Sisters Party!

Last weekend we went down to Brownsville to the sisters party there. Since we have so few sisters here they were nice enough to include us in their gift exchange. Sis. Trina didn't make it, but I had her name; so I was able to give her her gift early and see her unwrap it!

We all met at a Chinese restaurant. The only child there was baby Corrina. It seems like usually I'm so busy with my own kids that I don't get to hold her; so I had some nice Corrina time along with some good fellowship with my sisters. There was lots of good food and laughter. It was a very nice evening out.

We ate first. Each person had a little hollow Christmas decorations with a number and a letter in it. After we were done eating my mom brought a basket around and we each picked a gift out of it according to the letter we had. One person (I think it was Wenona) was a winner and got the door prize and all the left over gifts from the basket.

Next we played dirty Santa. It was fun! There were a lot of good gifts; so there was lots of gifts getting stolen. We laughed a lot!

Sis. Janette is opening the dirty Santa gift that I brought. Unfortunately someone stole it from her!

Here's Alicia with baby Corrina, on the table you can see the Angel tree topper that I won in the dirty Santa game, and yes I stole it! I think I actually had to steal it twice!! Sis. Trish Knight is enjoying herself

Finally we all one by one opened our gifts from each other. We all got some really nice stuff! Alyssa had my name. She got me a soap making kit (I'm really excited to try it out!), some smelly good bath gel and she got each of the members of my family little small gifts. They really appreciated that! I didn't think to get any pictures of me with my gift though.

Sis. Cierra Smith is opening her gift from Sis. Cindy. Sis. Marisela is watching.

Sis. Connie is opening her gift (I forgot who had her name). Sis. Cindy brought Sis. Deanie to the party. It was nice to see her again.

Sis. Sara was very excited to get this maternity dress that Sis. Cierra made for her.

My Mother-in-law had my mom. She got some pretty cute stuff!

Sis. Trish is opening her gift from Sis. Marisela. She got a Christmas welcome mat, among other things.

Sis. Tina brought Sis. Janette and Sis. Amber. It was a nice surprise having them there. We enjoyed them.

Sis. Cindy is opening her gift. She really put a lot of effort into planning this. She did a very good job as usual and we all had fun.

Wenona got a very nice skirt and shirt outfit from Sis. Trish.

It was a really nice evening. Matt had the kids for the evening. He took them to Shari's and then went shopping at Wal-Mart. I was worried that it would be too much for him to have to deal with all 4 kids by himself in town like that. He said they were very good though. I was glad that we were both able to have an enjoyable night. It would have been kind of a let down to come back to a grumpy husband and grouchy kids. Here was yet another small blessing to be thankful for!

Grandpa Mike

I finally got pictures onto my computer of our visit with Grandpa Mike. Here they are:

He lifted Ruby up so she could reach; and then gave her a push.

Here he is helping Christian too.

Christian wanted to make a funny face!!

Christian with his Grandpa Mike.

Anthony just woke up, so he's got a little frown on his face; but he let Grandpa Mike hold him. I think he enjoyed it

Am I a Teacher?

There is a family that lives here in our part that I would really like to reach out to. We've lived here for quite a few months and I just can't seem to figure out how to get close enough to them to be that light and example to them. I've been praying about some common ground we can base a friendship on, or something. They just don't really understand the faith and I would like to help them. I hope I'm not puffed up about it though. Anyway, it's been a puzzle to me how to reach out to them because their lifestyle is so much different than mine.

The other night we went to dinner at their house. We had a pretty good time; visited some and played some games. While we were there they mentioned how their Kindergartner was not at the right level. She does have a learning and attention problem. They said she's in a classroom with 30 something other kids. There's no way she can get the one-on-one attention she needs. They said that she doesn't seem to do well when they try to teach her.

After leaving their house I kept thinking about that conversation. When it dawned on me that here was my opportunity that I'd been praying for. When I was first married I helped my cousins catch up on their Math skills. I thought maybe I could do something like this again. Now I'm not exactly sure how to go about it; but I offered to tutor her once a week (maybe more if that works out) I really think she needs some one-on-one without the distraction of even my kids; so I'm really praying about how to deal with it. Matt car-pools with the husband; so he'll bring their little girl with him. So it'll be nice to have him home to help with our kids. I'm supposed to start next Thursday.

Anyway, I'm really praying about how to teach her. Because of her learning problems I know I'll have to go about things a certain way or it won't sink in. I would also like to know how to use this opportunity in the best way God would want me to. Just pray for me that I will know God's direction in this. Thanks.