Yearly Visit

My parents came for a visit on December 22nd and they just left on the 10th of this month. They were able to spend Christmas with us and also celebrated 3 birthdays. We are so thankful for the time they can spend with us. It's so much fun when they are here for longer and can experience "real" life with us, instead of just doing touristy stuff. The kids got so used to them being here, that the first morning they weren't with us Olivia set the table for 6 instead of 4 and then started crying when she realized what was different.

It was also great to have them here for selfish reasons. They got so many projects done for us!! My mom made curtains and pillows for me, helped me landscape a small area, taught art at school for the kids and a couple of times at an orphanage here too. Those are just the big projects - not to mention the help she was cooking and baking

Dad's project list was a bit longer. He did some trim work in our house, fixed screen doors, made a desk for Josiah, helped our maintenance guy, Ron finish the doors for our closet, made us a "corn hole" game and much more. He's pretty efficient because he had so much extra time on his hands that he even rewired our cleaning lady's house. I'll have to blog about that another time.

Anyway, as you can see, they blessed us in many ways.....and we miss them. Which, I guess, is a good thing after 6 weeks together!!

At the Basilica.

Casa de Fe (House of Faith) Orphanage which is run by a fellow missionary.

Josiah's class working on tye dyed shirts.

Josiah's class (2nd and 3rd graders) with their t-shirts.
l-r: Karen Isbell, Brooklin Williams, Natalie Umble, Kyle Borror, Sebastiao Martin, Samuel Barton, Jonny Umble and Josiah.

Olivia's class (Kindergarten) with their t-shirts.
l-r: Matthew LaBouef, Joshua Isbell, Annie Borror, Nathan Barton, Olivia, Erik Umble, and Skyler Williams

My dad and Ron Grant (our base maintenance guy).