Friends!

We are blessed with wonderful friends and were happy we were able to see some of them during our week up in Washington.

We were able to see the sweet Teasley family while we were in Ellensburg. Levi is a dear friend of Tyson's from high school and we always look forward to seeing he and his wonderful wife, Stephanie when we are home. Here is a picture Kai having fun with their girls Ezri and Eden at the high school gym while the daddies played b-ball.

We were excited to see the Mauss family on our way home. Trevor and Tyson were roommates in college and Tyson is in his element when with Trevor! I love seeing them together and the way they laugh and joke but also have great encouraging conversations. Kai and I love to see Kristen and Belle too so it is good times all around! Kai and Belle have such fun together and played quite the duet on the piano:)

We were also able go to church where another roommate of Tyson's was preaching for the weekend. We were briefly able to see Rory & Jenn and their sweet little girls and felt blessed to hear Rory teach! Then we called Jaime, another roommate of Tyson's, last minute and had lunch with he and his wife on our way out of town!

It was so wonderful to see friends even if only briefly. A bitter-sweet time, sad that we won't see them again for two years, but blessed to have the chance to see them and blessed by who they are and how the love us and those around them! Thank you friends!

Boppa

We were blessed to be able to spend a few days with Boppa, Tyson's grandma. When Tyson was Kai's age he would say Boppa instead of Grandma and it stuck. What is funny is that Kai also says "Boppa" instead of Gramma for Tyson's mom so the name continues through the generations:)

Boppa is such a wonderful woman. She is 90 but I swear has more energy than I have. She spends that energy serving the Lord and others and is always an inspiration to us. It was special for Kai to spend time with his great grandma and I loved seeing them together. They started this little game and every time Kai would look at her he would say "boo" and she would say it back. There were always giggles from both of them afterward:)

Christmas!

We had a wonderful relaxing Christmas. Although we had a great time, it was way more quite than normal and we missed our family who couldn't be with us this year! It just wasn't the same with you Taryn, Troy and Kari...we love you!

We had a lazy slow Christmas which was great. We started the morning with the Christmas story and Kai, Daddy and Gramma acted it out with the Little People Nativity set as we read it out of the Bible. We opened stockings and a few gifts, took a nap, opened a few more gifts and ate a yummy, yummy meal. It was a wonderful day hanging with family and celebrating the birth of our Lord!

Another Favorite Activity

Kai spent many hours at the pool table this last week...what can I say, this kid loves balls! We would even turn out the light and we would find him in the pitch black room belly up to the pool table.

Tractor Ride with Pa

One of Kai's favorite activities this week...

Merry Christmas from our home to yours...

Sweet Face

I caught Kai by the window in some great light this afternoon and had to take advantage...I love this kid!

Walking in a Winter Wonderland...

Last night some friendly neighbors talked us into a little night time walk in the snow. It was cold but also beautiful and quiet and perfect. They had a little sled for their granddaughter so we bundled Kai up in it and he went for a ride. It was a fun memory and way worth the cold noses!

Relaxing...

We arrived in Ellensburg Friday and have been enjoying our time relaxing and hanging out. It was a long drive here with much snow, chaining up and driving slow, but we are so very happy to be here. There has been a terrible amount of snow in McMinnville and Portland since we left so I am glad we left early!

Kai is in heaven here at Gramma & Pa's with tons of room to run and play and rooms to hide in. He is especially happy hanging with his pal, Tess, the most patient dog in the world. I am typically not big on animals, but this dog I love. Kai is either chasing after her, taking her ball or riding her most of the time and she deals with it all with a little wag of the tail. Here are some pictures of Kai enjoying his time so far:

Hanging with Tess
Licking Gramma's frosting bowl

Enjoying a little reading by the fire

Riding the rocking horse

Tyson and I have been enjoying our time too. It is so relaxing here and it is nice not to have a zillion things I should be doing...well, there still are a zillion things I should be doing but they are at home so I can't do them...and it feels great. I even took a nap yesterday...yay! Today I am working on a cape for Kai...I have seen the idea a couple places and thought it would be a great gift for Kai that he could take it to Peru since it will fold up small. One of the places I saw the idea was from my friend, Jenna, she has beautiful baby items including blankets and tata tents...check out My Sugar Nut. All that to say I am currently trying to make his cape...it is nice to have some time to do it. From the thread on my sewing machine I can see that last Christmas

was the last time I have sewn and it was Kai's baby blanket. Wow, time flies!

