My 1st Christmas

Jackson had a GREAT 1st Christmas! Of course, we can't believe it is already here and gone!!! We did Christmas at our house in Rochester on Saturday morning. Then after church on Sunday, we headed down to my Grandpa & Grandma Jackson's house in TH. Christmas morning was at my parent's house and then another get together on Tuesday with my mom's side of the family. So by Tuesday, he was an "old pro" : ) Well, not really! He would help open if I started tearing the paper and he was really good at tearing off the bows! But I must say that gift bags with fun tissue paper were the most exciting and easiest for him.
You will notice in the pictures below, he is wearing the red sleeper for Christmas at our house and the red and blue flannel pjs on Christmas morning. My dad read the Biblical Christmas story to Jackson and Claire out of a storybook before we opened gifts. They both have a slightly puzzled look on their face : )
Well, now we are busy planning for Jackson's 1st birthday party on the 14th! I need to make his invitations this weekend. The theme is baseball . . . specifically the St. Louis Cardinals of course!!! It should be easy to decorate since all I have to do is take everything off the walls in his bedroom and move it to the kitchen!

Have a Happy New Year!!!!!

My 1st Christmas

Go Illini!

Jackson enjoyed his first Illini basketball game : ) There was lots to see and hear, so obviously it was fun for him! It was a little scary for a bit, but the Illini pulled it out 71-60. Smith, Brock & Frazier kept us alive!! We got Jackson this little IL tee for Christmas, but I had to unwrap it and wash it so he could wear it to the game : )



And we couldn't resist taking a familiy picture as everyone was going home : ) Gotta have something for the scrapbook!

Good Friends!

On Friday, Jackson and I got to spend some time with my roommate and good friend from college. It was great catching up and letting them play with Jackson. Jen & Amanda, I miss you girls! Thanks for taking time out to hang out with us : )

Our Little Snow Bunny!

Jackson wasn't sure what to think of the snow. David bundled him up and took him outside on Friday afternoon (12/1). Thankfully, Cousin Josiah was there to get a few smiles out of him. David even tried to get him to make a "snow angel", but he REALLY didn't like that! But, as always, it is fun to watch him experience something new!

Ice Storm

So you may have heard, but we have had some crazy weather around here! One week it is 70-75 degrees and the next everything is covered in ice and snow. Fortunately, we were only without electricity for 24 hours. There are still some people in the area that still don't have it . . . . 4 days later! Here are a few pictures of our house and some trees in our backyard!

Mr. & Mrs. Claus

At my parent's house, the day after Thanksgiving. My mom got the kids these outfits last year on clearance! Aren't they cute : )

Thanksgiving

Jackson with Cousin Claire at Thanksgiving! Sorry, I haven't posted in awhile. Jackson enjoyed his first Thanksgiving! He ate sweet potato and turkey baby food. And also got to have some mashed potatoes, great-grandma's homemade noodles and turkey. We had lunch at Connie & Kevin's and then supper at Connie & Phil's. And between eating turkey and pie, we had a WONDERFUL chocolate fondue fountain thanks to Katie Young! The whole house smelled like CHOCOLATE . . . now that is a Happy Thanksgiving : )

Dave Shot Bambi

Here is a picture of Dave with his VERY 1st deer! He got it on Saturday morning . . . 8 pt. buck (FYI: Here in IL we count all of the antlers, not just one side like in CO!). He was very excited as you might imagine! Now I just need some good deer meat recipes, so it doesn't taste like deer . . . anyone have any they would like to share?

And More . . . .

They hired these snake charmers and they performed right in front of the missionary's house.


David has so many pictures of the kids and people they visited. The people are so beautiful. And the vivid colors in the villages of the women's clothes is magnificant. This picture is of a little girl at the Christian School that the mission runs. They have 1,800 students in 2 shifts, morning and afternoon.

More Pictures

Ever village or church that the group visited gave them garlands of marigolds and other flowers. This village that is pictured here was very remote and in fact had never seen Americans before. They were a bit overwhelmed by the number of garlands that they received this time. They had to take some off just to breathe!


