Our weekend

We got up early yesterday morning and went to LR (Little Rock) to the district office for a missionary Christmas party.  It was really a Christmas lunch.  We had a great time but the kids really hated that they had to get up so early on a Saturday morning.  But, I'm sure if it would have been something that they wanted to do, like a ballgame or something, they would have been all for it.  You know how teenagers are.  After our lunch at the district office we went to Baptist Hospital to see Shannon's cousin's husband, John.  Who is in the hospital taking chemo right now.  Side note: please pray for John and his family.  This hit them hard because it all happened so fast.  John went to the hospital for what he thought was kidney stones and ended up in the hospital with cancer and started chemo right away.

Since the kids got up so early on Saturday, being the good mom that I am, we decided to go to the Spanish service at church today that started at 1:00.  I love going to Spanish church so I was all about it.  It keeps Spanish fresh in my mind, but it also brings back to my mind that there is so much that I need to learn.  For instance, Pastor kept using a word that I had no idea what it meant and it was driving me crazy.  One of those words that you knew that you weren't going to be able to remember so you could look it up when you got home.  Oh and I didn't even know how to spell it so it didn't matter.

After church we ran to Target because we needed lunch meat for the kids lunches this week.  They don't eat in the cafeteria.  By they way, I can't believe how much school lunches are now.  Oh and note to self, don't take Ethan to Target with you because he wants to buy everything down the food isles.  He actually made the comment that he needed to leave an isle because he was buying too much.  I asked him what he was talking about because he wasn't buying anything, I was.  Such a sly kid.

After Target I took the kids to Mexico Viejo.  Do you know how hard it is to go to a Mexican restaurant and not speak Spanish?  This was the first time that I had eaten real Mexican food since being back in the country.  It was really good.

I had bought the kids a gingerbread house, wait, I bought Megan a gingerbread house because she wanted to put one together a few weeks ago.  They decided that they would put it together tonight.  It didn't really work out for them.  I couldn't help but laugh.

It started out well for them.

Then this happened.

And if all else fails, eat the gingerbread house.

I was looking through my first blog book tonight and it just so happens that they CAN make a gingerbread house.  Look here to see for yourself.  Ok they had the help of an adult last time but I thought surely they were old enough to do it by themselves.  Wrong.

And if you're interested check this post out that I did exactly three years ago on this day.  We were in Costa Rica.  It's amazing how time flies.  Going down memory lane is fun!  (I'm still just as proud of my kids today as I was three years ago)

She's growing up

Megan went to her first winter formal over the weekend, she's growing up so fast.  I'm not really sure how I feel about it.

Here are a few pictures.

Her daddy really wasn't happy but he got over it.

Megan is enjoying her time with her cousin, Madison.  

Shannon told them he could do that too.

Ready for Christmas

We are officially ready for Christmas.  

Thankful for a borrowed tree and ornaments.  I did buy a few things but not many.

One of my favorite Christmas decorations if this stocking that my grandmother made me when I was little.  My grandmother has been gone for over twenty years so it makes it that much more special to me.

We have been very busy over the last month with traveling, visiting with family, and recovering from a minor surgery.  Looks like we might slow down for the month of December and then it's back to non-stop craziness in January.  We are looking forward to the kids being out of school and doing a little traveling over the Christmas holidays.  We are actually going to be attending The World Missions Summit in Dallas and we are very excited about that.  You can check it out online if you would like, it's geared towards college kids.

Our church in Ecuador is doing great and we talk to our pastor often.  They are still busy raising money to buy land so we can move our church.  If you would like to help with this project you can do so by following the instructions on the side of the blog.  We are anxious to get back and get back to work.

Thanksgiving Stateside

Well this was our first Thanksgiving in the states in four years.  We spent it with Shannon's family about 5 minutes from our house, so we didn't have a lot of traveling to do.

We started out the morning watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, which we watch every year no matter where we are at.  Then Megan made a pumpkin cheesecake the day before and we had to make the topping to put on the cheesecake.  Shannon and Megan got into a little icing fight.

