12.30.2007

Christmas Happenings

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Christmas has come and gone now. We've had a great Christmas season. Most of the pictures below are from around Christmas time. I will add a comment if need be.

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ImageNya got a new bed with a dollhouse with it.

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ImageImageEvery Christmas morning we eat waffles. This one is the winner! Eben loves his twister game.Image
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ImageHere we are about to blow out the candle on Jesus' birthday cake. Canaan loves to wash the dishes.ImageImage



ImageImageEben got to start his first fire the other day. All these folks are friends of our that came over for our Christmas party. The winter solstice is celebrated here by eating dog. So we went to the market and got some dog meat to make chilli. Its bow wow good! Here's a dog in the basket of the motorcycle.
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12.23.2007

Lots of new Pics

Hey all. Well. we are all doing good and trying to stay warm. Christmas will be here in a day and the kids are really ready for it. We've had a great Christmas season and have been able to share its truths with some friends this last week. Here are a bunch of recent pictures. They aren't in any real order but just some fun pictures. For the most part they are all from December. We hope that you all enjoy the pics and have a Merry Christmas. Image
ImageWhat did you find under there, Canaan?
ImageThis is our advent calendar. each day we add a new element about JC. Its been fun to teach the kids about how deep Christ is, that the Christmas story was something that was planned from the beginning of time.
ImageCanaan...find anything in there?

ImageEben finished Kindergarten this week. We are proud of him and I'm proud of V for being a great teacher. He went through K in 3.5 months. Smart boy.
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ImageDinosaurs exhibit came to town this week. It was fun for the kids to get to see it all.
ImageEben in his home school area. He's ready for first grade.
ImageMan she sure is cute.
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ImageTaking a Thanksgiving walk.
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11.15.2007

Some recent pictures

I have had a lot of fun posting pictures of the kids up. I hope that you are enjoying it as much as me. I think that I probably look at this blog more than anyone else. Fun Fun. Here's some recent pics of the kids!ImageThese two are great friends. They play so great together and are having a good time in school together. Canaan and Nya below are fun to watch together as well. They live in a far off world sometimes that I never seem to understand how to get to. Lately they love to hug and kiss each other.
Image ImageHuckleberry Fin? Tom Sawyer? Dennis the Menace? All three combined!! He's a great boy and is good to his sisters.

10.20.2007

Eben to the rescue

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Over the course of this year there have been some crazy things happen in our city. Our team here has seen many weird things happen. From two attempted murders in broad daylight to love triangles gone bad. We’ve also heard that because so many people are migrating to the cities to find work that the crime rate is also rising. Our town isn’t large by any means but because it has some industry those from the countryside are moving here to find work. But personally our family hasn’t really seen much or been effected by it at all. Well, that is until last week.

On a sunny fall day we had just finished eating lunch when the kids asked if they could go back out on the patio to play some more. They had been out there all morning and wanted to continue playing. While me and Veronica sat at the table talking, the kids ran upstairs to the patio. But halfway up the stairs Eben yelled out that he saw two people on our patio. So I darted up the stairs and looked out but upon not seeing anything I questioned Eben if he really did see someone. I could tell though from his face that he really did see someone. Veronica wanted me to still go out and check and so I headed out on the patio. In a corner of the patio I found two young guys hiding.

I asked them what they were doing and when they didn’t answer I told them that they better scat…then lifting my hands to start defending my family. The kids were behind me at the door so I told them to go to their rooms in case a fight broke out. But by the look on the two guy’s faces they’d never seen such a big fat white guys before and I don’t think that they wanted to start a scrap with me. I should’ve grab them and tied them up but instead I told them to climb the wall into and get lost, just wanting my family to be safe. But they were taking their time and so I picked up a broom and started wailing on them, helping them to then quickly scurried up the wall. The problem is that we are on the top floor and our patio is connected to others patios. So these guys were now stuck up on someone else’s patio not being able to return the way they came, via our patio. The big white guy was the only way out and I don’ think they wanted to try that way again. So they climbed over a few patios and were trying to decide what to do next.

But once I got them away from our family, I started calling the complex manager who then called the police. I made my way downstairs to our complex courtyard and waited to see if they would come down. Upon seeing me looking up on the roofs people began asking me what I was doing. When I told them what was going on the entire neighborhood got excited and involved. By the end of it around 50 people had joined me in the search. They gathered a posse and went looking on the other patios for them. After about 20-30 minutes they had found the guys and cornered them on another patio. About that time the police came and went up stairs. About 10 minutes later they came back down with the two guys handcuffed. They paraded them around the complex in order to let those that were considering doing the same to see what would happen if they tried it.

Eben had saved the day! Once everyone heard that it was Eben that had found them and me that cornered them, we became neighborhood legends, urban legends! Ha…Later that afternoon we saw the policeman again and they thanked Eben for doing the right thing and for being a smart boy who knew what to do. So the picture here is Eben and me with the policeman that caught the two rascals. Now we have friends in our precinct office, G does have a sense of humor. All is well and Eben wishes now that I was a policeman too so that I could go around all day and catch bad guys. I guess in a way I am trying to help capture those in darkness and tell them of a pardon waiting for them.

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10.04.2007

Few Extra Pix of the Girls

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Rules my heart

10.02.2007

我的家庭!

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Well we figured that it was time to give this family of ours a chance to shine on the web. So we decided that a good way to do that is through a blog. Now don't misunderstand what we are going to do with this, this won't be Eben's avenue to vent about his childhood problems or anecdote's. Rather we are using this as a way to keep family and friends up to date with the going ons of our family. We aren't the best at sending pictures and emailing a newsletter. So we decided that this might be a better way.
So here's to a new effort in keeping all you folks back in States updated on the Stringers.
As far as a quick update...Eben is doing great in home school. He read me, Spence, a book the other night. Its the first book he read by himself. We are so proud. I think its because V's such a great teacher, but V tends to think the boy is smart. Nya is sweet as ever and loves to play in her own little princess world. Daddy is her boyfriend and its going to stay that way for a long time. Canaan on the other hand is a mess. She's got some spunk and stubbornness, leaving me and V to debate on who its from. But she's cute and fun to play with.
Here's a recent picture from August while we were in the states for a few weeks. We will hopefully put some more up soon.
Well hope all is well with you guys.
Sp