I'm Wearing Purple

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Christmas Eve with the Bond's

Goofing with Daddy

Wall-e computer and Tinkerbell ring

Looking for rabbits in the back yard with her new horsey flashlight

Hannah came to me with one of her favorite soft blankets and asked me for ribbon. She wanted to wrap the blanket and give it to Jesus for a Christmas present so he wouldn't be cold in the manger. What a tender-hearted girl!

Hannah's first hair cut

Before

Hannah had been asking for a hair cut for weeks. She received a doctor kit with a pair of play scissors for her birthday and was always pretending to cut her hair or my hair. Hence, I have been reluctant to let her touch real scissors very often and only under strict supervision. My sister Tracy is trained in such matters and has kept Hannah's bangs out of her eyes for the last 2 1/2 years (and mine) so I met them at my parent's house where Hannah had spent the night (we figured 4 1/2 hours in an airport had been enough, so she didn't go with us for the final goodbye). When I got there Hannah was very excited and said she wanted her hair cut to her shoulders just like Mommy. So that's what she got.

First cut

For the scrapbook

Happy girl

Admiring her new do

I was very hesitant to cut her hair as it has become such a part of her. But, it was very long (down to her bottom when wet) and so fine that she was getting horrible tangles every day and she had had enough. Her hair does look nice....more body now that it's shorter and she loves it. But, she does look older now and that makes me a bit sad.

Saying Goodbye...Again

On the 19th our friends actually left for the 30 hour trip to Mongolia. Our precious "screaming baby" was a changed child and kept waving and blowing kisses the whole time they waited in the security line. They changed us forever and we miss them dearly. We've exchanged a couple of e-mails. Nomio's mother says Nomio calls her "Mommy" and asks where Carrie and Hannah are. We drove by the airport the other day and Hannah said Nomio lived at the airport. She mentions Nomio every day, especially when we take pictures. Instead of "cheese" or "smile" she tells me to say "iniganay" [phonetic], which means smile in Mongolian. We did a lot of that while they were here.

Saying Goodbye

Suren, Nomio and the rest of the Mongolians were supposed to leave on December 18th. Mechanical problems caused them to miss their flight to San Francisco, so after 4 1/2 hours we returned home with a flight scheduled for the next evening. We were blessed by an extra 36 hours with our friends.

Good thing we packed snacks for the trip

Tired of waiting

Santa and Mrs. Claus

Beautiful smile

Samaritan's Purse asked me for a photo of Nomio for a plaque. All the ones I had taken of her pretty smile were to low a resolution for what they needed. So took about 200 shots the last two days with no smiles in sight. Luckily, the extra time gave me a chance to try again and there is that beautiful smile.

Christian's message about Ebenezer Lutheran Church

Christian had the opportunity to team preach at five services at Hales Corners Lutheran's main campus the weekend of December 14th. The message was titled "Whatever you've done for the least of them" and includes a vignette from the meal served the day before Thanksgiving to 300 people. It's a great way to see and hear what God is doing with Christian and April's ministry in Milwaukee. If the link doesn't work, go to http://www.hcl.org/ and look for the link for latest sermons and click on December 14th (they have both audio and video posted).

We are very proud of you, Christian, and can't wait to see how God will continue to use you.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

The Great Commission

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Matt 28:19,20 NIV

Today was a very special day of celebration. All six of our Mongolian friends were baptized!! God has worked such miracles in the lives of these children and their guardians, healing the girls hearts and now saving their souls. They all decided to be baptized three weeks ago and have anxiously waiting for the big day. Our house and lives have been filled to overflowing with undeserved blessings during this time and we are humbled that God used us in this simple way of opening our home and our hearts to these special people, there by showing them the love of Christ.

My mom bought Hannah and Nomio matching Christmas dresses.

We finally got to hold one of these girls. Bolormaa has the best smile, doesn't she?

Breakfast with Santa

Dad's Knights of Columbus hosted a pancake breakfast with Santa at their church. We met Mom and Dad, Tracy, and my cousing Leigh and her family that are visiting from California. It was a nice morning.

Fellowship

I have a bunch of very special Christian friends and I was honored to have them over for lunch on Friday. We held a bible study during the summer to keep us on track while Concordia's bible study takes a break and now we rotate lunch at each other's houses once a month. Since it is the Christmas season I got out the china (I love how that makes everyone feel special, including me) and made a pot roast. Everyone else brought a dish and we had a wonderful time of Christian fellowship. You'll have to take my word for it because (again) I was too busy being a hostess to take a picture. My bad.

