Christmas Day

Merry Christmas from Togo, West Africa!!! We have had a great day celebrating the Lord’s birth. We started out our morning the good ‘ol American way- opening presents!! Then we headed out to PoWayi, a village about 45 minutes outside of Kara. We worshiped with the Christians there and were treated to a theatrical performance. It was great to see them all working together to put on a play about defeating Satan in daily life. Afterward, they served us a delicious meal of foo foo, spicy peanut sauce and roasted guinea fowl.

The boys loved checking out all of the farm animals at our host’s compound. This is their favorite part of going to a village! In the picture above Owen is seated by Grandmere (which means grandmother in French.) I think she got the nickname because she is so serious all of the time!

This evening, we continued our Christmas fun by eating another great meal at the Reeves’s home. The children had a great time swapping stories about their gifts. The big hit at their house was bathrobes, believe it or not! I noticed nearly all the kids wearing Elijah’s new bathrobe at some point in the evening.

The day would not be complete without calling our parents and siblings back in the US. We were able to contact almost everyone. Thank you grandparents for the wonderful gifts!! We love and miss all of you very much!

Annual Pageant

The Night of Jesus’ Birth

Cast: Hannah Reeves as Mary
Graham Ries as Joseph
Elijah Reeves as the Angel
Isaac Ries as Shepherd #1
Owen Ries as Shepherd #2

The children performed a short version of the Christmas story for about 20 people this week. Each child, except Owen, had their own solo and lines to speak. Everyone did a such a superb job! (No stage fright or missed lines!) Afterward, Graham tenderly carried around Baby Jesus for awhile. He took his role very seriously.

Our team kids have been performing a Christmas play every year since we’ve been in Togo. Andrea Miller had all of these nice costumes made for the first one…that was 5 years ago! Becky had to let out the hem on several of the costumes this year. I think we’ll need new ones next year. We missed Mary Claire, Peter, Rachel, Honor, Abby, Aidan & Asher this year!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

Charger

Yesterday, Bryan returned from Accra, Ghana with a new puppy! You can imagine the excitement when he pulled in the driveway. Charger is a 4 month old Rhodesian Ridgeback. (Notice the ridge of hair down his back.) He’s a beautiful copper color with a dark brown mussel. We all participated in giving him a flea bath and then Bryan spent 40 minutes picking ticks of his body. What love! Charger’s a little bit on the skinny side unfortunately. But, he’s eating well and hopefully he fatten up before too long. Owning a Ridgeback has been a dream of Bryan’s for a few years, so it’s extra fun to see him with Charger. We are all having a good time getting to know this new canine member of the family.

Happenings

We’ve had a interesting few days. We had a farewell party for Katie Skipper, our 3rd grade teacher on Saturday evening. Since October, she has done an excellent job teaching Isaac and Hannah and will be sorely missed! It was also a joy to get to know her over the past few months. Thank you Katie for all of your hard work and to GracePointe Church for sending her to us!

Our family enjoyed the tradition of decorating Christmas cookies on Thursday evening. Bryan and I commented on how much Isaac and Graham have improved over the years in their decorating abilities. However, Owen is still at the frosting eating stage!

Yesterday, we went to a local orphanage where about 45 children live. We were treated to a song and dance routine by some of the elementary age girls. Then, we served them spaghetti and spicy tomato sauce. Our boys and the Reeves kids donated some of their toys. It was a great opportunity for the children to serve others.

It was put upon my heart during our time at the orphanage to pray specifically for these young children to be protected from abuse. Please join me in praying for these little ones.

As you can see, we are staying busy with the holidays even in Africa! However, I’m thankful not to be bombarded with advertisements constantly. (I admit that I am affected by them as much as kids!) We will be staying in Kara on Christmas Day. A few days later, we will travel to Burkina Faso to visit missionary friends. Blessings to you during this joyful time!!

What are you doing for the holidays?

Snowflakes in Togo

The snowflake craze started a few days ago at school. Graham, Elijah and I decided to decorate our schoolroom with a few wintery snowflakes. Of course, it doesn’t snow in Togo, but what do we care?!

I was reminded how magical it is to make a paper snowflake! It’s tedious to fold the paper into a perfect six equals portions. Not to mention the fine motor skills it takes to make the tiny cuts. The best part is slowly unfolding the paper and seeing the beautiful snowflake!!

Graham and Elijah oohed and aahed over each and every one we made. In the picture they are pointing to the ones they made. They were very proud of their handiwork!

After being reintroduced to this winter craft, I went home and made 11 more! If you haven’t made a snowflake in awhile I recommend you try it!!! It’s great fun!

Family Updates - Owen

Owen is a high energy, silly, and affectionate nearly three year old who wants to be just like his big brothers! It is amazing to watch how he “apes” and “parrots” them constantly. And yet, he is very much his own person! He is always on some sort of mission as he runs everywhere he goes! It’s hilarious.

He loves going to tennis with his big brothers. (He doesn’t actually take lessons, but he thinks he does.) He’s interested in horses and wants one for Christmas. This interest has been brought about by watching old black and white episodes of the Lone Ranger. He loves to watch as he uses the couch arm as his horse. He wears his cowboy boots and cowboy hat and giddy-yaps along with the theme song. It’s precious.

