Oh Christmas Tree

I don't want to be repetitive, but Suren, Nomio and Julie really enjoyed decorating the tree. I've been messing with technology all day. Actually it started last night when my Norton Antivirus expired. I won't renew early, like I did last time since they cut you off what ever days were left on the old subscription. I did get a notice about a class action suit because of that but I didn't feel like taking chances. I also didn't feel like rebooting a dozen times last night, this morning, and this afternoon to finally get the cockamamie thing working, but we now have the green check. Then I got a memory card failure on my new camera. Apparently, that can be a problem with Canon point and shoots (funny I never saw anything about it in my research). Luckily, the solution is to format the disk and even luckier I had uploaded all my pictures before the whole Norton fiasco started so no harm no fowl. I will get better pictures of the tree later.

A trip to the countryside

We spent Saturday in the countryside. Stacy's parents live on 13 acres east of Seguin. We love spending time there and so did our sweet visitors. We went for rides on the golf cart and took long walks. It was a beautiful day and the cool, fresh air did us all good.

Much to be thankful for

Thanksgiving was wonderful this year. God has blessed us greatly and we try and remember that every day, but it's nice to have a day that we get to share how we feel about what He has done in our lives with our friends and family. My family were (almost) all at the UT game in Austin or watching kiddos for those who were, so it was just us, Stacy's family and our friends from Mongolia. They don't have turkey in Mongolia so Suren and Julie were very curious about it. Curious enough to get up at 6am to help me prepare the stuffing and the bird. Their favorite part was stuffing the bird....lots of giggling. Nomio is doing great so that was the biggest gift this season...her restored health after her heart surgery.

That is one good looking bird if I do say so myself.

Everyone except Toby the photographer

There have been so many special moments in this hosting experience. Here are a few:

• The first time Nomio took Goldfish crackers from me 3 days after they arrived.
• The unbelievable hug from Suren after she saw Nomio being wheeled from the operating room to the PICU. She is such a strong, quiet woman and she just let all her worries go in that hug and the tears shed with it. We both did.
• Nomio's banana cheeks in the hospital.
• Nomio giving me a kiss on the cheek after "shopping" on the dining room table.
• Having Suren ask that she and Nomio be baptized.
• Sitting by the outdoor fireplace singing Amazing Grace with Julie.
• The tea parties.
• Wednesday before Thanksgiving after church when I took Nomio's hand and she walked with me all the way to the car. This was special not only because she held my hand and didn't look for Suren the whole time, but I had never seen her walk that far without being carried.
• Decorating the Christmas tree (which happened tonight....not before Thanksgiving, but I'm just posting now so I'll include it. It's my blog.) Usually I end up decorating the tree alone, but this year Hannah helped and so did Suren, Julie and Nomio.....especially Suren and Nomio. I usually give up before all the ornaments are on the tree (I have A LOT of ornaments), but they got every one of them on there. It's absolutely beautiful.

Visits from Riley

Riley and her parents came by to pick up hand me downs from Hannah. Riley LOVED Hannah's Dora chair. On Wednesday they dropped by again and stayed for some playtime. Again...Riley was all about Hannah's inflatable chair. I think Robyn and Kevin have their Christmas list for Riley narrowed down. :)

Backyard Fun

Tea Party

On Monday evening I heard Nomio and Julie playing upstairs in the play room. Soon Hannah joined them. It took a couple of attempts and "no sudden moves" and I eventually was able to work my way into the group. We ended up playing for almost 2 hours without Grandma Suren. who was able to take a well deserved break, but could also hear all the goings on from her bedroom. Every once in a while Nomio would start to whine, but Julie was able to distract her. We had a tea party and feed our babies. Hannah and Nomio took turns pouring the tea and serving the cupcakes.

Anything to make Nomio happy....I'm doing the sucking the cup and making funny noises trick.

Feeding our babies

Too cute for words!!

After a while, Hannah started really putting on a show singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." Nomio and Julie (well...mostly Julie) then sang a Mongolian nursery rhyme.

Thanks, Dad!!

Shopping in the dining room

For the last two years I had saved Hannah's out-grown clothes so that I could try and sell them at the "Everything for Children Sale" sponsored by our MOPS group. However, because we have been in St. Louis for Call Day the last two years at the time of the sale and due to my lack of motivation due to the fact that I failed to sell any of my 119 items of clothing the first time at the sale, I had accumulated 6 kitchen trash bags full of clothes. So I sorted it all out on the dining room table by size while they were napping and then invited them to "shop."

