Christmas at our house & PPBS parties!

Our Christmas Eve came early this year! Or rather, we get two of them! :) 

On Thursday we enjoyed a Christmas party for the PPBS Faculty. It is always such a treat to all get together--including us wives and children! 

Here we are enjoying a time of worship through Christmas carols, reading meditations and Scriptures, and prayer. Hosted at Mark & Deb's house, it was fun to get out and enjoy yummy food, games, and lots of laughs in such a relaxing setting!

Wes isn't doing so well with crowds these days, though. He'd prefer to escape to a quiet room or go outside to play on his own. Briana, however, is always a center of attraction! :)

I was able to lead everyone in a carol sing! Yay! It's fun to have an excuse to play guitar. Praying for more opportunities to practice! :)

My friend and our collegue, Shirley. I told her she won the prize for looking the most festive!

 Dave & Sonia

 the ladies!

After the Christmas party, we came home to have our own party!

We have the annual tradition of sleeping under the Christmas tree as a family on Christmas eve. However, since we're leaving on Saturday for Vietnam, we thought we'd celebrate early! 

Needless to say, Wes was REALLY excited about the idea! 

This is Briana's facial expression when she's a little concerned about being too close to a hyper-active big brother! Mommy, please save me!!!

Getting into our PJs! Baby Briana's first Christmas!!

My first Christmas as you dress me up like a bottle of milk?? Moooommm... 

haha

  

Pretzels! Part of Joey's 12 Days of Christmas goodies!!

In the morning, after our wonderful sleep, Joey made scrambled eggs, Nica frosted cinnamon rolls, and prepared iced chai, and we all opened our stockings! (yes, Santa comes early to Cambodia when he doesn't want to haul all his presents all the way to Vietnam by bus!! haha!)

A special shout-out to my Auntie Darlene for making Briana's stocking! Her first time to use it! I love all the special memories it's going to give her over the years! such a special gift. :)

 Wes has a lychee in his mouth. that's the big lump in his cheek in all the pictures. haha!

He loved his new ball!

 ...and dinosaurs!!

...and bubbles!

he also had the very important big-brother job of helping Briana open her gifts! :)

 Briana got a new swim suit! Just in time for our trip!

She likes chewing on the paper the best. 

Thanks, Gramma, for these munchkins! She'll be ready to use them soon!

And no, a sock is not the same thing. haha

Santa brought mommy some earrings!! And lots of other goodies. :)

Friday, after opening our stockings and our yummy breakfast, we headed over to PPBS for their Christmas program. We love hanging out with the students and enjoy opportunities to bring the kids to the school. It really helps the students get to know us better by seeing our children.

Here are some photos of those present. This is their weekly
chapel service time, but with a Christmas theme! I love hearing familiar songs sung in different languages!

And, as you can tell from the photos, they love our kids! Briana eats up the attention; Wesley is going through a "don't touch me!" stage with any stranger. So he is good at escaping the crowds and playing with his new soccer ball on the lawn with his daddy. :)

So, we are off in the morning to Vietnam!!!
Here is a map of where we plan to travel:

 

So, we will leave early Sat AM by bus for the 6-8 hr ride (depending on boarder crossing) from Phnom Penh (A) to the capitol of Vietnam: HoChiMinh (B). We'll go to church there on Sunday and explore a little, then head to the little beach town of MuiNe (C) where we'll be over Christmas, enjoying the beach and the sand dunes. We'll then head up to NhaTrang (D) for a few days to explore the beach and the town. We'll then take the train back to HoChiMinh (B) where we'll finish our city explorations and then take a bus back to Phnom Penh on Sunday, Dec 29!

We won't have a lot of internet access, but if our hotels have access we'll contact our families over Christmas. Hope this gives you an idea of where we're going and will help you to pray for our traveling mercies! We're all really excited! So, I'd better go so I can get the kids to bed and finish packing...in that order!

Love you all, and Merry Christmas!! hugs from all of us!

Joe, Nica, Wes, & Bri