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Blowing Out the Christmas Tree

During the time of Elianna's birthday (about 1 1/2 weeks ago) we tried to teach her how to blow out a candle. We practiced a couple times on the day of her birthday with no avail. Little did I know that all I needed to do was put up a Christmas tree! She thinks the lights are candles and blows at it every time she sees it. I can walk past the living room to the kitchen with her in my arms and the second she sees the tree she starts blowing. She doesn't even have to be close. It is so funny (at least for us). Here is a little video I took hours after we put up the tree.

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HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We are so thankful for all our friends and family. The other day we were watching "Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" and learned that America was the first country to designate an official holiday to give thanks. It just stirs up a little American pride to know that our country is a "thankful" country. We have definitely commercialized it since the days of Samoset and Squanto, but taking a day to celebrate thankfulness is refreshing. As Christians we get the opportunity to celebrate the Giver (our heavenly Father) for the blessings He gives. You are one of those many blessings!

This year Thanksgiving was at our house. We hosted a little over 30 people and it was a ton of fun. The guys started the day with a little American football (played on a soccer field) at 8:30 am and then went home to get cleaned-up and arrived around 11:30 am at our house for food. After eating the traditional Thanksgiving food people with small kids went home for nap time and those who could stay played card games. About 4 pm our friends invited everyone over for a bonfire and we roasted marshmallows for smores. It was a wonderful day and sharing it with friends made it even sweeter.

We did have a bit of adventure the day before. Our friend who bought the turkeys for the meal needed 3 to feed 30 people. The turkeys tend to be a little smaller here than in the states and Justin calls them "marathon runners." So, I needed to cook one of them in my oven too. I have NEVER cooked a turkey before, so I had no idea what I was doing. Good thing our friends gave us step by step directions. Looking back it was actually easier than I thought, but I count my blessings that our friend David was home when the turkey was delivered. In our country they like the taste of neck meat so they leave the neck on the turkey. Our friends told us to cut it off, and that is where the adventure starts. The spinal cord on a turkey is really tough to cut. I had a hard time looking at it in the first place, let alone cutting body parts off of it. This is where David, our 18 year old friend, saved the day. We found a hack-saw in Justin's tools and cleaned it (before and after) cutting off the neck. He has neutered pigs before so cutting a neck off a turkey is nothing :). Good news is that I took pictures of the process so you too can partake of the turkey fun. Yes, in one of the pictures David is getting ready to put the turkey in a trash can (only thing big enough to hold the salt water to soak it in). Don't worry, we cleaned the trash can out with bleach. Gosh this is sounding really bad, but just another Thanksgiving in Africa. Ha. When it was all said and done we had a beautiful, bronzed, tasty, turkey. Ahhh, I love stories with good endings!

THANK YOU



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Kolby's Birthday Party

This is Birthday month in North Africa! Kolby Grogg just had his 4th birthday and we got to party hardy with him on Saturday. Reasa (his mom) had the cute idea of making "Thomas the Train" coloring sheets as the invitation to the party and then the kids colored them and brought them back to use as decorations for the party. Super cute idea, but Elianna would rather eat her crayon than color. So, Grandma Ruth got the job to teach Elianna how to color. They did great and although our picture wasn't the prettiest, it had color on it :). The picture above shows Grandma Ruth teaching Ellie how to color. Then we have a picture of the birthday boy with his grandma at Kat Kout (kido amusement park). The last picture is of Ellie and Grandma on a ride at Kat Kout. Elianna's birthday is this Friday, 21st, so we will be dancing to "Happy Birthday To You" once again. Wish you all could be here and celebrate birthday fun with us.

Grandmas are Here!

This past Tuesday, 11th, Justin's mom (Ruth Stevens) came to North Africa! Yahoo. It has been a blast getting to show her around the city. She has been a huge blessing to us and especially to Elianna. Grandma and granddaughter are buddies. I'm going to be in big trouble after she leaves because there is no way I will be able to give her that much attention. We are creating good memories and enjoying our "second" Christmas with all the cards and gifts brought over by Ruth. Thank you all for the showering of love you sent with her.

The picture above is of the grandmas with their grand kids. Ruth traveled with Reasa's mom, Diane. It's good to have a traveling buddy especially when the traveler is another grandmother too. Reasa and I are thrilled they can travel together.

I will post more pictures soon, but wanted to post at least one. Yeah for GRANDMA's!