The night of Betty's kid's Christmas program (Fri Dec 7), I got to babysit David & Bethany - which was quite uneventful & relaxing (phew). After story time on the couch and supper we still had time for Bethany to finish this pretty plastic wreath that a couple of the other kids had started previously.

This is the next morning (Sat Dec 8) and after showing off her wreath to Oma, she ran up stairs and put on a fancy dress & black stockings and we rushed off to her first piano recital!

 

Here she is with Heidi at the church where Heidi organized a recital for all her piano students! Very nice! So neat to be able to go and hear the children play and see Heidi encouraging, coaching or accompanying them.

Kenny

 

Maria, Andrew & Daniel played also.  Great job everyone!

 

 

 

Christmas flower basket arranging with Oma

Thurs Dec 20, John dropped off Esther & Sarah at Sharon's while in the area for business so they could stay for the weekend - so nice! Great that Heidi, with her busy schedule, was also able to make it for the morning - nice to have some time with the teens before the little girls came (oops, Esther's not so little anymore!) Here we are hanging out in my livingroom after lunch.

 

 

After supper, just as the snow began to fall in huge fluffy flakes, the girls went out, candle & flashlight in hand, to fill the air with their sweet melodious "Glor-o-ria, in Excelis Deo, Glor-o-o-ria, in Excelsis De-eo".... One delighted neighbour asked if we had ordered the snow just for this (it hadn't really snowed yet this winter!)

More Christmas

The week before Christmas, Ralph & Sharon received their best Christmas present from the Lord - a precious new healthy beautiful baby boy! David Calvin Brink was born on December 14 at 3pm! They have great aspirations for him as you can tell by his name: David "a man after God's own heart" and Calvin after the great Reformer, John Calvin (in honour of his 500 year anniversary!). Congratulations! May the Lord give you wisdom and strength to raise David along with your other precious children!

We had the fun and privelege of caring for the youngest (until baby) and the eldest. It was a joy to hear Bethany singing away as she played (her favourite was the Latin carole sung at the Christmas program - "Nobis Paches"

Rachel, "Betty's mommie" was a great help! She's a pleasure to have over too.

On Christmas Day, John & Betty and family came over to help us celebrate Christ's birth and eat a delicious full course turkey dinner! Thanks Mom!

Josiah (& Joanna) spent much quiet time watching the slides on the digital photo frame!



We enjoyed a quiet afternoon together and had pizza for supper - first time some of us have had it in quite a while - thanks Betty for making it! Singing caroles ended off the evening very nicely and the next morning they headed back home - staying just long enough to see Emebet as she arrived to visit us until Sunday.

Watching a cute "Christmas" video with Emebet. We always enjoy her visits too.

Rebecca is back home in Malaysia for a month.

Merry Christmas everyone!

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him,

that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Spirit."

Romans 15:13

Christmas Traditions

Pakjes is one of our funnest Brink traditions and this year was no exception! Thanks all!

Grand-daughters day making Christmas baskets or wreaths has also become somewhat of a tradition here. This year we had 3 new participants but missed the oldest (Lizzi).
As usual they did a great job!

A couple guys snuck in to cheer/comment and gawk in admiration ;)

Here's close-ups of the lovely girls and their peices:

Betty and kids came for Maurice's milestone birthday the night before and were able to stay til Saturday so as to join in also of our Church Christmas program.

one snowy day in December

Yes, you guessed it =) It's The Making Of our Christmas Arrangements! As is tradition, Oma had her older granddaughters over to make Christmas arrangements a little before Christmas. We were all kept entertained by Rachel & Heidi, who did their utmost to "add color" and be original.

Rachel "adding interest" to her "Christmas Jungle" (I know that's not the correct title but I can't remember that many words in a row).

My arrangement, partway through

After our arrangements were finished, we did a little 'modeling' of Aunt Marguerite's bamboo clothes for her

Rachel was very excited... still doing her best to add color & interest to our lives!

(Yes, that's Rachel's tongue)

That was supposed to be a NICE picture Rachel!

Quiet special moments at Betty's

Some quiet moments interacting after all the fun and creative gifts were unwrapped! You kids did a great job! & mom's!. Even the family patriarch :) got all into it (our house in Rachel's post was made by Dad & Mom! - pretty good eh?)
Thanks again for having us all for that fun day, J&B!

Our 3 2007 babies (see above photo for a clearer shot of the newest cutie)