Merry Christmas Card!

Pictures

I have been trying to be organized with Pictures this
fall with my kiddos. Now that I am back in the states and have
a decent speed internet I have been able to upload the pictures
from this fall and they are all on my picture share site if you
would like to see whats up with the kids.
Enjoy!

So Far....

The first few days back in the states consisted of helping to get
things Christmas ready,

Making forts and playing with the kiddos.
(this picture of Jax and Kensy cracks me up)

(the boys hanging out in the fort with their flashlights)

cheering on Coach while he does his thing.

helping to put up the outside Christmas lights.
and catching up with those I love!

WooHoo For Christmas and all the Happiness
it brings!

Fail!

My Life!
And I LOVE IT! I am so blessed by my kids and I think this
picture is a perfect glimpse of my daily life.
The week(s) before I left I was painting 8-10 hours a
day, plus classes, getting ready for Christmas things,
and spending time with the kiddos. It was a little
busy:)

We have been also waiting for the 'ok' to get the sea
container out of port for months. On Tuesday we thought
FINALLY today is the day and drove to Mobay. It wasn't:(
so Chad turned around and went home planning on coming back
on Wednesday and I stayed in Mobay.

Since I was there. I figured I would hang out on the beach,
and did, until they came and kicked me off informing me the
beach was closed. Blake then showed up and we went to get
some food and hang out. It was really good for my heart
to be able to stop and catch up with him. It had been to long.

Wednesday morning Blake and I were back at the port to
try and get the sea container. We chatted with the dock
workers we knew, and watched the goings on of the day
and (I) never saw our container. Grrr!
Blake took me to the airport and I started my travel day to the
states. They finally got the sea container out at 6 that night
and delivered by 9. Sorry Guys!

While they were waiting I was traveling. And now I am
back in the states.
Sorry I dropped the ball letting you all know I was going to be
back. If you have free time and want to get together please
let me know and we will see what we can work out.

Blessings!

Deaf Sports Jamaica

Saturday was a beautiful Jamaican day, and perfect for
the national sports day they help in Mandeville.
Deaf from all over Jamaica came together to compete in
different events. There was running, football, basketball,
and net ball. There may have been other too I just didn't
see them.

My kids competed mostly in the races so thats where I
spent most of my time cheering them on.

Kp color was purple. Mobay was the maroon, and Kingston
was Red.

Blake and Kirk were refs for the basketball games again this year.

The football match between Mandeville and Sav la Mar.

Monday morning the kids who competed wore their medals from
sports day to school. We had a big hoorah for them at the flag pole.
The kids 'trained' really hard for sports day and because of there hard
work they did really well.

things that make me smile

When Sanieka comes out with 2 left shoes and for the life
of her can't figure out how to make them fit her right
and left foot

That some of the older boys LOVE to read Janette Oak books

and that Imari thinks he is big stuff because
he can swing on his head.

Kids and their quirks.
Got to Love them

What can I do with...

Yesterday I had a littles class coming in, and after a month
of going through Joseph I had not planned the next bible
story and craft for the kids. So I went into the store room
to see what we had lots of that needed to be used up.

This is what we had TONS of: 1) Lima Beans 2) Popsicle
sticks 3) hemp.
Praise Jesus that creative juices got flowing and this
is what we came up with

a 'sling' and a 'stone'

and here are all my little Davids ready to go out and
fight the Goliaths of the world!
(if you look close most of the kids while holding their
slings high have one finger/hand on their nose. Thats
the tactic I use to make sure I have their attention. I place my
finger on my nose and when I have all their eyes they too have
all there fingers on their nose so I know I have their attention.
Before I took the picture I was trying to get their attention:)

Go get em kids!

My Prince (s)

Me and my Princes

Prince Damaine

Prince Roshane

Prince Jevaughn

Prince Sheldon

Praising God for these Princes!

Socks.... Check!

This makes me laugh every Monday morning when the boys
have to line up to make sure they put socks on that morning.
The uniform is not complete unless you have socks on!

Happy Monday!

A Whirl Wind Trip

This past weekend I jumped back to the states so I could
be in my friend Jenn's Wedding.
Before I left for MO. I made a pit stop in central IL
to enjoy a beautiful fall day with my family.

Jax and I the only ones truly excited about the pile
of leaves to jump in.

Kens and I hanging out

Trying to get colt excited about playing in the leaves.

After a day spent with the family I went down to Taylor
to join in the wedding festivities.

Jenn & I at the rehearsal dinner

I got to know Kara...or she got to know me:)
over the weekend via a little game she
likes to play called 564+ questions. Ha!

hanging out before the wedding trying to keep warm
in front of the fire.

So excited that I could be apart of Jenn's special day
(yep I am sporting the side pony and I had hair flair
in for the first time ever:)

I loved getting to spend the weekend with David and Kate

And I got to see and catch up with Kates.
and a lot of others that I didn't get pictures with.
Such a blessing!

back on the road again...

on the way back to central IL after a great weekend

Thank You Jesus for the gift of this weekend

Family

After arriving back on the island Monday afternoon.
I was thankful that I could stop in Mobay for a few days
after a whirl wind trip to the states

In MoBay I was able to catch up with Aunt Pam and Uncle Mike

The day started off rainy but ended beautifully!

and I loved that Tashi was able to come hang out with us too!

More Great Memories Made!
Thank You Jesus!

My bag is packed

My bag is packed for my weekend jump... and as you can see
very little is actually mine. Mine is the small thing of cloths in
top zipper part:). And to think I thought I could get away with
simply taking a carry on. Ha!

Yesterday I also learned that this morning they would be butchering
Chickens. A story I remember hearing again and again while growing
up was about Granny Watson going out back grabbing a chicken snapping
its neck and plucking it to cook. So I wanted to try...at least plucking:)

The Chosen Ones!

the de-heading cone,
only a few of them flopped out of the cone and ran around
with out heads:)... I didn't take pictures of the gory part.

Ms. Gene dipping the chickens in boiling water (so they are easier
to pluck I learned) and handing them out to the pluckers.

(yes I know I cut off Ms. Gene's head but I didn't know how happy
she would be about me taking her picture so I took a "half shot"
in case she got on me then I could use that as an excuse!)

on my way to pluck my chicken

plucking away...

while Ms. Gene instructs me on how to do it properly. Not
at all as bad as I expected. My hands still stink but other
then that I would gladly do it again!

I love all the new things I learn down here!

Thank You Jesus for these opportunities.