Christmas with the Crisps

Elijah's verse

Gift Giving

For over a year I've been reading and thinking about micro-finance.  There are several reputable non-profits that provide individuals with the opportunity to financially invest in the livelihood of a person who would use the funds to receive training and grow a business for themselves and their families.  Because women have been deprived of education for so many centuries in some countries, I felt most burdened to support their efforts. 

Cambodia is a country famous for many positive things, but also for sex-trafficking.  Many organizations are working hard to end the sex trade using a variety of methods, and World Hope International is certainly doing their part.  Adelphe is one of their more recently developed programs where international sisterhoods are coordinated.  Women commit to sponsoring other women (many from Cambodia right now).  This gift of monthly sponsorship, $1 a day, provides the Cambodian sister with education for herself and potentially her children, capital to grow her livelihood, health and nutrition education, resources and tools for agriculture, entrepreneurship skills and animal multiplication skills.  All of these gifts result in a woman who will be able to care for herself and her children, and who will not feel forced to resort to prostitution in order to provide for her family.

My new sister's name is Yat Luoen.  She is a young single mother and currently earns about $0.08 a day for her family by growing and selling vegetables.  Consider giving the gift of opportunity through Adelphe of World Hope International or some other trusted organization as you make your gift giving list for Christmas.

Indiana

The second half of our vacation was spent in Indiana. What a fantastic frenzy of family and fun! The kids hadn't seen their cousins in almost a year so it was a joyful reunion and never a dull moment. Games were played, presents were opened, movies were watched and travels were had. Aunt Lynn watched all 10 kids while the moms and dads caught a matinee one day. Nana and Papa shared their home, food and lives with our rowdy crews for a whole week, and we all came out the other end loving each other. Grandma and grandpa Ledbetter hosted gift opening and New Years cabbage and black eyed peas (health and wealth tradition). We welcomed the newest addition- Nora, with her little tuft of dark hair and bright blue eyes; she is our sweetest new niece.

We loved on each other and felt loved. Again, we're so blessed by our family. Beautiful days in Hoosier-land. Now home again in Kentucky.

Massachusetts

Our travels! Phew! We had a great time with family and friends, but we're glad to be home and back into our routine too. From December 17th-25th, we were in Massachusetts with Grammie, Uncle Garth and Aunt Jodie. Everyone stayed busy, happy and love was thick in the air- like we all knew that we only had a few days together so we were soaking in it. Grammie and the boys made a gingerbread house, made Christmas cards, went sledding behind the condo, read stories, and watched movies together. The boys made great memories with their Grammie and with Uncle Garth and Aunt Jodie. Skiing was a highlight, especially for Elijah who is still asking when we can go skiing again. We took a short trip to see the lights displays at a park in Springfield and generally just loved our time together. I love my family and miss them, but I am so thankful to have had a few days of uninterrupted vacation with them! Thanks for a great time Garth, Jodie and Mom.

Christmas Encouragement

From "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear"
O ye beneath life's crushing load,
Whose forms are bending low,
Who toil along the climbing way
With painful steps and slow;
Look now, for glad and golden hours
Come swiftly on the wing;
Oh rest beside the weary road
And hear the angels sing.

When you're in school (seminary or middle school) there is a crushing load filled with slow steps leading up to Christmas. So these last two lines, "Oh rest beside the weary road/ And hear the angels sing" are my song of hope today.

Christmas in Wilmore

Isaiah preparing to blow out his candle. He held this pose for a good 2 minutes. Eric thought he was having a seizure. :)

We sat in the balcony, AKA kids' area. Pretty sure kids outnumbered adults up there, but everyone was great. Advent service was tonight, and the next pictures are from Saturday night at the annual Christmas event downtown in Wilmore.
Too Many Drummers, our band friends, totally rocked it at Solomon's. Love those guys!
On our way back to the van after a very short visit to Main St. for Old Fashioned Christmas this year. Either we're getting softer, or it was colder than usual.

New Years Pics

Elijah, Olivia & Gideon, Micah, Garrett, Esther, and Isaiah- our traditional fence picture- taken annually to track kids' growth. We had a wonderful time with cousins, aunts, uncles, Nana, Papa and grandparents. Thanks so much for all of the warm conversation, tasty food and laughs.
Gift opening at Uncle Rex and Aunt Lynn's this year.
Grandpa (great-grandpa to the kids) Uncle Rex, Uncle Ron, Eric, Papa.
New shirts and transformers from Nana and Papa.
Opening gifts with Nana and Papa.

