Happy 1/2 Birthday, Josiah

Well, I just skipped past the Christmas posting . . . and went straight to Josiah's 1/2 birthday. It's hard to believe that he is 6 months old, but time flies, as you all know. He's such a happy baby--he loves his reflection in the mirror and/or the microwave--he always has a smile for himself!

He's sitting up and seems to be starting the wonderful process of teething! He also loves his big sister; we catch him looking at her and smiling. His favorite book is "Pat the Bunny" which he hears every night before bed.

Sure are loving our time with the kids and grandkids!

Almost Christmas

It's been almost 20 days since I posted . . . . where does the time go? We flew to Kansas City on December 13 and spent a great week with friends and family. We managed to eat at a few of our favorite places, but the company was even better than the food.

On December 20 we flew to California and are now spending day and night with our grandkids! It doesn't get any better than this! Maleia is as busy as ever--she loves playing with her lego people. Josiah is chubby and happy and that's a great combination. He loves to sit up and play with his teething toys.

Jon flew back from Sweden yesterday; we picked him up at 10:30 p.m. He was tired and hungry, but happy to see us.

We're looking forward to a Parris Family Christmas--it's been quite a few years since we were all together.

Long and bumpy road!

Eight of us on the bus made it to Managua in just a little over 12 hours yesterday. The borders were amazingly easy with either no lines or very short lines! However, the roads, especially in Honduras, were terrible with potholes the size of small countries. The bus drove like it was a slalom; the only problem was that the oncoming traffic did the same so the trick was to get back in your own lane when another vehicle came!

There is a team of 28 from Alabama and 6 from North Carolina. Early this morning, 15 translators left El Salvador to join us for the week. Today is a busy day with the morning service at 8:30 followed by baptisms, Kids Club in the afternoon and an evening campaign.

Please pray for a life-changing week for the team and the people of Nicaragua.

Last week of school

We finished "our" last week of school today because we leave for Managua early on Saturday morning. We helped the kids make a pop-up Christmas card for their parents. They loved coloring the nativity scene and decorating the outside of the envelope. I just hope they don't forget to give them to their parents . . . . I won't be surprised if some of the cards are still in their backpacks in January!

Stephen suggested that we make a JibJab dancing elves card and show it to the kids. So, we uploaded a picture of Miss Roxana, the principal; Miss Estefania, first grade, Miss Melanie, second grade, Miss Hilda, third grade and Miss Michelle, fourth grade, onto the website. The animated teacher version of "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" was a big hit! The kids thought it was the most hysterical thing they'd ever seen--I wish I had a recording of them laughing. The teachers got a kick out of it, too.

We made the mistake of telling the second graders that we wouldn't be back until January and got mobbed! They sure know how to give hugs!

I'm so thankful for a day off tomorrow so we can get everything on the to-do list done and then psych ourselves up for the 12-15 hour school bus ride to Managua on Saturday. Paula is back in the states to speak at ALBC on Saturday so I'll be running the inflatable solo unless I can recruit some help on site! Please pray for us and the 30+ team members who will join us for the mini-VBS and evening campaigns next week.