News from Benaiah!

Posted by Gabrielle

Guess what! Benaiah is now rolling over both ways, from his belly to his back and from his back to his belly; and he is only four months. The earliest the rest of us started was at five months. Says Benaiah, "I'm a big boy and I like to do everything early, even outgrow my clothes that I haven't had a chance to wear yet!"

It's really hard to roll over keeping a fist in my
mouth at the same time.

Aaahhh... that's the way to do it! And who do we have here? (Notice that his
farther hand is still stuck under him. He hasn't
figured that part out yet.)

And, the reward for a job well done!

A Day of Thanksgiving

Posted by Gabrielle

We celebrated Thanksgiving dinner with a family from our church and had an evening of fellowship around the table. While the women were busy in the kitchen during the morning, where were the boys?
Working on their fort in our backyard of course!

We were so busy having a lovely time with our guests that we forgot to take any pictures of our evening!
But the Cornish game hens, stuffing, cranberry orange relish, rolls, buttered carrots, peas, baklava, cheese cake and pumpkin pie were all well received and heartily enjoyed.
And thank you to the Ruiz family for blessing us with your company for this occasion!

Farmer's Market in Wakeforest, NC

Posted by Gabrielle

On Saturdays during the summer and now once a month during the winter, we enjoy frequenting the local farmer's market. It is usually fairly busy during the months of June, July, August and September but in the picture below (taken last Saturday) it is not very busy as it is just before Thanksgiving. To the left, you can see Arianne taking care of Benaiah in the stroller while the rest (the cluster of people in blue behind her) shop.

Celebrating One Year!

Posted by Gabrielle

On November 18th, we celebrated our one year anniversary in North Carolina. We rolled up to our new house in NC around dinnertime on November 18th, 2006, slept in our sleeping bags on the bedroom floors that night and attended church the next day. We began unloading the truck on Monday and it did not take too long to get unpacked.
Remembering the events of a year ago, I began to think of all our blessings since we have been here, our wonderful church family, the new little blessing added to our family and most of all our God who never changes.

Eleven already!

Posted by Gabrielle

On October 30th, we celebrated Christianna's 11th birthday! We thank God for her and pray that she will have many years to serve Him.
(This post is a little late because I took the photograph horizontal and was trying to rotate it)
Her birthday is really on the 31st but we attended a Reformation Day Celebration (see previous post) so we celebrated her birthday the night before.

Christianna with eleven candles on her
peach tart (the traditional Hellwig birthday "cake")

Reformation Day Remembrance

Posted by Timothy

Yesterday our church gathered together to remember five fathers of the reformation: Jan Hus, Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Knox, and Oliver Cromwell. After a pot luck meal, children (and adults) representing five different families from our church in turn came up and did a play, or gave a report on one reformer.

Above, you can see one six minute play on Martin Luther. It's a bit shaky because I was holding the camera, but it is still distinguishable.After the plays were over, one of our elders gave us an overview of the reformation.
Then came dessert, (and chocolate coins to buy indulgences).