It's gettin' kinda hectic

The holidays are starting to get underway around here.  Or should I say busyness?!  Friday night Steve and Olivia went to a daddy/daughter dance put on by our church.  They had a great time.  Unfortunately, I still have not taken the time to get the pictures of the two of them from my phone.  But at least here you can see O in her adorable Christmas dress.

This girl is turning into such an amazing person.  I wish you could get to know her.  (Granted, she does have her moments...) but overall, I am so proud of who she is becoming.  Recently, we've decided to sponsor a child through Compassion.  Steve and O spent a long time researching countries.  We told her since the brothers have each other, we could choose a girl O's age.  They settled on a six year old from Bangladesh.  Her name is Pritilota and Olivia has been THRILLED to have a *sister.*  We sent Pritilota her first letter with O's school picture from this year.  Apparently we will get a letter back from her at some point.  Dear lord, please let it come soon, because this girl is beside herself to hear back and its only been 12 hours.  It's been a joy already to pray each night for this girl a half a world away.

This week is our neighborhood's home tours.  Several homes decorate and allow people to walk through.  Sunday night was free for people in the neighborhood.  It started out with carolling in the park.  It was a warm night so we managed to make it through half of the tour.  If you live in the Dayton area and are ever looking for a cool thing to do at the holidays, I would highly recommend the Oregon District home tour!

Our neighbor, Rob, is one of the tour guides.  It really is a fun and unique experience.  And my kids were even complimented on their manners.  And I didn't even medicate them before hand!  Our kids were very disappointed to find out our house was not on the tour.  When I made a comment about people probably not wanting to pay to walk through our trashed home, Olivia declared, "But our house is BEAUTIFUL, Mom!"  See what I mean?  She is such a keeper!