Thursday, December 16, 2010

December is a happening month!!!

This month we've been doing a lot of different things.  It's a busy month as always, but of course lots of fun.  First off we had our 2nd annual youth conference that our church here in Singapore (Victory Family Centre) hosted and organized.  It was a huge success in every way.  The youth were touched and changed, leaders and youth pastors were encouraged and inspired, the speakers had fun and imparted so much to the young people, and we as organizers were excited to see God use us once again and move in this generation.


We had groups come from different countries (Sri Lanka, Malaysia, East Timor, Cambodia) as well as over 20 churches here from Singapore were represented.  Some of the young people from our new church plant that Jeremy and I started in Johor Bahru, Malaysia came as well.  That was exciting for us to have these new believers come and encounter God in an amazing way!!

We love "TheEDGE Conference" and we can't wait for it again next year in Dec 2011...come and join us if you can!!!



The kids and I have also been having fun doing various activities.  One thing that they have here in Singapore during the month of Dec is they have these short 20 minute shows in some of the malls with various characters followed by meet & greet photography sessions right after.  So, Caleb especially loves going to these...so far we've seen the Power Rangers, Yo Gabba Gabba and Diego.  Today we're headed to see Strawberry Shortcake for Megan to enjoy!!


The week after TheEDGE Conference, Jeremy took a few days off work since it had been so crazy, so we could have soem time as a familiy.  We had a great time and one day went to the zoo...which is where these pictures were from...they have a great water splash park there as well which is a huge highlight!!!






I've also been having fun doing christmasy sorts of things and one of those things is a little baking...I don't have much time to do it, but a little and I like to do soemthing special especially when I have gatherings at my house.  A couple nights ago I had a leaders meeting with all the main female leaders in the youth ministry.  We had our normal meeing where we go through a lesson and talked about various youth ministry needs, and then we broke out some cupcakes I made and had a gift exchange!!  We all had a great time talking and laughing together...




The last bit of news I have I heard about just 2 weeks ago.  I had been talking with my parents about coming here to Singapore for Christmas this year.  They had thought about it, but tickets were expensive and my dad was planning on going to a conference in the area in February, so thought of combining the two.  So, they had planned to do that, and I was disappointed.  I really wanted them to come as they haven't been here at Christmas time ever since we moved here over 9 years ago.  Well, 2 weeks ago I got an email from them that was a flight itinerary that said "See you for Christmas" and I looked and they had booked tickets to come here for christmas.  I was shocked and so excited at the same time.  They had decided they didn't really need to be at the conferece in Feb and upon looking at ticket prices, they had come down $200 less than the lowest my dad had seen them for, for this time of the year.  So, he booked them!!!

They had some trouble getting out of Seattle, they had engine trouble and so the flight was delayed by just short of 24 hours and were then waitlisted on the 2nd leg of the flight from tokyo here, but just now as I am typing this, my dad called and said that they got on the flight, so they will be arriving tonight!!! =)  God is so good.  He gives us the desires of our hearts and amazes me by doing it. =) Merry Christmas everyone!!

Thursday, December 9, 2010

It's Looking a lot like Christmas...


Well, we decorated for Christmas awhile ago now, but I'm just getting this up...sorry it's taken so long.  We actually put the tree and all the decorations up even before Thanksgiving!!! GASP!!!!! I know, I know, you're supposed to wait until at least the day after...but I was too excited...so you gotta give me a break!!! =)

The kids were super excited to get all the tree up so we went ahead and did it and we've been enjoying it for a couple weeks already...=) So, here's some pics of the decorating process and the rest of the house in all it's Christmas cheer!!! 























They also each had a tree of their own to decorate and we put them in each of their rooms.  They were pretty excited about that!!!



Caleb's tree

Megan's tree
 And here are some pictures from around the house, keeping up with the festive theme...


Centerpiece on my table
Just inside the front door, around the corner


Entryway table




I hope you all have had fun decorating your homes for Christmas and are enjoying the season...