U.S. Citizenship

I haven't told many people but I had my Citizenship interview this morning. Most of you know I am not a US citizen. This fall I filed my paperwork and had my interview and took my tests this morning (at 8am). I was a little nervous about it but I passed with flying colors. I will be taking an oath next month and after that the entire family will finally be able to travel on the same color passports. You can see part of history test right here (Let me know how you did).

On another note I am sick. I started feeling funny last night and I thought it was the nerves. Well I had chills all night and all day today. It hit me hard this afternoon with 101.8 F (38.7 C) As I am writing this I do not have the chills anymore but not feeling that great.

Also our heat is back on. They finally fixed it this afternoon!!!

Sunday Reflections

"The crucial significance of the cradle at Bethlehem lies in its place in the sequence of steps down that led the Son of God to the cross of Calvary, and we do not understand it till we see it in this context. The key text in the New Testament for interpreting the incarnation is not therefore, the bare statement...'the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us'. but rather the more comprehensive statement... 'ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might become rich'. Here is stated, not the fact of the incarnation only, but also its meaning; the taking of manhood by the Son is set before us in a way which shows us how we should set it before ourselves and ever view it - not simply as a marvel of nature, but rather as a wonder of grace."

--J. I. Packer, Knowing God For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.

2 Corinthians 8:9

Christmas Morning Fun

Every Christmas Eve we sit down right before the kids are off to bed and we read the Christmas story (from Luke). We all participate and play different parts of the story.

These pictures are from Christmas Eve evening. Each year the kids get new pj's.

And here comes Christmas Day morning. I guess Jo picked up on Emma's style with her goggles and you can see she is wearing a pair as well.

Jo was so cute. It was her first American Christmas. She would find a box and sit down and unwrapped it all by HERSELF. She did not care if it took her a long time as long as she did it on her own.

Here are the boys enjoying a new Wii game.

Jo trying to look through a kaleidoscope.

We are so happy to spend Christmas with Fil's brother. He is the greatest uncle. He loves to read to the girls and play with the boys.

We had a great relaxing Christmas Day. The heat on our main floor is not working. The one upstairs is so it is not that bad. It would be more comfortable if it was working. However, since it is not an emergency we will have to wait until Monda for somebody to fix it.

Merry Christmas to ALL

Wishing you ALL

A MERRY CHRISTMAS.

This has been a very busy year for us but we feel so blessed.

I have been looking back at my blog and what we have been up to this past year. You can read about it here.

To those of you in the adoption process this can be a very frustrating period of time because of the holidays. Especially if you already have that referral for that precious little someone. We went through this at the end of last year into the first several months of 2008. At that point in time we had been waiting for our court date since our referral date of Oct. 19th and we knew nothing. We had only one picture of our Jordan and we had no clue when we would hold her in our arms. As most of you know we did not get to hold Jordan in our arms until March 15th of this year. In a way I want to encourage all of you who are in the middle of adoption process that it will happen. I know it seems like a long time at this point. Especially if you feel stuck and have been waiting for that last little something to move on in the adoption process. But it is so worth it and you will get to hold your little one.

Sunday Reflections

Lord Jesus, Master of both the light and the darkness, send your Holy Spirit upon our preparations for Christmas. We who have so much to do seek quiet spaces to hear your voice each day. We who are anxious over many things look forward to your coming among us. We who are blessed in so many ways long for the complete joy of your kingdom. We whose hearts are heavy seek the joy of your presence. We are your people, walking in darkness, yet seeking the light. To you we, "Come Lord Jesus!"

-- Henri Nouwen This is what God the LORD says-- he who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and all that comes out of it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it: "I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit i n darkness. "I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols.

Isaiah 42:5-8

I ain't in Addis Anymore

This is our house last night. And this is this morning.

Our street last night.

And again this morning.

We got more snow. And let me tell you this is just the beginning. We live in New England and we will not see the grass for a LONG time.

Poor Jo. She couldn't move in her boots. Hopefully she will get hang of it by the end of the winter.

Emma is enjoying this winter a lot. She is having fun sledding with her brothers and just being silly with the snow.

Sam takes off in the morning and comes home only to eat or for a cup of hot chocolate and homemade marshmallows. (yes I make homemade marshmallows the other day with the boys and they turned out great!)

Today Jo enjoy sledding with me.

I was brave enough to take down the hill both girls.

I know I am missing Nate. He was home for some reason this morning. He did spend the afternoon outside.

We have more snow coming tomorrow. The boys Christmas concert was already canceled. Fil's brother is flying in tomorrow in the middle of the snow storm so we will see when he will make it here.

