Party Time

This past weekend we were living in Party Central!  On Saturday we had our annual Hauquitz Christmas bash with a bunch of students and another staff couple and then the following night we had a big potluck and carol singing with many of the other missionaries who live here in Abidjan.  Both were so much fun and although it was extremely difficult to get out of bed Monday morning to get the boys to school by 7:30, we loved it all.  Our Saturday party was set for 3:00 in the afternoon so of course at 12:30 the doorbell rang with our first guests  :).  I was actually grateful for the two who showed up super early because it was Stephane, who lived with us this summer, and Constant, one of Craig's guys.  They are both at the house often and they jumped right in playing with the boys, cutting veggies, and rearranging things to get them set for the party.  I am always a little nervous about having Ivorians over to my house and having them come first was a good calmer.  We are still relatively new here and there is still so much of the culture that I dont understand and I am always fearful of offending someone with something I do in my home.  Like, I didnt welcome them right.  Or water was not offered at the appropriate time.  Or, shockingly, Craig got the water instead of me.  Or I asked for the news before they finished their glass of water.  There are SO many traditions that even go with welcoming someone into your home that we are still learning them all and I constantly think that I am screwing up and offending people left and right.  So I try to make up for it with food :)  That covers a multitude of offenses, right?!  I was thankful that we had a house full of students who do not typically care when or if water is offered if there is food on the table waiting to be consumed.  We had a giant crock pot full of bbq chicken, 60 rolls, 2 trays of veggies, 2 big bowls of fruit salad, a huge pot of hot chocolate, peanut brittle, and a cookie decorating station.  Then I ended up having to get out a package of ham and some sliced cheese because there were new people who came late and there was not any more chicken.  At the end of the party all that was left were two slices of cucumber and a swallow of hot chocolate.  It was a good feeling to know that the food was not too strange and it was enjoyed!  Here are some snapshots from our fete!

This little yule tide thief was a magnet as soon as the food hit the table.  

Yummm

After food was in the bellies and everyone was satisfied the dancing started

Craig tried to teach them swing dancing

Olivier dancing with Elliot

Elliot playing the drums in the middle of the dance floor

Constant and Olivier trying to learn the moves

Then we went outside and decorated some ornaments.  I had made some salt dough stars and we colored and glitterfied them all

concentration

Yves

Flora

Arsane and Yves

Our kids are loved to ridiculous amounts here.  Maurus and Valerie loving on Elliot

Valerie and Keenan

Constant and the boys

Then Elliot started making the rounds to any guy that would listen to him.  He asked everyone to swing him around, and because of those big brown eyes of his, few could refuse

Can you swing me around?!

Gabriel swinging Keenan

Love

Again!!

And again!!

And Again!!

And AGAIN!!!

Keenan got tired so he just relaxed a bit

Giving his model face

Gabriel's soccer model picture

me and my sweet girl!

Went for the kiss and got a lick instead.  Yuck!!!

Then came Sunday night!  Lots more food, but this time there were leftovers :)  Some of our dear friends here have kids our age and grand kids our kids age and they came to visit for Christmas.  It is Deanna's plot to have Elliot and her granddaughter, Eva, married one day and as we were getting ready to sing carols, we look over and there they were.  Sitting side by side holding hands.  Awwwwww....

Daniel and Kim with Eva and Elliot 

Lighting the candles getting ready to sing Silent Night

Lucy liked the fire

As did Keenan Boy.  He was so proud to be able to hold his own candle!

And then as we were leaving we passed by the mosque all lit up and decorated for Christmas as well.  Interesting...  But they still had the crescent moon over the snowman!

There you have it, our Christmas party time!!!  Now go celebrate the birth of our King with others as well!!!!

Happy? Christmas

I adore my children.  But when it comes to taking pictures I sometimes just want to pull my hair out.  I admit, I have unrealistic expectations of what a 5 year old, a 2 year old, and a 10 month old should be able to do.  I am no longer in denial and maybe now I can begin healing.  The other day when Craig was on campus and I was alone with all three kids I thought to myself, "this would be a perfect time to get some pictures super fast for the Christmas card."  Wow.  Really?!  Alone?  Super fast?  Three small children, one of them now cruising around on the furniture and does not understand commands for the life of her and the another one being Elliot? :)  Funny how I didn't think of the fact that energetic kids dont really get the concept of the peace of Christmas time.  In the moment of taking them I have to admit that none of us were in the holiday spirit.  It was a mess in the midst of it, but after I threw in the towel and finally snuggled Lucy and put her in bed, Keenan and I plopped down on the couch, smashed our heads together and looked through the pictures on the tiny camera screen.  Oh man, that's when the fun began.  We could not stop laughing to save our lives!  I literally had tears coming down my face and Keenan lost his breath from the non stop giggling.  We narrated the photo shoot and made up things for what everyone was thinking based on the facial expressions and we had the best time together.  I will always look back on these goofy pictures with so much joy just because of the redemptive time of slowing down and allowing a 5 year old to offer his perspective.  What is the "perfect" Christmas picture, anyway?  So, here is our real life Christmas card.  With lots of love from the Hauquitzessess :)

And I really thought they would sit still and look at the tree while I took pictures?!  

pssssst, Lucy!!  Our mom is CRAZY!!!

