Christmas fun with friends...

On Saturday we had our friends the Goltz family over for a pizza dinner, some gingerbread house (graham crackers, really) decorating and then the Bethlehem walk near our home! We had such fun getting together and enjoying some fellowship! Here the girls show off their houses. These are so much more manageable and more eatable than gingerbread houses. They work the same except we used graham crackers for personal sized homes and then used vanilla frosting and candies to decorate. They were SO cute and yummy too!!!

Then we bundled up and headed over to the Bethlehem Walk about a mile from our home. It was COLD...but the kids huddled together to get warm!

The girls get stopped by the Roman Centurion...they look scared, right? Look closely in the background and you will see Shad with a fabulous scarf on! It was his daughter Lily's and she didn't want it...only real men can pull off pink AND pom poms!!

There were lots of awesome booths to stop at and fun activities to do. If you have never been to a Bethlehem Walk, it is a small town set up by churches that make it seem as if you were really in Bethlehem the night of Christ's birth. We LOVE it!! It really helps kids to see and feel how humble Christ's location really was.

Here Lily and Anli grind real olives in an olive press. The olive oil drips down into containers...so cool!

Caleb and Virginia give it a whirl!

They stop by the perfume station and get some homemade lotions that smelled so good.

The fish monger is always a mixed reaction booth. They are always the most fun...but the stinkiest booth! All that "fresh" fish is rather stinky to us!

The night always ends at the stable with a telling of Christ's birth. It is wonderful!

The kids get a front row look at baby Jesus!

We had a wonderful time and headed to another Back to Bethlehem the next weekend with friends from out of town. They are both so different...yet the message of JOY is still the same!

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Ready for the Polar Express!!

Pajamas? Check.
Homemade Hot Chocolate? Check.
Cute snowmen rice krispie treats? Check!
Time for the Polar Express!!!

Thrive!
Frances
www.desertflowerministries.com

Ballet Christmas party!

We are dancing it up at Virginia's ballet party!! Lots of beautiful
dancing and yummy food too!!

Thrive!
Frances
www.desertflowerministries.com

Operation Christmas Child Family Day!

Last Friday, we headed to our second year at the Operation Christmas Child Warehouse Family Day. We had a wonderful time and brought our boxes to donate. This year the girls both saved up their own missions money to do their own box while Jay and I did a little boy 2 and under...for obvious reasons! It was in honor of our little one in Uganda!
The girls came in and were able to donate their box along with so many others and got the "thumbs up" from our guide!

Then, we headed on the journey of a shoe box! It was SO cute! It was filled with fun games, relay races, church services in Panama (the country not the city:)), and then a screening of the new Veggie Tales movie about the history of St. Nicholas. It isn't out yet so we got to enjoy it first! It has all kinds of information on it about Operation Christmas Child.

Here is the link if you have never heard of this amazing ministry of Samaritan's Purse led by Franklin Graham:

http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/OCC/

Cuties in the warehouse!

This year there were not any volunteers on Family Day. Last year it was PACKED with thousands of volunteers working...but they chose to close the warehouse for our children's safety.

We had some fun doing relay races in the warehouse. We had to do the work of the volunteers...like checking the box for war toys, liquids, chocolate, etc. We took them out and replaced them with something that WAS allowed! We also had to do all of that while "waddling" to and from the box!

Then we went to another station where we filled up a bag of candy with exactly 8 pieces and then ran back. They like for every child to get yummy candy so they have LOTS on hand to make sure those boxes are FILLED to the tip top for those sweet kiddos!

Then, it was onto a worship service with some former missionaries and then to the celebration station. They had yummy snacks, arts and crafts, and lots of fun!!

We were hurried from there into the next screening for the movie and it was SOOO cute! Can't wait until it comes out...we love Veggie Tales! And this one gives an emphasis on Operation Christmas Child and has some great footage of kids getting boxes overseas.

We loved the whole day! If you have never been involved with this amazing ministry I highly recommend it because it is so kid friendly! Samaritan's Purse does a great job of involving the kids and helping them to understand that they are not only packing a box...every single box gets a tract to share the Gospel in that child's language and shares the love of Christ!

Merry Christmas from the Worthingtons...

This year we are doing Christmas cards a little differently! Since we are adopting from Uganda and for the price of ONE stamp Amazima Ministries will be able to feed a little one in Uganda THREE meals, we are simply sending our Christmas greeting electronically this year!

We will also be donating what we would spend on Christmas cards to Amazima Ministries so you can feel good about NOT getting a card from us this year:)

We had so much fun putting this together because instead of just one or two photos...we are sharing a little bit of our entire year with you! We hope that you enjoy it and know that we are so blessed by your friendship and support.

We love you all and pray that the JOY of Christ will fill your hearts to overflowing this year! May His Word satisfy your soul as with the richest of foods...we pray that you THRIVE every single day of your lives no matter where you planted!

Enjoy the stroll through our year together and we look forward to many more...Merry Christmas sweet friends!

