And the Christmas season is upon us

I guess the Christmas season has been here for awhile, but this week the crunch of activities and gifts to prepare has hit. I am really looking forward to the quiet family celebration of Christmas Day.  However, many of these things are good and meaningful too.  Lucy was sick this week with a fever and cough.  Fever is gone but the cough hangs on and on.  After 3 nights of waking a LOT she seems to have returned to only once a night waking.

Here she is all decked out in a new Christmas dress from Nai Nai. Lucy will be 15 months on the 29th...still no signs of really wanting to walk. She will stand independently and has taken 1 or 2 steps but then always drops to her crawl.  Hoping she might walk before we travel to Thailand...not looking forward to containing her from crawling all over the dirt in hotels and airports.

Bennett and Lucy had a rough patch where Bennett's love was a bit too overwhelming and she would scream whenever he would come near.  Sad for Bennett.  They seem to be doing better and playing more and Bennett is (slowly) learning to be more gentle.

It is COLD and white...we have had several snows over the past two weeks and very cold temperatures.  Even if we get no more snow it will probably still be white (or at least grayish colored) on Christmas. A couple days the roads were icy and scary to drive on.  Now the roads are clear and fine but ice and snow on the sidewalks.

Today the boys and I were able to join other members of our international fellowship to deliver the Angel Tree Christmas gifts to a group of migrant children.  We went to the same center that Chris helped open with an art and music festival two years ago.  Austin remembered helping to paint the murals.  It was SO COLD I thought the boys might not make it through but in the end they did and did great job passing out gifts, speaking to others in Chinese and enduring lots of attention that they don't really love. It was good to give and precious to see the excitement on the kids faces.  We were able to share a little of the Christmas story and sing a few songs.

 The center with the murals painted two years ago.

 Austin helping pass out gifts.

 This girl in the pink was SO excited to receive her gift she was literally jumping up and down with excitement. It is quite likely she has never gotten a Christmas present and probably very few presents in general.  These kids are children of migrant workers...parents who come from the countryside to find work in the big city.  But they have no benefits, very little pay and very meager housing.  Glad we could bless them in a small way. The boys know the three kids we gifted by name and are praying for them at night.

The boys' have a school performance tomorrow afternoon. I think they are singing a few songs, but you never quite know what to expect.  Hopefully Lucy will be able to last through church and a potentially long afternoon of performing!