Christmas in Illinois Pt. 1

We arrived here on Saturday afternoon, December 26. It has been a white Christmas ever since! There are a lot of photos below, interspersed with text.
There are many things for which we'll remember this particular Christmas. One in particular was a special visit from our friend, Fredi. Fredi ministered in the villages with Planters back in the mid-to-late 90s. Six years ago he was hired to work in the Americ*n embassy in Tirana to translate for our nation's amb*ssador where he has worked ever since. This past fall he took a leave of absence to study two semesters at T*fts University in Boston and took up our invitation to spend Christmas with our family. Though he had visited America a couple of times before this time of study, we unintentionally provided him with his first opportunity to visit a 'drive-thru', a Super Wal Mart, and play Wii!

Gjyshe was a good grandpa and when it was apparent we would have a good window of time to play outdoors, he bought an overpriced sled at Ace Hardware. Here he is with Nathan trying to attach it to the 4-wheeler.

Ellie and "Uncle" Fredi. For a single guy, he was more than a good sport to hang out with a family of three small children!

(above) Tua turns three today! It's fun to get to be here for the celebration of her birthday. She just woke up from a hard nap in a not-so-pleasant mood. Apparently we are VERY similar in this regard. Proof that we're related!

A special treat has been getting to know our niece Pippa much better. She was only three months old at our last visit. She's a very cute and happy one-year-old -- I'm sorry this particular photo didn't capture her sweet 2-toothed smile!

Hannah's been doing a great job in the 'auntie' role, holding babies and playing toys with her nieces!

We're glad Seth and Bug braved the 22-hour drive from the Green Mountain state (VT) to be with us!

We got the girls matching jammies for Christmas. So glad we could get them to all smile at the same time!

Making special memories witih Gigi around the piano...

Gigi's new attic playroom came well equipped, including an awesome dress-up trunk. The girls loved 'clicking' around the kitchen floor in their heels!

One morning when we woke up, the world was covered in an amazing frost. I went outside and grabbed a few pics of the most amazing blue sky and white crystals! Within a few hours it was all gone!

Tonight is New Year's Eve and we're going to celebrate Tua's birthday as a family, along with some of my sister's friends from High School and their family. The time has gone fast and before we know it, we'll be on our way back to Kentucky!

Click here to view more photos from our Christmas travels on Facebook...

Christmas Eve at the Waggoners (Ohio)

(above) This fall Dad and Mom got a schnoodle puppy named Zoe... she's very photogenic, don't you think?

Rebecca recently acquired the little guy in her arms, Samson

(below) After family photos, we walked up and down Mom and Dad W's street delivering goodies to all the neighbors. The kids had fun taking turns handing the bags to the recipients with a Christmas greeting!

Merry Christmas!

Joy to the world, the Lord has come!

It's Starting to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Visit to Shkodra Castle

Due to computer issues, I didn't get to post many photos while I was in Albania. One of the many highlights of the trip was a first-time visit (for me) to the city of Shkodra. It's about 2 hours north of Tirana, and 45 minutes (or maybe closer) to Montenegro. We visited the ancient Shkodra Castle, which dates back to before the time of Christ.

Our little entourage included Perparim, Perparim's son, Andi (who I first met when he was about 10 or 12 -- yeah, he's grown up!), Tiana, Mandi, Dad and I.

Looking southeast.... I doubt the view has changed much over the last two millenia...

Standing in the ruins of a church in the castle's walls.

(Above) the modern day city of Shkodra (below) the entrance to the castle museum)

(Above), replica of the castle hill. Incidentally, we got stuck waiting to cross that little single-lane bridge about 10-15 minutes when cars wanting to travel in opposite directions refused to 'give'

way.

Dad with two of his best friends...

