Nov-Dec. 2011-January 2012

And yet another post to catch-up on.:) As hopefully, all of you know, Evangeline Grace Sebo was born December 2, 2011. We were so very grateful to the Lord for His protection, and a healthy, quick, delivery. I had the joy of witnessing the birth and the doctor let me cut the cord. It was definitely an amazing experience and I am very grateful, as well, to have been allowed such an opportunity!

Evangeline had alot of visitors- some family in the hospital, and friends and family in the Lord at home.:) The evening after she was born, our first visitors came: Aunt Adriana and Christina!! 

Tina and I. We had a funny adventure.:P 

(During the course of the evening, Tina and I walked down to the cafeteria to get some dinner, only to discover it was closed! So, we followed the signs to another cafeteria that was open later and got some food. Then we proceeded to head back to the room. You know how every hallway and every floor in a hospital look so similar?? Well, we got into the elevator, with me directing the way, and took the elevator up to floor seven. Tina mentioned that she didn't think we were on the right floor, but I assured her this was the "after labor and delivery" floor. Just as I finished telling her so, I happened to look into one of the rooms and saw an elderly lady sitting in the hospital bed- probably in her nineties. Suddenly, it hit me-that lady couldn't possibly have had a baby!! We were on the "correct" floor, but in the WRONG building! I had gotten seriously turned around and ended up on the seventh floor of the adjacent building!  On the way back, we laughed at the hilariousness of the whole situation! I was pretty humbled that evening.:P)

 Aunt Rocio came with Grandma to the hospital, the next  morning, before they discharged Mama!

 Grandma's (Chrispens) 17th grandchild!:D

 Once we got discharged to go home, Daddy came to pick us up! He surprised Mama with this really cute "announcement!" (I think you can click on the picture to make it bigger.:)

 Evangeline had eight eager siblings at home waiting to hold her. She had quite a bit of excitement when she entered the household! Everybody had worked hard to make it as clean as they could for her arrival and now it was time to take turns holding her.:)

 Caytlin's got her own baby sister now!:D

 She looked so tiny in Ryan's arms.:P

He's a very happy, proud, Daddy.:D

Oma (Pryfogle) came to visit with Aunt Diane that same day.:) (They had just recently got back from a trip to Ireland, so we got to see some pictures and hear a little about their adventures!) 

Aunt Diane and Evangeline

Timothy loves his "baby!" 

Daniel enjoying her.:) (He's so sweet with babies.:)

Some of the Weston family came over to bring us dinner and see Evangeline. So, Emily and I took advantage of the opportunity and she did a really quick photo shoot of us three sisters! It had to be fast, as it was pretty chilly, but the Lord blessed the time we had, and Emily captured this precious moment!! (This is something we are going to treasure for life!)

Jumping back to November, real quick, this year Thanksgiving dinner was at Oma's! We had a lovely dinner with her and she decorated everything really pretty! The meal was delicious and we had a very nice time visiting her.:)

 Our lovely Oma.:)

the boys playing while waiting for dinner

 Very yummy and made with love:)

After dinner there was some wii "tennis"...

 more eating...:P

 ....and of course, it wouldn't be a complete evening without some wrestling.:P

 Timothy hugging one of Oma's dogs

A sibling stair picture.:)

Back to December, we celebrated Christmas with Opa on the Friday before Christmas. He drove up that afternoon and stayed till Saturday afternoon. We had a wonderful time visiting.:)

 Our "Christmas tree" this year.:P

Waiting for dinner

 An almost full table

 Time to open presents! Opa went first.:)

Opa was joking about what his gift might be...Ex: car keys to a mustang, etc. I love Timmy's face here! He's trying to keep himself from giving it away.:P

 A mug from the Dutch store: "Opa's the greatest"

A new dress for Evangeline

We all knew what our gifts were because we had bought them ahead of time with our Christmas money from Opa. We were especially anxious to open them.;)

 Weight lifting gloves

This was a surprise for Ryan and Daniel though-Airsoft guns!:)

Coveralls for Natey

a pilot jacket for Joe

Timmy got one too:)

two pilots ready for flight-without shoes;)

 This was an answer to prayer! I'd been wanting one for a long time!:D

 Coveralls for Daniel, too:)

 Time to open the stockings!

