Lunch at The Melting Pot

I am sure many of you have heard about the Smith family. They are friends of ours that have been through a lot in the past year. Sandy was diagnosed with breast cancer on Oct. 22, 2007. Their son Andrew was diagnosed with a diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (inoperable brainstem cancer) four days later on October 26th. Please keep the Smith family in your prayers. For more details and updates click on the following link. http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/aws

Today Rachel, Deborah, Tabitha, & Suzy were out running errands for our New Year's Eve Service when Mrs. Smith called and said she was headed to Ann Arbor with Andrew and a good friend Jolene. Andrew wanted to eat at The Melting Pot and they wanted us to join them for lunch. It was great to see them again!

Suzy, Deborah, Rachel, Tabitha, Andrew, & Jolene

It was our first time eating at The Melting Pot.

It was a fun experience!

After we had lunch downtown, we passed the M Den.

Andrew is a Spartan fan and was afraid to go into

the Michigan store with his Spartan coat on. :)

Our Family Christmas

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

After the sick ones were feeling somewhat better, we finally

had our family Christmas late that night.

Because it was so late and people

still weren't feeling the best, we didn't get many pictures.

Lydia read the Christmas story.

Dad enjoyed his new deep fryer. He made the best potato chips, sweet potato chips, french fries, & cinnamon apples.

We had fun playing a few games after opening presents!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

It doesn't really feel like Christmas around here today. We have four that woke up sick this morning. :-( Rachel, John Jr., Hannah & Naomi) Those of us that are not sick are trying to stay away and stay busy so we don't get the flu too. Our family Christmas with relatives has been postponed until everyone's feeling better. We might open some gifts tonight if the sick ones are feeling up to it and no one else gets sick.

Aunt Susan flew in from St. Louis to spend Christmas with us. We exchanged gifts through the door since Aunt Susan will be leaving tomorrow. :-) They didn't want to take any sickness back to Grandpa.

Some of us decided to enjoy the fresh air! :-)

Julie had a rough ride down 'n lost her boots!

Suzy dragged her back up the hill.

Surprise Visit! :-)

Wind and Breeze flew in tonight and surprised all of us.

It was a nice surprise, especially for Deborah! :-)

Early Christmas

It is great to have Uncle Paul home for the holidays!

Grandpa was excited to finally come home

from Chelsea Saturday afternoon.

They both came over for dinner tonight.

We had fun opening our stockings with Lloyd, Bethany

and the kids since they will be leaving for West Virginia

tomorrow morning. We all bought something small to put in

each others stockings. When Joanna saw all the stockings

she wondered why so many"un-matching" socks

were hanging from our fireplace. :-)Joanna loved her doctor's kit from Grandma & Grandpa.
She was kind and let Grandma & Uncle Jeremy play too. :-)

Every time Carter opened a present he would walk all the way to the kitchen (without being told) and throw his wrapping paper away before enjoying his present. :-)

Chelsea Teddy Bear Factory

It's nice to have Deborah & Rebekah home for Christmas.

Lloyd, Bethany and the kids are here for a few days

before they head to West Virginia for Christmas.

Today we went to Chelsea and took a tour of the

Teddy Bear Factory.

This is the world's largest teddy bear. The little girls had fun stuffing their own teddy bears.