~Our December 2014 in pics... part 2~

Phillip arrived safely in the Colombia city of Medellin (12 hours away by bus) last night.
Please pray for his protection and for God to help him as he preaches and encourages our Pastor and people there!
And please pray for the kids and I as we are with Pastor Jimmy and his family and pray for our service here in Bogota tomorrow!  Thank you!!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
OK, we PACKED A LOT into our December... so this post is another LONG one!
~So get comfy with a hot drink and Enjoy!  :-) ~
Before we left the U.S.A we wanted to see Michael and Beth and family one more time.  So, we met half way at a Burger King and ate lunch together and let the kids play.
Michael and Beth were so SWEET and bought our family Christmas gifts!!
THANK YOU, Michael and Beth!  We had a very fun visit being together!
~Elijah and little Joshua!~

~Sophia and Mary~

~Fun memories~

~U. Michael and A. Beth holding our Abigail...wearing the cute little outfit that they bought her.~

 

 

~Some of my fun Christmasy decor!  :-)
I want to blog these pics, for when I'm on the mission field it makes my heart smile seeing what I got to do while I was in our own home in the USA! :-) ~

~Back in September or so our 48 key keyboard that we have used for YEARS and have lugged back and forth to various countries...finally DIED!
We really needed a piano so our girls' could keep practicing their piano, we could practice for special songs for church, etc.
(Phillip has prayed through the years that God would provide us a real piano when it was time for us to have one.) I haven't had a Real piano since the year 2000 or so.
On Tuesday morning I asked Jesus to PLEASE send us a piano that day or the next day, so Sarah could practice for her piano lesson on Thursday!
That VERY Evening we were able to get this nice piano and it's nice bench for a great price!!!!  :-) God is awesome!!!~

~And for the first time since Christmas 2004 in AZ, we got to put our Christmas village up.
Phillip and the kids especially Love our Christmas village!
Most of the pieces are Dept. 56, a gift given to us years ago from my Daddy and Moma.~

~However we sort of made it a tradition to purchase one house or store or something every year.  So, we purchased a couple or 3 when we spent Christmases in Colombia, and we bought one last year in the USA. ~

~Some of you may remember that last year Jesus sent us a mantel right in time for Christmas.
Well this year He sent an antique mantel like what would have originally been in our house!!
We had asked Jesus for an antique mantel but had no idea where he would get one from!  :-)
We were sooo happy to have this mantel ...

~and just in time to hang our stockings! ~

 ~One of these days Phillip wants to tile under the mantel and put in a gas fireplace.~

~Back in 2010 when we got our house our dear friend Sherri P. gave us a refrigerator and stove that she had had in one of her rental apts.
She told us that they were pretty beat up, but that they would be at least something for us to use until we got something better.
Well, This Christmas JESUS AND OUR FRIENDS THE DEMINTS gave us this BEAUTIFUL refrigerator in the picture below!!!
When we got the text about This refrigerator being our Christmas gift from the DeMints and the picture of it, It made me CRY!  THANK YOU, DeMints!!!
God is SO AWESOME and takes EXCELLENT CARE of His children!!!
I'm SO GLAD that I'm His child!  Not for the perks, but because He would LOVE and Die for EVEN ME!  :-)

~I love this sign that I got 50% for my birthday.
"Kitchens are made for families to GATHER!"
It's so true.  My U.S.A. kitchen as you can see from the pic above, is just a make-shift kitchen using old cabinets from others.... until one of these days when we can put in the cabinets and all like we want it.
But, it doesn't matter WHAT KIND OF KITCHEN ONE HAS...they can still fill it with LOVE and with Good food and make their family happy!  :-)

~Then since we were flying out on Christmas day for Colombia...we had our family Christmas on Monday, Dec. 22nd.~

~Earlier in December Our friends, the Hoschars, dropped by with some dolls and this cradle that had been their daughter's.
We hid them and made them part of Mary's Christmas present.
(Abigail got a tiny doll this Christmas and we saved a bigger doll to give to Abigail for next Christmas:-)~

I told Phillip that one of the FUN things about Christmas...is not getting but GIVING!
So, I asked Him if we could take our 3 younger children to Goodwill and let them buy gifts for their siblings.  When we walked into Goodwill, there was a sign that said,
"All toys, $10.00 and under are .99!" YAY!
So we took Elijah, Noah, and Mary back there to the toys and they had a BALL filling our cart with stuffed animals and nerf guns for their brothers and sisters.  :-)
Of course these stuffed animals got a good hot bath in the washer and were dried too!!!
~In this pic Mary is hugging Noah and thanking him for the cute little pink monkey he got her from Goodwill.~

~Elijah Happy with his gift.~

~Abigail got teething rings (BUT NOT from Goodwill ;-) and toys!~

~When Elijah Put THIS ORANGE ANIMAL-THINGY in the cart at Goodwill for Abigail, I LAUGHED right out loud!  It has Rubber hair and rubber on the end of it's tail.~

~Doesn't it look like something YOU would want for Christmas?!  :-D ~

~And this big Blue Friend is what he found for SARAH!  :-) ~

Jesus gave us a wonderful Christmas together as a family, before the PACKING began!!!
~My sweetheart and I!~

~Abigail and her cousin Brittany.  We had a fun cousin sleepover on that Monday night!~

My Phillip grew up in between AZ and MI.  So, needless to say since he lived in MI he knows how to ice skate very well.
Our kids have been DYING to ice skate, but Phillip doesn't feel comfortable with the atmosphere of most in-door skating rinks.
Our kids have PRAYED for 2 or 3 Christmases now that God would help Eden Park pond to freeze over or something so that they could go ice skating!
Well, this Christmas our friend Elijah D. came up with the idea of going downtown to Fountain Square in Cincinnati to that outdoor skating rink.
~So Joanna and Elijah D., our family, Darla and Bryan, and Tyler and Katrina from church went had a Blast!~

~Phillip, Elijah D., and Mary.~

~Phillip and I haven't ice skated in 22 years or so, but it was FUN!~

~Cousins Darla and Sarah enjoying skating!~

~It wasn't overly crowded, so it made it more fun!~

~Our kids had never ice skated, so I was happy with how quickly they learned and with how well they did.~

~It was so FUN skating to CHRISTMAS MUSIC by Fountain Square.
Phillip and I used to come to Fountain Square when we were courting years ago, so it brought back lots of fun memories. (We're still courting!!  :-) ~

Elijah D., the Man with the Plan! :-)  

(He had no idea that our kids had been praying to go ice skating!)

~Our Elijah and Tyler.~

~Sis. DeMint, Mary, Abigail, and I snuck into Graeters' ice cream to warm up a bit.  Sis. DeMint bought Mary and I a Gingerbread man and a hot choc. :-)~

~Then afterwards I invited everyone back to our house for hot chocolate or coffee!  Some of us heading back to our house.~

~One of the things our family L.O.V.E.S (or at least this Mommy L.O.V.E.S :-) to do while we are home is getting to sing a special together as a family in church!
When we are on the mission field we do not get to do that very often and it's something that we really MISS is getting to sing together for JESUS.
So, when we are home, we feel privileged that Mr. Rob Ryan asks us to sing.  :-)

In my first December post I mentioned that while we were BUSY packing in our home, our friends Rebekah and Sarah Wegener dropped by our house with some Starbucks for us adults and suckers and gifts for all the kids. 

Rebekah made a hat for Kimberly and Abigail.

~Here is Abigail in her Cute hat!!  Thanks, Rebekah!!! :-) ~

 Pics of our S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Christmas Eve...and New Year's eve coming soon!

~Heather~