Duh....

One thing I had planned as a gift to our Mongolian guests was to help them do a scrapbook to take home with them. I bought some extra stickers and some 8 x 8 albums and they all came over on Thursday. Now...you would think that since scrapbooking was all about capturing special moments that I would have gotten my camera...which was sitting on the counter...and snapped a few photos of the event, but you would be wrong. What a duh....moment.

Actually, they only had a couple of hours to work on their books and they went sticker happy while I cut the 8-1/2 x 11 cardstock for them (Hobby Lobby was out of 8 x 8 on the day I went and all mine is 12 x 12). Anyway...they had a lot of fun and will be able to show their family memories of their trip to America as soon as they get home. They all did an awesome job.

I made double of my prints for Suren so that she could take them home. We have been joking about how every where we go....and I mean everywhere...every one's camera comes out and it takes forever to move through places like Sea World or the Riverwalk because someone always wants a picture and if one wants a picture they all want a picture. Well...because of time I could not wait for a Kodak 150 prints for $15 so I went to Costco.com for 13 cents a print. When I uploaded all the pictures just from the time they arrived until last Tuesday I found I had taken 511 pictures!!! So that was 1022 prints!!! Yikes!!

The most special thing about the day was after Suzette's group left. For the first time since they have been here Nomio and Hannah went down for a nap at the same time. Suren left Nomio alone in their room while she napped (which she has never done) and we sat together for 2 and 1/2 hours and scrapped. It was a very special time I will always cherish (even if I don't have pictures to remind me).

Express News

The San Antonio Express-News is doing a story on our Mongolian families. Last Monday we met at Suzette's house and the reporter interviewed Suren, Dulmaa, Tiggy and Moogie. A photographer came and wanted to get pictures of the girls playing, but they kept posing. I think there could be some models in this group. :)

On Thursday we went back to Suzette's so the photographer could take pictures of them being examined. He thought the shoot was going to be at a doctors office and not Suzette's extra bedroom, but our gals get extra special treatment so Dr. Mary comes to them with her portable echo machine in tow. We have to remind them that this is very special treatment and that we often have to make doctor's appointments weeks in advance. He also interviewed Suzette and I as host moms.

Today the photographer came to church for the baptism. It won't be in the paper (and on the web) until after they return to Mongolia on Thursday. He said he would let us know when it would be in the paper, so I'll let you know.

Christmas Cookies

Last Wednesday we baked Christmas cookies. I'm hoping I will actually get to the fudge and peanut brittle this year also. Last year I put everything away and completely forgot to make those. This year I'm leaving everything on the counter until it's done. Hannah was really into helping this year, especially helping me count cups of flour or sugar and beating the eggs. Suren and Nomio enjoyed helping Hannah sprinkle the sugar cookies aka Christmas cut-outs. It took a little longer than my feet would have liked with all the "help" but it was worth it.

This picture has nothing to do with cookies, but was taken on the same day and illustrates Nomio sitting alone on the couch without Grandma Suren. It didn't last for long. Before this picture she was playing the musical snowmen (from Hallmark) and dancing. Too cute.

Old McClellan's Farm

My friend Page invited us to her mom's house in Blanco where they have lots of animals including six goats that were only one week old. We had great fun, terrific fellowship, a wonderful dinner, and took home lots of memories.
Thank you Page, Gail and Keith for being such great hosts.

Page and Freckles

Annabelle and Mikaela

Suren with the "kids"

Making friends with Chocolate

Cactus

Looks like rain. There was a front coming in from the north and the temperature dropped 25 degrees in the 2 hours we were in Blanco.

Annabelle and Nomio were playing together. Nomio was very comfortable at the McClellan's.

The girls watched Frosty the Snowman while we got dinner ready.

We are with the band, man

Sea World

Someone at church works for Sea World and donated tickets for both groups to spend the day there last Sunday. Since they were only opened until 5pm, we bolted after the 11am service, skipping the preview tour of the new sanctuary, introducing the Mongolians to "road food" as we at McDonald's drive thru on the way to save time (and money). We had perfect weather and a great time. They had never seen anything quite like that in Mongolia.