Cuz's

I was thankful when we were home to have some time to catch up
with my cousin Marlisa. She has always had a special place in
my heart, our dad's are twins and her first baby Stella is just
weeks younger than Aaron. We always love to take their photos
together even though it is getting more difficult as they are
getting more mobile! We affectionately refer to them as Kermit
the Frog and Miss Piggy.

Thanksgiving

We just returned from a trip back to Lancaster for the holiday.
It was great fun to be home again, see friends and family, and
attend our home church. We are so thankful for all the richness
we have in relationships from family and friends.

Aaron and my dad doing some bird-watching


Morgan and Penn (my cuz Caryn's hubby) playing a mean game of
Hi-ho Cherrio-o. Guess who is winning? Do any of you Rudy's
recognize that old game? It was actually grandma's.


My mom and Brisa (cuz Caryn's cutie girl)


Mom gave the girls an early Christmas gift


The beautiful tree in mom and dad's front yard

Climbing fun

At Dick's Sporting Goods here in Gaithersburg, they have a 45 foot climbing wall that you can climb for just a couple of bucks a piece. My girls have been wanting to do this for a long time, especially Morgan. About a year ago, she taped her jump rope to the wall thinking that she could give that a shot. Back home at the Barnstormers Stadium they have a wall, but you have to be 45 lbs. to go. At Morgan's rate, that could be a few years. So, the other night we had a change to take the girls. It was so fun to watch them climb. Even I put the harness on and attempted to prove my youthfulness. Here are some photo's of the girl's climb.
Forgive me for the sideways shots of Claudia. I've spent way too much time
already trying to flip them and it just won't let me.

Guests

This weekend we had the joy of having Steve's brother and his wife
Kayla here. We spent the evening walking around at the Rio. The
Rio is a really fun place to go, lots of fun shops and good restaurants
and a pretty outdoor walk.


Steve and Uncle Shawn with the girls are we were walking around



Aaron admiring his lovely auntie



I know some of you have been wanting to see a picture of Kayla and her cute
growing belly...

Generosity

We have had the privilege this week of being taught by Jerry Bridges. Though I'm planning to do a post later on what I'm learning about Grace & Sanctification, I thought that first I would share one of the highlights of the week so far. Wednesday afternoon, CJ Mahaney interrupted class just before lunchtime. He came in and honored Jerry for the invaluable contributions he has made to Sovereign Grace, particularly in his understanding of the gospel and how it is applied. Then CJ announced that we were all to go upstairs, Jerry included, and that we were to each get a book out of the church bookstore (and Jerry was to get as many as he wanted). I got John Frame's "The Doctrine of God," mostly because it has been on my list for awhile, but also partially b/c it was big and expensive--and if you're getting a free book, make it a good one! CJ also led Jerry through the bookstore, recommending and feeding books to him to ensure that he was well-rewarded for his trip. Yet another example of the many kindnesses of God to us, not only in hearing clear and compelling teaching on the reality of the gospel of grace, but also in getting free books. Unbelievable.

More Fun...

Today was day 3 of our activities. We had a big
feast to end our time together. What cute little
Pilgrims we have!!

All the kiddos


Claudia and Hannah Flood


Morgan "feasting"


Aaron happy to be a Pilgrim


Hard-working moms: myself, Gina Flood and Tiffany Delage

Thanksgiving Fun

Our house here in Gaithersburg is a townhouse on a street with
tons of other houses, 2 of which are also Pastor's College families.
It is fun for us to have others so close by. One of the other moms,
whom I affectionately call a homeschooling "diva", had a great
idea to do a Thanksgiving unit together as families. In all there
were 11 children. So the past 2 days we have spent the morning
together doing all kinds of activities to teach the children (and
those of us adults who remember nothing from history class!!)
about the Pilgrim's journey to America. Thanks to some great
resources, time invested, and some creative juices, this thing
has actually come off pretty well! The girls and I are really enjoying
ourselves. We've been having a history segment, a related
craft, and then a game that pilgrim children would have played.
Tomorrow will be our last day together with the big
event of our feast. I will write more then. Here are a couple of
photos of the past 2 days together.


Here the kids were playing a game with marbles


Aaron hanging out with his girlfriend, Faith


All the kiddos, except the 2 babies, having snack


One little boy left his cowboy hat here and Claudia though
Aaron needed to try it on