Gingerbread Men

A little of this and a bang of that...

We thought it would be fun to make Christmas cookies for our neighbors, so we set out to make gingerbread men! After dividing the dough into four parts, they got to it! There was much flour flying and rolling pins banging.....banging?....it had to be explained that rolling pins roll....not bang. Titus (1) just wanted to be in on all the action, so we gave him a little flour to play with. When it was icing time, you had to keep a keen eye on those M&M's! Mom came in the kitchen to see all the mess and left laughing as she said her grandchildren will be the most artsy children, but her daughters will probably have a messy house. Of course, we laughed and said she was wrong....we would just do all the baking at the sister's house that was clean. =) The kitchen was a mess, but the boys had such fun. After seeing all the finger licking and wiping on the shirts, we decided we wouldn't burden our nice neighbors with such sweet contamination, so Olivia kindly made fresh, "clean" cookies for them the next day.

Enjoy the pictures above...

Family Christmas Pictures [behind the scenes]

Every year we take a family picture, and every year, we come home look at all the shots and mom laughs so hard she has tears coming down her face from all the funny faces everyone makes during the 200+ pictures that are taken. We don't necessarily look for a "perfect" family shot....simply one shot that everyone is looking at the camera. =) Of course, we have sister/brother shots, just the girls, just the boys...etc. This year, we chose the coldest day in Florida history to take our picture. =) Maybe we should try and do this from now on, because we only had to take 4 pictures! It either had something to do with the cold weather or the hot chocolate that was waiting at home...

Anyway, we didn't end up with such hilarious "behind the scenes" this year...there's always a first!

Santi

Alexis and Ben

Cilicia and Alexis

Sweet Pete

Anita, Cilicia, Alexis, Olivia and Treasure

???

Hmmm....

Our little men

Setting up...

Our wonderful parents...

Tybee Pictures

Georgia Pictures

Santi Goes Abroad

At the beginning of the year, a family trip wasn't even a thought, much less a possibility. We still didn't know when Santi would have a surgery date, and it was hard planning such things as vacations when the unknown was...so unknown! Even when we did finally have a surgery date, traveling seemed out of the question.


Fast forward a few months, Santi is recovering, and small vacation talk is being talked.....why? We received a call with someone out of state blessing us with a home to stay in, if we would like, on Tybee Island, GA.


After much prayer, planning, and excitement, we pulled out of our driveway early last month, Tybee bound! Suffice it to say, we have never been to a more beautiful place....well, Dad says it's almost as beautiful as the mountains. =)


We agreed that if it had rained every day we were away, we still would have had a wonderful time, for it wasn't as much as the places we were staying, but rather, just all of us being together. We enjoyed the sun, just as much as the thunderstorm that moved across the ocean.


We had the honor of speaking and singing in three churches, whom we love dearly and who have prayed for Santi faithfully. This was such a blessing for us to be able to go and share God's goodness to Santi and our family. Who would have thought that Santi could stand up and testify of God's goodness just two months after surgery?!


We packed "traveling food"....you know, the foods you don't normally indulge in on a regular basis...and travel the many miles to enjoy real southern sweet tea and learn to once again say, "Hey Y'all!" instead of just plain, "Hi!". Did y'all know it was fawl up yonder? My, those trees are a Floridian's wonder...


Well, since our blogging staff seemed to take a holiday, =) we thought we'd share some of our pictures with you. We tried sitting down and picking a few, but that seemed an insurmountable feat, as our photographer...ahem....seems to be camera happy. =) So, just click play and enjoy the slide show...


As always, we thank you for your continued prayer and support. Please keep praying!

Anita

Sant's Doctor Appointment

Santi and Jon-Michael talking while in the waiting room at Shands today

Hello All!

It's been some time since you've been in touch with Santi! Santi's doing great.

Today he had a routine check-up with Dr. Woo and all went well. One of our biggest prayers has been on behalf of Santi's weight gain. Well...he gained a pound!! .....for Santi, that's BIG....=) We tease Santi by telling him that we can tell when he gains weight by how kinda pudgy his nose looks...we think it's getting there!

One thing that Santi will be working on with more vigor and regularity, is his therapy. So far, Santi has been in a healing process with not much "hard" therapy. Today started some therapy that will work Santi's muscles, hips, and about everything else that is connected to the waist on down. He will start using a walker as part of therapy in order to help him stand straighter, and practice walking in a different way. So far, the only way Santi has walked, has been hunched over, and with a little shuffle. Santi doesn't have to walk that way anymore...Santi CAN'T walk that way anymore. The Dr.'s need Santi to practice hard on posture or there will be consequences for Santi's body if he doesn't.

Well...I think I've covered about all of it! The Lord continues to meet and provide for Santi, as well as for our whole family. God is is an amazing God...

For Santi and the Hurons,


Cilicia

Santi and his Doctors

Dr. Woo showing Daddy some therapy exercises


Santi and his pound!

Santi and one of the Doctors

Shands hospital is located in the same town as UF (University of Florida). The Florida Gators are a big thing at Shands along with all the other sports! This the Hall Of Sports at Shands!