The snow has continued and last night we got a bunch more. I wish I had more time to take pictures of the beauty that is the snow in McMinnville right now...I finally pulled out my camera when I was up at the church this morning and got a few shots.

Our Holiday Ho ho ho down

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Arctic Blast 08 Update

Yes, that is the official name of the weather this week--Arctic Blast...really? The news was on all morning covering the snow...school closures everywhere, traffic reports, accidents, pictures people have sent in of the snow. It is funny to me how the world stops here when there is snow but I guess we are just not used to it and don't have the equipment to deal with it like places that typically have snow do...so I will keep my mocking to a minimum:)

So, it has officially been a snow day today. Preschool canceled, church office closed and Tyson came home early. It was the perfect day for staying in sweats (wait, I do that anyway), making scones and enjoying a latte. As soon as I began walking up the stairs with Kai this morning he started saying "snow, snow"...before he could see outside. So, I decided to give it another try...he again wasn't diggin it...this was his face most of the time and he refused to move his feet.

But, when Daddy came home this afternoon he tried it again and had more fun...it is probably that Daddy is more fun and I am totally okay with that:) He especially liked the eating of the snow...

And we eventually even got some smiles...that's the boy I know:)

Snow!!!

"Arctic Blast '08" gave us some snow. This morning there wasn't much and we missed it, but this afternoon it started again and we thought Kai might enjoy it. We were wrong. He was tired and not at all into it which is unlike him. We stayed on the porch for a few minutes and then he was done. It snowed all evening and when I measured it a little while ago there were 5 inches on our back porch. I think Kai's preschool is canceled tomorrow so I'm guessing we will have another chance for him to enjoy the snow;) I'll keep you updated...

Get your cookie on...

Saturday a few of us girls got together and did some holiday baking...it was super fun and just what I needed. Girl time and sweets and Christmas cheer all wrapped into one. Fun times. Kai slept through most of it but did very much enjoy decorating the cookies. Or should I say, undecorating...he loved eating the frosting as you can see below. Thanks for a fun day girls:)

Christmas, Christmastime is here....

I love Christmas time. Love it. I love decorating the tree, Christmas goodies, Christmas music, and mostly, the celebration of the birth of the Messiah. This year I was determined to get a Christmas tree seeing as it would be our last Christmas with a fir tree for a couple years. However, I found that Christmas is creeping up fast and we are leaving next weekend and it was really not worth getting one at this point. So I did get out a few decorations...

I put the ornaments in a vase instead of on a tree....
And I got out my favorite...our nativity set. This was given to us by sweet Joed for our wedding. It is always so special to get out. This year was extra special as I explained it to Kai. Thanks Joed!

I also managed to decorate my blog so I've got that going for me;) Really, it is great not doing much for Christmas. We have scaled back the last few years giving more to charity then anything but this year is more then ever. I have done no gifts so far and although I will make a few things we are doing very little. No stress, giving to those who need, remembering the real reason we celebrate--Jesus, this is how it should always be...but that is a whole other post. Or perhaps I will just direct you to a few friends who are like-minded but write much better: Matt, Melissa, Heidi, Kari, AdventConspiracy.com.

Merry Christmas!!!

"I Shot"

Yesterday I had to take Kai in for a quick shot appt at the doctors. This was the last of his normal immunizations that we couldn't get at this last appointment. So we are pulling up to the doctors office and I hear Kai saying quietly to himself in the backseat "owee, owee". Does he recognize this place I thought to myself. After we headed into the exam room he was extra clingy...then when the nurse came into the room the second time holding the pink tub that they always carry the shots in he freaked out. "owee mommy, no"! What?! How does he remember getting a shot, that was months ago? Crazy! I guess he is just now able to verbalize things so much better so we get to know what he is thinking. As we left the doctor he started the "I shot, owee", over and over." Then he started to connect the word "shot" with "nice shot" as in what daddy says when they watch basketball because he started to say "shot, b-ball". It is just so fun to see his little mind work. For the rest of the day I heard "I shot, owee" many times and lots of pointing to his band aide. Bad news kid, we've got a few more of those coming before we leave for Peru....sorry.

