A Touch of Africa

This past week, we had a visit from some dear friends and family members. We are so happy to be living closer to Jim's cousin Penny and her family and also our friends Steve and Doreen. We all share memories from living in Africa together and our kids are the "sisters and brothers they never had." It is so much fun to talk about our memories of days gone by.

Doreen and Steve

Sara, Chuck and Penny

The potluck was great, and all of us were even able to sit around the table together!

We discovered that the addresses of the eight kids represent seven different states! No wonder they have so much fun when they all get back together again, after being separated by such distances! (Patricia, Stephanie and Heidi)

Amy and Andras
After an afternoon of playing, lots of visiting, and laughter, and good food, someone wore out before the others...

Christmas 2007

We've had a wonderful week of Christmas celebration and family time! On Christmas Eve, we had Jared and Mark with us, so it was a quiet and relaxing evening. Of course, Jared always adds a bit of spite with his antics...
We've been enjoying having Mark with us for the past several weeks. He still does a fair amount of studying every day, but has also been relaxing and resting up for his next rotation in medicine.
On Christmas Day, in the evening, we went to visit M&B in their new apartment. It was fun to see them now that they are moved in and settled.
Sammy was all dressed up in his holiday suit.

And this happy couple are glad to be back together again after six months!Jared was trying to conjure up some Viking spirit...however, it doesn't seem to be helping!

Jamie and Krista came on Friday evening and are staying for several days. Little by little, our house has filled up with fun, food, and excitement! On Saturday, all four brothers were once again together! Lots of excitement and noise!It has been such fun to see the kids together and enjoying each other. Our family is growing! Next year at this time we will also have a little one! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!

A trip to Griffith Park

On Saturday, we took the boys to the Griffith Observatory. It was a wonderfully clear, warm day so we took advantage of the nice weather. We had to hike quite a distance to the top of the hill because parking was limited close to the Observatory. But the hike allowed us some great photo-ops of the scenery on the way!
Of course, these young men had to scope out the view...
... across the valley we could see this famous landmark...
...at the entrance to the Observatory was this awesome sundial, patterned after those that were made hundreds of years ago.

Just in front of it stood this statue dedicated to the many astronomers of ancient times.

As God was splashing these gorgeous sunset colors across the western sky...

...He was causing the moon to rise over the mountain ranges in the east.
We all enjoyed the planetarium show (sorry, no photography allowed), and the many displays throughout the Observatory.

We even stood in line for over 30 minutes to get a glance at the stars ,through this 12-inch Zeiss telescope located on the roof of the building.
Actually, we were more impressed with the view of the city from the deck, than we were with the view of the few stars from the telescope on the roof! All in all, it was a wonderful outing, and we certainly enjoyed ourselves!

A Time of Celebration

This is the first year that I've celebrated Christmas at my place of work. I always find it interesting how the administration thinks up ways to get the staff into a holiday spirit! This year, our staff members were divided into 12 groups and each group was given a date and asked to come up with a display for that "day of Christmas." Our group had the 8th day of Christmas--"Eight Maids a'Milkin" so this is the window display that we came up with:

PS-no one wanted to be the cow...! I thought that the best display was this one:

...the "Ten Lords a'Leapin.' " The two weeks culminated in a dinner party complete with food, raffle gifts, and Karoke.The entire lobby was decorated beautifully and the food was delicious!
And we enjoyed conversation that was other than medical!!! (These are the gals I work with most of the time.)

After I got off work on Thursday, we drove up to Sacramento for Micah's graduation. As we drove through the Grapevine, we encountered rain showers. It made travel a bit more difficult, but at least it was not snow! And, several times, we saw some beautiful rainbows. It was awesome!
The trip was long and the boys were tired from having been up late the night before. But after a short nap, they provided us with some very animated conversation.

We were happy to be able to celebrate with M&B and are so proud of his accomplishments. We want to wish them the very best! Because of the Christmas holiday, we just drove to Sacramento one day and back the next. We were amazed at how cold the weather was there (it was windy and about 30 degrees, so we were freezing!)

The party also turned into a family birthday celebration! So much to applaud!
We enjoyed spending time with Bec's family again. We hadn't seen each other for over a year, so we had alot of catching up to do!

Last weekend

"Thar's snow on them thar hills..."

This past week has been quite cool for us here in SoCal! Last Sunday morning, we awoke to snow-covered mountains, as we looked north. Last year, we only had a little white dusting on the very tops of the mountains for a couple of weeks in January; but this year, the snow cover comes way down the mountainsides. It is very beautiful!

Last Sunday afternoon, we decided to go visit Bec. She and her girlfriend had been very busy unpacking boxes and arranging furniture in M&B's new apartment.
It was fun to see how "settled" the place was becoming. When we had last visited, the furniture and boxes were still piled in the middle of the rooms!
There was still plenty of work to be done, so we all helped Bec in whatever ways we could. I was assigned to the kitchen, putting shelf paper in the cupboards and unpacking more boxes.

Mark hooked up the computer and all the other electrical equipment in the office/media room.
Jim hung several of the heavy pictures for Becky.

It will be so fun to see their "new home" when they are all settled in. We are so thankful that everything has gone well for the move and also for Becky finding a new job. God has been gracious to our kids and we are all thankful.

Christmas Festivities Begin

One week ago, our son Mark arrived home for Christmas vacation. He was happy to escape the midwest just before the ice and the winter storms hit! But, he came home during our "cold season," so he is desperately hoping for some balmy weather during the month that he will be here!
Last Saturday, our womens' group held our annual Christmas Party- "Christmas With Friends." Our custom is to "tour" two homes together as a group and then drive to a local restaurant where we eat and then have an auction of crafts and goods donated for this occasion. This year, the first home to tour was our home.
There were thirty women that arrived at our home. (It is good that we have so much extra space in this house!) Even though the evening was cold and rainy, we had warm fellowship.
It was a great time for friends to be together! As our gift exchange this year, we baked some Christmas delicacies and then included the recipe in the box. Delicious!We ate some snacks, had a delicious chocolate punch, and sang some Christmas caroles. Jesse also read a couple of Christmas stories to the group. The original plan was to "carol" over to Jenny's house (only two blocks from us), but due to the rain, we piled into our cars and then drove from there to the restaurant to finish our evening.

We enjoyed a wonderful dinner (salad bar at the Sizzler) and great conversation around the tables. And while we were eating, we were also scouting out the many items that had been donated for the auction that would take place after the meal.
Tona did an excellent job as auctioneer! the funds that we raised are given to mission projects. We all had so much fun at the auction that even our waiters and waitresses joined in the action and bought several items!
It is hard to believe that only a year ago, I attended my first "Christmas with Friends" event!Now I am so thrilled to say that all of these wonderful ladies are close friends! God has richly blessed us with so many friends everywhere!