Sushi Night and more pictures....

Too cute not to post :)
Legwarmers are back???
yummy sushi rolls
Grampa and Dave boxing
Too excited to contain himself!

Christmas Doings....

Isaac posing in Batman t-shirt
Carsen in camo chef hat
Marie and Chloe

Josie and Chloe

Christmas Day was spent leisurely opening gifts, drinking coffee and eating the Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls. Yum!! My little brother and I laugh that first-born parents are probably the only ones that make each of their kids wait and take turns opening gifts :)

We let the kids play with small gifts all afternoon and then brought out the big gift...the Wii. Wish I could have gotten a video of Caleb....unfortunately he was jumping so high his head was cut off in each picture I took of him!!!

Other happenings were: Sushi making with Aunt Cynthia and a "late" visit from Granny and Grampa. They are super cautious drivers and reluctant to come even in good weather. So they started out in rain which turned to ice. They arrived over 3 hours late (should have taken 1.5 hrs driving their speed) We almost called the State Patrol!

Now for the tree to come down...ornaments to put away....needles to sweep up. Oh..and more groceries to be bought. Ba-hum-bug!

Yummy Sugar Cookie Recipe

These are called "To roll or not roll" sugar cookies.

1 c. sugar (if rolling out dough use 1 1/2 c. powdered sugar instead of granulated)
1 c. butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp (or tad more) almond extract (lOVE this stuff!)
1 egg
2 1/3 c. flour
1/2 tsp baking soda

Cream butter and sugar. Add flavors and eggs-then dry ingredients.

Preheat 375 oven. Shape dough into balls. Press with fork or bottom of glass dipped in sugar. Decorate with sprinkles if you like color! Bake 9-11 minutes. Makes about 4 doz. (3 doz. if you're eating the dough!)

If you're rolling them-cover and refrigerate dough for at least 2 hrs before rolling out. Bake 7-8 min. Remove immediately to rack to cool.

It's COLD!!!

It's a wonderful ONE degree outside right now. We have no wood in the house...and one of our furnaces has been broken for the last few weeks. Dave finally caved in and called the repairman...because it's FREEZING in here! Right now it's not bad at 60...but when it gets in the 40's-50's INSIDE...it's not fun. Evreyone is walking around with extra sweaters, coats, double socks. I'm tempted to wear mittens but then I couldn't type! Tomorrow it should be fixed.
It must be the month of broken things. We've recently had to replace a dishwasher and water softener. We have the bum furnace, the car has a flat...the tractor has a flat and the Suburban was overheating this morning on the way to an eye appointment. (tell me how something can overheat in this weather??!!) The anti-freeze was actually BOILING. Olivia and I almost baled out of the vehicle thinking it might blow. Quite a strange sound. Thankfully the thermostat must have unstuck itself and it's doing ok. (except the passenger door is broke...someone has to walk around and open for them. It's fun when I'm the passenger :)

These things are all minor though when I think of a friend's family who are at the U of I Hospitals. Her husband was just in a car/snowmobile accident (with his son on the back who is ok) He has a fractured pelvis and rib. Can't work for at least 3 months. She had a stroke this summer (and has mostly recovered) I can't imagine their medical bills!

My cousin was involved in an accident just today when a car flew over the median and landed on top of her car. She's ok. But the other car literally broke in two around her..and there was a family traveling in it.

So I am thankful for this house..that our problems are so minor. That God is in all those stories.

FINALLY-Josie's 6th birthday!

Josie has waited since last March for her birthday to come...praying almost every night for a "good birthday". Isaac and Marie came to America and had b-days right away (March and April) along with many of our other kids.

It was finally HER day! She had a special friend, Grace, come over after church to play.
For her b-day lunch she requested: yellow macaroni (that's Kraft in a box) jello and a pink Princess birthday cake---with a CROWN.

I think she had a great time...I was a little worried she'd be disappointed after looking forward to it for so long. Uncle Ron and Aunt Cynthia were able to come and help celebrate too. That always makes for more fun!

We love you Josie! You have a beautiful heart and smile :)

Gingerbread People-check!

I finally got up enough nerve to attempt decorating cookies with 8 kids. (after alot of coffee!)
I read from another mom's blog with 13 kids that she has learned to pre-cut and pre-bake...I took it she tried the other way. So learning from one's mistake...the girls and I stayed up one night and cut and baked. Although I felt a twinge of guilt thinking how much fun the kids would have had---I got over it. They each had their own styles for sure! Ellie and Olivia are very "Martha Stewarty"
with their decorating. Chloe wasn't over the top...but Marie was VERY over the top with sprinkles :)
Caleb likes loud coloring...and faces on his cookies. Isaac was painstakingly carefully. Josie and Carsen were cautiously having fun. Of course Carsen ate every single cookie he decorated...then asked his dad if he could just eat the head off of the one he saved all day for him!

Sisters....

It's been neat seeing Marie and Chloe's relationship grow. They truly act like sisters...playing together for hours and then fighting over something. It's really an answer to pray that they get along so well. They share the same room--the same full size bed--bathroom--clothes--toys. They've both grown alot (not just physically) Marie is 10 and Chloe will be 8 in Janurary.
Here's some pictures Olivia took one afternoon of them...just having fun!

New Pantry!

Hey...sorry for all the posts today but these are pictures I really wanted to get on my blog and the kids are outside sledding :)

We've been in our house for almost 8 years now and I've never had a good place to store groceries. A pantry has been my dream and it's been on the "project list" for years! I even bought a sign that says "Pantry" and hung it over the door where the pantry should be.