*side note*

I have never written the word "owee" before. I wasn't sure how to spell it so I typed it in to google. I came across this article that spelled it this way and as I read I found it a bit ridiculous. Here are a couple blurbs from it:

"The American Psychological Association announced today the results of a six-year study that found a definite correlation between the decreased use of the term "boo-boo" by parents with their children and the increased use of the term "owee" by the same group under similar circumstances."

"We have strong evidence that these parents suffer from an unconscious 'sounds dirty' mindset, which, compounded with their overprotective nature and their inability to recognize their prepubescent children as sexual beings, makes them borderline psychotics."

So we say "owee", not "boo boo"...are that makes us psychotics huh? Interesting. I am happy to say that the article ended this way:

The APA-sponsored study has its critics. Rolf Peterson, Director of Clinical Psychology at George Washington University, vomited, "Not only is this study professionally flawed, both in its concept and execution, it is also one of the worst misuses of corporate funds I've ever seen. To consider linguistically careful parents to be psychologically disturbed is a horrible misuse of psychology and all its stands for."

Ummm, yeah! Thank you. Wow, there are some crazy things on this internet:)

Crazy Sweet Boy

Kai is getting older and more independent. He always asks for a fork when I feed him anything (including goldfish today...and yes he speared the goldfish with a fork)...and he insists on doing most anything by himself. He is climbing up on everything...including our bed...which is crazy to me...it is pretty high but he grabs onto the covers and climbs his way up...There are lots of funny things he does and says every day and I need to remember to write them down but in general he keeps us on our toes and laughing a lot.

As crazy and climby as he is lately, he has also become super sweet and cuddly and kissy. Oh, how it melts a mommy's heart. A couple weeks ago he figured out how to kiss...not the slobber open mouth kisses that leave your cheek soaking wet, but pucker up and make a smacking noise kisses. They are much more pleasant and I get them way more often...which I love, of course. He will just wrap his little arms around my neck and put his forehead to mine and look at me and smile and then quickly kiss me and laugh. Or he will take my face in his hands and kiss one cheek and then move my head to the other side and kiss the other cheek and repeat over and over. I love it. I know it won't last for long and I love it. He has also been very good about letting me rock him before bedtime...he used to never sit still long enough to be rocked but now I can do it forever! And tonight when we walked into his room at bedtime he pointed to the rocking chair and said "rock?"...he asked to be rocked. I am just treasuring his kisses and cuddles while I can..he is growing too fast!

OMSI Deal

We have been wanting to take Kai to OMSI again. Last time we took him was January and he loved it but was just barely walking and couldn't do very much. See here to see how little he was then. We decided to head up there today and were so excited when we got there and found they were having their $2 days...yay for happening to go on a deal day! It was packed but still so fun. Kai had a great time again, there is so much for kids even at his age. His favorite was anything to do with putting balls in tubes or anything involving balls at all:) I can't say who had a better time, Tyson or Kai..but I do know that I loved watching them together. Tyson is so great at teaching Kai and showing him new things, the kind of dad that gets right in there and participates with his son and I love it.
Wait...Kai's favorite was probably a toss up between balls and the water troughs. We let him play and splash (assuming he wasn't splashing other kids) and he had to be torn away from them. Thankfully Tyson reminded me to bring a change of clothes so he wasn't wet all afternoon...

Good News

Good news. Well, maybe not for you but for me. My wonderful husband found my camera battery charger. Yes, it has been missing. That is why my blog has been lacking pictures and being a bit more wordy...so it is good news for you too because less words and more pictures:) You can see that I tried to use my old camera in the picture in the post below...lets just say I am happy to have my new camera back. Thanks hubby for finding it for me...you are the best!

I was so blessed to be able to hang with Erin & Jeannie yesterday. We got to hang out in The Container Store (yay for organization!) and help out the CCA (see post below). But really, it was just such a great time to hang out and catch up. We don't get together nearly enough and now that my time here in the states is dwindling down I treasure every minute I can spend with these two even more. Thank your girls for great hang out, talk and laughs as always! Love ya!