Thank you for the sweet reminder of laughter and keeping things in the right perspective, my precious Keenan Boy!  You're the best!

Keeping up with Lucy

This girl is everywhere!

And she has new tricks

So proud of herself

Found her one day under the table

One happy girl!

Christmas is coming!!!!

Even though it is hot and we are melting, the Christmas season is here!!!  We had a great Thanksgiving complete with all the fixin's, laughter, games, and noisy kiddos running around.  There were about 15 of us all together, 4 different nationalities, and lots of food!  Unfortunately, we forgot our camera, so you will just have to imagine lots of people gathered around a table eating and eating.  :)  Not too hard, huh?  Then Christmas time fell on our house with decorating and loud music.  The house is so fun with all the twinkle lights and music going all the time and the kids love it.  Every single time that we plug in the Christmas lights (or turn on the battery operated ones on the "mantle") Elliot yells "HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!!"  and giggles.  And every night when we tuck the boys in Keenan asks, "Will tomorrow be Christmas morning?!"  Only one more month, little man.  Hang in there! :)  I really really love holidays and especially love the ages that my kids are to watch them get excited about them as well.  It was such a fun feeling hearing their excited voices as they pulled out the ornaments and watched the house turn into a "winter" wonderland.  It is especially fun now that Keenan has memories attached to other Christmases that he talks about with his face all lit up.  Like the ornament that Uncle Kevin gave him and the one that we made together at Auntie Denae's school.  It warms my heart that he remembers and it makes me cherish traditions all the more.  I shall take you on a tour of our decorations:

First stop, our homemade madness :)  I had this vision of making a fireplace this year to hang out stockings.  Which led to thinking of what should we hang over the "mantle"?  A painting!  And I wanted it to be something that the kids help with and that they can remember and be proud of.  So we got a canvas and some paint and went to work.  All of us :)  It started off a bit stressful because in the 3 minutes that it took me to mix paint in the right shades I said about 20 times, "Dont touch, Im not quite done yet."  And what does my sweet big brown eyed charmer do?!  Grabs the brush and knocks over the bowl of paint.  To be honest I lost it for a minute, and we had to take a sec to calm back down and start over.  But after cooling off, we had a good time painting the canvas.  And the floor.  And themselves.  And the cabinet. Here is the painting process:

Giving Lucy a brush

She mostly waved it in the air like a sword threatening to smear green paint on anyone within a foot of her, but she got some strokes on the canvas

Keenan Boy thought it was fun working on this grand masterpiece

Elliot thought it was fun making a masterpiece on himself

After it was all dry I wrote Noel on it, made some glitter swirllies and voila!  Our new Christmas mantle painting.  

For the fireplace itself, I started off thinking that we could have one made from wood, but then that costs money.  Then I thought about stacking concrete blocks which are a plenty out here, but then I thought about Lucy pulling herself up on them and dragging one down on herself.  Not a pretty picture.   So, we settled with rolling out some paper and painting one ourselves, hanging a piece of wood across, tied up some garland, slapped on some battery operated lights, and hung our stockings by the chimney with care.  It turned out well and we had fun making it together.  Each of the stockings have special messages, prayers, and reminders of our dear Savior tied to each.  Ive been working on cards that explain the meanings behind the symbols that are on each, why it was chosen for that person, and a prayer over them in light of it.  I'll put them into the stockings and we can pull them out each year when we decorate to remind us of His greatness.  It was fun to sit, read and dream with Craig for each other and for how we want Christmas to ooze worship.  And thanks to the world wide  web we found some great descriptions for the symbols of Christmas on this site: http://www.achristmastestimony.kingdomdesignministry.com/christmas-symbols-and-their-meanings

First off is Craig's candy cane.  The candy cane is shaped like a shepherd's crook, reminding us that Jesus, the Good Shepherd, came into our world at Christmas. The red stripe symbolizes Christ's sacrifice and the white background His purity. The candy cane reminds us of Isaiah's prophecy of the suffering servant who was led like a lamb to the slaughter  (Isaiah 53:7) and by his stripes you were healed  (Isaiah 53:5). Candy canes have a peppermint flavor, reminiscent of hyssop which had medicinal purposes. The Psalmist prayed, Lord, cleanse me with hyssop that I may be clean (Psalm 51:9). Jesus came to heal our ills and to purge us of sin. The peppermint flavor reminds us that our healing came at the price of Christ's life.  We picked the candy cane for Craig because he is the shepherd of this family and as a reminder to always look to the author and perfecter of our faith.  

