Our Snowbunnies

Next week we plan to travel to the mountains to play in the snow! With all of the snow pants, gloves, sleds and hats laying around, the children have been getting more and more snow crazy! Finally Grant organized an imaginary snow day where he helped Grace and Laura get all dressed up in their snow clothes and proceeded to give free sled rides in the grass. It was so cute. 

All dressed up with no where to snow!

Even Gracie's baby was all bundled up!

 

You want me to climb into that thing?

Whee!

 

Then, the most wonderful thing happened..... a few days after their dry run it really truly did SNOW!

Laura was one of the first to notice the snow! ''What's THAT''?

She had no memory of ever seeing snow!

What a beautiful sight

 

The birds came a-visiting all day, looking for food

The last rose of the year, just outside the living room window

 

After the snow stopped the children got all dressed and braved the elements

 

Yay! REAL snow!

 

 

Can you tell from this picture that Laura had been up all night with the flu?

Can you believe we let her go outside?

Well who could resist this face?

 

A request...

I have a confessiopn to make. I am a terribly disorganized person. I have (once again) lost our address book that has loose pieces of paper with addresses, email addresses, phone numbers etc. I was *SUPPOSED* to enter all of our contacts into our computer contact list but alas my address book now lies somewhere between Spanish Lookout Belize and Napavine Washington! :O

So here is my request~ if you are a family/person who sends out seasonal cards, letters etc.. or if you just want to say 'hi' and give us your mailing and email info, could you please send us a letter/photo/newsletter to the address below? I would love to add you to our contact list. Thank you in advance! We are so blessed by all of your prayers and support. We are so blessed by you all.

McDonald Family
P.O. Box 76
Napavine, WA 98565

We love our girls!

On occasion, we 'authorize' our 2 oldest slaves daughters to venture out and stay with friends and family. :) ~hee hee~  Upon Nana's request, the girls decided to stay at Nana and Papa's over Thanksgiving weekend. They had a great time and especially liked making lotion and lip balm with Nan. The unfortunate thing about them being gone on this particular weekend was that our Cockapoo puppies turned 8 weeks old; which left Grady and I to meet up with the families who were purchasing the puppies!  You shoulda seen me, trying to bathe and get all of the paperwork together for all of the puppy families! Ashley and Amanda had been the ones to raise them and care for them.  We really had to rely on the boys to help us give the right puppy to the right owners.. (good job boys!) Well anyhow, at the end of the weekend I decided that Ashley and Amanda cannot ever move out. I simply cannot live without them. Well, at least we all decided that they cannot both leave me at the same time. :) Well at least not until Gracie and Laura can pull a bit more of their own weight around here! :)

Truly we are so blessed by not only how much Ashley and Amanda DO around here.. but much more so by their sweet spirits, love for Jesus and their eternal and kingdom mindset. I used to hear about people whose adult children were their closest friends.. We are blessed enough to be experiencing that. It is one of the greatest joys of our lives. We love you Ashley and Amanda!!!!!

The girls and Nana

Papa Ben makes a scrumptious meal!

Fried chicken, cassava fries and baked garlic delicata squash!

Grant's 11th Birthday!

 

Grant had a very special 11th birthday! Grandma Bonnie (Grady's mother) came down from Seattle to take him shopping and out to ice cream. Later in the day, Nana and Papa Ben joined us in a celebration dinner in honor of the birthday boy!

Mmm...

One of Grant's favorite gifts was a card from a friend of Papa Ben's whom Grant had never even met!

(Thank you so much for your kindness Kerry!)

The birthday party!

 

 

Grant, showing the girls his gifts

One of the flying whirly thingys flew as high as the skylight!

Grant's choice of birthday menu: hamburgers, mashed potatoes and carrot salad

(thank you for not complaining about the burned potatoes Grant! :) )

 

 

Happy Birthday to our special boy! May you grow in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus more and more in the coming year! We love you so much precious son.

 

 

Giving Thanks..

We had such a blessed day with our family.. Jesus was on our lips continually and the unseen guest at this lavish occasion.We spent the day with our family members in McMinnville, OR. It was so special to visit with everyone, especially our aunt who has a doctorite in missiology. She and I spoke for such a long time about mission work and it was a blessing! They were missionaries to Thailand for 20 years and have many exciting stories about the country. It was also so special to give testimony of how the Lord met us in Belize.. of how He provided and ministered to us and others.. how the Kingdom of God was preached by us and our special friends and visitors.. truly I am so blessed that the Lord calls the simple, the weak and the imperfect (too) to serve him! He is so worthy of our whole lives.. of our service to him. We can trust Him for all things and for this, our family is grateful! We are also grateful that not all of us need to be professional missionaries. We only need to be his disciple in order to be qualified to be sent out.

 

 The last grapes of the year

Our boys were the ones with the camera.. I had hoped for more grown-up shots

 but these are great too! Good job boys! :)

The girls say hi to cousin Dana

Aunt Molly shares an amazing story with Gracie

 

 

Grandpa checks out his camera

The banquet table just moments before the folding chair which Laura was seated in folded up on her, which sent the Lenox Christmas China plate flying.. full of food of course.. and crashing to the floor. Poor baby had practiced being really good all week and felt terrible about such an incident. She re-told the traumatic story all night, to all who would listen.. :)

 

It was a bit overwhelming to be around so much luxury. We only could think of the last dinner in Succotz Village.. of us eating a feast made by Abolouse.. while they sat and watched us. Without any food. Lord, encourage the hungry today. Reveal yourself to them through your servants and by your spirit.. fill them with spiritual food as well as physical food.. Lord, will you send a revival in this country? A revival of your people... who read your word and are propelled to do more!?

 

http://goodmeasure.org/files/3413/4195/3942/A_Little_More_booklet.pdf

Fall Fellowship

This past Sunday was a particularly warm Washington day.. crisp and beautiful! We had a wonderful day of fellowship. After the official meeting, the children had such a fun time raking up the leaves and jumping into the piles! At one point it turned into an all-out leaf fight! I just had to post some of these pics.. to remember this fun day of warm autumn fellowship with friends..

 

The leaf princess

 

 

"I'm gonna get you daddy!"

 

"Oh no you aren't!"

 

What is Ryan up to?

A sneak surprise.. little did dad know Ryan's coat was FILLED with leaves!

 

There goes Ash!

A special sister in Christ