This is Dave with Sushant Kumar. We have been supporting him through our missionary's "adopt a child" program for about 3 years. Dave had to talk to him through 2 interpreters, but it was a great blessing to meet and pray with him.


They spend one day at a wildlife preserve. And since they tracked a tiger that had just made a kill, they were able to go out on elephants to see him. This is Dave and Jon on their elephant.

Some Pictures from India

Dave is finally getting back to normal with his days and nights turned back around. It took the better part of last week to be functional again. Here are a few pictures that I wanted to share from his trip. Hopefully it will give you a glimpse into the kind of work they were able to do.

This is Vivert Lall (the missionary), Ed Green, Jon Nordstrom, and Dave in from a prayer temple in New Delhi.


Dave, Ed and Jon were all able to do some speaking through an interpreter to encourage the Christians throughout India. They each were also able to share about their families and greetings from IL.


This is from the remote village that they visited that had never seen Americans. The people spoke prayer requests to them in Hindi and they prayed for them in English. Only God got to understand both sides of conversation, but the people were so grateful for their prayers. It was a BIG deal in their caste system for them to even touch them, much less pray to God on their behalf.


David was able to play the guitar he bought for the trip several times. This picture is of him playing at the Evangelism Center at the mission in Damoh. The band tried to play with him, but it didn't work very well. He was able to leave his guitar with a man here named Asheesh, who was a gifted guitarist.

Jackson-10 Months

Ready to be Home!

I talked to Dave today and they will be leaving tomorrow for home. He had a wonderful experience and from all the emails I have received it was certainly life changing! I will post pictures and more info about his trip when he returns. And new pictures of Jackson : ) Dave will land in Chicago at 4 pm on Saturday (11/11).

Headed to India

David leaves for India on Wednesday afternoon (11/1) and will be gone for 10 days. I was totally ok with him going when he first told me he felt called to go on the trip. But as each day goes by and it gets closer and closer, I am a LOT more anxious about it. If you are reading this while he is gone, please say a little prayer for him, their safety, and the work they are doing there. THANKS : )

Our Little Froggie

Happy Halloween!! Jackson got to borrow Claire's halloween costume from last year. Here are a few pictures from a week ago, when we were down at Courtney & Brent's. They were pretty funny together : )

More 9 Month Pictures

Loving Fall-9 Months

Jackson will be 9 months on Saturday (10/14). We took him out to the Apple Barn in Chatham for some cute pictures : ) Enjoy!

ILL-INI

Jackson got to experience his 1st Illini Football game on Saturday. We were hopeful until the very last second that they would pull it out, but not this time. However, we still had a great time and it was a beautiful day. Here is Jackson cheering on the Illini and posing with Grandma and Grandpa! He'll be 9 month this Saturday (10/14). We are going to a pumpkin patch this week for 9 month pictures . . . . hopefully they turn out GREAT and we'll post some soon : )

A Couple More Pictures from the Game

Here are a couple more pictures from the Cardinals game.

Claire (19 Months) taking a ride on her daddy's shoulders (my brother-in-law Brent).

Go Cardinals!

We took Jackson to his 1st Cardinal's game on Friday. He must have been their good luck charm . . . . they won 14-4. Chris Duncan and Scott Rolen had 2 home-runs each!!! They have a "Build-a-Bear" workshop where you can build a Fredbird. So guess what we HAD to get : ) Yeah, well his room is Cardinals decor . . . . how could I say no?
He did awesome at the game. Just looking around at all the people and lights. And the music, fireworks and cheering was pretty exciting too : ) David has been wanting to take him with us to a game all season. Since he was born in the inagural year of the new Busch Stadium. So as you can see from the pictures, he had to capture EVERY moment! We had GREAT seats thanks to people from Courtney & Brent's church (thanks guys!).

Swinging . . .

Almost 8 Months

Jackson is so busy these days! Here he is pulled up to one of his favorite toys : )

More Vacation Pictures