See more photos from Shkodra in my Facebook album (viewable without a Facebook account):

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=171301&id=710451353&l=030341c452

Okay -- I have to say I was SO, SO excited when it became apparent that I would get to meet up with bloggy friend, Melissa, and her husband Bob, while in Albania. She found me online nearly three years ago and we've communicated ever since. In May Nathan and I got to have dinner with Bob and Melissa while we were in Grand Rapids for a couple of days. We've been praying with them through their long adoption journey and it was a thrill beyond words to get to meet their new daughter, Mariada (part of the reason we traveled up to Shkodra). After our castle tour, we visited where Mariada's been living, then we all went out to lunch at a very nice restaurant with beautiful views of the castle hill (over Bob's shoulder). I'm sure they would covet your prayers -- Mariada's adoption hearing is December 23!

Humorous Excerpt from Ellie's Pre-School Winter Program

Checking In...

Because every post is more interesting with a photo, here's one taken after last night's Cabinet Christmas party...

Oh dear! Where did time go? Life has been running at warp speed since returning from Albania. I have posted some trip photos on my photography blog that I've been working on each morning when I can grab some time before Ellie wakes up. The center has been hopping with activity -- Christmas parties here seemingly every day. Nathan is up in Marion for meetings at WGM, while Ellie and I hold down the fort and keep the wastebaskets empty and paper towels and TP stocked for all of our guests.

This evening Ellie has a "Wintertime" program and I promise, Dad and Mom, to have Ellie both appropriately dressed and arrive with camera (and card) in hand!

It's hard to believe that next week is finals week and then we're off for Christmas break! We're all looking forward to time with family! We can't wait, and given the way our days have been so far this month, it will be here before we know it!

Now, to tackle Christmas shopping and cards... (don't be shocked, I haven't even started yet).

Thanksgiving in Ohio (in pictures...)

Well if Ellie and I can make it through tonight, Cydil will be joining us again tomorrow! The house hasn't burned down (although it may not have always been as neat as when Cydil is here). We are both anxious to have Cydil back. Today Elisona walked around the apartment calling for Cydil as if she were playing 'hide-and-seek' with us. She then turned to me and said, "I think she's hiding in Albania!"

For much of last week I had help from Nonna and PaPa in Ohio with Ellie. I will let the pictures tell most of the story with captions if needed...

At the Lancaster Mall play area Ellie found this car which she proudly exclaimed, "It Cruella's car!" I never did see any dalmations though.

Ellie is constantly playing doctor these days. She not only diagnosed her leg as broken, she fasioned a fairly creative splint for it!

Mom's Thanksgiving meal is always a feast. I didn't realize until I had dumped this picture to the computer that Ellie is about to sample the mashed potatoes!

On the Friday after Thanksgiving, we decided to take Els bowling. Although she has palyed with the plastic Fisher Price bowling sets, this was her first time to experience the real thing and she was really excited. She sang a song about bowling balls the whole way there and then when she saw the sign with a ball and a few pins she said, "Yeah! We're at bowling ball's house!" She picked the brightest orange ball they had and even with a slightly broken ramp to guide her ball, she had lots of fun.

Aunt Rebecca and Ellie celebrate their first roll!

Bowling must have worn her out because she fell asleep leaning against Nonna during the movie that evening! You can't see it in this picture, but she was sitting Indian style (or the more politically correct 'criss cross applesause') when she fell asleep. Miracously, I was able to carry her to bed without her waking up!

On Saturday we decided to go to the Zoo, but we first stopped at a cool park that had topiaries that were laid out to depict the famous painting "A Day at the Park" (I plan separate blog post with more pictures about it later). Elisona was more intersted in the ducks than the art, and she had a blast feeding them some crackers.

The Zoo was decked out in Christmas lights which was cool! We saw a really fun animal show made up of mainly rescued animals and Ellie had her 'happy hands' going the whole time!

We had to stop by the reptile house while we were there. Nonna had a book about snakes that Ellie had been dragging around the house and she wasn't about to leave without seeing some in real life. It may look like I am having to encourage her to touch the snake, but actually I am pulling her hand away so some of the others waiting in line could have a turn! Ellie seemed to enjoy practing the word 'slither,' since she would use it to try to convince every snake in each enclosure to move.

Thanks Nonna and PaPa for a wonderful time! We promise to bring Cydil with us at Christmas!