Wordless Wednesday- Dancing in their PJs!

Christmas Snapshots

An ornament i made.

Giving daddy his gift.

John Deer tractor from Great Grandma Day

One of Elijah's favorite things... Legos!

Legos from Nana and Granda Charlie!
Elijah's so excited he hugged his brother!

Geoff's gift to the boys was a cross bow that shoots foam darts.

Joy and I sharing a cup of coffee on Christmas afternoon.

The Gill on Christmas 2010

Family, Food, Fellowship...

What a great day it's been.

It's Christmas night and Ethan is in bed already! With no nap today and lots of activity he passed out before 6:00! I just hope he sleeps all night now.

It's quiet for the moment so I'm taking the opportunity to share some pictures with the family. (Thanks Rachel for sending some of your pictures. We missed our far away family today.)

Geoff took my brother back to the airport yesterday. He flew to Florida to spend Christmas with the parental units.

One last brotherly hug before they're off!

The Red Bearded Brothers

The boys and I were home cleaning, cooking and getting ready for today.

Before bed on Christmas Eve we let the boys open their gifts from each other.
Elijah was so excited to give his present to his brother!

Then it was off to bed praying for a white Christmas!

What Christmas traditions to you have at your house?

From our home to yours...

Ethan had his first, long over due, hair cut recently!

Before "the cut"

After!

When Geoff saw him after his hair cut he said "where's my son?" He looks so different and so grown up!
Thanks Katie, you did an awesome job!

We've had family visiting from Florida. And my brother came down from Chicago so we've been a little busy but having lots of fun. Here's some snapshots of what we've been up to.

Lots of books read.

A maturnity shoot for Baby Topel.

Juicing with Grandma

Playing and walks outside.

An early Christmas.

A visit to Santa. (poor Ethan)

Reading with Grandpa.

And lots of snuggles!

We had the privilege of seeing 45 students of the training center graduate on Wednesday night.

Such a blessing to see these folks going forth to take God's word to places it's never been.

The winner of the card giveaway is Joy! Congratulations Joy!

Merry Christmas!

Book Review and Giveaway

Hello! Welcome to The Missionary Mama, today's stop on a the blog tour for the adorable children's book, Red in the Flower Bed: An Illustrated Children's Story about Interracial Adoption by Andrea Nepa.

Andrea Nepa and her daughter, Leah

Andrea Nepa is the mother of an adopted Vietnamese daughter named Leah. In 2001, Adoptions from the Heart assisted with the international adoption. Andrea dedicated her book to her daughter: "For my dear Leah, whose journey in her young life has already taken her to far away and unexpected places." In 2006, Leah was diagnosed with cancer. She is currently in remission. Andrea lives with Leah and her husband, David, in Haddonfield, New Jersey. She is a registered dietitian for the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

"The journey of adoption is beautifully depicted with the comforting imagery of a poppy flower who is welcomed into a garden family. It is a charming story of "seeds" being planted in the perfect place - exactly where they belong. Children and adults will enjoy this simple yet meaningful story and homespun illustrations. The book's loving approach helps children to understand adoption. Andrea Nepa has captured the essence of adoption and family, and has illustrated it beautifully with images and poetry that even a small child can comprehend and enjoy."
Watch the YouTube video book trailer

You can find Andrea Nepa on Facebook.

Buy the book.

You can read an excerpt here.

Thank you to Tribute Books for asking us to be a part of the book tour!

While you're here be sure to enter our hand drawn Christmas card giveaway!

Click here to enter! A winner will be picked tomorrow!

Family in Town!

On Wednesday we drove to St Louis to pick up my sister and brother in law and brother Andrew.

Here we are excited to be on our way!

Elijah was excited to see them too.

He said "When Andy gets here it will be like i have a big brother!"

Crystal and Andy's flight arrived about 1pm but my brother Andrew's bus wasn't arriving until later that evening so we hung out at the mall for a while.

There was this beautiful carousel in the mall!

Ethan and Crystal



The boys loved it!
I love Ethan's face in this one!



Elijah and I.

Fun!

Once the mall closed we drove to the arch but it was too dark to take a photo so here's one of the well lite up old court house instead.

It got so icy that night that Andrew's bus was two hours late. Then it took us two extra hours to make it home. So a three hour drive turned into a five hour ordeal. We didn't arrive home until 5am Thursday morning! We're thankful we made it home in one piece unlike others we passed on those icy roads!

Crystal and Andy were only here for a couple days but we managed to fit in a photo shoot!

Mom and Dad arrived Friday afternoon so we had an early family Christmas since we were all together. (for one evening)

Ethan got some new books from Grandma which he thrilled his little book loving heart. =)

Our Family

Enjoy your weekend!