Here's the finished product.  Good job Megan!

Here's Ethan on Thanksgiving Day with his Santa hat on.  We didn't even get a family photo.

We had fried turkey, which was really good.

We got to listen to Grandpa tell stories after lunch.

Then we did a scavenger hunt for the kids.  Here they are getting ready.  Ok maybe Megan and Madison are posing for the picture.

Here they are being silly during the hunt.

Here's a video of them singing as one of the things they had to do during the scavenger hunt.  

After our big Thanksgiving day Megan and I did a little Black Friday shopping.  No, we didn't go anywhere to fight over things, we just went.  I think I should get the mother of the year award for taking my child shopping all night just because she wanted to go.  Yes, I know that most people thought we were crazy but it's something that Megan really loves to do and we won't be back in the country for four years.  And by then Megan will be in college.  Let's not talk about that.

So overall we had a great Thanksgiving!

What we've been up to.

I know it's Thursday and Thanksgiving and I'm up early drinking coffee and getting ready to cook a few things but I wanted to give an update of what we've been doing.

We had a great weekend.  God did some amazing things and we can really see his hand in our ministry and getting us back to Ecuador. We are continually amazed!  I usually don't travel with Shannon on the weekends but I wanted to this last weekend because we were going to see some friends that we met about 16 years ago.  You can't pass up those kind of opportunities.  So, we didn't get home until Monday afternoon.  No, the kids don't like it when I go with him but they are very understanding.

My mom came and saw us on Tuesday and then Tuesday night the boys went to a Razorback game.  For those of you who don't know, Ethan is an avid Razorback fan.  He's almost crazy!  Not really but he supports them weather they win or loose.

While the boys were at the Razorback game Megan and I went with Shonda, Shannon's sister, to the Fayetteville Square.  If you've never been there during the holidays, you should go.  It's beautiful.

Pictures in the dark are a little blurry.  This is Megan and our niece Madison, I'm already dreading them saying goodbye to each other.  It's going to be a bad day.

Megan, Madison, and our other niece Macen.  

This little girl is so funny.  It's so nice to still have a little one around with the other three teenagers.  

Wednesday Megan and I started cooking for Thanksgiving.  I will do my Thanksgiving post later.  For now I hope that you all have a great Thanksgiving!

Megan can drive, too.

Well, our lives just officially got crazier.  We now have two driving teenagers.  Megan got her drivers permit yesterday and Ethan passed the drivers part.  Oh what fun it's going to be with the Pruitts.

October is Over

Can you believe that October is already over?  I can not believe how fast our time in the states is flying by.  We are really enjoying being here especially this time of the year.  Have I ever told you that Fall is my favorite time of the year?  No?  Well, Fall is my favorite time of the year.  I love everything about it.

Just to name a few:
S'mores
Fire-pit family nights
Pumpkin spice lattes
Pumpkins
Pretty trees
Beautiful weather

Thanksgiving is coming!!!

I love it, love it, love it!

 I mean just look at these pictures.  What's not to love?

Ok enough already, I know.

Here are few pictures from Halloween.

Ethan dressed up like a smurf at our Halloween carnival at church.

Megan dressed up like a teenage girl.  haha!  No, she didn't dress up, but she did get new glasses.  Isn't she just cute?

And Molly, well see for yourself.  I must admit that Molly didn't dress up on Halloween, this was the day after and we found this for a couple of bucks and thought Ethan would get a kick out of it and he did.

And this was Shannon's Halloween costume.  Not really, this is what he wears when he goes for a run in the cold.  Doesn't he look funny?  At least he runs no matter what the weather is like.

Megan had an East Night Out at the school last week and she did a great job presenting her project.

I guess that about sums up the last few days.  I am noticing that it's really hard to keep up the blog when my kids are teenagers and we don't travel with Shannon as much.  I really do enjoy sharing our lives with our family, friends, and supporters.  So I will keep doing it no matter what.