Feliz Natal!

Feliz Natal kids,
  Or, 'Happy Christmas'!! I'm jumping ahead, out of order, and writing about this week cuz it'd be weird to write 

about Christmas in February.  So, I was thinking the other day that this is the first Christmas - in 33 years -

 that we've never been away from you kids. And in a word, it stinks. Totally STINKS!  Christmas is definitely the

 "family" holiday and although we're used to not being home for Christmas, not having you guys with us feels 

empty and kinda lonely and I don't like it at all. Big sigh - SIGH...!! Ok, the pity party is over but now you know 

I'm missing you more than usual. :(  And I'm not usually a 'missing you' kind of mom.  But it's Christmas....... K,

 Moving on:   Here's our tree. Dad calls it our Charlie Brown tree and thinks we should do this every year cuz 

it's so easy to put up.  He's such a sentimental guy.  No ornaments so I used curling ribbon. But then Sandi 

crocheted some stars for us!
 

We had our second practice for the Christmas program that we're doing for the members and investigators. And it just so happened to be on Brooke's birthday so she got good wishes from us AND 40 elders! They all wanted to hold the signs. The guy on the far left is from New Zealand and is doing the Hakka stance.
The whole gang - two zones!

Some random pictures of people working. Here's what the dish-washing looks like BEHIND the restaurant - Yikes!!

Here's a guy I saw painting the steeple on a mosque. I don't know how he got up there because the scaffolding didn't reach it.

With a roller brush and no safety harness. Oh Africa....

When we went walking a couple of weeks ago, Dad said, "Why don't you keep walking and I'll stay here and enjoy the scenery?" (You know him and his scenery.)

  So, now we walk about 15 minutes and then he sits and I walk/jog between seawalls so I'm in his sight. The other day he took a picture of me......

and then I took a picture of him:

After I run a few laps, I start asking if he's ready and he'll smile and say, "Why don't you do another one?" so I turn around and do another lap. I feel like Forrest Gump. I don't know if he's really enjoying the scenery or hoping I get extra serotonin. Probably a little of both. He doesn't look much like a missionary here.....
This week I met a very nice lady from Portugal. She comes every three years to visit her mother and her brother that live here. She lived here for 20 years before she moved back to Portugal. She was very gracious and sweet but she didn't look like a missionary either....;)

 I really love meeting new people. Everybody's got a story - everybody!

Eating mango and lichee fruit:

 

Saturday was the Christmas party for our little branch. When they had the planning meeting last week, I volunteered to make brownies - 80 of them. It was one of those, "What was I thinking?" moments later the week.
When we got there an hour and a half after it was supposed to start, they still weren't ready. I had taught the kids a Christmas song last week so I decided to practice it with them. They did pretty good so I asked the branch president if they should sing for the party. He said "Yes!" Then they asked dad to give the message. We're getting used to the 'last minute notice' thing but sometimes it still throws us. Scenes from the party:

The ladies cooking:

The ladies posing.......

Dad with Elder Christenson, from THS, with his comp, Elder Fernandez, from Cape Verde.

This is Zeka. 

He's one of our institute teachers and he just passed his medical physical so he's got everything done for his mission. He was SO excited to tell us!! It takes awhile, like a year or two, for the people to be able to save for their passport, yellow fever shot, medical exam, and dental exam. But then the church pays for all of their mission expenses. It was a huge accomplishment for him!
This is where the kids ate.

  Finally, our photo shoot today for our Christmas 2013 picture.

 It was only moderately successful. I wanted to be in the sun because you can't see the kids when we're in the shade. But we ended up being 'half in, half out'. First mistake. Second mistake: I forgot to take the picture when there were 45 kids. Third

 mistake: I didn't try on the nose before the big shoot.

 I guess my actual nose is too small cuz it wouldn't stay on. I even traded with dad on the last pic and it still fell off. "The best laid plans"...

MERRY CHRISTMAS little darlin's!! We love you and can't wait to chat with all y'all in a couple of days! Woo-hoo!! ~mama

PS My kids sang GREAT!! They got big applause. SCORE!!! :)