Elizabeth's Birthday Party

So, a day after returning from Germany, my dear Winfield jumped in the van with the girls and I for a little trip down to South Carolina. My mother and I had a special Wizard of Oz themed Birthday party planned for Elizabeth. She will be 4 yrs old on 2/25. So, Elizabeth dressed-up in her Dorothy dress and her ruby red slippers, and I braided her hair and tied blue ribbons in just like Dorothy. All the family was there. Elizabeth was especially excited to play with cousins Bryson and Emaline. Maw-Maw ordered a very special cake with the yellow brick road and all of the characters, which she was CRAZY over. She had to eat the Dorothy portion of the cake and Bryson was to eat Tin Man portion, which they did. For gifts she received all of the character dolls, namely Dorothy, Glenda the good witch, Lion, Scarecrow, and Tin Man. This is all that she wished for and she is one happy little girl. Maw-Maw and Paw-paw were very glad to host the shindig and so glad to have Elizabeth to have such a fun time at their home. Thanks, maw-maw!

Our visit was very short, however we we still managed to eat some of my mom's homemade BBQ and have a night out to eat and walking around with the family at Broadway at the Beach, which is one of our favorite places to go when we visit.

Winfield's Trip to Germany

Here are some pictures from Winfield's trip to Germany last week. He had a great time and had some wonderful ministry opportunities.

Here is the trip in his own words from his pastor's blog:

The conference in Germany was amazing! I taught three times to students and ministers from over 20 different nations in Europe. It was truly the most international place I have ever encountered. My three topics were Church Planting in a Postmodern World, Reaching Postmodern People for Christ, and Developing Leaders in a Postmodern World. The theme of the conference was obviously Postmodern ministry for the 21st century. Over the course of my time in Germany I met some amazing people. Perhaps the greatest blessing was spending time with the students in conversation. I was able to personally talk with students and ministers from several different nations. I can’t explain how incredible this was. I now have the opportunity to be involved in training church planters in Europe in the future.

There were several highlights, especially spending time with my good friends Blayne and Angie Waltrip who are missionary educators at the ETS in Germany. I was able to stay in their home and enjoy their hospitality. Blayne speaks too many languages to mention and has a burden for international church planting. I also enjoyed the interaction and fellowship of the group of diverse ministers who came from the US to minister and teach. I truly met several kindred spirits, which was very refreshing and encouraging.

As with any mission/ministry, there were challenges, but the trip was worth every minute of it, even the 10 hour plane ride there and back! Next time I will bring Kay and the kids to experience Europe first hand. We have an open invitation to come back and travel and minister in Germany, France, Italy, and England.

Young Adult Christmas Party

Even though we are technically not in the "young adult" fellowship group at our church, were the pastor's family, so we can do what we want! Ha, ha. Seriously, anyone is free to fellowship where they would like, you just need a babysitter. We got a babysitter and went to the young adult Christmas party which was a blast. There was lots of good food and a contest for the tackiest sweater, which really turned out to be a contest for the tackiest, most creative Christmas costume. Jesse Hines came as "Elf", Winfield and Aaron went cowboy and I just came as the southern belle that I am w/ a puffy-paint bear on my sweatshirt. I know, I was cute. Anyway, Jesse won for the guys, Brittany Diggs won the contest for the girls and as you will see in the pics, she looked a little scary! That's right. The fun of the night also consisted of a "dirty santa" gift exchange. Winfield and I brought a "movie night" package with "Rudy", coke, popcorn and sweets which was very popular. Ha, ha. We made out of the party with a crazy candle stand and a statue of some dolphins which I still cannot be totally sure about... Enjoy the pics!

Elizabeth's Christmas Program at Preschool

One thing I forgot to mention about our Christmas season this year was Elizabeth's preschool program. She is now attending St. Andrew's Preschool in Nags Head, which she LOVES! Parents were invited to watch them perform Christmas songs. It was adorable! These pictures that I'm posting aren't that great, but you get the idea.

Kay

Pictures from dance class...

Pictures from my cookie party...

Christmas Season 2007

So, this Christmas we decided not to travel, but to stay at home here in the OBX to begin our own family traditions. We tried our best to take the focus off of gifts and put the focus back on Jesus and giving to others. We made homemade Christmas presents for family and friends and as we gave each one, Elizabeth learned more about generosity. That's not to say that my girls didn't receive gifts, because they did and really enjoyed them! We sang Happy Birthday to baby Jesus on Christmas morning, made coffee and breakfast and lounged in our pj's most of the day. The Brooks family, some of our dearest friends here invited us over for Christmas dinner which was WONDERFUL. The food is always good at the Brooks house! Elizabeth got a guitar; the only thing that she actually asked for. Mr. Ron had a music session with her after dinner.

The whole Christmas season was wonderful! I had a cookie decorating party with some girlfriends, we attended the young adult Christmas party for church and dressed in our tackiest Christmas wear! This was TOO much fun!

Among all of the celebration of Christmas, in Elizabeth's dance class we had parent observation day. The ballerinas were very cute. I am including pictures of that, but they didn't come out very well.

To end all of the celebration, my mom and my step-dad came for a short visit the week of Christmas and spent quality time with the us and the girls. We had a great time and are so thankful for all of the beautiful people that God has out into our lives!

That's all for now. We have no preschool, no appointments or playdates today, so the girls and I are chillin' for real, so nice to have time to blog. C-ya.