J is for Jolly, Jaunty, and Jokey Uncle Jon

One of the best parts of the holidays is that Uncle Jon, Tom's oldest brother, usually comes to town to see us. He is tons o' fun for the kids, and hung out with them each day he was here. JOLLY * He came to watch Ellie's class play.... (plus her performance at the Spotlight, and came to observe her guitar lesson too)JAUNTY * played hours of football with Luke, plus watched a little Sunday and Monday night football... and cheered Luke on at his basketball game.

JOKEY * he schooled Kami in some Social Studies and that's about it because she studied her little buns off for finals this week!

We are thankful for Uncle Jon and already miss him very much!

Blessings Galore

Blessing: Uncle Zach

When Uncle Zach comes to town, it is like the rare look at a groundhog as he comes out of his hole or a admiring a blue moon that rarely appears in the sky. We do not get to see Tom's youngest brother very often, but feel so blessed to enjoy his company when he does come to visit. He lives in New York and travels the world, in fact is heading to Rio on Christmas day. We hope he comes back to see us very soon!

Blessing: Basketball

In a stretch of a basketball season more brutal than any I can remember the last 10 years, we have lost 3, count em, THREE players for the season to ACL tears. Unheard of. We have lost 2 to broken wrists and 1 to a high ankle sprain. 1 player quit the team. Though we may get back a couple of these guys in a week or two, right now we are down to 5 scholarship players. That hurts, not only for us, but for these kids, who eat and sleep basketball. Regardless of what is SEEN, the God we serve who is UNSEEN, can do anything. And a couple Wednesdays ago, he did just that. With our "Mighty 7" - this was before we lost 2 other players - we defeated Missouri of the Big 12 in the Mabee Center with a last second shot. Scoreboard and ESPN play below. We're counting our blessings on this one, and praying for other unexpected miracles. Cause we need them right now.
Blessing: O Christmas Tree

Did I mention I love our Christmas tree this year? Oh, how I love it! It makes me so joyous. So beautiful and fragrant and the fact that it was all Tom's doing makes it that much more beautiful in my eyes. I'm trying to get the full effect of every pine needle.

amAZ ing COusins

There is a little hint in the title of this post that we have cousins in from out-of-town. Sam and Kelly are here from AZ with Uncle Matt (Tom's brother). Even though there is quite an age range, the kids have hit it off with them! We had them over for dinner last night and all 5 of them were outside having a nerf gun war. (Ever since Luke's bday, that's been the game of choice.) And just a few days ago, the A family, as I call them, were in town from CO. Aunt Anne, cousin Ashley, her husband Alex and their son, Andrew. Last time they were here, Andrew was just a baby, but this time, he thought he was one of the big kids, running around like crazy. It was a blessing to be with all of you, especially since we very rarely get to see you!!!!

DeLIGHTful

Rhema Bible College - Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
Every year, when we visit here look in awe at the zillions of twinkling lights, we recount a funny story. When Kami was about 3 and Ellie was just a baby, we went to see the lights on a frigid, freezing night. Frosty the snowman was there and people were taking turns saying hi to him. Kami, who was absolutely terrified of Eli the Golden eagle and other large mascots, wasn't too fond of Frosty. Tom decided to "encourage" her to be friendly to Frosty by (jokingly) telling her that if she didn't touch Frosty's nose that he would throw her in the frozen lake. So, little Kami not only touched his nose, but she grabbed it and pulled it until it came OFF! All of Frosty's support staff gasped. Frosty's fat, stuffed, carrot nose was sitting there in that 3 year old brat's hand! We, being mature adults, all hightailed it out of there as quickly as possible. Later, we saw Frosty shuffling to his trailer, head down and very dejected. Sorry Frosty, for defacing you, but it did leave us with a funny memory! By the way, Frosty didn't make it to Rhema this year. I wonder why?

No Snow Required

One of the kids' favorite things to do when their uncles come into town is to go "sledding" down the big hill at Minshall Park. As you can see, they ALL loved it - they stayed for over 2 hours. We are really thankful to see both of them. It has been several months since we have been able to spend time with them. And as they are both just big kids themselves, they are game to do just about whatever the kids want. We miss Uncle Matt who is in Arizona with Gretchen, Sam and Kelly. But we are glad that Jon could get here from Arizona and we welcome Zach from New York. See Zach's scary shark commercial here: http://www.fugly.com/videos/1253/fushark.html

She Didn't Grow Feathers

When Uncle Jon found out that Ellie had the chicken pox, he asked her if she was doing the chicken dance and if she was growing feathers. He then suggested that a bowl of chicken noodle soup would cure her sickness. (Ha Ha - Uncle Jon - The kids love your silly jokes and songs and can't wait to see you in 3 weeks!) Despite a bit of concern that she might grow feathers, Ellie is now quite pleased that she has been given the OK by her doctor to go back to school. Here is a shot I took of her this week, sitting in her window seat playing with her guinea pig. We spent A LOT of time together this week. Now that she's in kindergarten, she's such a busy girl. So, it was actually nice to slow down and hang out together. A couple of friends dropped off special gifts to keep her busy (Thanks Carrie and Jill and Nana of course!!!) and I thought that was really thoughtful. And nice. And it made me feel as good as it did Ellie. Noone likes to see their little girl covered with spots and feeling bad. But now we are back in business!!!