The Birds come up to Frazier Park!

Scott is a good influence on Andrew! Here you see the boys cooking the lunch while us ladies just hang out an coo and kaa about Jacob!

Welcome Ryan and Elna!

Another South African couple arrives in LA for Seminary! I was so excited that they were coming out, both for Andrew, who knew them from Grace Fellowship, and for myself because I hopefully gain a new friend! Ryan was Joel James' secretary before he came out, and Elna is a GP. Their little daughter Calista is 19 months and a real cutie!!!

The Pot Plant and the Rules

Say no more...

Will it snow?

My First Turkey!

A few more pictures from the afternoon first!

Holidays in Frazier Park

We are just so blessed to have been given this amazing opportunity! This morning we packed the car and headed off along the 5 to Frazier Park!

Frazier Park is a very small town in the mountains about 45 minutes from Santa Clarita. it gets great snow in the winter and last week was no exception!

The Big 26 for Andrew!

Happy Birthday Andrew!!!

This is how the day unfolded!

First, while he's still sleeping (this is enough of a challenge!) I get all his prezzies together... Make coffee and then enter the room singing Happy Birthday!!!

Merry Christmas!

Santa's been!!!

Christmas Time in LA

Dropping Friends at the Airport

Andrew and I get a lot of requests to take people to and fetch people from LAX airport. So many of our friends have been heading home for Christmas and we happen to be one of very few who are sticking around to help with this! I am glad people feel free to ask us, and we wish we had a bigger car to take them! But we usually end up using their cars to take them since it has more boot and passenger space! I guess it can be seen as a blessing as gas is expensive for us... But we love seeing our friends off and welcoming them back!

An Undeserved Gift...

How is this for an amazing blessing!

Andrew called me this afternoon saying that an acquaintance of his had a turkey meal that they wanted to give to us because they understood we had no family to go to for Christmas, and that they know seminary students don't have much to spend on Christmas dinner. We were just blown away that they were thinking about giving in a season that seems to be so focused on getting! We didn't know what really to expect until they arrived later that evening to drop off the goodies!!! This is the wonderful couple - Jerry and Barbara Newbold, who attend Grace Community Church and live in Frazier Park, about 45 minutes away from us.

Andrew's Christmas Preaching Opportunity

Today Andrew got the opportunity to preach to an assisted living home for the Christmas service. he really enjoys these chances to open God's Word! Unfortunately I wasn't feeling well so I didn't go along, but I am sure it was a great encouragement for those who were there and could understand!

Welcome Phil and Melissa!

Meet Phil and Melissa! Phil is starting at Seminary in the Spring! They are staying with Anna and Lonngren until they get an apartment. Welcome!

Farewell Johnny and Jenny!

Today was the last day before Johnny and Jenny left to go and take a church back in Ireland (sob, sob...) I made Jenny a little box to store all the pictures from her time here in LA. I was horrified to realize that I didn't have a single picture with her and I! Weird how that happened! Nonetheless, this is the outcome...

GCC Christmas Concert

This is my first opportunity to play with my new camera! Let me know how you think it went... Unfortunately the standard lens is not a very high quality one and this means that indoor shots and night shots are not going to be very clear. But all things considered, I like how they came out!

The Early Christmas Present!!!

We finally have a camera!!! Andrew and I decided to try to buy one for a joint Christmas present and this is it!!! We are now VERY poor but at least we will have extra clear pictures to remember this short time here in the States, and I would like to get into Photography as we get the hang of this thing! In the package we got the body, a 18-55mm lens and a wide angle lens!

Christmas Time at Disneyland!

Andrew called me from work this morning and explained that today was the last day that Disneyland allows pass holders in before Christmas!!! We really try to make an effort to go for each time of the year, and I was so excited to see the Christmas fireworks that we decided we should go down in the evening and not miss our last opportunity! Andrew quickly came home after work, I packed some food and we headed off to Anaheim.

Christmas Party with SOS!

We just love our Bible Study! Park and Pam invited the group to have their Christmas Get-together at their TOTALLY festive home! Everyone signed up for food and I brought a good old Lemon Meringue pie for dessert! It was a sweet time of fellowship!

The Local LA Mountains - A Hunt for Snow

So it's been a few days but we were really hoping to still be able to drive to some nearby snow... We took Sand Canyon road to the top of our closest mountain to see what we could see!!!

I could see snow in the distance...

The First Snow in LA

There's snow on the LA mountains!!! It has been really cold these last few days and I was so excited to wake up this morning and see white mountain tops!!! Enjoy this with me!!!

Painting the Patton's New Home, and Rob Iverson's Farewell

Christmas Chapel at TMS

Every year the seminary has a chapel for all the families at TMS where they can bring their kids and sing carols together and then fellowship over a hot drink and some cookies! Each sem wife has to bring a bunch of cookies along so I made some fall leaves with my adorable new cookie cutters!