For some reason I can't seem to post any pictures! so sorry! I mean, what is a post without pictures?!!

Anyway, to catch you all up December 21st Ben and I went out to celebrate our 6 year anniversary. We had a wonderful time at a really cool restaurant that we had been waiting to try for a special occacion. It was worth it and we had a really special time.

Christmas day we got to open up some packages that Ben's family had sent. We are still waiting for 5 Christmas packages, but at least we had a few to open on the day. The kids were excited about the slide that Ben and I got them - Jamin was on it all morning! We are still enjoying my new teapot, Bath and Body Works bathroom soap, markers for the kids, new hair things, Jamin's train whistle and the first Season of Lost! Yeah, we are officially hooked now... I held out as long as I could, but we succumbed! Christmas afternoon we hosted our group of 27 people and enjoyed a big meal with lots of special dishes that we don't get to eat every day. Ben set up the Wii and got some games going and people stayed around and we were so happy. It is hard to be away from family, but it seems as the years go by (this was our 3rd Christmas overseas) it just gets better and better. God has given us some really wonderful friends to go through this journey with and we can't thank Him enough.

New Years we went camping in the desert. We borrowed a tent and sleeping bags and drove about an hour north of our city. It is completely barren of trees, flat and dry for miles. There is a bit of scrub on the ground and a few huge piles of rocks. It is truly the desert! We picked a large rock mountain to shade us and set up camp. Two other families from our group joined us and the kids couldn't get enough of the rocks. They were climbing them all day and into the evening. We had a fire, roasted hot dogs and some marshmellows we had saved from the states. Had to have our smores!

Sorry for the lack of posting! Our internet has been down for a while, but we can't wait to show you pictures of all we did over Christmas. It was busy and so much fun with lots of friends and tons of sugar cookies.

Several mornings a week Reese and I do a little bit of preschool together. We pull out the books and markers and she loves it! We spend about 20 minutes reading through some classics, poems, another 20 minutes in our reading book "100 Easy Lessons", about 20 minutes in her work book filled with mazes, matching and coloring exercises. We often have Bible memory time, singing time, baking time, and feed the turtle time. She is great about helping me with laundry, watching Jamin and setting and clearing the table. I'm so proud of her. She is getting so mature in all of her 4 years!

Jamin is so precious and finds ways to keep himself occupied while we do school. Other than the shoe basket fun he has, he is also into any kind of moving vehicle. He will drive cars over my legs, onto the couch, try to reach Reese's workbooks and sometimes weave them around Daddy's big drum. He loves to imitate what Reese is doing and has picked up several sign language signs lately. He is so proud when he gets it right and we give him a loud round of applause!

My pictures aren't posting, i'll try again tomorrow...

One of Jamin's new favorite activities is playing in the shoe basket. He throws them out one by one and then puts them all back in. He is incredibly cute and so adorable! He is making so many new sounds with his voice, it almost seems as if he is talking. We just can't quite make out words yet. He and Reese are the best of friends. I can't believe it, but am so thankful. The other day we were sitting in the car waiting for Ben and Reese piped up, "Jamin, I love you so so so so so so much." They are such a blessing to us!

Here are a couple pictures of our living room decorated and ready for Christmas. We have the music going and hot chocolate in the kitchen!

As soon as Thanksgiving day was done we got into the Christmas mode. We set up the Christmas tree Ben brought back from Kenya for us, pulled out our Christmas music and started baking. Our favorite recipe this year is Grandma June's Sugar Cookie Recipe complete with yummy frosting. I thought I would share it with you all. Let me know if you try it out!

Grandma June's Christmas Sugar Cookies

1/2 cup margarine or butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp. cream of tartar
1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt

Cream wet ingredients together, add dry ingredients. Mix well and chill for an hour. Roll out the dough to about 1/8 inch thick, using flour to keep from sticking. Cut out cookies and bake for about 8 minutes at 400 degrees.

Yummy Frosting

1/4 cup butter
2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 TBS. milk
food coloring

Cream butter and sugar. Add vanilla and milk gradually until frosting is the consistency you want.

Thankyou all who wrote us emails and encouraged us during Thanksgiving week-end! We did miss our families but God gave us a wonderful time with many of our Christian friends and fellow Americans. We had a great big meal with Turkey (brought back from the US frozen and kept in coolers!) pumpkin pie and green bean casserole. Everyone went all out and shared their hoarded special ingredients and we just ate and ate and ate together! Reese had a blast on the great big trampoline and is now praying for a yard, a trampoline and a dog. We will see what happens for Christmas....