Whew....

Christmas is over! It was a whirlwind, but lots of fun. The kids were in two church programs, we had 5 days of Christmas gatherings, cookie baking, Camden's birthday, runny noses, coughs, a puppy and presents galore!! It might be easier for me to just show you pictures and give a little snippet.

Camden's Birthday!
My big 7 year old! I can't believe he is 7. Where does time go? He had a great birthday!!

Christmas Program #1

As you can see, Camden is making sure everyone is doing their job correctly. Jordyn feels a little to old to be doing this. Mia is unsure of what is transpiring. Alexis is doing her best to keep an eye on the little ones and Hope well she is just terrified of all these people looking at her, displayed by a look of Mom do NOT leave me here.

The kids met Santa!
These are the only two I managed to capture a picture of. Come on, guys, give me a break. I have five kids. I'd be taking pictures all the time to catch everything.
Wait a minute......

Christmas Program #2
Program #2... Camden was a shepherd, Ali and Mia were wise women, Jordyn a narrator, and Hope an angel, or "angle" in her words. They did great!

Cookie baking day with Meemaw, TT, and cousins.
The older girls enjoyed joining the adults this year.

Hope kept busy making sure we were working through our list. ; )

Then came Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa's!
Mia can't wait to open presents!!

I gave Jeremy a present early. Our latest Cundiff addition.....Jersey!

Christmas Eve
We had a surprise visit from Jeremy's Dad and Stepmom this year, so Christmas Eve was spent with them and his grandparents. We don't typically get to see them during the Christmas season since they live in TX. We thoroughly enjoyed having them with us!!

Wow, Jordyn, when did you grow up? Just yesterday you were falling down the eisle of TT & Uncle Brent's wedding....ok, so maybe that was 11 years ago today(New Year's Eve), but it sure feels like yesterday! Happy Anniversary, guys!

Finally Christmas Morning!!


Jeremy shares with the children the true meaning of Christmas and how Jesus was our gift from our Father and that's why we give gifts during Christmas. We started a new tradition this year of waiting to put our star on the tree until Christmas morning. It was wonderful to take time out during the chaos of presents to talk about the true reason for our celebration.

Everyone loved their gifts! Ali was so happy to have her pink DS!!

Mia got the baby she was hoping for!!

Jordy found the perfect present for Camden! ; )

Hope LOVED this Gabriella costume. She wore the wig all day....even to Grandma's house!


Jordyn also was happy to get her green Ipod! I think Ali was excited for her too! ; )

Daddy and Hope enjoying some of Hope's treasures later at Grandma's(I had removed the wig by this time)!

Off to Christmas with Meemaw and Papaw Doug!!
Or is it Meemaw and the Storm Trooper, I'm not sure.

Last but not least, Christmas with Dad!
This celebration always begins with Dad reading The Christmas Story from Luke 2.


Geez, Dad, how many grandkids do you have? Wait, most of those are mine.
Never-mind.

Resting...
As you can see here, we are all tuckered out! I'm sure after this post you are too!
We pray you had a wonderful Christmas, enjoying family, friends, and most of all remembering our Savior!

Merry Christmas!

Things will be busy in the next couple of weeks, so I wanted to take a moment to wish all of my readers a very Merry Christmas(or maybe a "Monkey Christmas")!! Either way, try to take a moment, in the midst of all the baking, gathering, and presents, to remember the reason we celebrate this joyous holiday! Thank you Jesus!

John 1:14 "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."

A Hope first

Hope had her first birthday at home yesterday! Our baby girl turned four! She had a great day! Thanks to the threat of winter weather, it was a small gathering, but for Hope it was perfect. We had pizza(one of her favorite things), cake, ice cream, and presents!


When she opened her presents she became so shy. For many of you, you know this is not a Hope normal. ; ) I think she was a bit overwhelmed by the 100% focus on her. In fact there was one moment that melted my heart completely. We gathered around her and sang Happy Birthday before she blew out her candles. She sat and listened with this beautiful smile on her face. Once we were finished, she knew what to do. Out the candles went and immediately she buried her head in her hands. I knew she was crying. It wasn't a cry with any noise, just the kind with tears. I walked around and knelt beside her, wrapped my arms around her and whispered, "Happy Birthday Hopey! We love you." She wiped her tears away and we proceeded to cut the cake. She truly was overwhelmed by the moment.


So, like I said, our baby girl is four! We were so happy to have her home for this special occasion!

We love you, Hope! I pray you are blessed by the Maker of Heaven and Earth! I pray you come to know Him at an early age and will follow His plan for your life. I pray you will serve Him with all your heart and will KNOW in whom you have believed! I pray you will trust Him at all times and will continue to have a heart for prayer, in Jesus name, Amen!

Wow!!

Has it seriously been this long since I posted? Sorry, guys! I didn't mean to leave you hangin'. It's just been so busy around here. Here's what we have experienced since I last posted....

Thanksgiving
The circus
Jordyn turned 12 (and got her own room!)
Mia began tutoring with her teacher three days a week
I went out of town with my mom and sister

This was all of course mixed in with Christmas shopping, decorating, laundry, family nights, homework, church, gymnastics, piano, and the list goes on and on. How we have kept up, I'm not sure!

