Happy 2nd Birthday, Anna-Claire!

Today is Anna-Claire's second birthday! Can you believe it? We attended her birthday party yesterday--I'll post some photos when we get back to Atlanta. (We are still in Tennessee.)

A-C (as she is affectionately called) was born two years ago on a cold November morning. (Does that sound like a GNR song or what? LOL!) The night before, Tanna and I had arrived at the Pierce home. (A-C was scheduled to arrive via C-section on Dec. 1st, but she was ready to make her appearance a day early.) Anyway, so that morning, Johnny already had gone to work, but he ended up coming right back home. ;o) Anne and Johnny headed to the hospital, and Tanna and I took Abigail with us to the mall that morning--we were meeting Rebekah, Riley and Aunt Robin for a field trip with Rebekah's kindergarten class. After lunch, we went over to the hospital to see our newest member of the family.

What a beautiful little baby A-C was--and now she is a cutie-pie little girl. She is so sweet and cuddly! She loves her "Pinky" (her favorite blanket) and Elmo. She has beautiful blue eyes, just like her sister and Daddy. We were so happy to be here for your birth day ... and for your birthday today! We love you, Anna-Claire! God bless you!

Abigail holding Anna-Claire, December 2006

Anna-Claire's 1st birthday party, November 2007

Family Night: Turkeys!

What a bunch of turkeys!

We had another family night last night! It was turkey night in honor of ... well ... Thanksgiving, of course! I just love turkeys and turkey. I've been known to call people on Thanksgiving morning and ask for Tom ... you know, Tom Turkey! I warned you--I have a goofy sense of humor.

Back to family night ... We had a nice time together as a family. It was especially nice to just be at home together because we have been super busy lately--and will be in the weeks to come. Here's how we celebrated our turkey-themed family night:


We started with a book. Tanna read "I'm Thankful Each Day!"--a baby gift from my friend Jennifer in Virginia.


After a family picture with the turkeys, we headed over to the table for some crafts/activities.


My sister gave us this hilarious kit that allows you to turn a pumpkin into a bobble-head turkey. I love it--everyone needs one of these.


Here's Tanna getting all the pieces out.


And the assembly. We used the little pumpkin Kate picked out at the pumpkin patch last month. (Yes, we still had it!)


Gobble! Gobble!


Next up: drawing hand turkeys! I considered doing cut-outs, but I thought that might be a little much. Maybe next year when Kate is a little older.


Tanna drew one, and I drew the other. His is better.


I hung our new PBK Thanksgiving banner in advance of this week's family night. I broke down and bought it over the weekend. I had been stalking it over the last week, hoping it would get marked down more--but it didn't (and still hasn't). Kate and I were up at North Point Mall on Saturday running an errand, so I picked it up while we were there to save on shipping (and stalking time). (The PBK in Lenox no longer has Thanksgiving merchandise--they sold it all before they changed locations.)


We then wrote down some things we are thankful for this year. (I was playing around with the color on this one, in case you were wondering why it looks like that.) Tanna and I each wrote some things for which we suspect Kate is grateful. Then we signed off on them. Our family has a funny thing about "signing off" on stuff. When we are together, we've been known to have grocery clerks sign off on grocery lists and such! (See? I told you I have a goofy sense of humor!) Too bad my sister wasn't here--she could have notarized these for us. LOL!


After that, it was movie time! We watched one of Kate's Peanuts DVDs (a 2007 Christmas gift from Uncle Mike and Auntie Darlene & family). Guess which one? That's right: "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving"! Kate loves Charlie Brown!


Getting cozy on the floor in Kate's room so we can watch the video together.


After the video, it was time for dinner! Kate had turkey sticks. I actually had half of a Turkey sub from Publix for lunch (yum!) and I thought about eating it for dinner, but Tanna and I ordered Chinese food instead. I'll eat the other half of my sandwich tomorrow. (I mean today--I keep forgetting it is after midnight.)


Kate is playing her arms-in-the-air game with Ah-Pah. I tried to find one of her turkey/Thanksgiving bibs from last year, but I must have packed them all away. Oh well ...


And ... here's a bonus picture. This morning, we went to story time at a different library and saw this big ol' turkey! Isn't he cute?


Happy Thanksgiving!

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. --Psalm 107:1

Family Night: The Pink Pig

When my brother's family visited the weekend before last, my SIL and I had these grand plans for a Pink Pig family night ... or family day, rather. We came up with some fun ideas and talked about all this stuff we were going to do. Key words there: "were going to do." We did do a few of the activities and such, but we ran into a problem that is common when our family visits us here in the ATL. We simply ran out of time. We try to do too much in just a day or two. But we sure do have fun!

Here are some photos of the things we DID do for our Pink Pig family time. (I had to change it to "family time" because we didn't get everything done in one evening or even in one day.) LOL!


Well, of course, we rode The Pink Pig! Oh, and the girls wore some sort of pink.


And you better believe Kate's pink pig Pacimal made an appearance! (She still loves that thing, by the way.)


Pink yogurt was served.


Pink PJs were worn.



And before Abigail and Anna-Claire left for Tennessee on Sunday, the girls colored some cool Pink Pig pages I printed out from the Web site. Well, Kate was more interested in eating the crayons, but it was still fun.



Tomorrow, I'll try to add pics here of what we didn't do--LOL! I'll take some pics of the piggie books we didn't get around to reading, the toys we didn't get around to playing with, etc. ;o) We still enjoyed all the activities--and coming up with ideas! Of course, the main goal was reached: spending special time together with family.

For more information on and ideas for family nights, check out Whittaker Woman's blog.

