Christmas Pics

So I thought I would post a couple random pictures from Christmas. I will have to get pictures from others of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. So until then here are a couple pictures of the season. Below is a nativity scene that my dear friend Emily put in my fish tank. For a couple years she has wanted to put one of my many nativity scenes in the tank and this year I said okay, but the ones I could think about putting in the tank all floated. So she made her own...

One fun activity of Christmas is making sugar cookie Christmas trees. The girls made a tree to take home and one to give to someone else. It was fun to see them decorate them and then to watch them give them to someone else. (Around the table...Rachel in red, Emily, Cara, and Katie)

The Last Couple Weeks

Well, this is an exciting evening at my house. Emily and Carmen come over with their laptops and the three of us sit watching a movie or TV show while catching up on emails, Facebook, or other computer tasks. We all love the wireless!

The Sunday after Thanksgiving I had a decorating party. Dave and Mary, friends from Dallas, OR, were here as well as Emily and Carmen. Emily has decorated with me for 3 years now. Here she is next to one of my favorite nativity sets. She thinks they look cold since they are blue, so she has placed them on a white "snow" cloth and the packing pieces are snowballs. I have to admit that the packing pieces somehow disappeared.
Here are Carmen and Mary decorating the tree. Having Carmen help this year was a great addition. Her height comes in handy when stringing lights, hanging pictures, wrapping garland, and so much more.

Dave accomplished a task that has not happened at my house before. I brought outside lights over with me in 2002 or 2004 and they have never been up. The lights hadn't even been used since Christmas of 1999 back at Camp Tapawingo. Anyway, Dave strung them up outside and they worked!

Then this past weekend was our Christmas Festival. It is our day to shop. Basically it is a bazaar held in our gym, but we like to think of it as the mall. Emily, Carmen and I were decked out with our Christmas bilas (decoration) and shopped all evening, but took a break to get dinner from the junior class. Very similar to a food court.

Rachel's Birthday

The very loud, silly kindergartners. Happy Birthday, Rachel!

Pin the tail on the pony.
Kristen organized a scavenger hunt.

Rachel and me with her pony pillow.

Kristen had planned a craft for the girls and they all had a good time decorating with foam shapes.

Nothin' Like a Group Picture

This is our Numonohi Christian Academy Elementary Division photo. Those are a lot of kids to get organized and make smile - at the beginning of their recess, but it was fun.

Halloween

Rarely do I get to carve pumpkins anymore. Something about growing up and not having kids, but this year neither of those things hindered my friend Joanie and me from getting into the spirit of thing.

Don't be scared, those are PNG pumpkins. They aren't orange on the outside, but they smell like pumpkins, taste like pumpkins and act like pumpkins - especially when being carved.
On Halloween night I made sugar cookies with some friends. Here are Cara and Katie frosting cookies.
Nathan and Andrew frosting cookies.

And Andrew, Carmen, Cara and Katie all frosting cookies. Kyle and Michael joined in on the cookie making, but alluded pictures, somehow.

Madang 2009

Another Madang trip. I just love it there - sun, ocean, pool, food and great friends! This year Emily, (Me), Carmen, and Hannah all took off for Madang. We stayed at my favorite place - Jais Aben and had a couple days of relaxing. One day our friends the Claasens picked us up and took us to another resort called Malolo. We had fun on the black sand beach, swimming in the amazingly warm water and hanging out with friends.

On our way back we ended up with both driver-side tires blown. God's hand of protection and Nate's skillful driving - lead us to the side of the road instead of flipping over the bridge we had clipped.
Thankfully our friends were just behind us in a truck and we got to ride to the NTM base in the back of the truck, instead of waiting on the side of the road.

Another highlight for us was cockroach killing. This happened in the evenings while we watched a movie or played cards. Carmen has a great squeal and Emily and Hannah are quite lively as they go on their hunting expeditions.

Emily and Hannah showing off the weapons of chioce.

Our final and strangest event of Madang was the tsunami warning that was issued for all of PNG. There had been a large earthquake on Vanuatu so official warning went out. The resort where we were staying began their precautions. The warning was officially called off, but lots of planning had already been put into place. It was an experience to remember.

My Birthday

The Lord has blessed me with some amazing coworkers that are also my dear friends. I was able to celebrate with so many of them on my birthday. My friend Joanie is here in the picture with me. She made a special chocolate cheese cake for Becky and me.

Becky and I started our celebration with grilled hamburgers, many yummy salads, and kaukau chips. I didn't get good pictures of everyone present but here we have Carmen, Emily, Hannah, Carrie and Pat (Joe is next to her, but out of the picture). After our dinner we piled into Karl and Kristen's house - they sure are good sports to let all of us in. I guess we numbered 21 by then. Carrie had made some wonderful cupcakes and a beautiful cake. My dear little friends had a hard time keeping away from those lovely treats!
I am not sure a party is complete without Dana sticking his fingers up his nose. We probably wouldn't recognize him in pictures.

Becky and I had mounds of presents to open and it is always fun to open presents with a friend.

After presents we went outside with our dessert for a camp fire. Scott and his boys had been working on it, so it was going well by the time we all joined them. We had a great night to be out and the generator didn't even kick on until we were nearly done with our evening.

It was a great birthday celebration. I sure appreciate all those that helped put it together. You are so dear!