All the family arriving!

I kept checking our Life360 to see what time Adam and Jill were leaving Wisconsin.  They finally posted a picture at 7:30am showing that they had left, but it was 2 hours after they said they were leaving.  

"Turn on your Life360.  I want to watch your progress!" I wrote.

 "I don't know why it's not working" Jill lied.

"Do I keep supper warm for you?  If you didn't leave until 7:30, it will be late." 

 "No, you don't need to keep it warm.  We'll be there!" she finally fessed up.  What?  Ends up that they got up early and left at 3:30am!  They'd be here by 4!

Emeri and Eli were also on their way from Arkansas, without parents! Their Dad, our son, Josh, had had some virus and been running a fever.  He needed to be fever free 48 hours before joining the family.  They loved driving alone.  They could crank up the music!

By that afternoon, there were vehicles from Colorado, Arkansas and Wisconsin in our driveway.  I LOVE it!

Always good to have family here!  Lots of noise and laughter!

Adam wanted to be here early so he could watch the Packers. We had to watch on the smaller tv because the little kids had gone to bed downstairs where the big tv is.

 Was it really worth it though?  Not a good game.

Sunday, the 27th.  The little girls were up early.  But I was up earlier.  Couldn't sleep past 3:30!  I enjoyed time reading the Word and in prayer, getting strength for the day.

Headed to church

I love having them at church with us!

Jill remembered that we needed to measure the kids.  They have really grown!  We don't measure the oldest girls anymore, as they have quit growing.

Josh's were on their way!

We ran out of peanut brittle so I taught Nehemiah (Hannah's more-serious-than-a-boyfriend) how to make Uncle John's recipe.

When Josh's would arrive, we would have our Christmas party!  And we were all overjoyed that there was just a little snow before our party!

First family comes

The first of the kids came the day after Christmas!  Mindy, Jason, Tenley and Kaia.

Earlier that day I ran to the grocery store to load up!  The kids had given me ingredients for the meals they would help me with.  The grocery cart was full!  I am not used to fixing 3 large meals a day for 16 people!  Dillons had great digital coupons and I was able to save a bundle!

After putting all the groceries away, Al and I took a nap.  And then Mindy's family arrived!

After they unpacked, we took a walk.  It was 70𝆩!  Mild for December.

The girls wanted rides going home.

The next morning, Mindy and Tenley helped make breakfast.

There was some disobedience on the part of the girls so I sang a song I use in my teaching little kids called OBEY.  Again, a tune using London Bridge.  

1st verse:  O-B-E-Y spells OBEY, spells OBEY, spells OBEY, 

                 O-B-E-Y spells OBEY and that is what I'll do.  

2nd verse:  I will listen and obey, and obey, and obey, 

                  I will listen and obey, that is what I'll do.

Later, Kaia helped me with spaghetti sauce for spaghetti pie for dinner.  

This marble game is a big hit.  My grandfather had made one that I played with as a child.

The girls helped wash our car.

Tenley showed us her new car (hand me down from her cousin).

Zoom zoom!  She zipped around!

Then Papa gave rides in his cart.

We were waiting on the other 2 families to come from Arkansas and Wisconsin!

Preparing

Our kids went back home 4 days ago.  Christmas is over, the house is back in order.  And now I can reflect and share about it.

Preparing for the celebration of the Day of Christ's Birth included parties with my dear friends in my Bible studies.  In my "older ladies" class, I taught the lesson from Kristi McLelland's "Luke in the Land - the Incarnation"; how Jesus brought His kingdom to the earth.

In "The Sacred Romance" by Curtis/Eldredge, it is stated this way:  "Under cover of the night, He stole into the enemy's camp incognito, the Ancient of Days disguised as a newborn.  The Incarnation, as Phil Yancy reminds us, was a daring raid into enemy territory.  The whole world lay under the power of the evil one and we were held in the dungeons of darkness.  God risked it all to rescue us."

                                                        Everybody brought lots of goodies.

This treat is called "Kansas fenceposts after a snow storm". Easy to make and fun to eat!

My young mother's group had a party also.  We always have a gift exchange finding used things that we no longer use at home and re-gifting that.  I also gave a devotional on the gifts we receive from God.  Can you think of what He gifts us?  Are you grateful?  Do you know that even affliction can be a gift as it can draw us closer to the LORD as we lean on Him and find strength in Him.

Getting ready for our 3 kids and their families to come, there was lots of housecleaning to do and making 11 beds; several singles, 1 full, 2 queens and a king.  Luckily we have a study and 4 bedrooms in the basement.  And 3 company bathrooms, although they used ours too. It took me several days of preparation. I decided that next year, I will hire someone to help me!  It was exhausting!  But also joyfilled with anticipation of all the kids coming!

I always send out Christmas cards.  We have written Christmas letters for many years and one of our gifts for the kids was to put saved copies of them in binders for each family.  History of our family through the years. When we first began to type these up, it was 1982, pre-computer days.  I did have an electric typewriter though.  And I made copies for them either on the church xerox machine or maybe at Dillons.

Our gift to each other was a Reverse Osmosis water purification system.  I do not like the taste of our city water.  So many minerals!  Ugh.  I was so excited that the workers could install it before our family came!  Before, I used 2 pitchers to filter it twice before I deemed it ok to drink.  Ok, call me a water snob. 

I made several batches of Uncle John's peanut brittle.  Allen helped me make some peppernuts (pfeffernusse), German Mennonite little bite cookies, a traditional snack we eat every year.  Quite addictive!  Here is one recipe that you could follow if you want to try making them!

On Christmas Eve, we went to our church for the service.

And afterwards we did our traditional of driving around town looking at lights.

On Christmas morning, I was enjoying the quiet before the house is filled with 16 people and lots of laughter and noise!  They would begin coming on the 26th and 27th.  

Christmas is the day we celebrate when Christ was born (We know it wasn't that day.  More likely in September.)  

His hands were so little.  Do you suppose Mary counted each one and tenderly held them, kissed them?

Then He grew up.

He came to die for us.  His hands were pierced for us.

"This is real love - not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins."  1 John 4:10

I have taught part of this verse to the 3-5 year olds at Awana Cubbies in a song.  

To the tune London Bridge:

    God loved us and sent His Son, sent His Son, sent His Son,

    God loved us and sent His Son.  1 John 4:10

King Jesus became a very vulnerable baby, grew up and died in our place.