"Making Spirits Bright"

My friend Jeannie works for the Children's Cancer Association and this weekend they are doing a fundraiser at Bridgeport Village. Come join us to do your holiday shopping while helping some kiddos who could really use some joy this Christmas. See details about the event below and visit www.ChildrensCancerAssociation.org to learn more about the Children's Cancer Association!

The Fourth Annual “Making Spirits Bright” event at Bridgeport Village
Saturday, December 6, 2008, 10am - 9pm

Sunday, December 7, 2008, 11am - 6pm
Throughout this two-day event, shoppers may purchase a wristband for $10 and receive amazing discounts at over 70 participating stores. For a $20 donation, shoppers get a wristband, a goody bag and might find a “You’re a Winner” card in their bag for one of the great prizes donated by the fabulous merchants at Bridgeport. Wristbands are sold at various booths throughout the village on the days of the event. All proceeds from the sale of the wristbands will go to support the programs and services of the CCA.

Excited x 25!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This evening I took a trip to the grocery store with Kai and was reminded of a few things.

• Kai loves people...I mean loves them. Every single person we passed in the store got a "hi" followed by a "hi, hi, hi, hi, hi". He apparently never gets tired of saying hi, but I'm pretty sure the people got tired of responding:)
• His vocabulary is growing every day. Almost everything I put in the cart he named-- apples, bananas, cereal, milk, eggs, cheese, grapes, fish (goldfish), crackers...the list goes on but I was impressed.
• He knows people in his life and associates things and places with them. On the way home from the store he sang a little song "dada, mama, tt, boppa (gramma), ba (pa), wik (vic), mimi (melissa), deek (Jake). Anytime I say we are going to school or church he shouts out "Deek, Deek!". He has a little friend named Jake in his class and he loves him and I hear his name numerous times a day. His first little friend I think:) He also asks TT? and peeks his head into the laptop every time it is out asking to talk to TT (Taryn who is in Spain and we Skype with). Then he proceeds to ask for Gramma & Pa...it is too funny. Also, there are not many blonds in his life so every time he sees one he shouts out "Mimi"...which is what he calls Melissa (she has blond hair).
• And I was again reminded of what a little joy our son is. He has this contagious personality and is so excited about everything. Everything he says is exaggerated and excited like it should have 25 exclamation points after it. Tiring, yes, sometimes...but I love his energy and am incredibly thankful for him

Thank you Kai for bringing such joy to not only your daddy and I but to everyone around you. We love you son!

Peru Blog!

We decided to start a new blog for Peru...eventually this one may go quiet when our life is Peru...but for now, we will keep both. We wanted a place for people to go to learn specifically about what we will be doing in Peru, how they can partner with us, pray for us and how preparations are going. Later it will keep you all updated on our ministry, adventures and prayer needs as we are on the field. Check it out:

http://smithfamilyperu.blogspot.com/

Giving Thanks...

I am incredibly blessed and thought I would post just a few things I am thankful for:

• I am thankful that although I fall short over and over again, I have a Savior that covers my weaknesses.


• I am thankful I feel like I am scrambling to get everything accomplished by February, because I get to see the way the Lord takes care of us again and again.


• I am thankful we have to sell our possessions because it means we can re-focus and serve the Lord in a bold way.


• I am thankful for shoes in the middle of the room because it means my hubby is home.


• I am thankful for my lack of energy because it means I have been chasing my ever energetic boy.


• I am thankful for dirty dishes because it means we have full bellies.


• I am thankful I don't have time to finish this list because it means I have an amazing husband let me come relax at the coffee shop that I now get to go home to.
• I am also thankful that I don't know that this list could ever be complete...I am blessed beyond words.

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving with my family in California. Love you family and I am thankful for our time together... My camera had a dead battery but my sis documented for us:)

Kai with his Uncle Cecil

Kisses for Grandma

My with my bro & sis

Kai with his cousin Jaylee

Family pic

This is the view from my parents house...I always forget what a great view of Mt. Shasta they have.