SURPISE!!!

Just before we left the UK Jeanne bought a ticket to fly to Portland, OR to surprise her parents just before Christmas. The problem was that Portland was snowed in with 17" of snow. Oregon doesn't get snow usually so after a week of snow they were pretty much immobile. Jeanne's aunt helped get connected with a driver who was operating so even though most people weren't able to get to their mailboxes, Jeanne made it to their door...and what a surprise.



Below is a video of the surprise. The video is started as I walk up to their house. I called on my cell phone and am talking to my mom as I walk up to their snow-bound house..

I then went in and woke up my dad with a kiss. He said "huh...Jeanne? Well, this is a surprise". It was so much fun!

For those of you who don't know my (Jeanne's) mom...she is the ultimate in organizing and hospitality. I have always known her to be excited and bubbly when we have come to visit. She would also always have a nice snack buffet ready when we arrived at her home. This time, however, since I was unexpectedly coming in the middle of a seemingly perpetual snowstorm I was concerned that she would fret because she hadn't prepared for me to visit. But organized as ever...I walked in the door and she HAD A CUTE BUFFET TABLE LAID OUT! I was shocked and asked her why she had prepared a snack buffet and she said..."well in case someone decided to stop by...and see it worked!"

She is absolutely amazing!

One day was absolutely too short but absolutely worth it. I spent two nights and one day there. The next morning it was...snowing again! So I had the same transport service pick me up and take me to the airport. It was a bit scarry with one near collision but we made it. I flew to Minneapolis and met up with my family who had been having their own travel woes. (Northwest airlines had cancelled two of their flights due to weather and weren't going to make it to Grandma's house by Christmas. But after another call to an extremely helpful lady, they worked it out for us all to travel to Indianapolis instead of Chicago. We were on the same plane!)

We're going home...via Minneapolis!

We worked out a very sweet plane flight schedule. On our way to Chicago (but ended up being Indianapolis because of the weather) Northwest allowed us to stopover a few days in Minneapolis. This worked out wonderfully since Scott's sister Cindy lives there. They have four kids around the same age as our kids so getting together was very nice.


After a year in the UK, Bryce was quite excited to see snow. The kids had a great time FREEZING and stomping around.









They also have a little dog named Pearl who is an absolutely charming dog. Our kids are convinced that we need a dog just like Pearl. (We are not committing to that quite yet...)

Christina's play

Christina also had a chance to be on stage. The lower school does a Christmas musical every year. It actually is shocking to see a public school put on such religious plays. It is really refreshing. AND they do such a wonderful job! (FYI: Christina is the angel to the right of Joseph)

In this play, Christina was an angel! She has a real love of music. The kids tend to shout as they sing which is funny, but if you could hear Christina she has a really nice voice...we may end up with two singers in the family!

This past fall another american family came over and are sending their kids to Kirkstone house also. Christina has become fast friends with Emily (the angel to the right).

Scrooge

Madison got her wanted part in the Christmas production at her school. This time she didn't want the lead role...she wanted to be the spirit of Christmas-present. And she did a fab-u-lous job. Below you can play two video clips of her performance.

As you can tell she is quite comfortable being on stage.

Madison with her good friend Alice a.k.a. "Scrooge".

Earplugs were necessary...

Scott and Bryce took a boys weekend trip to Wuppertal, Germany. We first found out about this Christian Rock Concert from the family who is living in our home back in Monticello, IL. Their son was a drummer in the band Eowyn who were scheduled to sing. Bryce has been a follower of this band and was excited to go and see them perform so we planned for the trip. Unfortunately we found out that Eowyn dis-banded and weren't coming by the time we scheduled the flights...but Bryce wanted to go anyway.



Scott rented a mini-cooper from the Dusseldorf airport (Bryce was quite excited!) and they drove straight to the venue. After a little hunt they arrived (a little late) to hear Cutless praise special, Day of Fire, Haste the day, and Disciple. Scott said that the music was so loud that even with good earplugs it was too loud. Good thing he brought them! He wondered how the kids could stand next to the stage with the speakers in their ears...



The next day they were able to visit Schloss-burg a cute castle-town close to Dusseldorf.
















On the way back to the hotel they were able to also stop by the Cologne Cathedral. Interestingly, Scott's heritage includes Charlemagne who was the Holy Roman Emporer and is buried in this cathedral.