From Aden and Wiley to You

"I'm not tired . . .

. . . I was just rubbing my eyes for a little bit." - Aden, at naptime recently

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Last year as we celebrated Christmas, I realized that Aden was forming his own ideas of the season. I probably would not have given much thought to the traditions we celebrate, but it somehow dawned on me that Aden didn't know anything about Santa Claus. Aden saw the gifts under our tree, but never tried to open them. I don't think he realized that more than half the gifts were for him. Instead, he became fascinated by our nativity scene and the characters represented in it. He loved to hear about the angels and the shepherds, and the wise men and the star, and especially about Baby Jesus. This was the same Jesus we pray to and that Mommy and Daddy talk about. As I saw his true childlike wonder, I realized I had a unique opportunity to shape his view of Christmas. I began to look at the things we do for the holidays, considering the significance behind each activity. Some are full of meaning (the tree with lights, the gifts we give), while others seem pretty shallow (Santa Claus). We began to celebrate Christmas much more intentionally, emphasizing the Baby that inspired it all. One of the things we did was celebrate Jesus' birthday with another missionary family who has done that for many years. Aden got to help blow out the candles on Jesus' birthday cake.

So this year, we continue to be intentional in how we celebrate. I'm sure Aden loved being spoiled by gifts from his grandparents as we celebrated an early Christmas with Mommy's family last Saturday, but all day he also eagerly anticipated having a birthday party for Jesus. We had made a cake together, and he was again excited to blow out the candles and sing Happy Birthday. As I hear him recite (unprompted) various details of the Christmas Story, I like to think that he's beginning to understand what Christmas is all about.

Fast Forward...

There were many things that happened over the next two weeks, but we will try to summarize it all into one blog for the sake of time:

After flying to Michigan from Oklahoma, we spent four nights at Great Grandma and Great Grandpa's house on the lake. Our highlights there were being with family, celebrating Thanksgiving, and celebrating Mommy's birthday on the day we left. Aden sang his own birthday song to her without even being prompted to do so. It went something like "Happy Birthday to you, to my mommy. I love you."

We went from Michigan down to Fort Wayne, Indiana for two nights. There, we go to wake up to snow one morning, although it was gone fairly quickly. We spoke in our home church there and were reunited with many friends. Aden received a special recognition in the service when he was called up on to the platform. He wouldn't go without Daddy though and kept his head buried in Daddy's shoulder throughout the 'interview.' They took a special love offering for the boys. While Wiley has no idea what it was all about, Aden figured it out when one of the little boys in the church told him that he could probably buy a lot of cars with that.

We drove down to Indianapolis after that and spent three nights at Aunt Keri and Uncle Josh's house (along with Archie, their dog). We had fun with them playing around the house and even doing a little shopping. After all, we had some money to spend from Fort Wayne and found some new little cars for the boys that should come in handy on the many plane rides ahead of us. Uncle Kevin came over one night too and while Mommy and Daddy were out, they kept the boys entertained by turning a suitcase into an airplane.

It was then on to Ohio where we would spend the next ten nights, one of our longest stops yet in one bed. It's always fun to play at Grandma and Grandpa's house. There are lots of toys and best of all, the basement. Down there are games, a train and plenty of other things to get into. Wiley knows the word basement now, trying to say it himself. When he hears the word, he goes to the basement door and starts hitting it. It's amazing what they pick up.



Highlights from our time included riding on the pontoon boat at Great Grandpa's house (as it was finally pulled out of the water for the winter); making hand-made ornaments (snowflakes made from their handprints cut out of felt); a trip to the Air Force Museum; time with Radcliffes, Myers, and Statons (ENT who regularly volunteers at Kudjip); and our very last deputation service for this home assignment. Aden is pretty excited that now he will be able to sit with Mommy and Daddy through the whole church service!



This gets us caught up to within a week of this writing and we have more stories to share. Stay tuned.....

It's Christmas Time...

We are going to rewind a bit and try to catch you up on the adventures of Aden and Wiley. The hustle and bustle has kept the blog from rolling, but we will try to get it back up to date.
A few weeks ago, we were in Oklahoma and had a chance to help set up the Christmas tree. This was pretty exciting for the boys. Aden was quick to help get all of the branches organized and on the trunk of the tree. Wiley was just having fun moving the branches from one part of the room to the other and climbing inside the tree box.
We kept it fairly simple with just a few ball ornaments and lights, but there were oohs and aahs when the lights were turned on. We capped off the night with some cookies and hot chocolate. The next morning was a 4am departure for the airport to fly back up to Michigan.