Nomio is quite the shopper. While her grandmother Suren was looking at one thing Nomio would select something else and try it on. Too cute!! Julie picked out some things for her 2 year old niece.

The Cooper's were then given a ultimatum....you can have all the rest as long as it was off my dining room table in time for Thanksgiving dinner. I can't wait to see Riley in Hannah's favorite purple velvet dress.

San Antonio Tourists

Last Saturday we spent the day in downtown San Antonio doing the touristy things: a boat ride on the famous San Antonio Riverwalk and a visit to the Alamo. It was cloudy and a bit cool, but we had a great time. Our friends from Mongolia had never been on a boat so it was a real treat.

Julie & Nomio

The Bond's

Our Mongolian "Family"

Nomio

The Alamo

Friends

Getting caught up

For all of you who have been patiently waiting for updates, here they come. As you can see we have been far too busy for blogging. :)

Gifts from Samaritan's Purse

Samaritan's Purse sent Julie and Suren a duffle bag to bring home all their purchases and Nomio received a quilt hand-made by a group of quilters in New York. They were so proud of their gifts they changed into their Samaritan's Purse t-shirts for a picture.

Speaking of purchases, Julie and Suren asked when the big sales were. Yes...they are talking the "Black Friday" after Thanksgiving Day sales. I asked if they had heard about that from the American transport nurses, but they actually heard about it in their Mongolian home town. So I guess we will be heading out in search of some bargains.

Mongolian Dinner

Last night Suren and Julie prepared a wonderful traditional Mongolian soup for dinner. It was so delicious that there was barely enough left for the two girls to have for lunch. They taught me how to make dumplings. Very tasty.

Dumplings

Yummy!!

A taste of home for Nomio

Hannah loves her soup, too!

But I wanted a girl

Girls aren't supposed to like the HUGE python that was MOVING when we visited the zoo. Girls aren't supposed to want to jump in EVERY puddle they come across no matter what they are wearing. And girls certainly aren't supposed to chase a lizard (which are just snakes with feet in my book) for 45 minutes. Actually, I love that Hannah is her own little person who loves lizards and princesses and snakes and dress-up. But I still don't have to like the snakes and lizards. But because I love that precious girl so much I will gather the courage to take deep breaths when the snakes move and not let her see how scared I am inside. I did the same for her brothers and she deserves nothing less.

Consider yourself flattered, Nomio

Yesterday Hannah asked for four ponytails just like Nomio! I don't think it was a well thought out plan, as Hannah realized when four rubber bands had to be pulled out at the end of the day, but I thought it was so cute that she wanted to be just like Nomio.

Fresh Air and Sunshine

Yesterday we had a quiet day at home, spending most of the day outside playing and taking a wagon ride around the neighborhood.

Bunco

Julie and Dulmaa

We invited the two interpreters, Julie and Dulmaa, to be subs at our monthly Bunco on Wednesday. This was their first time off since they arrived on the 10th. They have such an important job and have so totally been the hands and feet (and voice) of Jesus to the families they are here to serve. And the Mongolian families did fine and managed to eat dinner (in my case with my brother in law Toby) without us. They were probably glad to have a little quiet time to themselves, also. Both groups have told Suzette and I that they feel at home with their host families. And they are totally part of our families. We couldn't ask for any more than that. Thank you, Jesus!

But I digress...back to Bunco. When we started this Bunco group almost 2 years ago, we agreed that the hostess would serve dessert. Then we went to Dorothy's house and she had an incredible spread of appetizers...enough to be a meal. So, of course, not to be out done, we all started serving appetizers. Fast forward to this year and we show up at Dorothy's and she has a HAM DINNER. A Martha Stewart, carve with a knife ham dinner with salad and a wonderful corn side dish, rolls, fruit salad and two desserts. Well...we took a vote and Dorothy is off the island. (just kidding....but we aren't jumping off the dinner bridge with Dorothy) It was a wonderful time of fellowship and our special guests from Mongolia, who had never had ham, totally enjoyed themselves. Thank you, Dorothy!

As is customary and usual in our group, a newcomer always seems to win. And this night was no exception. Julie won the prize for fewest games won. Hey....I was trying for that but had a run of three wins in a row, so Julie bet me out. Congratulations, Julie!

Carrie & Julie

Carolyn, Julie, Candy & Greta
Marsha & Dorothy
Stephanie, Candy, Pauline & Greta
Julie, Carolyn, Dulmaa & Dorothy Robyn, Heather & Marsha
Julie with her winnings