After the Yamada wedding, we rented a van to drive down to SC to visit with Josh’s family. On the way we had a lovely overnight visit with the Raslau family (no pictures). Flavius and Cristina always go above and beyond to make our family feel welcome – they spoil us.

We spent 4 days in SC visiting mostly with family. Tuesday we had a drop-in for friends in the area. It was great to catch up with several of our friends.

Wednesday we visited with Grandpa Hess. Grandma Hess died in November and we missed seeing her. We spent Wednesday the morning with the Rodriguez family. Becca was delighted to play with Amaris – they’ve been friends since they were about 6-months in  the church nursery in Texas.

Wednesday evening we had a get together with Josh’s Dad’s side of the family.

We spent Thursday morning with Grandpa and Grandma Jensen. This was one of our main reasons for coming south on this trip. We wanted to spend time with our Grandparents and for our kids to get to be with their Great Grandparents. The kids had a great time playing bean-bag toss with Great Grandpa.

Thursday afternoon and evening we spent with Dad, Mom, and Josh’s sister, Caroline with her two children, Bella and Carson. The men worked at the wood pile, while the kids played outside decorating a Christmas tree with leaves and flowers. Afterwards, Mom did a cookie Christmas tree project with the kids.

Our time in SC was very full with hardly a minute to spare. (We also made visits to my two brothers’ homes who live in Greenville.) So thankful we could have this time in SC to visit with so many people in such a short time. Looking forward to seeing them all again when we return for a longer visit in 2.5 years.

Happy 10-month birthday to our dear Clara Grace! She seems to have an older girl look in these pictures. Slow down baby girl, slow down!

Clara has transitioned to full crawling. She now climbs stairs, so I can’t keep her contained in the kitchen while I work. She continues to be on the go constantly. She is starting to give kisses, and I see evidence of a upper tooth starting to emerge. She loves to nibble on things and isn’t too enthusiastic about eating pureed foods. She wants to eat like the big kids. Clara did a great job traveling to the States and back. She had little trouble with the time change. She got to meet lots of extended family members and attend two weddings.

Our Clara continues to be the sweetest happiest baby, full of giggles and life. Thanking God for gifting us with our Clara.

Because our family traveled to the States mid-December for my sister’s wedding, we wanted to have our own family Christmas before we left. So we celebrated Christmas Eve and Christmas Day December 7-8th, just like it was the real thing.

Christmas Eve we had bean burritos, finished reading The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, drank home-made hot chocolate, and watched The Muppets’ Christmas Carol.

Christmas morning we had quiche and cinnamon rolls. This was the first year in a while that something didn’t go wrong with the cinnamon rolls. I was thrilled. We spent the morning wrapping presents, singing carols, hearing the Christmas story, and opening gifts.

Christmas afternoon each of our kids decorated a large gingerbread person to eat later that evening.

Late afternoon we invited our neighbor kids in to hear the Christmas story in Khmer. Seven kids came. Afterwards we had them decorate gingerbread cookies. It was a small (rather impromptu) way for us to share Christ’s birth with them.

The highlight of the evening was Becca’s Little People Christmas pageant. For months she’s been listening to Matthew and Luke when she goes to bed and has been rehearing for several weeks. It was a joy to watch her well-planned presentation of the Christmas story.

We were thankful to be able to have this time as a family in the midst of several very busy weeks. It was great to relax and celebrate. And then we got to pack and head to America to celebrate Christmas in the States.