First stop Richmond!

We arrived to Phil's parents house. We were all so excited to have the packing and the travel behind us and excited for our long stay. The kids look forward to three things every year on the day of our travel, seeing Papa and Yaya, new pj's, and cake celebrating December birthdays. Doesn't matter what time we arrive we always have cake, This year was no different. YUM!

The next day we headed straight out to see Santa. Piper promptly told Santa she wanted a big white Hello Kitty pillow. She had never said a thing to anyone about it but that is what she wanted and did not waver in her hope for it. I think it was a challenge for Santa to find - like maybe it took hours. 

We spent a day baking cookies and took them to Lakewood Manor - Mimi's retirement home - for a special Christmas treat. We met this woman in the hall and I love her surprised look when we offered her a cookie.

 Mimi (Phil's Grandmother) was delighted and surprised to have us come. You have to be careful with surprises when you are 99. She is turning 100 in April and we will not be having a surprise party.

She is adorable and uses the biggest words (like "prosaic") that we have to look up the meanings of when we come home. She also is still really witty. Always a pleasure to see her.

We went to the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden's Christmas light show. It is so beautiful. The lights are always stunning.

She wants to be a butterfly so bad.

 And then we got ready for Christmas!

airport

You know you have good friends when they drive you to the airport very early in the morning. Thank you Kelly, Vivi and Jake for seeing us off!

last night in prague

Our last night in Prague we spent with the Pokludas and the Falks. These are special people to us, people who are like family. All of our kids get along swimmingly, we celebrate birthdays, travel together, share more meals than one could count, lead bible studies, been in bible studies together, supported each other...We LOVE them dearly. We will miss them so so so much. It was a great night just being. It was lovely.

Bye for now...

Due to an obscure social security law we are leaving our beloved Prague for 7 months and heading to the the states. We are torn - we love our home in Prague and yet we are excited about our time in the states. It has been 7.5 years since we lived on US soil and we are nervous/excited/thankful/sad/happy for this opportunity. We have rented a house in Charlotte where we will base ourselves, the kids are enrolled in school and we are going to be living the life we always thought we would live. But since we didn't live the life we thought we would live and God brought us to Prague we go back "home" leaving our "home". We feel like we belong in both places. We have said lots of goodbyes and see-you-soons, we have shed lots of tears and wondered what the day-to-day will look like. Phil will be working raising support, meeting with people and sharing about what God is doing in Prague. The church had a sweet "goodbye for now" time after church for us. We will definitely miss this place. 

Happy Birthday Clark!!!

He is 8! Stop it... I really do not want them getting any bigger at all! Clark is a wildly fun, loud and knows everyone. He loves life. He loves to be in the middle of everything with lots of people. We love him and love the fun and excitement that he brings to our lives. He is passionate and sensitive and loves people well. He loves football, building forts outside, running around, playing his DS and reading.  

We spent the day with the Pokludas ice skating... the sun was shining and so was our boy.

Happy Birthday Clark! 

christmas

We have the privilege of ministering together, living side by side and enjoying each other. God has hand-picked this very talented group of people to be the World Harvest Team in Prague. We love them all dearly and are so glad to be working with them. And the team leader is such a hottie! And this is what we look like when we get all fancy shmancy.

out in the city!

Goodbye!... for now

In a world where people come and go it is important to say goodbye and to say it well. To not just rush thru it and get it over with, but to say out loud goodbyes and why you are going to miss them. Even though we are coming back to Prague after our 7 months in the states not everyone we know will still be there so we needed and wanted to say goodbye. The school does an amazing job of saying goodbye. Each class made each of the kids a goodbye souvenir with pictures and notes and cards. And then each teacher called each of the kids up and said out loud why they personally and the class as a whole were going to miss them. It was so touching to hear the teachers expressing their love for my children. As they spoke from the heart there were lots of tears from the teachers and I realized that my children were impacting them just as much as they are impacting my kids. Lots of tears, lots of hugs and Clark and his teacher Miss Q did a special dance in front of the whole school. It reminds me why we send out children to this school. It is quite amazing. 

Christmas Programs

I love Riverside's Christmas programs. The whole school is involved, they are outside, it is always freezing, snow falls magically close to the end of the program every year and hot chocolate and hot wine is served. Clark and Lucy had speaking parts this year and they were so excited. Clark was a Shepherd and Lucy was part of Herod's harem. They were so cute. 

