Daddy-Daughter Ball

Again this year, Sophie was barely able to wait till "Daddy-Daughter Ball" (said in a serious Valley Girl accent).  Everything she talked about was in relation to the event, somehow.  I would say, "And I'll take you all to church in the morning," to which she'd respond something like, "Oh, but Daddy-Daughter Ball is in the night, not in the morning, like church."  Seriously, this went on for WEEKS!

And again this year, the child had a very special time with her now-beloved papA.  (Do you remember when she was petrified of Rob five years ago?  Hitting him, screaming if he came near her!  Such a long way we've come, thank God!)

It has been suggested that we name our house M___ Manor.  During last week's sermon, it occurred to me to name it The Lighthouse.  But, The Revolving Door, although it sounds like a British pub, probably makes the most sense.  Yowzers!  (That's a tired, but happy yowzers.)

Last night, I had the pleasure of meeting don J___, my oldest "daughter's" father.  It was very special.  For the occasion, I decided to make an almost-traditional Thanksgiving dinner, as it was the most United Statesian food of which I could think.

So, Diana offered her (mother's) services to make dessert, a favorite, arroz con leche.

Oh, yes, that is her mother, in Colombia, on the phone, telling her how much butter to add!

And then I had to use Girumy's services, to mix the mix and form the turkey loaf.

That wink was all him!

Finally, our ever-changing family straggled in and we had a lovely evening!  Thank God for these friends!

Absent: don Nacho

Reunited

Ebony and Ivory

The kid came home saying, "Working is so much fun!"  And I do believe that I heard Truman give a cheer from Heaven!

In between gulps of my oat straw infusion...

Wow.  Has it been a whirlwind!  Thankfully, the craziness has calmed down, and now I can breathe again.  "Hu, hu, hee" and a giant lion's breath!

Where do I even start?  Let's see... after finishing up the festive time of year with an outing to The Nutcracker (which went so well, considering I had the three kids alone), we focused on our "lasts" with some of our students.  We took C., C., and Rafiki up North so that they could have fun in the -15 Fahrenheit, you know, Wisco-style.  We, including the kids, tubed, cross-country skied, played some broomball, rode the snow mobile, etc.  And then we came home to have a good-bye Cristian, hello Diana party.

Unfortunately, the best photo of us all is this ridiculous one.  Ay!  Well, here we are with our beloved Cristian, all decked out in our ponchos llaneros, from Yopal.

Since then, we've been settling in with Diana, how we usually do, with lots of rounds of Spot It, thank you, Wetzels, and lots of reading aloud.  We are so thankful for our new student.  God, bless her!

What else?  Oh yes, the twins sang in the church choir for the first time last weekend.  They did so well.  It makes me so happy that they are finding their place in the church.  We also started our "MamA WILL make it through the winter" distractions: the Domes every Monday and the art museum each Friday, thanks to Tati and Tato.

I told the kids to put on some more elegant clothes for the museum, and this is what I got.  Not bad!

O!  And let's end with our family's new trick: the Stensberg Stack!

The Preacher-Ma

Ha!  So, this week with the twins, we are reading about Solomon building the temple.  During the reading, a question was asked that led to the following train of ideas:  the destruction of the temple, the Wailing Wall, "Why not rebuild it?", Israel and Palestine and all of THAT, the Living Temple, etc..  That looks short, but it took a while to try to explain it all in Spanish to 6 and 7 year olds.  Nearly at the end of my ¨lesson,¨Ty said, ¨You sound just like Pastor Matt!¨ What a lovely compliment!

And even more Christmas-time fun!

A Kopp's treat!

Bunuelos a la Lizeth!

They are so happy, clad in their thermal sets!

More Christmas-time fun!

Rob's been baking cookies and I've been brewing chai.  The kids happily frolic in the snow, while our students take photos, photos and more photos of the Magical White Stuff.  Ha!

Ty, at a Christmas Concert for kids at our friend's high school.  He has been saying that he wants to study cello, and so he got to try it.

Dancer Sophie and The Girls.  Their class danced at a retirement home to spread the cheer.

Our house is full, and I love it!  Over the next month we will have so many dear students in and out, on air mattresses, on sofas... I am so happy to be able to share our home!  Thanks to God.