Joe digging into his

 some candy

Isaiah's excited:P

 Caytlin got her ears pierced for Christmas.:)

 Danny

 Bullet ear-phones!!:P

 speaker for my ipod shuffle music player:D

Saturday, just before Opa left, we grabbed this picture. I was so pleased at how it turned out!! Such a sweet moment! 

New Year's weekend a few of us drove up to Murietta for the Yearly Brethren Conference. Mama grew up in the Buena Park assembly and we have many dear friends there. Anyhow, we decided to go all day Friday as that was the only time we'd be able to make it.

Sarah, (myself), and Christine McDonald
(Christine and I worked together at Kako this past summer and we discovered much to our delight that we both grew up knowing the same people in the Brethren circle! So, Christine emailed me about coming up to the conference and, since it had been a few years since we had been able to go, it was a real treat to be there for the day.:)

Friends: Auntie Esther and Mrs. Foyle

 Some other friends.;)

 One of the many young people:)

 Gerald

 A brother who plays the guitar, along with a piano, for the gospel meeting.

 A friendly couple

 Christine's Dad- boy did we have fun with him!!:)

Mr. and Mrs. Woodward and their youngest of six.:) 

Daniel, Joshua and I had fun getting to know the rest of Christine's family and she adopted Evangeline.:) We had delicious meals and Daniel got to play a rowdy game of ultimate Frisbee with the young people while the rest of us watched on. The meetings were a blessing, and it was spiritually and physically refreshing.:) 

New Year's Eve, the Pau's invited everyone from our church over to their house to play games and visit! (Normally, we have a game night at church and then we gather together and the men pray in the new year. This year we couldn't do that because the next day would be Sunday, so the Pau family very kindly opened up their home for an alternate celebration.:) 

While it was still light, some of us played volleyball and football, but the sun was setting fast and pretty soon it turned into "volleyball in the dark.":P Some of the more adventurous played a little longer, but after that, it was indoors for everyone.:P After that, everybody broke up into smaller groups for their chosen activities.

Computer games

 Virtual Battles.. MW3!  :P

 downstairs visiting and eating:)

Aunt Emily and her little neice, Addie:)

 Josiah and Joshua:)

 smiling for the camera:)

  We enjoyed making Italian sodas without the cream! Caytlin and Lizzie were soda maker trainees. When they had it all figured out, we let them take over.:P

Downstairs, a game of charades was going on, and from what I observed, it was quite the game!:)

talking upstairs at the soda "bar":P

It was a very special evening and it was a joy to be able to spend it with friends! We headed home after a great time, tired, and reminding ourselves we would need to get up early in a few hours to go to church.:P

(It's so hard to believe 2012 is here already! I wonder what the Lord has in store for us this year??:) 

Now to skip to January-Mr. Weston did another tour/field-trip at the start of the new year, at the La Brea Tar Pits Museum. The last time we went on a church field-trip was in 2007. We drove up with some of the Pau family, which was alot of fun.

Walking over to the lunch spot

Eating lunch before the tour

  

Christine Ouatu holding Evangeline.:)  

 Mr. Weston preparing for his tour

 The turn-out was actually the biggest we'd ever had and actually only a handful of us were from Warner Avenue Christian Academy (our homeschool group).

Jeffrey, Isaiah and Joshy (Ouatu)

 watching fossils being cleaned through the glass

A few of the Pau's:)

 Mr. Weston conducting his tour

 The main tar pit outside the museum

Josiah Pau "hanging out"

 Ryan, Joe, Natey and Danny looking at another tarpit.

 "Question and Answer" time

 the young guys;)

 posing with a bear (or possibly a giant sloth?)

 After the tour, some of the kids had fun running up the hills and rolling down them. After having to walk quietly around a museum for the afternoon, it was good to see them get their energy out for the trip home.:)

It was really fun to ride with friends.:D 

Last, but not least, Joshua celebrated his 6th birthday on the 4th and we celebrated it at Souplantation. Our little "Joey man" is growing fast and as we are so grateful for his enthusiastic and cheerful spirit. We love our Joey!! Happy Belated Birthday, Joe!  (or Joshwee, as dad calls him...)

Whew! Okay, thanks for staying with me. This post is finally coming to an end. Lord willing, next time I'll try to post more consistently.:P 

"Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,  I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

                                                                                                          Philippians 3:13-14