Christmas Memories

We leave early tomorrow morning for some meetings north of Manila and won't get home until January 6. We won't have much internet access while we are there, but we will look forward to reading your messages and comments when we get home.

Before we left, I wanted to take a second to share some Christmas pics with you - particularly the grandparents, but the rest of you can take a peek too. :)

We had Christmas dinner at the Buford's house on Christmas Eve, and we enjoyed a sweet time of fellowship with their family and guests from the States. Terry told the Christmas story, and we opened some presents together.

In keeping with our tradition, we camped out by the Christmas tree that night - Megan joined us for the craziness.

As soon as the kids woke up, they dug into their bulging stockings. We got some help from Papa and Grandma Jackson as well as Mr. Warren and Mrs. Janice in stuffing the stockings.

Then Steve told the Christmas story, and we had a time of family prayer together.

Next came the presents! It was fun having Megan join us for the day. It was her first Christmas away from home, but she seemed to have a nice day anyway.

With my help, the boys had each bought each other a pair of spider man flip flops. They both loved their brother's present and said, "Maybe he will share it with me sometimes..." They were tickled pink when they realized they had bought matching pairs for each other.

Mr. Warren and Mrs. Janice Hansen (friends from Kansas) sent some fun presents for all of us, and this was Mikayla's smile when she opened the mini-Operation game. Priceless.
Ben's big present was a little garage with mini cars. We got it used from some friends (Thanks, Allens!), and he was thrilled with it. You can't tell in this pic since the fever meds are in effect, but Ben started running a fever again on Christmas day after several days of being healthy. His fever has been between 102 and 103.5 ever since. Please pray for him to get better soon, particularly as we travel tomorrow. Pray for wisdom in whether to take him in to a dr and where to do so if we do.

Zach's big present was a new wake-boarding life jacket. He got to try it out the day after Christmas (Ben and I stayed home since he was sick), and it was declared a success.

Mikayla's big present this year was a dance praise set - 2 pads that hook up to the computer and you move your feet onto the arrows dictated by the screen in front of you. It is great for timing and coordination, and we have all had a lot of fun trying it out. The praise music is great too. I love this pic of Zach - check out the tongue. :) Well, that is all for now. We hope your Christmas was a wonderful celebration of Christ's birth.

I am finished packing, but Steve is still not home from all day in the village. Once he gets home, we will need to make an appearance at the birthday party across the street. The music is blaring so loud that it keeps setting off the car alarms on the vehicles parked in front of our house! So after our appearance over there, we will all camp out in our bedroom with the windows closed up and air conditioner on to block as much of the noise as we can so we can get some sleep before our 5 am departure!

Thanks for your prayers as we travel, particularly for Ben to recover soon!