Happy New Year 2008!

Happy New Year 2008!

It's been an interesting year, and a good way to review what's passed is to look at how everyone has aged over the last year.

So here goes...

SyndiLu has lost a lot of teeth over the last year, but none so noticeable as those two front teeth she lost just before Christmas last year.
She's growing up too fast.
It would appear JuneBug hasn't changed much,
but he's thinned out and shot upward.
And he has a lot more attitude.
StevieBoy has gone from that pudgy little toddler to a little man.
Following the footsteps of those before him.
Julia Grace, the little princess.
A year ago Jules was in the womb. We didn't even have pictures a year ago.
Oh, how she's grown.
Jon and Sylvia.
Jon has a lot more gray hairs at his temples than last year.
Jon found Sylvia's lone silver hair, and proudly pointed it out to all the children.
(To show her wisdom to them, of course!)
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It's been a good year.
And if we're diligent and start working on it tomorrow, we'll get a newsletter out in the next few weeks to tell everyone about it.
Have a blessed 2008!

Fantastic Gymnastic!

Stephen has been participating in the YMCA gymnastics program for the last couple of months.
He was so excited!
Every Thursday, Stephen and Mommy would leave for the Y so Stevie could go to class.

Stephen would tumble on the mats...
...walk on the balance beam...
...swing on the bar...
...and do the monkey walk on the uneven bars.
And don't forget the hula hop!
He came home each week with a stamp on his hand,
excitedly showing Daddy his "twinkle, twinkle little star."

And after his last day, he came home with a medal!

Great job Stephen!

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Unfortunately, he will not be returning, because the YMCA is closing down their gymnastics program at the end of the month. So sad.

Merry Christmas 2007

A Merry Christmas to all!
It's been a very busy few weeks since we returned from Texas.
We had our Sunday School class Christmas party...
...for which we had to prepare the games.
We had our first fireplace fire of the season...
...which the kids really loved.
We sang songs by the fire before the kids went to bed.

We had the PVN church Christmas musical program...
...in which Jon played Santa...
...and a Victorian caroler...
...and a wise man.
Syndi played a part decorating a tree, and sang in the Children's Choir...
...and Junior was in the Children's Choir also.
It was quite a program, and after several practices and a couple of dress rehearsals, we had two nights of performances.
Then Grandpa and Grandma came into town.

We had a night of caroling with friends.

We ate soup (homemade Vegetable Beef and Irish Potato soups- boy were they good!) and sandwiches for dinner.

After a birthday cake for Joan Blackwelder, we headed out to the Roman Court assisted living center and sang Christmas carols for the residents. The folks really got into it, and especially enjoyed seeing the kids. We had fun talking to the people afterwards. The kids handed out candy canes and said "Merry Christmas!"
We had the Night in Bethlehem performance,
for which Jon spent many nights working on the signs.
But it went very well, as we said on the previous blog post.
The full moon in a cloudy Christmas Eve sky last night was quite beautiful.

Jon captured the light pouring into the valley behind our house.

Our Christmas tree in the living room had a beautiful glow last night.
Merry Christmas everyone!

A Night in Bethlehem

Our church,

Pleasant Valley North Baptist Church,

held "A Night in Bethlehem" Sunday.

The above article appeared on the front page of Monday's paper.

I've been working on signs for the event for many weeks.I used some weathered wood and did some wood burning.

Saturday was used as a setup day. We placed the signs, set up tents, and prepared the luminaries.
Some of the "buildings" (facades only) were already set up...
...like the inn and the stable.
The tents were used for the marketplace.
Our local newspaper, the Rome News-Tribune,
printed the above article on the front page of Sunday's paper.
Sunday afternoon we dressed for our parts.
Syndi worked in the marketplace, originally in the dye shop, although she was free to roam the market and wander up to the inn.
Jon was a shepherd in the fields where the angels appeared.
We had five scenes:
the Census takers (at the entrance),
the Marketplace (with 4 different "shops" - dye, rope, bakery, and fruit & veggies),
the Inn (with an innkeeper turning away everyone, including Joseph and Mary),
the Shepherds in the field with the Angels,
and the Stable scene (complete with wise men, shepherds and live sheep).
The marketplace workers hawked their goods to the cars driving through, as pictured in Monday's newspaper article above.
The Roman soldiers at the entrance stopped the vehicles so census takers could take a proper count of the vehicles and the people in them.
We had 267 vehicles pass through with 842 people from 6PM to 8PM.
It went well for our first year.

A Frosty Visit

We had a wonderful visit from some friends.

Dan and Jen Snow, with their daughter Bethany, came to visit us shortly after Thanksgiving. Dan "Frosty" Snow is a Delta Sigma Psi fraternity brother of Jon's (from the old college days at LeTourneau). He lived in Michigan while the Caruvanas were there, attending the same church as Jon and Sylvia. He went into the mission field, and now works with Wycliffe, working in aviation maintenance in Papua New Guinea.

There he met Jen, a school teacher. Now their family serves in PNG, where Dan keeps their planes and helicopters flight ready. They are here in the States for only another month, after which they return to PNG.
Stephen enjoyed playing with Bethany. They made lots of noise together.
Jon enjoyed talking with his old friend, Dan. (Not that Dan is old, mind you. Though I did tell him he was looking old...hah! [Please note that he is younger than Jon.])
It was good to catch up. Our family really enjoyed having them visit, and we hope they come again next time they're stateside.
Please pray for the Snows as they return to PNG and continue to serve the Lord oversees.