Christmas in Madras

We sent Friday, Christmas day through Monday in Madras. We had a great visit!

Pictures from Friday:
Digesting my wonderful Christmas dinner meal.
These are all gifts for Isaiah. Our little boy is so loved!
He got tons of cool stuff: pajamas, outfits, dvd's, and toys.
Kayla and Dad cuddling during our family gift exchange.
Mom opening a gift after saying... I wonder what this is... and we all know she bought it for herself and warped it herself too.
What a good sport... she still is acting surprised.
Kayla is intently opening a present that happens to be a Madras calendar celebrating 100 years of history!
Travis and I got a new baby camera that we are very excited about and have already used tons.
Josh getting ready to open a gift.
He loves the box... and the stuff inside.
Mom with a thermos and a set of mugs.
Travis and I looking over some of our gifts.
Josh and Kayla opening a gift.

Pictures from Saturday:
This is my knee with a huge bruise on it. Travis and I got up early on the day after Christmas and headed to Bend to look for good after Christmas deals. At our first stop, Target we discussed it was very icy and we needed to be careful. Well even though I was being careful I fell pretty much right after getting out of the car. Bummer for my hands and knee! But we did get some good deals so that helped make up for the miner pain.
After our errands in Bend we came home and had lunch with the family. Later in the afternoon we went to the St. John's house. I got to hold/play with Analise. She is getting big so fast.

Pictures from Sunday:

Sunday morning we woke up to snow! We went to church, ate lunch, and then we decide it was time to go have some fun in the snow. Kayla was a little more prepared snow clothes wise than me!Kayla had fun sledding!Travis enjoyed pushing the train of sleds.
Travis and I enjoying the snow.
Travis tested out the sled run too.
The sledding crew: Josh, Kayla, Aaron, Travis, and I (Dana was our photographer)

Christmas Eve/Christmas Morning

Travis and I slept on our living room floor under the Christmas tree. We left the tree lights and fireplace on all night. It was so fun! Then on Christmas morning Travis and I exchanged gifts to each other. My big gift was an i-touch and Travis got a new video card for our home computer. We made pancakes for breakfast and then got ready so we could head over the mountain to Madras.

Christmas Break Project # 1

It has been our tradition to paint something in our house almost every Christmas break. The first year (2006) we painted our downstairs bathroom- yellow with an accent red stripe. The second year (2007) we painted our bedroom-a whitish color on the top half and a shade of red on the bottom half with an purple accent decorating square. Last year (2008) there was too much snow to do a painting project. This year (2009) we painted the office- a shade of blue green. We are really enjoying the new look! I wonder what we will paint in 2010.

I Have a Masters of Education Degree!

There was a hooding ceremony and commencement on December 19th. However, I choose not to participate in either activity. I am so thankful to be done with my masters program! As of December 31st my degree was confirmed and official! As of February 1st I will be getting an increased salary.

Our Son's 1st Birthday Celebration

Today, December 13th is our son Isaiah's Birthday. He isn't home yet but that didn't stop us from celebrating this special day.

Travis and I began the day of celebrating by praying for our little guy in his nursery.

Then we met up with my family for lunch at Round Table pizza.
We enjoyed some yummy garlic twists. Travis is sure his son will take after him and learn to LOVE pizza as much as he does!
Nonna paid for Campbell to get a bouncy ball. He loved opening the door.
Campbell loved the ball so much that he decided (or we decided for him) that he should get one for Isaiah to play with when he gets here. Travis and I helped Campbell put the money into the machine and then let him open the door again.
Campbell was very excited about the two balls!

After lunch we went back to my parent's house and made sugar cookies for fun.
Here are some of the cookies that Travis and I cut out in honor of Isaiah's birthday.
Campbell even got to help cut out his first sugar cookies.
He didn't quite get the idea though... notice his finger in the middle of the tree cut out.
Yep, that is his fingerprint left in the dough. I guess he was trying to decorate the cookies before they cooked.
This is his first taste of a sugar cookie. He liked it!
Such a good boy. He shared his sugar cookie with his daddy.
Campbell also got to try frosting a cookie. Mostly Nonna helped put the decorations on the cookie and then he ate the sprinkles and frosting off the cookie.
We all enjoyed decorating Christmas cookies together.
Travis and I were working on frosting important sugar cookies that were going to go on Isaiah's cake.
I am frosting an airplane.
After frosting cookies we had soup, crackers and cheese, and fruit for dinner.
Then we enjoyed Isaiah's cake.
This is a close up of the cake. Writing in frosting was a little difficult so in case you can't read the sign the airplane is pulling it says: Happy 1st Birthday Mommy and Daddy are coming soon!

We can't wait for you to be home and we love you tons!

December 4th = Our son's Legals!

We recently found out that we have Legals! Legals are basically three pieces of information..record of your child’s birth. Statement that the agency in Korea is the child’s guardian and transfer of the guardianship to the agency in America. Typically this step can take 4 to 6 weeks and we got our paper work back in less than 3 weeks. Praise God!

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving with much to be thankful for this year.

All of these pictures were while we were cooking our Thanksgiving meal.

Campbell got hungry early and needed a pre-Thanksgiving snack.
Mom got creative and was making fancy cranberry sauce cut-outs.
She cut pumpkins, leaves, and acorns for fun.
This is the fancy cranberry plate that went on the table.
We tried a new recipe for our mashed potatoes. Aunt DeAnn was working on squeezing the roasted garlic out into a bowl. The potatoes were pretty yummy!
Dad got the big job of carving the turkey.

Care Package for Isaiah and His Foster Family!

We got to go shopping for Isaiah and his foster family. Here is a picture of all the items we sent in his care package.
By request of Emily she would like me to list what is in the care package picture. We sent Isaiah: Warm cozy pajamas, navy blue fleece pants, and a white onsie with dogs on it, tooth brush and tooth paste, pop beads (toy), two books, light up glow worm (toy), Gerber snacks two different kinds, Crunch and Munch fancy popcorn (for the foster family), and a Oregon Coast Lighthouse puzzle (also for the foster family).
We even got to include a small photo album with pictures of us and our family so maybe he will think we look familiar when we go to pick him up!

We got to track our package. This is a list of what happened to our care package before it got to Isaiah. The most current thing that happened is at the top of the list.

	Delivered Abroad, December 02, 2009, 9:50 am, KOREA
	At Foreign Delivery Unit, December 01, 2009, 4:48 pm, KOREA
	Out of Foreign Customs, November 30, 2009, 2:52 pm, KOREA
	Into Foreign Customs, November 30, 2009, 2:01 pm, KOREA
	Arrived Abroad, November 30, 2009, 2:00 pm, KOREA
	International Dispatch, November 25, 2009, 12:01 pm, ISC SAN FRANCISCO (USPS)
	Arrival