Just before Thanksgiving we all had the flu, which lasted about a week. Yuck! We recovered just in time for Thanksgiving. Had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Camp Sherman, eating yummy food, tree hunting (getting our tree in the woods), horseback riding and hanging out. The day after we got home we came down with the stomach flu. Neva first, then Matthew, Lena, and I had a fever and was tired. I have to say I would take a head cold over stomach flu any day. It was so sad to see Neva trowing up. Needless to say Neva watched more movies in November than she has her whole life to that point! Thank goodness for the library.

Once we were all well, we started talking with CRU about what training to attend, the one in January or one in May. Since I am still up twice a night nursing and at least 5 times a day nursing we decided that January might not be realistic. So we are headed to the training in May. I am so thankful that we decided to wait, December is such a busy month, I was not really looking forward to packing up and heading to the january training in Florida. The main part of our May training is what they call Ministry Partner Development; learning CRU's philosophy for raising support and coaching us through the process. We are excited to begin raising support and look forward to interacting with CRU and the material they present. We are currently looking to raise support for the May training and hope to draft a support letter soon.

Matthew and I are eager to join CRU. While our girls are still young my participation will be limited, but I still expect to build relationships with staff and students. I love being a mom, every day is such a gift. Neva is now 2 1/2 and it is amazing how much she has grown, she knows her numbers, shapes, alphabet, she can dress herself, use the potty, participates in table conversation (mostly asking Daddy how his day was, then nodding and saying "hmmm, okay, good") she loves books, to dance, help cook, set the table, read stories to her sister, play pretend with her toys, wrestling with her Daddy. We have a mom's group we go to and a library time every week. Not sure what I would do without a library, we are there at least once a week, often twice to re-stock our books. Lena (our 4 month old) is beginning to giggle and there really is nothing better than the pure giggle of a tiny baby. I wish I could bottle it and give it to people when they are having a bad day.

We are excited to be moving to a College town (hopefully OSU, GO BEAVES!) where there are so many students working out who they are, who they want to be and where they are headed in life. It is a time in life where students are seeking information; an excellent time for conversations about God and helping people as they become who they want to be. I am thrilled to see how God uses us on a College campus.

Matthew is the kind of guy who demonstrates love to everyone he meets, from the checker at the grocery store to the teenager sitting on a bench, waiting for their parent to finish shopping. I often anticipate, when I send him for milk, that it will be 45 minutes till he returns and it isn't that far to the grocery store! We live in Sisters! He is easily accessed by so many different kinds of people and that is one of the things that I love about him. Matthew is so genuine and open that he impacts people just by spending time with them.

We are headed to Portland to see my family for Christmas and I am so excited. With two small children, I now have a deeper desire to be close to my mom. We anticipate wonderful German cooking (my mom is from Germany), and sitting around the wood stove sharing gifts and time together. This year I had a whole Advent story planned for Neva, but then as we had the stomach flu entering December, I had to modify my plan. So we are lighting candles. Neva likes to blow out the candles and asks "what's this one called" each time before she blows them out. It is so beautiful to share the meaning of Christmas with Neva. This year we have deiced not to buy gifts and instead we are having Neva make gifts. We are making some ornaments, picture frames (for pictures of the girls), and sugar scrub (for the ladies).


Leslie