Holidays & Visitors

A quick catch up since my last post...we had a busy yet wonderful Christmas season. We enjoyed the Christmas lights of Bucharest, Carter's class Christmas party/play, making lots of Christmas cookies for friends (and ourselves!), and most of all, celebrating the birth of our Savior! This year seemed much busier than last. Probably because last year we were just getting settled in Romania and were able to focus more on the newness of everything. This year we were trying to fit all the Christmas activities into our already full schedule; plus we had three little ones this year instead of two and that keeps us on our toes! We weren't able to consistently do an advent calendar this year with the kids, but I'm going to give us a little grace on that and hope we can do better next year!

We had a nice, family Christmas morning, complete with the traditional homemade cinnamon rolls, then spent the afternoon playing with the kids and their new toys. That evening, we went to our good friends and colleagues', Richard & Wanda, home for a dinner of turkey, stuffing, and all that yumminess.

Several days after Christmas, we were blessed by a visit from Ryan's parents and his youngest brother, Nathan.  We spent the first half of their visit in Bucharest; the kids got spoiled by a second Christmas celebration, we took them to our Romanian church, we rang in the New Year with fireworks all around, and let them sleep just a little to overcome their jet lag.

Then we took them on an adventure throughout the Romanian countryside. It was a great time together full of special memories, moments of insanity, and lots of new cultural experiences.

Citadel at Rasnov

Bran Castle

Gig 'Em Aggies!

Sibiu

 

Covered staircase at Sighisoara

Our Pensiune in Sighisoara

    
We were also able to celebrate Alexa's first birthday with them before they left. (It was a week early, but who's counting? :) )

After their visit, it was time to get back into our usual routine. Carter went back to school after his 3-week vacation and Ryan got very busy with logistical matters.  I will post more later with an update on the "house-hunting" situation for our entire team.

We were blessed by family and friends this Christmas season and pray that we were also a blessing to those around us!