Dinner with Halmoni & Halabaji

Sunday evening, we ate at a Sushi restaurant with Tanna's parents. We took them to dinner as a belated anniversary gift. They celebrated 41 years of marriage earlier this month. Congratulations, Halmoni & Halabaji! We love you! Here's to many more happy years together!


Special times! These two love birds have six grandchildren now.


I'm not a sushi person (surprise, surprise!), but this platter was cleaned before we left!



A few shots from their wedding day in Korea--41 years ago!


Happy Anniversary!

Operation Christmas Child: It's Not Too Late!

So yesterday was the last day of National Collection Week for Operation Christmas Child. If you missed the deadline, don't despair! It's not too late to participate this year. Here's how:

1. Pray. Prayer is vital to the success of Operation Christmas Child. Here are some things to consider praying for, from the OCC prayer guide:
   
   • Pray for the hurting children and their families whose lives will be impacted this year through Operation Christmas Child. Pray especially that many hearts will be opened to God's love and the Good News of Jesus Christ.
   • Pray for our ministry partners in countries around the world, especially that the shoe box gifts will be effective tools for evangelism. Pray also for their follow-up and discipleship programs.
     
   • Pray for the individuals, families, churches, and groups who will be filling shoe boxes this year, especially for the children. Pray that they will see that it is truly more blessed to give than to receive.
     
   • Pray for everyone involved in collecting processing, transporting, and delivering shoe box gifts, including the tens of thousands of volunteers. Pray especially for the timely delivery of the gifts.
     
     
2. Give. For some people, it may be easier and more convenient to participate by donating to the project. As Melissa pointed out in the comments section of a previous OCC post, folks can financially sponsor a shoe box to help cover shipping and operational costs. You can mail donations to Samaritan's Purse--or you can simply give online via the ministry's "EZ Give" feature on the OCC Web site. Super easy and convenient--not to mention, needed and appreciated.
   
   
3. Deliver. If you are close to one of the following processing centers, you still have time to fill a shoe box and drop it off. Here's the info from the Samaritan's Purse Web site:
   
   It’s not too late to pack a shoe box gift for Operation Christmas Child! Shoe boxes can be sent to our Boone Processing Center year-round at 801 Bamboo Rd., Boone, NC 28607.
   There is also time to drop off your shoe box gifts in the following cities until December 6th.
   
   Atlanta Processing Center
   3780 Southside Industrial Court
   Atlanta, GA 30354
   770-777-9342
   
   Charlotte Processing Center
   7100 Forest Point Blvd.
   Charlotte, NC 28224
   704-583-1463
   
   Denver Processing Center
   17650 E. 32nd Ave.
   Aurora, CO 80011
   303-745-9179
   
   Minneapolis Processing Center
   10779 Hampshire Ave.
   Bloomington, MN 55438
   612-359-7025
   
   Orange County Processing Center
   2803 Yale St.
   Santa Ana, CA 92704
   714-432-7030
   

OCC Through The Years (Part Two)

Sorry I am running behind on my posts. I wanted to share a few more pages from my Operation Christmas Child scrapbooks. Here are some layouts from the years 2004 through 2006. I need to update this scrapbook with some photos from this year and last ... one of these days. Sorry about the quality of the photos, but you get the general idea.

OCC--2004. This was our first married Christmas!
I am really bad about leaving places for journaling, thinking that I will go back and complete the writing later. Um ... yeah. I need to work on that.


In 2004, we hosted a little zebra named Stripy. You know Flat Stanley? Well, Stripy was like Flat Stanley. Stripy belonged to the child of friend of a friend of a friend (or something like that). He stayed (and traveled) with us over the holidays. While he was here, I took him to the OCC warehouse for some shoe box fun. (BTW, as a little aside, I love the whole Flat Stanley concept--so cute, and a great learning tool!)


In early 2005, Samaritan's Purse held a special shoe box collection for victims of the tsunami.


2005. We were in Tennessee with family that November, so we had a family packing party. This was the last time Cindy, my sister who lives in Spain, was in the States. It has been three years since we have seen her--and she is coming to visit THIS WEEK! We can't wait! Cindy and her DH, Joe, have eight kids--her youngest, Joanna, is just a few months older than Kate. We can't wait to meet her and to see everyone!


More family packing-party pics, 2005.


And even more ...


Look how little Rebekah is! Uh-oh, there's another journaling block that needs some journaling.


That same weekend, we attended the shoe box dedication at my home church in Piney Flats. My BIL Joe spoke that Sunday, too, so it was an extra-special service.


More pics from shoe box dedication Sunday.


Also in 2005, we volunteered with some friends at the Atlanta-area processing center. Fun times!


Sunday school packing party--2005.


2006--our last shoe box season before Kate was born.



OK--that's it for now. Happy scrapping! Happy shoe boxes!

Carter's Birthday Party

Yesterday after church and lunch, Kate and I drove up to Kennesaw for Carter's birthday party. What fun! Tanna was working over the weekend, so it was a girls' afternoon out. Carter is such a little cutie! Jody did an excellent job with his party, which had a cupcake theme. A ball pit was on the premises, so Kate was loving it! She couldn't stay away! (If you have room for one at your little one's birthday party, I highly recommend them.) Kate had a blast with all the other kiddos, and I had a great time chatting with the other parents. What a fun afternoon! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CARTER!


Kate fell asleep on the drive up ...


But within minutes of our arrival, she was ready to party!


Look at that fabulous cake--it was delicious, too! I tried to give Kate a bite, but she wasn't interested. That's OK--more for me!


There's the Birthday Boy!


I love this pic of Carter's Mommy & Daddy.


What a sweet family!

Here are some more photos from the party--enjoy!