Merry Christmas From All of Us to You!

Merry Christmas from all of us to you!

Look at my dollhouse!

I love my new Josefina doll.

I love finding presents in my stocking!

A kiss for my doll, Kit!


The year of the Lego...I even got some lego keychains!

"I wonder what this could be?"


Showing off her nickname!

Christmas Song from our Home to Yours

May you be blessed this season with His Love and Grace as you celebrate Emmanuel, God With Us!

New Christmas Pajamas from America!

The children were so excited to get their new Christmas pj's from Nana and Popa, along with the package full of Christmas presents! Shopping can be difficult here and the prices are extremely expensive so we are so thankful to our family in the States who will send us things we have ordered along with gifts from them. Millie even got her a sweater.

Christmas is not celebrated here in our country but New Year's Day is celebrated so trees and decorations and Santas can be found. Almost every shopkeeper we asked did not know who's birthday we were celebrating on Christmas Day. The Western commercialism has come this way but not the true meaning of Christmas.

Thanksgiving Day...So much to be thankful for!

This Thanksgiving we celebrated with our teammates and were blessed to have a real turkey and all the fixings. Thanks to family who sent yams and pecans, karo syrup and coconut! It was a delicious meal and a blessing to be around the table with friends. This time of the year can be difficult to be away from our extended family but we have so much to be thankful for. After the huge meal, our families loaded up in two vans and drove to a nearby International School to support our boys in a basketball tournament. We are so thankful for Mr. Scott from our small school to take the time to form a team. Most of our boys have never played basketball or even learned the fundamentals of the game so this has been a huge blessing for Caleb and all the others. They have been practicing a couple days a week in our courtyard (not even a real gym) and then participated in a Winter Tournament hosted by a larger International School. The boys actually did great to be playing boys older and bigger than them. After the game, we ended our day with desserts and the children all gathered for a movie.

Compass Halloween Party

This year our members put on two skits before a panel of judges. The plays were Land Ho! The Story of Christopher Columbus and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. It was amazing how creative they got as they wrote their own script, prepared props and costumes, and even used technology. After the judging, we enjoyed pumpkin cupcakes while different teams decorated/designed a pumpkin. The pumpkins here are more like ghourds so it makes it a bit difficult to carve them like we do in America. Instead we used different veggies and told them to be as creative as they could. We had a great night with our English members. As you can see, the children enjoyed dressing up for the party. Benjamin, sporting his new pirate costume, Isabel in her new princess gown, and Laura Grace dressed up as a flight attendant. Who would have thought? Maybe we fly too much.

Benjamin's 6th Birthday!

Aaarrgggg! It's a Pirate Party! Benjamin invited a few of his friends over to celebrate his birthday. We went on a treasure hunt, but to get to the treasure each team had to complete a game challenge (popping the "coconut" balloons, egg relay up misty mountain, water relay through crocodile swamp, etc...) Benjamin helped me decorate his cake, complete with sharks, shipwrecked boat, pirate, snakes, scorpions, crabs, and a treasure filled with jewels! I found these candles at a nearby store and had no idea they were like roman candles!!! Ha! I'm just glad we all stepped back a few feet!

New Furniture

We were so blessed to buy a couch and two chairs from some expats who were moving back to the States. While we were vacationing in the States, my sister-in-law helped me find some great material to recover them. We found a man who recovers and repairs furniture in a small shop close to our home. I don't think he knew exactly what he was doing so don't look too closely. I then found a friend who could make the cushions for me and did an excellent job. Just an example of how things take much more time to do in another country, not mentioning the challenges with the language barrier! Ha!

My How We've Grown

Looking over the past two years since we left America, we are amazed at how much the children have grown and changed. This summer, during our vacation in the States, everyone who saw the children talked about their changes. Each one is so precious and unique in their own special way! We are so blessed to be their parents and be able to love on them everyday!

Georgia Tailgate Party

GooooooDawgs Sic'em! Our English Students didn't quite get it, but neither did our LSU friends. Ha! We had a great time explaining a bit of American Football language and vocabulary while watching a game and eating "tailgatin'" food. Thanks to mom and Larry for taping the games for us every week! We love you.

Harvest Party!

The children all dressed up for their school's harvest party. We didn't get a picture of Caleb as a Ninja, but Benjamin dressed up as Batman, Isabel as a cowgirl, and Laura Grace as an old granny with rollers in her hair. The school has been such a blessing for us while living here.

Happy 11th Birthday Caleb!

We celebrated Caleb's 11th Birthday with several of his friends from school and on our team. Merril took the boys bowling and then they came back to compete in our 2nd annual Lego Building/Designing Competition.