It’s fun to see how his personality is developing too. He has the typical toddler temper. He wants his own way and will try to change my mind anyway he can. It’s nice that he’s the third son and I can handle his fits with more calmness and confidence than in times past.

He’s a talkative little guy, adding more words to his vocabulary every day. He likes to make silly faces and falls down on purpose to get a laugh from his big brothers. He holds his own very well in our lively family! The only time that he sits still is to read a book which is surprising to me! Although, I am thankful for this trait.

Owen is a fun little guy to be around. He brings lots of joy and excitement into our lives. I love this child of mine!!

Detective Mom

The case of the strange poop is the latest mystery solved in my brilliant career as a mommy detective. I’ve solved many interesting cases including suspicious blood drops, vandalism, and missing cookies. I have a knack for examining the clues and interrogating the suspects. Thankfully, all three of the usual suspects are quite honest little boys.

My most recent case called upon my expertise in stool and urine samples. I’ve been honing this skill for quite some time…8 years to be precise. Since babyhood, I’ve casually examined my children’s waste for signs of illness or dehydration. So, yesterday when I changed Owen’s poopy diaper I knew his poop wasn’t normal. It was a suspicious light yellow almost white color. This caught my attention. I touched the specimen (with the other side of the diaper of course!) and noticed the consistency was unlike other poop. My investigative mind began to whir…What could this be? When did he eat this? Why did he eat this? It was obvious that the “crime” was committed by Owen, but what was his motive and what was the mysterious substance?

I remembered that he had been playing with Play-dough a few days ago AND it was yellow! Ah-ha! However, the motive still eluded me. He’s played with Play-dough many times without ingesting. Ah-ha again! He had a stomach bug earlier in the week before he ate the Play-dough. Perhaps he was dehydrated and the salty dough tasted extra good. After brief questioning he even confessed! Case closed.

Gas Bottles

I never thought gas bottles would effect my life so much. Growing up in a home with a natural gas line and and an electric stove, I assumed that energy was a magical thing that just appeared when needed. Well, now I know differently. Gas bottles are a major topic of conversation in our home these days. There’s been a gas bottle shortage in our town for about 3 months now. We need one for our oven/stove and one for our dryer. Bryan and I are discussing daily about how to solve our mini energy crisis. We check in at our local gas station often where gas bottles are sold to see if a new shipment has arrived. They always say “next Tuesday”. So, we have a small hope each week. But, the gas bottles still have not arrived. When our last bottle finally ran out the week before Thanksgving, we bought one from SIL, the Wycliff Bible translators compound, and that lasted for awhile. During this time of one bottle, Bryan moved the heavy thing back and forth between the stove and dryer. (It’s too heavy for me to move!)

During normal conversation with just about anyone gas bottles comes up. When will they arrive? How many do you have left? What are you going to do without gas? Etc. We heard a promising rumor this past week that in Lome gas stations were refilling gas bottles at double the price. We had arranged through our friend Muhammed for a taxi driver to take down 2 of our empty bottles to refill and them bring back to us. That same day Muhammed was waiting at our house with 4 full gas bottles! Two for us and two for the Reeves family. He knew we were short and decided to sell us some bottles out of his surplus at the regular price. After his gracious deal, I breathed a huge sigh of relief. I hadn’t realized how much this gas bottle thing was effecting me. I praise God that he cares enough to touch me even in the mundane details of my life!!! I thank him for his provisions….we never ran out completely and I was able to cook for my family each day!!!

Family Updates - Graham

Graham is a bright and happy six year old. (Except when he’s fighting with one of his brothers!) He and Isaac have starting taking tennis lessons recently and he is excelling at the sport! He is also doing great in school. At the moment, he is learning how to read, add and subtract numbers, all about people from around the world and animals. His favorite subject is recess, but he is especially talented in math. (He takes after his dad!)

His personality is developing more and more each day. Most of the time, he is very loving and thoughtful towards others. He and Owen have a special “brother buddy” bond going on right now. Graham enjoys watching out for his little bro. Graham also has the loudest and most contagious laugh ever! He loves to giggle with friends. I think it’s his #1 friendship making strategy. He is also very spiritually minded. He is always asking questions about God, heaven, and Jesus. Just this week, I overheard him asking Joseph, our day guard, if he was a Christian. Joseph said yes. Then Graham followed that question up with, “Do you tell your family about God?” I was so proud!

Unfortunately, he has also inherited the Ries/McCormick family temper!(At least he comes by it honestly!) He can get himself pretty worked up at times. But, as he grows, I know he will learn to handle himself better.

Graham has his first loose tooth! We’ve been waiting a long time for this first. He is determined to pull it out himself and not let me touch it!

Graham is joy to be around and encouragement to me in my faith. I love this second son of mine!!

Sports Camp

We had a great weekend with our missionary friends, the Koonces, Crowsons and Freisen families and our teachers. We enjoyed a delicious belated Thanksgiving feast on Thursday evening. Then Friday and Saturday we had our annual Sports Camp!! The dads (and occasionally the moms) coached the children in sports skills. This year the sports of focus were baseball, soccer and basketball. This is an event our boys look forward to ALL year. It was a great time of learning about sports and sportsmanship. Our theme scripture was from Isaiah 40 : 31, “..but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” The highlight for me this year was worship on Sunday morning. It was very refreshing to sing with so many people in English. I treasure the times when we are able to encourage each other in the Lord.