I realize many on that list should be an update in and of itself, but who has time with everything going on. Here's a few pictures to prove we are still here and doing well! Unfortunately, Thanksgiving doesn't have any pictures, because though I charged my camera battery before we left, I failed to put it in the camera. Turns out, they don't work very well without the battery. Go figure!


No picture of Mia and tutoring, but she is doing great! Her teacher and I are very proud of her hard work!!

Thanks for checking in. Maybe after the Holidays, I can post an update that is a little more detailed!

Merry Christmas everyone and remember, He is still the Christ of Christmas!!

The first snow!

Well surprisingly we had our first snow fall yesterday. The ground was way too warm for it to stick but the kids were so excited to see it falling!!

Jeremy says....

it was a great trip! They got lots of stuff accomplished and managed to have a little R & R too! Look at that AWESOME dining hall! The tables are mounted to the wall and the floor! Thanks team, you did a great job!!

I know many are wanting to know...."Did he see Noah?" I'm sorry, but he didn't. We did find out that someone from the Orphanage has seen him though and says he is doing good. We were thrilled to hear that. We continue to trust the Lord and wait on His timing!

Jeremy was able to spend some time with Mia and Hope's birth-mom and brothers. They are doing well and we are excited that the boys will now be attending Three Angels Christian Academy!! Neither of them have been to school before and they are VERY excited about it, although you will never be able to tell from their pictures. What is it with Haitians not wanting to smile for pictures? Jeremy said they would be all smiles and as soon as he lifted the camera they began posing their "too cool" poses. We love these boys and I pray they grow up to be Godly men that bring about good change in the country of Haiti!

Gabby was sick when they first arrived, so Jeremy hadn't been able to see him. Thankfully, right before they left the O Allemagne walked in the gate with him. He was much better and I was so glad Jeremy was able to see him. He is such a doll and he has gotten so big over the last few months(and he's wearing an outfit we sent him back in October)!! Jeremy and I have talked so many times about the fact that if anything ever happened to Allemagne we would want the boys. They are our family and family takes care of family! We don't know if we should tell her or not, but we would take the boys in a heartbeat! We do love them all(Allemagne included)! I never expected to feel so close to her, but she is truly like a sister to me. I pray for her and the boys daily. She is an amazing woman and I hope she realizes how blessed we are because of her sacrifice!

Thank you, Allemagne! You have changed our hearts and lives! We love you!

Almost....

It's almost time for him to come home! We are all ready! I miss my husband and the kids miss their daddy!

Thank you Lord for the opportunity that you have given Jeremy and I to serve in Haiti, but we also thank you for giving us each other and our wonderful family to come home to. We are grateful for all You've done in our lives! I thank you in advance for bringing my husband home safely tomorrow night!

Please join me in praying the team home!

I love you....

Hope loves for us to sing this song to each other. She sings it and then I sing it. I like her version better so I have loaded it here for your enjoyment. We would like to dedicate this special song to Hope's daddy! We love you!

7 more days.....

.....without my man. He's leading a trip this week. We hope he will get to see Noah as well as Allemagne, Schneider, Danny & Gabby.

I miss you already, hon. Have a great trip and we will be anxiously awaiting your arrival! Be safe! I love you!

A Camden First

Camden hadn't flown yet, well....not that he remembered anyway. When I was pregnant, we flew to TX but he said that didn't count. So, he had the opportunity to fly the other day. His Grandpa is learning to fly and asked if Camden wanted to go with him. Hindsight....should I send my child up with a student pilot, maybe not. ; ) However, he had a great time and was really excited to finally say he had flown. Besides, Grandpa wouldn't do anything to hurt Camden, right? Minus the wrestling of course. ; )

As promised...

As I said, our life has had many changes lately. Obviously, the girls came home. Then we decided to walk away from our partnership and Jeremy went to work for Frontier Kemper. After that, we decided to put the kids back in a traditional school environment. Needless to say, this has been quite a whirl wind, but we are all doing great!

Here's a few pictures for your enjoyment.

First day for Ali, Camden & Mia! They were really excited.
Mia got a little nervous, but she loved it!

Camden had homework on the first day. Welcome to school, buddy!

Mia, well, apparently first grade is hard work. It's a good thing she didn't have homework!

Can you tell Ali was a little happy being back in school? She came home stating she made 6 new friends.

Hope misses the kids, but she is settling in nicely to the idea of having me
all to herself for several hours.

Jordyn started school on Monday, returning to the Christian school she went to for K-3. She was pretty excited to be back with her friends. She had a great day!

Her first day happened to be "Crazy Hat Day" for the others. Ali wasn't quite ready to be "crazy" so she sported my "Forgiven" hat. She looks WAY better in it than I do. I hope everyone read it!

As for me, I'm trying to catch up on laundry, cleaning, and sorting through 5 kids worth of summer clothes as we prepare to pack them away and bring out the fall/winter supply. I hope to get to mine and Jeremy's soon, so I can stop dropping off at the bus in my bikini.
Sorry, no pictures! ; )