Christmas

I had a most wonderful Christmas. I really enjoyed my time off. I took an extra two days off for Christmas so I was able to enjoy a 6 day vacation. Friday night my parents came over for Christmas. We had a wonderful time and a delicious dinner with ham and home-made scalloped potatoes. Yummy! We enjoyed some cookies and hot chocolate for dessert and visited for a while. The boys each got a remote-controlled truck which they love. We took them to the school to allow them to play with the trucks on the covered basketball court. Joe and I got some money to go out on a date (yeah!) That should be fun. I am hoping we can go to one of my favorite restaurants (Western Culinary.) It is a cooking school and they have THE BEST food (probably because everyone’s job depends on it.) My grandpa offered to buy me a sweater or something and I picked out a beautiful gray sweater with silver sparkles in it. I wore it for Christmas and received a lot of compliments.

Saturday my sister-in-law, Eliza, and her girls, Grace (7) and Isabelle (10) came to visit. They were supposed to come on Friday, but they had car trouble in the Tri-Cities and had to spend the night. Saturday night we all went to Cold Stone Creamery. I love that place! I got cake batter ice cream with raspberries mixed in. Yummy in my tummy.

Sunday we went to church and had a wonderful service. There weren’t any kid’s classes, so the kids got to come to the main service with us. It was great to have them there. They were really good and enjoyed the various Christmas carols. After church we headed to my in-laws house. We had a nice dinner with them (BBQ ribs) and then enjoyed opening presents. The boys both got some Legos and a new outfit. I got a beautiful outfit and Joe and I got a new digital camera. We are both really excited about it because our other one broke and we have had to resort to a film camera which doesn’t have the instant gratification I enjoy. I hate having to wait until the whole roll is done to develop the pictures. How did I ever live before digital??

My in-laws are building their home and it is almost complete. The builder is at the dry-wall stage, so Eliza, Joe, and I (with the kids) got to sleep in the new house on some mattresses. I can’t wait to see the house in another month. The last stage is always exciting to me. Everything starts to come together.

Christmas morning we had a tasty breakfast and opened our stockings. I got a beautiful earring and necklace set and a bunch of other goodies (including a memory card for the new camera.) Somehow Santa knew I would need one…hmmmm… We had Christmas dinner with Joe’s extended family. The food was wonderful and it was good to see all of his Aunts and cousins again. After dinner we headed south to my family’s Christmas. We had some snacks and enjoyed seeing everyone. My cousin Marcella was there. I haven’t seen her in probably 10 years. She looked really good. I also got to see my Uncle Joel who I don’t see very often. My grandparents were there too, along with my uncle George. I missed seeing my uncle Bill but he was celebrating with his girlfriend’s family.

The only downside of Christmas was Dusty. I talked to him several weeks ago and he said he would try to see the boys late Christmas day or the day after. Well, as one might expect. He didn’t pick them up. The boys called Christmas Day and left a message wishing him a Merry Christmas and to call them back. Well, he didn’t even call. I don’t understand why he wouldn’t even call on Christmas (especially when the boys left him a message.) But that is how he is. There isn’t anything I can do, but it sure saddens me. Luckily the boys’ holiday was filled with lots of family and love, but I know they are upset when he doesn’t see them. My guess is we won’t hear from him until his next visit in two weeks. Hopefully he shows up then.

Love it!

Thanks Jenn. I love my sand art! How fun.

Christmas is coming!

I came into work today and the heather wasn’t on, which made our office a crisp 55 degrees. Brrrr…. I worked in my coat, scarf, and gloves until about 11 when the office finally made it to 70.

This weekend Joe and I went to a really fun Christmas party at a co-workers home. We had a wonderful time. We enjoyed a lot of good food, good company, and I even had a drink. We stayed out WAY past our bedtime. The boys spent the night with their best friend and then went to the movie Santa Claus 3 with their babysitter (her Christmas present to them.) Our life group did a potluck instead of our regular bible study. It was really fun. We had lasagna, Joe’s famous bean salad, garlic bread, and REALLY yummy chocolate cupcakes. It was really fun.

I have Thursday and Friday off for vacation, yippee! I am really in the need of a vacation. I have 6 days off with my vacation, the weekend, and the holiday. Michelle and Mitch (my best friend from Montana) are visiting tonight with their two kids. Thursday night we are going out with Joe’s best friend for a birthday celebration. We are eating at Beaches which is a really fun restaurant. I also need to get the oil changed on the van and pick up my glasses which are ready at the eye doctor. Friday afternoon my parents are coming over for Christmas. We are doing presents and having a nice dinner together. Late Friday night my sister-in-law and nieces are coming to town and staying with us until Sunday. We will find something fun to do on Saturday and Sunday we have church and then are heading up to see Joe’s parents and family. We are doing Christmas up there and leaving later on Christmas day. I am not sure if we will make it to the Christmas celebration for my mom’s side, but we are going to try. It starts around 3, so if we aren’t too tired and leave in time we will be able to hang out for a while.

