Merry Christmas!

This is our first year celebrating Christmas in the U.S. since 2012 and it was a great one. We celebrated on Christmas Eve this year, because on Christmas Day we drove to IL to spend a few days with Nathan's family. The pictures are a little out of order. Christmas Eve service at McLean Bible.

Annual Christmas pictures :)

Christmas Eve dinner.

On Christmas Eve morning, we had our traditional breakfast of cinnamon rolls, sausage egg casserole, bacon, and fruit. Then we read from the Bible and opened stockings and gifts. 

This is the first year the kids woke up before us!

The kids enjoyed finding gifts under the tree for each other and they received lots of nice gifts from family, us, and each other. 

We went to Christmas Eve service that evening, then hit the road on Christmas morning. Wishing you and your family a blessed Christmas from our family to yours!

Winter Fun

This month we did some activities with the kids on the weekends. Caleb loves shoes, and one day Nathan took the boys to a Nike Air Jordan exhibit called 'Overboard.' A local artist was inspired to make 280 pair of Jordans from recycled materials, following the 'The Great Shoe Spill of 1990,' where 5 shipping containers of Nike shoes and work boots fell into the Pacific Ocean in a store between South Korea and the U.S., and washed ashore. They got to meet the artists and talk to him about the exhibit, and were very impressed with the craftsmanship of the shoes. Caleb said this was an opportunity of a lifetime :)

Afterwards, Nathan took the boys to a shoe store where they could see lots of Nike shoes.

They thought the shoe vending machine was neat.

Another day we went to Skyzone, their favorite place. It is impressive to watch them all flip away!

One day when Caleb was invited to go to a party with a friend, I took Benjamin and Eliza ice skating at the outdoor rink at Reston Town Center. Benjamin had skated may times in Turkey, but this was Eliza's first time. She got a snowman for stability, but within a short time she ditched the snowman and was skating on her own. It was a fun afternoon.

Benjamin was a good helper and encouraged Eliza.

One evening we drove around the neighborhood to look at Christmas lights. Some people go all out, this street was impressive. 

It's been a fun start to the winter season.

Thanksgiving with the Randells

Thanksgiving has always been a holiday that my family likes to celebrate together whenever we can, and now that we are back in the U.S. my parents and brother were excited to come to VA. The kids had school for the first couple days, then they had a fall break. On one of the days off we went to Skyzone, one of the kids favorite places to go around here.

On Thanksgiving morning, my mom fell at the basketball court while she and my dad were with the kids, and after spending the day in urgent care and the emergency room, they told her she unfortunately fractured her nose and wrist. She insisted we eat and she enjoyed leftovers a couple of days later when she was rested and feeling more up to it.

Everyone enjoyed having Uncle Aaron around for a few days.

One day my mom, Eliza, and I were supposed to see the Nutcracker, but she needed to be home resting so Benjamin went in her place. We got dressed up and everyone enjoyed the ballet!

Another day, we had a get together with friends from Amman to meet Brett and Victoria’s baby boy Kai, who they recently adopted. He was such a sweet little nugget and he had lots of friends to love on him during the day. 

This was the first time mom came upstairs, a few days after the accident. She had met all of our friends from Amman before and enjoyed seeing everyone again.

Brett, Benjamin, and Kai.

It was recently Eve’s 10th birthday so we celebrated that as well, and bid Farewell to Spencer and Lydia, who will be leaving for an assignment in Kuwait the next 3 years.

Here we are, great friends, the Jordan team, minus a few good souls. It’s amazing we were all here at the same time and we are thankful that Nadine and Joe are living here for the next few years and Victoria and Brett will be back from Istanbul later this coming year.

Nathan got wreaths and garland for the outside of the house and some Christmas plants.

And we started putting up decorations over the weekend. 

We love the cozy feeling of having the Christmas decorations up, it’s so relaxing to sit around in the evenings and mornings by the tree.

We also love the beautiful sunrises that we have been blessed with recently.

By the last day or two, my mom started feeling more like herself. The doctors advised her not to fly because of the fractured nose, so they were troopers and took the Amtrak train home. We are thankful that my parents and brother were able to visit for Thanksgiving and that my mom was feeling better towards the end of the trip. 

Always an adventure! 

 

Jiu Jitsu and wrestling

In October, the boys started learning Brazilian Jiu Jitsu at a gym in town. The boys go to class typically 3 days a week, where they receive a mixture of instruction learning new moves, do lots of repetition to practice, and on Thursday it’s open mat for grappling. In addition to learning self-defense, the boys are learning about respect, discipline, humility, commitment, and friendship. The boys have really enjoyed the training, and are always looking forward to going to class. These two videos are from grappling nights. There are always multiple instructors per class and on these nights, instructors work with two kids at a time while they grapple and they help guide the fight and keep the kids safe. In jiu jitsu there is no kicking or punching, the goal is to obtain dominance and get your opponent into a submissive position.

Another value at the gym is creating a family environment and they work hard to include families in everything, from training, to competitions and events. In December, the gym had a white elephant Christmas Party for the kids and families and they had a great time playing with the other students.

The gym recently added Wrestling on Fridays. One of the head instructors is from the area and he wrestled  as a youth, then went on to coach wresting for middle schoolers in the area, and he also wrestled at Virginia Military Institute. He has a passion for the sport and wanted to offer training at the gym. Caleb is planning to tryout for wrestling this winter, so this will prepare him with the fundamentals of the sport before tryouts later in January. 

The boys are really enjoying the training, and we are looking forward to watching them grow in this new sport.

Fall festivities and visit with the Purcells

We love all things about fall. The weather, the changing colors, and fun activities that come with it. During the fall, we also pull out puzzles. The first one the kids wanted to do this year was their cat puzzle. They worked on it for a few days, and discovered there were some pieces that didn’t make it from Turkey.

The elementary school held a trunk or treat the week before Hallloween. Benjamin dressed up as an animae character and Eliza was Ariel from the Little Mermaid.

On actual Halloween, the kids went trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. It was their first Halloween in the US since they were infants. They caught onto the concept quickly, and came home with a lot of candy. Caleb went trick or treating with another friend in the neighborhood, and Benjamin went trick or treating with a group of friends and a few parents. Eliza and I joined them for a little while, and came home when Eliza was tired, and Nathan stayed at the house to pass out candy to all the kids. It was a fun evening, and they brought home so much candy that we ate it for probably the next month. 

Caleb was Tanjiro from the animae Demon Slayer

Benjamin was Zenitsu from the animae Demon Slayer

Eliza was a cute witch.

In early November, Mark and Betty came to visit for the week. I had to go out of town for a few days and they also helped us with the kids that week. Grandma helped Eliza with a Thanksgiving  project to hide a turkey - they did a good job!

Another day they went to Skyzone…the kids favorite place!

Another day they met up with Ron and Nancy for lunch then Ron and Nancy came back to our house for a visit to see Nathan and the kids. 

Another day, Nathan and I unpacked some boxes and Mark and Betty took the kids to the Air and Space Museum by Dulles Airport. They have a nice observatory over looking the runway where you can watch planes take off and land.

Standing in front of one’s of the space shuttles - it is a very impressive museum.

And the best part of the museum (according to the kids) is the iMax theater.

They were here to see Caleb and Benjamin do jitsu, Caleb and Eliza’s gymnastics, and Benjamin’s last two soccer games. It was a fun visit and we are thankful they could come be with us for the week and have some time to relax during their stay.