A Little Reprieve And An Early Christmas

     This week we're on Whidbey Island with Leif's side of the family.  We feel so blessed because we had prayed that all of our needed financial support for ministry would be raised before this week.... for two big reasons:  One, we needed to buy our plane tickets before the prices went way up and before we lost our residency status.  Two, we are tired and wanted to enjoy this time without having our  minds in a bazillion places.  And God was is so kind.  He even brought the money in with a couple of days to spare!  The kids always get really excited to ride on the ferry to get to Irene's place.  And it's also nice to break up the drive a bit.

Such a cute father/son picture on the ferry!  I love these guys SO much!!

     We started a tradition a few years ago with an advent calendar that begins on December 1st and goes until Christmas.  Each day we do something special along with lighting the advent candles each evening and having a special time of focusing on Jesus and singing Christmas songs.  On this day we made gingerbread cookies.

     I forget how much I actually like gingerbread cookies.  It sure is busy to make them with little ones!  It was nice that there were three adults present.  =)

     Leif and I recently celebrated 12 years of marriage.  We have a little tradition of buying a new game together each year.  This year we got the game Pandemic.  We really like it and have had fun playing it in the evenings (often until very late) with Irene and Lark (Leif's mom and brother).   We've have been loving eating spinach dip and chips.  Irene's neighbor made us some spinach dip that is so good it should be illegal.  I guess we are just putting  on a little extra warmth to prepare for the Siberian winter!

     We're soaking in being able to be OUTSIDE, as soon we'll be in a super-cold climate.  On this day we went to Ft. Casey.  The sun was shining, the grass was green, and the wind smelled so good... and felt so good to breathe in deeply.

     Ella and Irene took the more gentle incline down, but the rest of us went down the fort on this ladder.  When Ike and I went down, he hung onto me (like a monkey) and I held onto the ladder.  Thankfully he's a strong little boy!

      The lighthouse had this wreath as a decoration on the porch.  It was so cute because Ike saw Leif and me kissing and wanting a picture of me kissing him in the wreath...

I love the smile on his little face!

We propped up the camera in another tree for a group shot.

     On Wednesday I helped Irene pass out food at the food bank.  It was a really good experience, and I met a lot of neat people.  One of the ladies there told Irene she would make her a cake from a family recipe (she's from Mexico).  It was this incredible chocolate flan cake.  We lit a candle and sang happy birthday to Jesus one evening.  We had our coats on because we knew that Santa would be coming through the neighborhood on a firetruck and we didn't want to miss him!

 

 Santa's helpers passed out candy canes.

     We enjoyed a lovely church service on Sunday at Irene's church.  There was a bell choir and a contata with a beautiful choir.  The words of so many Christmas songs are RICH and wonderful to reflect upon.  It truly is amazing to think of God coming to this world as a baby!  The kids even went up front to sing a song.  (Ella and Anneka are pictured here).  It's nice that they're able to adapt to
different churches and up-front situations.

     After church we enjoyed an early Christmas with the family.  It was perfect because Leif's niece and nephew and aunt and uncle won't be here on the 25th (and we won't either), but we were all able to be here for this special day.  We didn't know all of this ahead of time, but God did.  I love how He plans these things out.  

We all acted out the Christmas story.

      I love this picture of "Mary" and "Jesus" with the sheep looking on from the background.  =)

      Leif's dad is with us for a couple of days, too.  This morning we went in search of gnarly driftwood that he uses to make into artistic creations at their flowershop. 

... and we all made a trip to the vet to visit uncle Lark and the animals.  It was fun for the kids to have a tour!


     Originally when we'd made plans to come to western WA at Christmastime and so near to our departure, I'd felt kind of stressed about it all.  But it's turned out to be a wonderful reprieve and so nice that we'll be able to be with both sides of the family during this special season!