The Christmas tree represents the original Tree of Paradise, the burning bush which spoke to Moses, the branch of Jesse from which Jesus was born, the life-giving tree of the cross of Christ, and the tree which St. John the Apostle saw in the Book of Revelations whose leaves have medicine for the people and which yields fruit each month for the healing of the nations. Because it is green year-round, the evergreen tree represents hope. Its needles and its narrow crest point upward, turning our thoughts to heaven. Because the tree is cut down and then erected again, it is a symbol of Christ’s resurrection.  And the Christmas tree has three sides, representing the trinity.  This was chosen for me because I long to be a beacon of hope in every season, rain or shine, and continually point my family to the True Hope.

The gingerbread man does not create himself but rather is created. Gingerbread people remind us of God's creation of Adam in the Garden of Eden, and God's creation of each of us. Spices, reminiscent of those mentioned in the Old Testament, make the gingerbread man the color of earth (Adam was created from the dust of the earth). Like us, gingerbread people are not immortal. They are destined to be eaten and thus to unite with their creators. God does not eat us, but our mortal bodies, like that of the gingerbread man's, will not live forever. God created us for eternal union with Him after we die. Gingerbread people remind us to look beyond ourselves to our Creator with whom we will one day be united.  This was chosen for Keenan because we pray that he would always always be looking to his creator for the truth of who he is and the ways he should live, and not to the other creation around him.  We also wanted this one for Keenan because he is such a sweet, tender hearted boy who brings delight much like a sweet, chewy cookie.

Holly is an extremely hardy shrub that can be grown in all fifty states of the United States, making it one of the few plants that can withstand temperatures from 110 degrees F to - 40 degrees F.  The holly bush represents immorality, a trait that God has given to each human being. We are all destined to live forever, either with the Lord or separated from Him. The sharp-toothed edge of the holly leaf reminds Christians of the crown of thorns with which the soldiers mocked Our Lord during His Passion. They laughingly hailed Him as king, never realizing that He is, indeed, King of the universe. As a Christmas symbol, the red holly berry represents Christ's blood, shed for all people.  We chose this for Elliot because he is more hard headed then the average bear and knows what he wants.  He does not give up easily and has a passion in him that is contagious.  Our prayer in this is that his strong dedication would be spent making the Lord's name famous.  That he would cling to Jesus through every degree in life, from 110 to -40, never wavering, always proclaiming the blood of Christ and forgiveness of sins.

A star was the very thing that lead the wise men to Jesus.  It's light shone brightly through the night and rested over where Jesus lay, radiating it's beauty, yet always pointing to where the true King was.  When the wise men saw the star they knew it signified that there was a new King in Israel and that it was worth traveling to find him.  When you gaze up into the dark night sky, where does your eye rest? In the blackness?  No.  On the light.  In the brilliance of the white shining light that is incredibly beautiful.  Lucy's name means "bringer of light" and we are always praying that she would bring truth and grace to the people she knows.  So, this bright, shining announcement that salvation has come is a perfect symbol for our beautiful little girl.

Bells were part of the Jewish high priest's garb. Christmas bells not only symbolize the joy of Christmas; they also remind us that Christ is the High Priest who sits on the throne, praying in our behalf.  They bring joyous music and the sound of a perfect bell is so pure.  We pray for Olivier that he would be reminded constantly of the High Priest and that his message to others would be full of purity and beauty.  

So, there you have it!  Our "fireplace" and message stockings!!  Now on to the trees!!  Yes, I did say trees.  Plural.  The Glendenning fam had bought one right before the war hit and we all left.  We have now inherited it and shall pass it along to the next STINT team to join us.  Maybe that's a plug for anyone wanting to come out?!  This fabulous tree could be yours!!  :)

Elliot did much better this year than last and was super in the Christmas spirit.  He loved decorating with all the pretty ornaments

Keenan's deciding where the next one should go

That snowman is the one that we made together at Denae's school 3 years ago.  Still a favorite

Our finished tree

Placing the star on with Daddy

Quick! Grab as many as you can!!

Stringing up the lights on tree #2

Decorating

Lucy didnt quite know what to think of it all

Finished!!

Elliot stretching to get the star on the tippy tippy top.  I have to admit I did set him up to do this.  He was a very cooperative little guy but mostly I think it was because he was a little obsessed with the stars and he got to hold the treasured sparkle star for a few minutes.

Merry Christmas season to all!!!!  I hope that you are staying warm and treasuring Christ in this time that can be so busy!