PS...many of you may also get this in an email too! If you didn't it just means we didn't have your current email address. Sorry for the duplicates!

Make a Smilebox greeting

Beautiful!!!

This photo says it all...beautiful!!

Thrive!
Frances

Stone Mountain fun!!!

Having fun at Stone Mountain with our friends!! Having a BLAST!!! And
yes every family had the kids taking the pictures:)

Thrive!
Frances

A Special Christmas Gift...

About 6 months ago our sweet Virginia was getting her hair trimmed (she has NEVER had more than a trim in her ENTIRE life!!!!!) and she saw a sign for Locks of Love.That day she told us that she was going to donate her hair to "the children who are sick and loose their hair." We were so touched and totally supported her. We had never mentioned it to her before and were surprised when she was the one to decide to donate her hair...because she has NEVER wanted to cut her hair!

Well, yesterday we headed to get Jay and Anli's hair cuts and she wanted them to tell her if her hair was long enough to donate...TODAY! Neither Jay nor I really knew how it all happened and didn't think she had it long enough to donate so we said that she could ask and let them tell her about it. So, after Anli got her cut...Virginia jumped up in the chair...and she had enough!!

She looked at Jay and I will huge excited eyes and said, "Can I PLEASE donate my hair for Christmas!!!" Um...I was not mentally prepared for it to be TODAY! But, immediately I was ashamed that I was a little panicked while my sweetie was thrilled beyond measure to be able to give her hair to children in need. So...

they put her hair in a ponytail that measured exactly 10 inches long. Then...
they cut it about an inch above that! Yep...11 inches!

It was so spontaneous that I only had my iphone (thankfully I had that!!!) and so I quickly snapped some photos because it was over in a matter of seconds.

Here is that beautiful lock of love my baby donated! She amazes me!!! We are two very thankful parents to have kids who GET it!

Anli got her hair cut too and they posed for a quick photo right after we got home. They both look gorgeous!

And here is by baby with her hair washed and fixed. I couldn't even imagine her without all that long blonde hair...but she looks SOOOOO beautiful...inside and out!

What a Christmas memory! What a Christmas challenge! What a Christmas gift of love!

We are so very blessed to have children with hearts to give and hearts to love.

Thank you Jesus!

Family Focused Friday...Chrismon Tree

About 3 years ago, we finally did something that I had been wanting to do for years. We got a second tree and did what is called a Chrismon Tree. That simply means that we have a tree that has symbols (or names) of Christ all over the tree. Our entire tree only has things that remind us of Christ. It is our main tree in our living area so that the focus of our home is on Christ at Christmas. We have LOVED it!!!

Each year we have added new things like crystal angels, pearl strands to remind us of heaven, stars with the names of Christ on them, silver poinsettias with red flowers, and we keep all the colors gold and silver to remind us of His royal priesthood. It is really beautiful and I just love looking at it.

The girls made these precious star ornaments with different names of Christ on them.

And of course the star shines brightly at the top to focus on the birth of our Savior each and every day!

The lights remind us that He is the Light in the darkness...and calls us to be the light of the world! We have another tree in the girls room that has all our family ornaments. It has those that have been given to us by family, handmade by the girls, and just those fun ones that we love! It's the best of both worlds for us!

I look forward to making some more Chrismons this year that will have the Greek symbols of Christ too. I like adding new things every year to make the tree special.

Find ways this Christmas to make Christ the focus of your home, your family time, and

your lives! Feel free to share your ideas...I'm ALWAYS looking for new ones!!

Two new Christmas decorations!

Can you find the two new decorations adorning my table today? They are
one of kinds made by the most beautiful hands in the world!

They will get a post of their own sometime soon...just had to share
the new sparkles around my home today...

Thrive!
Frances

Roller Skating...Noonday Style!

Last weekend our church rented out the local roller skating rink and hosted a family night for all of Noonday and their friends. It was a BLAST!!! We had wonderful, fun Christian music to skate too...and lots of laughs at each other as we skated together!
We have skated a few times as a family, so our girls are pretty good at skating and they love it! It was even more fun to do it with all their friends.

Then, after skating for a while everyone came out to the center and did a little hokie pokie! Daddy and Virginia work on "turn yourself around"!

Both of our girls have lots of wonderful friends and they loved getting the chance to skate with them! It was also fun for all of us old folks too...we laughed at each other and got to really get to know others too!

Anli is a really good skater, but she decided to skate with her friends who had never skated before and help them. She is one sweet friend!

But, she did take a few times to skate with her dad and mom too...she is trying to keep up with Daddy...who is a scary good skater!

Precious...

Anli and her friends stop for a quick photo! They all had so much fun together!!

I have to tell you that this family night really was a great fellowship. There were LOTS of families there and lots of singles and grandparents too!!! It really helped to get to know new people and kind of get out of the Sunday morning feel of church. It was wonderful fun...and some good exercise too! We are looking forward to the next one very soon...