Girl's night out

This week I had the wonderful opportunity to get basically 24 hours away with good friends! We rented a room at the WA Volunteer center (which is just a short way down the road from my house (maybe 3 minutes walk?) and just had a fun escape.

I had been pretty worried about how Julianne would do, as I have never left her for that long (and overnight!) before. She still nurses pretty heavily, especially at night, but my wonderful husband agreed to keep her all night, no matter what. What a guy!

We headed to the WA Center at 5pm and we had arranged ahead of time who would bring what for our meals. After an adventure of trying to get the oven lit, we eventually had a yummy pizza dinner, courtesy of Sarah.

After dinner we hung out and watched "To Save a Life".

In the morning we all had the luxury of sleeping in. We finally got up at almost 9! I honestly can't remember the last time I slept that long.... It was wonderful! After lounging around with hot drinks and books for a while, we finally got around to breakfast (cinnamon rolls and fruit salad). Then we had fun just sitting around and talking. When we finally made up our minds as to what to do, we decided to start watching Downton Abby and do pedicures. Kate had all the supplies, so we all luxurously soaked and scrubbed our feet and painted our toes. When we live in a place with dirt roads so our feet are always dusty or muddy, this was a fun treat!

It was amazing how fast 4 pm rolled around! Suddenly our retreat was over and it was time to get back to families and meal prep and all that normal life entails.

I came home expecting the worst, but amazingly, everyone had done great! Julianne woke up only twice, and just cried for a few minutes during the night. Everyone was happy and had a good time! Whoo hoo!

I can't wait for the next girl's night out!

Christmas Festivities

We have had a busy, yet very fun Christmas celebration this year.

On Christmas Eve we spent most of the day with good friends, eating and hanging out and playing a game. I didn't get any pictures, but apart from Matt and Steve spending an unexpected 2 hours helping someone move a piano, it was a nice, relaxing day.

On Christmas Day, we got up and just had a fun morning opening presents. A few hours in, we took a break for our traditional special breakfast: this year was cinnamon rolls and an egg and ham casserole.

Trying out some of their new dress-up clothes:

Julianne modelling a new outfit (notice K's slippers! She always has to try on shoes!)

Then it was off to our good friend's house for Christmas lunch. We had chicken and ham and all the fixings (along with the traditional British fare of pigs in a blanket, and even a Christmas pudding).


Kate had little presents for everyone there, and the kids were excited about their new books, I got a little recipe card or photo holder and Matt got this awesome pair of crazy socks. =) We stayed all afternoon and some of us watched a movie while others played a game.

It was a cool, rainy day, so that helped make it feel very Christmasy. It was a really nice day, and it was great to spend it with good friends.

Christmas: The Joy of Giving, or the Gimmies?

Every year I struggle with how many presents are piled under our tree on Christmas morning. I mean, it's fun to see the kids walk out into the front room, where piles of shiny, brightly wrapped packages are mounding under the sparkly tree.

But then the feeding frenzy begins. The kids want to race through opening packages as fast as they can. It becomes all about "what is for me?" and "what more do I get", rather than being thankful for loving family who cared enough about them to send them all sorts of fun things.

I'm afraid that my kids are coming to view Christmas as a time to get more!!! and fun!!! stuff in abundance. I'm ashamed to admit, that there have been ocassional times when I myself have felt the greedy, "oh, that's it? that's all I got?" at the end of a Christmas morning.

BUT HOLD ON ONE SECOND! It's CHRISTMAS, for crying out loud! It's not about US, or what we can get and have and hold. It's about Jesus, and what he gave, and how much he loves!

I truely desire to help my children understand this. I mean, we talk about it all the time, and when we've been in the US, we've done boxes for kids, and here we've participated in giving gifts to the Empty Christmas Tree (the school collects gifts to give to BTA or some other PNG group). But I don't think it really sinks in. I mean, deep inside, we're all selfish, and wanting more or better.

I have a friend who in her family have decided to base their gift giving around the 3 gifts from the Maggi. So on Christmas they give each other just three gifts. That's it. They are based on the gifts given Jesus by the Wise Men: gold, incense and Myrrh. So the 3 gifts reflect that: gold is something precious and of great value, so one gift is something precious to the reciever.. something they really want or treasure. Incense: something that goes from the person to God, so that gift is something of a spiritual nature (bible study book, music, etc). Myrrh: used to embalm a body, but as a gift they give something for the body (clothes, jewelry, lotion.....).

I really love this idea!!! I would really love to do this in my family. Have a few gifts, with great thought and meaning put into them.

I know my kids would already balk at this idea. Already in their few short years of life they have been conditioned that the better Christmas = one where there are more presents than last year.

But is it too late to change and really get them focusing on what Christmas is all about?

Christmas Fun

Last night we had a family movie night and kid's camp out in our front room. It was fun to just get everyone in their pajamas and watch a fun Christmas movie (Miracle on 34th Street).

The boys were so hyper after the movie... it was almost 10pm before they calmed down and fell asleep! Kaitlyn even gave up on trying to sleep and moved back to her own room.

I definitely want to have one more Christmas movie night this week, but I think one sleepover in the front room is enough for this year. =)

Decorating

This afternoon I had fun finally getting around to decorating Kaitlyn's bedroom. Last year, right before we left for furlough her room got a much-needed repainting. Today, over a year later, I finally managed to get everything else finished. (well, 'everything else' only consisted of 2 things!)

I had got these cute fairy "Wallies" and needed to get them up on her walls. And someone here in Ukarumpa was selling a purple canopy, and purple being Kaitlyn's favorite color, I figured she would enjoy it.

So here is the finished result:

Playacting

I have been blessed by kids who have very active imaginations. I never know from one day to the next who I will find running around my house. Sometimes it depends on what was most recently done. For instance, if Kaitlyn and Nathan were allowed to play "Age of Empires" on the computer, the next day I usually find the boys with all the duplos and every toy car we own, spread out across the floor playing their own version of AoE.
Lately I've been seeing a bit more of The Hobbit around the house. Matt has been reading this to the kids in the evenings, and often at the breakfast table, my kids will have vanished, and in their places Gandalf will be asking for more cheerios, or Bilbo and Gollum will be wrestling on the floor or having a conversation.
There's never a dull moment in this house, that's for sure!

Lately, Julianne has been getting into this as well. Her playactings aren't quite as... advanced, but still, I don't remember my other kids, at younger than two actually pretend playing quite as much as she does. She has two favorite themes: being a mommy, or being a doggie.
She absolutely loves her baby dolls (it's nice to see all the dolls that have been in our house for years and Kaitlyn rarely touched finally getting some air!) Her favorite pastime is giving them susu (nursing them). She wrenches down her shirt and shoves her poor baby's head down it and walks around the house. It's rather hilarious.
Her other favorite thing to do is to pretend to be a dog. Randomly she'll announce, "Mama, doggie" and then immediately get on her hands and knees and bouncingly crawl around the house, tongue hanging out, panting. And then, in case I forgot, every few moments she'll again remind me "Mama, doggie", until I acknowledge that Julianne has in fact disappeared, and in her place is a furless, adorable 'doggie'.

Cookies!

One of my (many) favorite parts about the Christmas season is getting to make all sorts of yummy goodies. Today the kids and I made our family's favorite: sugar cookies.

Justin, Julianne and I cut out and baked the cookies while everyone else was at school. Once they got home, it was time to get to work.

About half the cookies we made will be going to school with Kaitlyn tomorrow for her class Christmas party. The rest we will get to have for ourselves! (I'm sure they won't stick around too long!)

Julianne thoroughly enjoying her cookie

The finished products