Christmas Day

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas as we celebrated the birth of our Savior!

Jackie looked just like this after she opened each present.

Elijah poses by his 'scared man' he created out of sticky foam.

Two big hits were Transformers and Littlest Pets and the kids loved their new pj's from Grandma Madeline.

My Sweet Nieces

This is my new little niece, Prisca, born on November 14th. Is she tiny or what?! This was a photo shoot for the Pregnancy Resource Center's January fundraiser. The money was thoroughly washed beforehand!

And this is her big sister, on the right (isn't she so cute!), who is 1 year and 5 days older than her. Whoa! Angie and Brady sure have their hands full right now but I'm sure these little girls will be the best of friends and a big help to their mom when they are older.

Elijah's Christmas Program

Elijah had his school Christmas Program last Tuesday. He was a donkey. There is a really cute, short video on Jason's blog = http://gettinschooled.blogspot.com. When we got to the car he said "Were you impressed?"

The Persaudmata's

My sister, Melanie, and her new husband, Christian, came for a visit from Hawaii. It was soooo good to see them. They took us on some fun adventures: a trip to the Marine base in Quantico, VA, a visit to the Hershey Chocolate World, and on a beautiful drive through Amish country. We were very sad to see them leave and are hoping they will be back very soon!

The kids had been drawing pictures and making cards weeks before they met their new uncle. They loved him from the very start!

We saw the IMAX movie in Chocolate World. We had 3-D glasses and the chairs shook, it snowed and we were splashed on and it felt like things were hitting our legs. This was our first experience in this kind of theater and Elijah was NOT impressed. The rest of us thought it was great!

We saw a cannery, candle making, hand-made furniture and lots of fun shops in Amish country.

We just happened to come across this covered bridge, one of the things I love about Central PA.

On Thanksgiving morning the kids got up, dressed themselves and made this beautiful Thanksgiving Banner. They both helped me in the kitchen and dad got to relax and watch some football.

Elijah is the ultimate yam-peeler!

Grandma's Visit

Mom came to visit over Jackie's Birthday. We had tons of fun, I had to work but she walked down every day when I got off and we went to lucnh, coffee or shopping! She took us to the Children's Museum in Baltimore on her last day. They had tons of great exhibits, the kids had a great time, we all had a great time! THANKS MOM!!

Washington DC

Our pastor and his wife took us to DC back in October. (Man, I'm bad about keeping this up to date!) It was so cool to see all the stuff you grow up seeing in the movies. And, everything was free, amazing!

The Lincoln Memorial

The Smithsonian (one of them)

The Jefferson Memorial

Pastor Sandy and his wife Michelle

Elijah & Isaiah

This is Elijah's best friend, Isaiah, from school. He came over to play today after school. Are they cute or what!!

DINING ROOM & LIVING ROOM

Chicago

The picture of Chicago is from our move. We stayed with our pastor who married us, Chris Vlachos and his wife, Patty. They took us on a wonderful one day tour of the city, it was great!

HOWDY STRANGERS!

It's been a month, I guess this is about as often as I will actually do a new post. I have been really enjoying my new job but I'm finding that it's taking up more of my time than I thought. I'm sure I will get used to it and get adjusted to the schedule. Well, we've had our first visitors, Jason's grandmother, Madeline Mau and her niece Nancy. It turns out Jason has relatives actually from this area. His great, great, grandfather is buried just down the road from where we go to church. Isn't that crazy! Madeline was adopted and so she has been doing some research on her birth family. We took the kids to Hershey, PA, about an hour drive, to the Hershey Chocolate Factory. We had a great visit. After that we were off to Mertyl Beach. Jason's parents and aunt & uncle were down there in a condo so we made the 9 hour drive for the weekend. It was worth it! We had a great time on the beach and visiting with family. Jackie was a maniac on the boogie board, that's her in the last picture. Thanks again Bruce, Cindy, Jim & Celia!

Don't worry, It's not as deep as it looks!

More job info.

I realized I didn't tell you much about my new job. I will be the receptionist for a law firm. There are 2 lawyers, a husband an wife, so there will just be the three of us. They are gone most of the time I will be there so I'm not sure exactly what I will be doing. I do know I will be learning more and more about law procedures as time goes on. It is a general practice which includes court appointed criminal defense, a little scary but a great learning opportunity. The office is located on the main street of downtown. My favorite coffee shop is just around the corner, all the fun shops (including the yarn shop) are on the next block and the courthouse is just across the street. I am so excited to be in this area, it is exactly where I wanted to be! And I have to buy new clothes!

Our new pets.

This little creature is a 'House Centipede'. I find them curled up on the basement floor every once in a while and then the other day I was making my bed and one scurried across the throw pillow. AAAHHHHHHH! It was about 2 inches long and 1/2 an inch wide and faster than Speedy Gonzales. I had to hunt it out from under the bed and finally got it, to your relief I'm sure. I looked on line and found the name and some pictures. I guess they are completely harmless and eat smaller more dangerous bugs so they don't suggest you even try to get rid of them. I'll have to think about that.

I GOT THE JOB!

I start Monday and will work Mon thru Fri 9-2. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

New Job Interview

I had another interview last week at a law office, of all places! Please pray that God's will would be done because I'd really like to find something soon and again, this seems like it would be a very good job. I should know in a few days.

School has started!

We have been having problems with our internet so sorry these pictures are late for those of you who have been anxiously awaiting them.

Everyone started school Monday the 27th. Elijah and I walked Jackie to school and then we drove to his preschool. The walk is beautiful, big trees, gorgeous homes and families everywhere walking their children to school.

Jackie has had a great first week. She has made a new 'best friend', Hailee.

Elijah is really enjoys his time there but is a little apprehensive in the morning. I think he will soon grow out of this.

Jason has had a very busy week although I don't think it was as tough as he thought it would be. He has more info on his blog.

We are enjoying our weekend. Saturday morning I walked to the farmers market, which I do every Saturday, with Liz our law school friend who joined us at the beach. Then we went to the McClain Celtic Festival. It was awesome! There was tons of live music, shopping, dancing, sheep dog demonstrations and kids games, or game I should say. It was held on the grounds of a beautiful old historic home, the Two Mile House. It was like being in Ireland for the day and then you walk to the front of the house, cross the street and you're in the K-Mart parking lot. It's crazy. It's like that everywhere here, I guess because of all the foliage. Monday we might visit a Mennonite farm where they make a lot of wonderful cheese including goat and sheep which Elijah can have. We are missing you all!!

more beach pics

No Job 4 Me

God must have a better job out there for me because I didn't get this one.

But....., we took the kids to the beach for the first time! In NJ we found Island Beach State Park. It was great! About 3 1/2 hours away, not very crowded and very clean. We had a blast! We went with a couple other incoming law students that we've met, Chris & Liz(and her dog Cody). We packed a lunch and spent all day on the beach. The State Park is actually a barrier reef so on one side is the Atlantic Ocean and on the other is the Barnegat Bay, it was awesome. We had such a good time playing with the kids and spending time with our new friends.

Hooray, The Ocean!

Look at the size of that sea shell!

Ooohhhh, a real live surfer.

Jackie & mom's sand castle

Interview Update

Well, the interview went very well. It sounds like the perfect job for me. They had a few more people to interview and I was hoping to hear back by today. I guess I'll have to wait till next week:(

Kids & Bikes

this is the alley behind our house

this is taken from our backyard

out front, our house is to the right

the trees down there are so big it's almost like covered parking. that's our new, little red car