Snow and Learning new things

We finally got some snow here in New England. So I bundle up all the kids (I dread this part every single time. At this point the boys can get ready by themselves but the girls need help).
It is kind of funny seeing Jo in the same winter outfit each of our kids wore when they were her age. I got it before Sam was born at a garage sale for $5 (Gymboree) and it served us well since.

The boys were enjoying sledding in the front and back yard. Jo barely moved when we were outside. It is the winter boots. I remember Emma had a hard time as well.

Wondering how long Jo's hair is. Well this is how she looks in the morning when I don't do anything with her hair. Yep it is LONG.

I just can not resist Emma. Look at her busy building with Lego (and tutu on and do not forget the goggles. Do not ask my why. it is her signature style).

As for what we learn new. Sam taught Jo how to climb onto the sofa. I am not happy about it at all. She can do it ...

... and she is very proud of it as well.

Gingerbread House

We finally got around to make our annual Gingerbread house. I did not make it from scratch just in case you were wondering.
Jo was all smiles when we started.

Nate did not stay too long to help with the decorating.

(You can see Jo in the back round trying to reach a forgotten piece of candy. It made it into her mouth)

Emma was very into it.

(And eating the candy)

As you can see Jo got mad. She got VERY mad. She wanted to eat all of the candy and I was not going to let her.

Emma putting finishing touches on the gingerbread house.

Sam and Emma showing off their gingerbread men.

Jo is happy again. Part of the house broke down and I just gave it to her.

(It got quiet with her mouth full :)

!!!Power outage update!!!

To our dismay, yesterday we learn that we were one of three families from our church who did not loose power on Friday. Most families without power own generators to keep basic things running and most of them own wood stoves to keep the houses warm. Even though a majority of the families got power back by Sunday there a few which are still left in the cold and darkness. We offered everybody our house. However, everyone needed make sure their pipes wouldn't freeze. We hope that today's warm weather help to get most of the roads cleaned and power back on. Fil was shocked this morning to see so many trees still by the roads. We feel very blessed at this point. Schools are still closed at this point and as you can guess we are still in full swing with our school at home. We are looking forward to our Christmas break coming up next week.

Sunday Reflections

Her eyes were dim but not yet blind,
And daily she would come and find
Her place, as close as women could,
Within the court and there she stood
With open hands to God, or knelt
And poured out everything she felt
Of love to Him and hope within
For One to come and bear the sin
Of priests and soldiers, dog and Jew,
And, she confessed, Of Anna, too.
Sometimes the priests would jeer and say,
"You're blind, old women stay away."
Anna loved to smile and state:
You don't need eyes to pray and wait."
In fact, she thought, you don't need eyes to live in love
Or make you wise or give you joy or bring you light.
Sometimes old Anna woke and night and saw,
within, the Coming One as brilliant as the rising sun.
O, Lord, grant us the same to see as we light advent candle three.
--John PiperThere was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. Coming up to [Mary and Joseph] at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.
Luke 2:36-38

Spit and Vinegar

Every year we get to see Santa at our library.

Emma was very excited and she is now telling everybody who is willing to listen about Ho Ho (that is how she calls Santa).

Jo on the other hand did not want anything to do with Mr. Ho Ho.

Now I should explain the blog title. It has nothing to do with Santa only that it happened in the library. After we saw Santa we were looking for some books and one lady came up to me while Jo was running around and she told me:" I simply think she is spit and vinegar." Remember English is my second language and I did not grow up in the States. I asked her four times what she said. First I thought she told me that Jo spit and it smelled like a vinegar. After the fourth time I gave up and smiled. I have absolutely no idea what that lady meant. Can any one fill me in on the idiom?

Can you see Emma eating a donut with pink frosting? This morning Emma smiled at her daddy and told him with a sweet smile that she would LOVE a pink donut. Guess what? Yep daddy went out and got all of us donuts for breakfast. He earned big points with all of us.

The Morning After an Ice storm

This is what we woke up to this morning. An ice storm went over New England last night. Half of NH is without power.

This is the same storm that brought snow to the southern states.

Lots of trees in our neighborhood are bent over and some of them are breaking at this point. We are expecting strong winds this afternoon so we might see more branches in our yard. At this point we have power and we are very grateful for that. Some of our friends from church don't (we might have a big sleepover at our house tonight).

School got canceled however you all know I homeschool so we are now just finishing our work at home. ( Hey we do not have to make up a day at the end of the school year and the kids cannot play on ice anyway). Fil is working from home to stay away from the roads.

Hope everybody is doing well.