Merry Christmas in KY

It was a warm Christmas here today- 65 or something like that. We had a relaxing day opening gifts from Mommy, Daddy, Uncle Garth and Grammie. This is the perfect age for enjoying Christmas gift giving. The reaction to every gift was, "awwww, this is awesome!" Elijah is thrilled with his MP3 player, Micah loves his flying toys and remote control truck, and Isaiah plays with everything that belongs to everyone, but his main gift was Black Hole from Planet Heroes. No one got up until almost 8:00am, so we even got to sleep in a little. We read the Christmas story and ate a big Christmas dinner complete with turkey, potatoes, sweet potatoes, scalloped corn, roles and cookies. Our friends are coming over tomorrow evening to help us finish off leftovers. :) We hope that you, our friends and family, had opportunity today to celebrate, remember and rejoice at the miracle of Jesus birth.

Cookie Baking

Christmas

This was the best Christmas yet with the boys. Not only did they seem to understand more about why we celebrate this time of year, but they played so well with their cousins, aunts and uncles, that Eric and I thoroughly enjoyed some time to play games and chill with his relatives. Elijah, Maggie and Gracie (Rex and Lynn's twin 4 1/2 year old girls) played all afternoon and until midnight Christmas Day! 0 arguments or tantrums... it was a new day. He felt very grown up being allowed to stay up until midnight. Micah and Isaiah did well all day too- Micah playing with the twins and Isaiah playing mostly by himself as he always does these days, but they went to sleep in Aunt Becky's bed at their normal time.

The only unfortunate part of our holiday was that on Christmas Eve, while the van was parked in Nana and Papa's driveway unlocked for 2 hours between trips, someone stole our portable DVD player and digital camera. They also took my purse, but upon finding no money they dumped it in the neighbor's yard. I'm really thankful that they returned my purse as replacing all those cards and things can be such a pain. Yes, we learned to keep our van doors locked even in broad daylight, and sadly, we won't have any Christmas pictures to post. So, if anyone has an old digital camera that you'd like to sell or donate,... :)

Merry Christmas everyone! If you didn't get a copy of our Christmas letter and you'd like to have one, leave me a comment and I'll send it on to you. Happy New Year!

O Happy Day!

I think I've attempted cookie baking and decorating every year since Elijah 18 months old. I've tried, mostly unsuccessfully, to get the boys involved in the process in the hopes of creating a longstanding family tradition.
Finally, this year will go down in infamy as the first truly successful Christmas cookie baking and decorating event. Things I've learned along the way:
1. Only involve willing participants. If all 3 kiddos don't want to use the cookie cutters, don't cajole, bribe or beg, just invite them to join in if they show interest... and everyone will show interest in icing.
2. Bake a small batch. Attempting to supervise 3 toddlers with icing while continuing to bake additional pans of cookies is a recipe for icing in hair and under chairs while 2 dozen sugar cookies get eaten by 3 children.
3. Short bursts of activity. Fun with cookie cutters, then go play while cookies bake and cool and Mommy makes icing and cleans up. Kids return when all decorating supplies are ready. Yes, this means washing hands and faces twice, but the result of overworked cookie bakers is disastrous.
4. Have individual supplies ready. Each child gets their own 3 cookies to decorate, 2 dixie cups with small amounts of colored icing and a plastic knife that stays in each cup. The icing is different colors so trading is encouraged and welcomed.
5. Get all family members involved. Being prepared enough so that Mommy and Daddy could both sit down too went a long way I think.
6. Age matters. An 18 month will probably not see the beauty in a decoratively iced cookie- but a 2 1/2 year old just might. :)

Santa pics

I think Micah's looking a little GQ in this picture- skillfully avoiding looking directly at the camera- "show me wistful..good. yeah.. now apathy... good.. good..."
Isaiah... just looks old- so grown up. Where oh where did my baby go?
Elijah. He hesitated just for a moment this year before hopping up on Santa's knee. He glanced at us with a look that hinted, just for a second, "Am I too big to sit on this strange man's lap?" Who knows, this may be the last year for his Santa photo.
Wilmore Old Fashioned Christmas strikes again. Such a lovely little family tradition. We learned from last year, and timed our walk from our house to Santa downtown so as to avoid the rush. Isaiah was much more confident this year as well. For a peak at last year's event, click here.