Piper had her show the next day. Early Years also does such a great job - all of the kids sing and participate. Piper was a market girl - she was SO SO SO cute.  I love the headband. These three are trouble!

Double digits!

Lucy is 10! And yes she got a phone and a set of house keys, because when you are 10 in our house you get to stay home by yourself! 

It seems like we were was just bringing her home from the hospital. She was an incredibly easy baby who smiled and was really content to just be, and 10 years later that is still her today. She is an amazing young lady who is very easy going and content. I am impressed over and over with her as she navigates life. She is true to herself. She belly laughs often, she is always dirty from playing hard outside and she couldn't care less about her gorgeous hair. She embraces life to the fullest. She loves her friends, always sending them little gifts and notes. And she loves reading God's word (I love tucking her in at night and watching her read her Bible totally un-prompted). We love this young lady and I really can not wait to see how she continues to grow over the next year... even though I would so like to freeze time. 

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl! 

Bootcamp!

I have been meeting with these ladies twice a week in Prague for Jamie's amazing bootcamp. I have loved exercising with, chatting and living life with with each of them. We are bundled up because yes this all happens outside!  

Big Steps

We are so proud of Clark he has just become a Member at Faith Community Church. He along with Michelle and Parker took a six week class that Phil taught on the basics of Christianity, they were interviewed and then they had to share before the church about why they wanted to become a member. We are so proud of Clark. He is an amazing young man. He is sensitive and caring and is able to come alongside people and love them, which is a hard thing for anyone - not to mention a 7 year old. We see God working in his life. He has dealt with some anxiety in the fall and I have been impressed with how he has memorized Bible verses and when he has felt anxious has stopped and prayed. He has encouraged me in my faith over and over again. We are excited to see how he continues to grow in his faith. He is a such a delight and we are so thankful to get to be his parents. 

 

 Isn't he so handsome! Love his tie!

night out!

As part of Phil's role on the board we had the privilege of joining Riverside School's Christmas party, celebrating their amazing staff. It has been such a pleasure to invest and love in this school and staff. We had a great evening out - dinner and dancing at the TV Tower. Then we came home and had a slumber party with all of the Bouda Family. These two little girls were so delighted!! 

mums vs kids

A highlight to Saturday morning football is the mums vs kids game that happens. The kids are so excited to play us. We play several different rounds. And this year we did quite well. Way to go ladies!

tree trimming and cookies

All of the lower school makes different ornaments for the tree in the jidelna and then has a special time when each class comes and decorates the tree and then has hot chocolate and cookies. It is always a fun  tradition in the midst of the holiday season. Clark loves me coming probably because I always make a big batch of cookies to bring. 

Jack the Elf is back!

Looks like some kids were on the naughty list one day!

saturday morning football?

During Saturday morning football Piper and Bailey spend most of the morning climbing trees and collecting... leaves, pinecones, dirt, walnuts, and anything else that they can find. 

triple birthday and goodbye for now party

Lucy, Clark and Piper had a blowout party to celebrate their birthdays and to say goodbye for now to all of their Prague friends before we left for our 6 months in the US. They each wanted something special - Lucy wanted to bowl, Clark wanted a magician, and Piper wanted balloons. So we made sure that we had all three of those things. It was a great night watching them with lots of friends running and for us chatting with lots of parents. These are the people we miss most in Prague. 

Miss Talitha

Miss Talitha has been a sweet friend and teammate to us all. She has been with us for about 3.5 years and really spent her time investing well in Prague. Her passion is photography and she loves to tell a story thru her pictures. She also loves people well. She has loved me and my family well. She has spent many hours telling stories to my children, playing with them and just being an aunt to them. This is a special hot chocolate goodbye for our children to say goodbye to Miss T. We love you Miss Talitha and are going to Miss you!

thanksgiving

Since we were not leading a Bible study this year and several others were hosting Thanksgiving dinners this year we debated weather or not to host one, and then as usual we couldn't help ourselves. We love hosting Thanksgiving and we love tradition. So this year we had all of those that we usually host come for an evening of giving thanks together. It was lovely. We ate, we laughed, we just were together. We spent the evening chatting, watching football and eating. It was amazing to look out and see how many little kids are now teenagers and how many toddlers are now "big" kids. It felt amazing to have history with friends in such a transient world that we live in. We are thankful.

 This is where he fell asleep at the end of the day.

Black Friday!

We play hooky, hot chocolate, pick out our Christmas tree and have friends over for thanksgiving left overs and a movie. LOVE black friday!