Well...on Thanksgiving weekend my parents came and my dad (Dave too...a little) spent hours putting barn board shelves in my new pantry! Olivia spend an afternoon organizing it like a little store. So now I'm good to go....if I could only get to the store and stock up!

Thanks dad...Dave and Olivia! I love it!

Oh and thanks to all my mom's biblestudy ladies for praying this would happen soon!

African Christmas Stockings

I was trying to find special Christmas stockings for our Liberians...and look what I found on ebay. I love them! Of course the kids would rather have Barbie or Spiderman...but I'm hoping
someday they will think these are pretty special.

Decorating and Ice-skating

Isaac with a new shave
Marie and Chloe ice-skating

Good News....and Winter Fun

I just received an e-mail this morning from my Mercy Ship contact. They are pulling out of Monrovia soon so I didn't really expect them to find out any info on the kids' birth father. BUT...below is what we just found out. I know the prison isn't safe, there's shortage of food...but I'm glad he wasn't one of the ones killed or out on the lose running for his life either. God has him in a place I'm praying he'll hear more and more of the gospel from those who minister in "prison fellowship".


Hi Teresa,

Kevin from our Prison Fellowship Team met Tokpa on Saturday. He's still in the prison, and seems to be doing OK - good health, not too skinny, and not too depressed.

Olly


The kids have been having fun ice-skating on our frozen driveway. The gravel roads are just as bad so I'm glad to stay home this week (although I am going a little stir crazy!) I'm considering taking everyone rollerskating Friday afternoon. I've had enough practicing tying all the ice-skates!

They have been spending hours outside sledding even thought it's 13 degrees out today! I guess they don't mind the cold.

We started out with 2 decent sleds. Now each is broken in half (through various sledding spills!) so there are four pieces that they take turns using. It was fun watching Olivia, Marie and Caleb yesterday. They push and push until they start sliding and tried to form a pyramid while doing it. I hope the chickens and the dogs stay out of their way!

It's the Little Things....

This morning when Dave was on his way out the door for work he found a HUGE office pack of bagels and cream cheese on our front porch. Mystery! (we found out later it was a guy from his Father's Group at church) He drove all the way out in the country--on gravel, snow and ice covered roads to deliver them fresh!

Later in the afternoon our neighbor came over carring a dozen and a half chicken eggs (in his stocking cap!) for us. We love fresh eggs since our crazy chickens aren't laying now.

It's grace when the lady Ellie babysits for says she can leave work early so Ellie can get home to grab her backpack she forgot for her sleepover tonight.

It's the little everyday things I need to keep my eyes wide open for so I can have a thankful attitude all year (or just day!) long.

Newflash from Monrovia-Dec. 1, 2008

I recently read this in a Mercy Shipper's blog. Hard to believe we were standing in that same prison almost 11 months ago....

I've been in contact with this person on the Mercy Ship trying to find out if our kids' birth father is still in prison or on the loose. What a crazy place...I can't even imagine the conditions they live in. Below is what a Mercy Ship worker wrote:

Jail-break

On Monday afternoon 202 prisoners broke out of Monrovia's Central Prison, leaving another 600 behind. A jail-break of such proportions is of no surprise to me - I only visited the prison once over a year ago, but thought that security was poor and a coordinated rush by a large number of prisoners would be successful. The guys that are left behind will be grateful for the space provided by those escaping, before it is filled up following the orgy of looting that happens every year around Christmas as desperate men steel things to buy food for their families. Currently, 32 of the 202 escapees have been re-captured. The city is in a high state of alert, with road blocks at frequent intervals and all available Police and UN personnel involved in searching for the escapees. Meanwhile, the Africa Mercy's Prison Ministry team was called upon to deliver emergency food supplies to the prison, as the escapees raided the food stores on their way to freedom, leaving the remaining 600 inmates hungry. Our Prison Ministry delivered 6 sacks of rice to the prison yesterday via the Prison Fellowship.

HOORAY!!!

Here's how the girls reacted when I told them we were all done with leftovers!

Turkey Anyone??

We just got over the holiday feast and have been having leftovers here...many, many leftovers :0

For kicks here is what we've eaten since last Thursday:

Thursday- a 30# turkey plus a 17# ham and all the trimmins'

Friday-left over turkey/ham and trimins'

Sat-turkey noodle soup

Sunday-turkey enchiladas

Monday-turkey alfredo pizza (not as bad as it sounds! Really. Trust me.)

Tuesday-split pea and ham soup (yea! the ham is all gone!!!!)
turkey and wild rice soup
left over turkey noodle soup

Wed-the rest of the left over soups for lunch

Alas...last Saturday I again baked another (yes, really) 30# turkey. See there was this "good deal" last year. A man from Kalona had all these fresh turkeys for sale cheap...and we bought 3 not realizing their extreme size. Unfortunately two froze together creating this 60# block of frozen turkey that I could not lift from our freezer. So there they sat all year. We started thawing them out about 5 days before Thanksgiving. We thought about even using a chisel!
No, they don't fit in our oven. Thankfully I had a roaster and we put a tent of foil around it to bake. It actually works quite well once the guys rinse it and lift that giant thing in there. It bakes about 14 hrs on low...or 5 hours on high. Trust me.

SO....I froze quite a bit of turkey meat. Right now I think we're all ready for a change...and I've run out of turkey recipes. There is this turkey cranberry salad that looks interesting--but I think it might be bycotted.