Family Portraits

Happy Anniversary, Grandma and Grandpa!

Today was Anna's grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary. I am deeply thankful for their love and commitment to each other and our family.

We got out the wedding albums to celebrate and reminisce, looked at grandma's beautiful wedding dress, tiara, and earrings, got grandpa to put on his wedding suit jacket and 50-year-old glasses, listened to music from 1958, and took lots of photos.

We had family portraits made at a local studio. Grandpa got "all his girls" corsages and took us out to eat at Grandma's favorite restaurant.

I am so blessed to be a part of this family.

Anna's Camera

Although Anna's new camera is designed for a child, the controls seem remarkably difficult to work. The button you take pictures with and the power button also serve multiple other functions. You have to manually turn on the flash if you want it to come on. It is a wonder that anyone can review any of the photos taken (with the secret combination of buttons that is required), but Anna has taken a few photos and can usually get the pictures to show back up (although Mommy still can't). The photos are terribly low-resolution, but she loves them.

Her favorites are of Grandpa cooking.

There is also the problem of accidentally placing your finger over the lens of the camera while trying to take someone's picture....

Merry Christmas!

After checking to see what Santa left for her (a camera, a stick horse, a panda, a "Language Littles" doll, and surprises in her stocking), Anna ate a quick bowl of cereal and poured some birdseed on the front step so the birds would have Christmas food. Then she waited for Grandpa, Grandma, and Aunt Jean to come over at 8:00 AM to open presents...including Christmas bones for the dogs. Next, we all headed to Grandpa and Grandpa's house for a pancake breakfast and round 2 of present-opening, followed by the shared cooking and eating of Christmas dinner. And finally....much-needed naps!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Party with Friends...

We went to a fun party on December 12....looking back at these photos reminded me of the "red couch" photos at the White Swan in Guangzhou.

Advent

Anna and I were asked to serve as lay-ministers for church today (greet the congregation, provide a brief devotional moment, light the advent candles, and lead the songs/worship for the first part of the service). So....we talked about it this week to prepare.

We talked about the logistics (we will be in front of the church, Mommy will talk in the microphone, etc). We talked about the advent wreath, the advent candles, and what the candles mean. We talked about about joy (the advent candle for this Sunday was the "joy" candle) and Anna suggested a couple songs that went with that theme.....
Joy to the World
I've Got the Joy Joy Joy Joy down in My Heart
She also offered to sing.

I said sure (thinking there was no way she would sing by herself in front of a large audience).

She sang in the car all the way to church today, telling me all the songs she was good at singing and that Jesus gave her a good singing voice. As we entered the front door of the church, she reminded me that she was going to sing in the microphone.

At the podium this morning, after I made a few brief remarks, Anna still wanted to sing. Not knowing what song she would choose, I lifted her up to the microphone and she sang (albeit not as loudly as she sang in the car) Jesus Loves the Little Children of the World all the way through.

Christmas Program

Anna was an angel for her pre-school Christmas program (traditional nativity story). The angels said, "Joy to the world. Peace on earth. It was the first Christmas." Then they sang "Away in a Manger." It was really sweet and Anna loved her wings and pillowcase dress trimmed with shiny garland. There was more to the program, but of course, this was my favorite part.

The pictures are the angels "backstage" before the performance, during the performance, and Anna with her teacher afterward.

Santa Claus is Coming...

Anna was SO THRILLED to see Santa tonight at the Chick-fil-A . She told him that she wants a camera for Christmas...wonder where she would get an idea like that? :-)