Christmas At Our House

On Christmas Sunday...

dressed like Daddy in a dapper suit!

Trying to get him to smile...uh, yeah...that backfired.  Daddy has a nice smile, though!

Since we went with a "horizontal Christmas tree" on our mantel this year, we needed a place for the gifts.  Enter the play pen!  It was the perfect holding tank away from a curious little boy!

The Britton Family at our church's Christmas Eve candlelight service.

Take two!

Little man.

Lookin' sharp!

Love the expression on his face!

Christmas morning!

A birthday party for Jesus with fresh, homemade cinnamon rolls, compliments of Nathan.

My handsome husband getting ready to dive into his icing-slathered cinnamon roll. (Somehow, though, he got the wrong mug!)

Walking around in his Christmas stripes.

Daddy starts to divvy out the gifts.

Isaac's turn first!

Pajamas from Grandma and Grandpa Britton!

Thank you!

Ooh...what's this?

A peg-pounding set from Mema and Papa!

A fun little puzzle set from Grandmommy and Granddaddy.

Linked up bath toys - a real favorite of the day!

A present from Daddy's trip to Israel. (Check out the fish lips!)

Mom and Dad get in on the fun, too!

Oh, wow!  A box!

Isaac - our greatest gift! (Fish lips again!)

A lovely nativity set that Nathan brought me from Bethlehem itself!  It is hand-carved from olive wood and has a music box feature that plays Silent Night.  I LOVE it!

Isn't it beautiful?

Nathan also gave me an "add-a-pearl" necklace for each child who joins our family.  The big pearl in the middle represents us, and then there is a small pearl on either side for Isaac and the baby to some.  What a special gift!

Needless to say, we had a great Christmas!

Well, I think that takes care of catching up from the month of December.  Now, it's on to a new year and all that 2014 will hold! 

Christmas Outreach

Something our church really enjoyed last year at Christmas was the opportunity to adopt two needy families from our community and provide gifts for their children.  It turns out that that experience opened the door for continued ministry with one of the families who began coming to our AWANA club on Wednesday nights.  This on-going opportunity to build a relationship and invest further into their lives was actually one of the goals of the adopt-a-family program, so it's been exciting to see some lasting fruit!

This year, we decided to adopt that family again as well as another family from AWANA who have been struggling financially.  It is really fun to watch the church family come together and excitedly purchase gifts from off the children's wish lists and bring them all wrapped up to the church.  Then, Nathan and I, along with a few others, make the deliveries a day or two before Christmas.  Here are some pictures from the delivery days!

This family consists of three daughters (ages 8, 4, and 2), a mother who is a new Christian, and a father who is struggling to find full time work.  (The 8 year old was away when the the pictures were taken.)

They were so blessed to receive the gifts they had requested.

Isaac gets in on the fun!

Super excited with her La-La-Loopsy doll!

Sweet sisters.

This is the family we adopted last year.  There were four children being parented by a single mother; however, this past summer, the youngest child, a three-year-old boy, was killed in a hit-and-run car accident in their trailer park.  A few days later, the mother gave birth to her fifth child, a little girl.  However, she has been so overcome with grief due to her son's death, she has been unable to care for the baby and instead, her mother is doing the care-taking next door.

Showing off his new coloring books!

Some snazzy boots!

Cars!

Here is the baby over for a little visit with her grandmother.

Excited to have some big girl play things. :)

Yay for snow boots!

And more cars!  (He received about 50, it seemed!)

We LOVE having these kiddos in our AWANA club!  They are great students and really enjoy memorizing God's Word.

Here they are with their mother.  Please pray for further opportunities to reach out to this family; the Mormons have gotten a foothold in their lives this past year so we are in a battle!

Houston Trip

December has been a whirlwind month, which explains the lack of posts these last few weeks!  While Nathan was gallivanting around Israel for 10 days, Isaac and I enjoyed visiting family and friends in Houston as well as getting some much-needed shopping accomplished.  We returned home to Taos a few days before Christmas and had a lovely time celebrating Christ's birth with our church family.  As the holiday bustle has settled down, we now have our hands full trying to help Isaac overcome the croup and a mild case of RSV.  Poor little guy!  He has never been so sick and doesn't really know what's going on with his body as it fights this illness.  Your prayers would be appreciated that he would make a full recovery and that the RSV would not develop into anything more severe.

I have quite the picture collection to share on the blog, so the next few posts will be dedicated to playing catch-up (once again).  Hope you enjoy!

Isaac's first meeting of his new cousin, Owen.

(This picture cracks me up because it would seem both boys have an aversion to one another when in reality, I just happened to catch them in funny positions. :)

There...that's a little better. :)

Isaac loved playing under my parents' kitchen table!  My mom has a similar picture of me doing this very thing when I was his age. :)

Trying to get his green ball on top of the glass.

Grandmommy love.

The feeling was mutual!

Bath time with Granddaddy!

They were buddies.

Hanging out at Aunt Nora's new country house.

Mom was always good at coming up with new play things for Isaac that kept him fascinated for quite some time!

My grandparents enjoyed spending time with their youngest great-grandbaby.

So many places to explore here!

"Hi, Mom!"

Sittin' like a big boy.

Clapping with Papa.

And would you believe those are all the pictures I took of our time in Houston?  I guess I was too busy enjoying being with people and getting my shopping done to take pictures.  :)

On another note, Isaac reached several milestones during our trip.  He got his first tooth, learned how to clap, and took his first unassisted steps!  He is growing up!