Christmas Abroad

Merry Christmas! We hope that you and your family had a blessed time celebrating Jesus! It’s never easy to be away from family and especially over the holidays.  This is our second Christmas away from home.  Last year we celebrated Christmas in the Himalayan Mountains with our friends…it was nice but very cold!  This year, we had the joy of hosting Christmas celebrations in our own home…we even made our own luminaries so that we could sing Silent Night by candlelight at our Christmas Eve celebration. 

On Christmas morning before we opened presents, we read the story of the birth of Jesus from the Bible and prayed together, as is our family’s tradition.  This year, we had so much fun opening boxes filled with gifts and love from family and friends in the States.  It was awesome to be able to Facetime with our families while the kids opened the gifts that were sent from afar.

Also, this year, we surprised our girls with a Barbie dollhouse.  We left their dollhouse in the States…in good hands with their cousins…when we moved overseas.  The girls have really missed their dollhouse and have talked about it many times.  With our construction business opening soon, we have had carpenters in our shop working on various projects.  So, I got the bright idea of having the dollhouse made from a picture that I printed off the internet.  The carpenter did a fabulous job and the girls were so excited!  They have been playing nonstop with the dollhouse as well as the furniture and Barbie dolls that were sent from the States. 

After our gifts were opened, we had a time of worship and celebration with our fellowship.  The rest of the day we had an open house with friends coming and going.  We ate loads of food, watched movies, played games and laughed a lot.  Then, in the evening, Tony took Dylan and Delaney and 10 other kids to the Star Wars movie at the local theater. 

We truly miss our family and friends back home but we are so grateful for all the ways that we are able to stay connected to and experience much love from home through Facetime and care packages.  Thank you for all the love and support that we constantly feel from you back home.  Jesus is the greatest gift the world has ever received…we feel His love from you in so many ways…and not just at Christmas!

Meet Oreo...

So...I confessed that I have never been a dog lover and I never thought that I would have a dog living in my house.  But...Last year about this time, Dylan came home with a dog...a street dog of sorts...that he and his friend Mamong had purchased from some lady for 500 Rupees...that's about $7.50 US.  We were not excited about his purchase for a number of reasons...primarily because he did not consult with us before making said purchase.  Of course, the dog had mange and Dylan got a slight case of mange...actually rather harmless for people but still...it didn't help the dog's case in my eyes from the start.

We let Dylan keep the dog mostly because it was a "shared parenting" sort of deal.  Mamong's family wanted a "watch dog" for their house so Max mostly lived outside at Mamong's house but spent occasional nights at our house.  Max was actually a great dog.  He was very mild mannered and obedient...and I hate to admit it but he won me over to the "dog side."  So when Max got sick and we fought as hard as we could to save his life and then he died...it was a real downer.  And Dylan especially was crushed.

We decided to get a new dog...a family dog...an inside dog.  Being a dog in India is really hard...especially an outside dog.  But, we were going to wait until after Thanksgiving was over because we had plans to travel for the holiday to be with friends.  Well...Tony and I, on my suggestion, mind you, decided to go down to the "pet shop" part of the market...just to look around.  Well, there were only about 5 dogs there and one of them was an adorable Dalmatian puppy.  He was living in a bird cage with two other puppies.  Tony and I both held him, which was a major mistake.  So, in a moment of weakness, we sent a picture to Dylan.  We went home and talked the kids about the puppy and before we knew it we were all in the van headed back to the "pet shop" to "see the dog."

Well, you know we didn't leave that "pet shop" without the puppy.  His name is Oreo and our family is in love!  He is our puppy...he lives in our house and the kids fight over who is going to sleep with him every night.  I never knew that one puppy could bring such joy to a kid's heart.  I have to admit again...I love Oreo too.  He even shares my pillow sometimes...The things we do for our kids.  Haha!

Guess Who's a Teenager?!?

Dylan celebrated his thirteenth birthday on November 28th.  Despite my many pleas and demands to stop growing up...he refuses to obey!  Sigh...a teenager in our house...how will we survive?  Actually, he is a fine young man with a beautiful servants heart and deep love for the Lord.  I can't wait to see the plans God has for him.

So, what do you get a thirteen year old boy on his birthday?  Well, we decided to do something a little crazy but totally unforgettable...we surprised Dylan with a tandem paragliding ride in the Himalayan Mountains!  He had no idea what we were planning until we arrived at the ticket stand near the top of the mountain, and he was so excited.

Tony and I had gone paragliding last Christmas; it was an amazing experience!  I will have to admit that it is a bit unnerving to watch your son run off the side of a mountain wearing a parachute. Of course, I prayed for his safety until his feet landed safely on the ground.  But, it was so much fun to given Dylan this once in a lifetime experience.

After his take off, he flew back and forth over our heads several times yelling: "This is the best birthday present ever!"  His ride was about thirty minutes long...which gave us enough time to watch his take off and then drive to the landing site to see him touch safely and smoothly on the ground...amidst a soccer game.

We hope you enjoy these pictures from his flight...It will be hard to top this gift next year...but we promise for those of you who think we have lost our minds...we will try to keep both his feet on the ground...