That is about it until Christmas! I can’t wait for all the fun to start!! Love you all and I wish you a very merry Christmas!!!

Operation Body and Mind

Hello all my faithful bloggers. My good friend from church has a nephew over in Iraq. She sent me an email with his wish for his Christmas gift from family and friends. If you could help it would be great!

"Hello, my name is Gregg Raybourn. I am a 21 year old Navy Hospital Corpsman currently serving in Husaybah, Iraq with the United States Marine Corps. Husaybah is a small city in the northwestern part of Iraq, on the border of Syria, nestled next to the Euphrates River. I work as a combat medic for my fellow Marines and Iraqi nationals. As health and welfare are a big part of my job, I have noticed that school children here really need our help. They are learning the math and sciences, learning to read and write, just like we all did as kids. They enjoy the same childhood pasttimes like playing tag and soccer. These kids are the future of Iraq and the key to democracy.

As winter hits, these kids are in dire straits. They spend most of the year in the blistering heat, but now, as it gets cold, I realize that no one has shoes. They have sandals for the heat, but nothing for the wet and cold. These children go to school all day and then come home to help on the small farms and feed their brothers and sisters.

I am in contact with one of the local schools with about 200 students. My goal is to put a pair of shoes on the feet of each student. I would like you to gather up the shoes that have been outgrown or are just sitting around taking up space in closets and send them to me. Socks too, if you have them.

My second goal is to provide crayons for each student. None of the students has ever had crayons. Coloring books would be great too. The students also need pencils, paper and other school supplies so that they have the tools to enhance their education.

The students are learning English and anxious to have pen pals. Is there a child out there who would like a new friend to write to? The way we will change the world is through our actions not our words. People have the same desire for peace everywhere.

I will appreciate any help you can give me to accomplish my two goals. These goals are modest, but I really believe we can make a difference. "

When he heard that everyone at home was getting involved he sent the following Thank You:

"hey i just have to write to thank you for supporting the idea and stay proactive when it would be easier just to stay out of the mess over here. it nice to know that so many people want to do their part. i love the fact that everyone is willing to donate money and school supplies but the big need right now is the shoes. thank you very much for getting involved as well as reaching out to others and getting them involved. our humanity will not go unnoticed"

The address to mail the shoes is:
HA Raybourn, Gregg L.
3-4 Kilo Company 3rd Platoon
Unit 41615
FPO AP 96426-1615

It is a military address...so shipping isn't too bad. I have a huge box and mailing it through the post office is only about $15.

I know it will make him smile to see how much we all care. If you can't do anything...pass this on to someone else. Working together we CAN make a difference in lives of Iraq's future (the innocent children.)

Thanks again to everyone at Everest College who pitched in to make this project a reality. Together we are sending over 15 pairs of shoes, lots of crayons, socks, and coloring books.

Thanks Gregg for helping everyone over in Iraq and being Jesus in the lives of so many children.

O Christmas Tree

We had a quite an eventful weekend. Saturday we went to a tree farm and cut down the perfect tree. We got it home, put it in the stand, and strung it with lights. Then we went to an arcade with the boys for a few hours. We had gotten them gift certificates for the arcade for their birthdays…but hadn’t made it to use them yet. We all had a great time and even got to play put-put golf at the arcade. When we got home we spent an hour decorating the tree with our ornaments and putting the presents under the tree. It is a pretty tree (but I still need to get a picture of it.) The boys slept out in the living room (as they normally do on weekends) and when Joe and I woke up Sunday morning…the tree had completely fallen over! The ornaments had fallen off…the water from the stand had spilled (all over some of our presents.) The worst thing is that we couldn’t get the tree to stand up again. After a few minutes we decided to just get it standing temporarily since we had church to go to…so Joe decided to use fishing line to help it stand up. He tied one end to the top of the tree and the other to our filing cabinet. We gingerly let go of the tree and were excited that the tree actually standing. At least for a bit. After a few seconds we heard “ping.” The fishing line broke. Down went the tree. Again. We finally just spun the tree against the wall and decided to deal with it later.

After church we headed to Joe’s grandma’s 90th birthday party. It was great to see everyone and have a nice lunch with the family. I met most of Joe’s extended family last year at his grandparent’s anniversary party, so it was fun to see everyone…including several babies who had grown into cute toddlers over the past year.

When we got home we finally fixed the tree. We took it completely out of the stand and fastened it in again. We still don’t know why it was having issues…but it has been standing for 5 days now, so I think we are safe. Zan even made up a song.

Please sing in your head to the tune of “O Christmas Tree”
O Christmas Tree
O Christmas Tree
Why did you have to Fall on me.

It was a hilarious song. The boys sang it all day. The infamous “tree incident of 2006” will go down in Buchmann history and I am sure we will reminisce for years to come.