Operation Christmas Child

 This was our first year putting together a shoe box for "the far away children" through Operation Christmas Child with Samaritan's purse. It was by far the most special thing we did all season. We went to Walmart to pick out special toys and small presents, wrapped them up in a box and sent them off. We found out that our box went to a little 2 or 3 year old girl in the Philippines. Before we started this project Cecily and I watched a lot of movies on their website to give her an understanding of what we were doing and where it was going. I of course cried through most of them. It was a sweet and special time!

 The girls picking out dolls for the far away children. They decided that since their favorite things were their babies and blankets that those were what we should send our little girl!

A visit with a special guy!

 We got to see our favorite Santa again this year! The girls are decked out in adorable dresses made by my mom (Beth). They thought he was a pretty nice man!

The most beautiful tree of all!

 I love looking at our tree from year to year! It changes as the girls grow. You can practically measure their height by the decorations placed on the tree!

Let it Snow!

 We enjoyed a wonderful dusting of Snow around Thanksgiving! Despite snow we made it to Aunt Susan and Uncle Michael's for a wonderful feast. We used our snow day to dig the Christmas tree out of the shed and deck the halls!

Sending off wonderful friends!

Tom and Pauline have been very special friend to us for sometime now. (They threw Rory a surprise party for his 21st Birthday!)  For me it's one of those wonderful joys that can sometimes come with marriage. I married into a wonderful friendship with Tom and Pauline.
They have been on and off the mission field since Rory and I got together. Sadly they were out of the country for our wedding. But home or away they have been wonderful and wise friends to us. The girls just adore them!
Pauline watched Cecily once a week for us while I was pregnant with Rosemary. She also helped out after my appendix and my recent back surgery. What a blessing!
They recently relocated to Turkey. We miss them! But we do have the opportunity to Skype with them. Here are some pictures of some time we got to spend with them before they left.
They gave the girls special dolls for Christmas. Cecily was absolutely enamored with her doll. In fact you will be able to spot it in their photos with Santa later on!

Beautiful Fall!

November Sprouts-- Pilgrims on the High Seas