We get up and have a fun breakfast (we are getting to the point where we need 2 breakfast casseroles to feed us all!) and spend the day singing Happy Birthday to Jesus, playing games and eating a big meal.  We end the Advent calendar and talk through the birth story.  This year we got into the story of Santa Clause and how he actually represents our Father and the most awesome gift is His Son.  We pick one Christmas movie every year and this year was "Miracle on 34th Street", which is what brought up the Santa question :).  It was an enjoyable day.  This year we had the privilege of my brother, Jason, and his wife, Larissa, coming to join us for Christmas Eve and Christmas day.  They were a wonderful help in the kitchen!! 
We have this same pic from a year old when he was about 1 :)

We always get the girls new dresses for the Christmas Eve service. 

Uncle Jason and Aunt Larissa opening their gifts

Zoya learning how to open presents
Two days after Christmas, we packed up the car and headed to San Diego.  It's Crusade's winter conference, a conference for students, and this year both Curt and I were required to go.  It was the first time traveling with all 5 kids and it couldn't have gone better!  Carmen did not complain once, I never heard the girls fight and Zoya...well, she could've been happier but she's only 12 months :).  It went really well.  I think I figured out the key: food.  Just keep feeding them and everyone stays happy.  We had 2 adjoining hotel rooms and it was plenty of room.  The temperature was in the high 60's and the kids spent as much time as they could in the pool.  I thought it was so cold for swimming but apparently they didn't!  The most wonderful part was being together with the students that came from NAU.  It was so fun to be a part of the worship and teaching and talk with our students about what they were getting out of it. We really saw some lives changed in our students and were so encouraged that God was moving in their hearts.
We hope that you had a wonderful season celebrating our Savior's birth!  Happy New Year!


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