In November... a field trip with friends to the York County Museum for a planetarium show and visit to the nature center:
A birthday party at our friend's (the Lemmonds) house....
Emma is probably Abby's new favorite person in the world. She is new to our CC group this year...
Snuggles with friends during house church...
Rocket Day at CC!!! Dads even came over lunch to watch all the fun. This station was launching film canister rockets:
Stomp rocket competitions:
Everyone watching one of the "big rockets" get launched. The very first one went REALLY high and drifted over the church into a neighborhood across the road. After CC ended for the day, the kids and I drove around, and I finally got a glimpse of it hanging from a big bush in someone's backyard. So I snuck into their yard, climbed a wood pile, and hugged a bush to pull the rocket toward me... and it was officially recovered! As I was leaving, an older lady poked her head out the door, so I just held up the rocket and waved. :)
Practicing worship in the little room at Cherry Park. The first weekend of October, we had rented the pavilion and it was BLAZING HOT. We rented it again on November 10 and it was SO COLD we had to move into the little enclosed room.
One week at CC, the kids learned about homelessness and Matt and Lana Shaw's ministry "Speak Up" in Charlotte. Then they put together "blessing bags" to keep in their cars to hand out when they encounter someone who is homeless.
We invited some Chinese students to our house whom we had met at the "Friendship Dinner" sponsored by International Fellowship at Winthrop University. These students are here for one year getting their Masters' Degree. They came to our house to teach us how to make dumplings. They wanted "American food" too, so I put some oven-fried chicken in before we went to pick them up. When we got back to the house, the kitchen was all smokey and some of the breading on the chicken was starting to burn just a little. All the Chinese students "ooooh"ed and "awwww"ed when I pulled it out. Here they are rolling out the dough for the dumplings...
Learning how to pinch the dumplings closed...
Watching how they boil the dumplings. Some were boiled, some were steamed...
Caleb made chocolate chip cookies too...
Their "American" names: Brianna, Emma, Ariel(?), Zite, Mindy(?), Kay (?), Carrie (I get the three with the question marks mixed up)
They realized Micah played an instrument, so they all wanted to hear music. Ben and Micah played and sang "Goodness of God." When they were done, two girls had tears running down their faces and one said, "I don't know why I am crying. That song makes my heart feel so funny."
We asked for a Chinese song, and to our surprise, they started singing, "Take Me Home Country Roads." Evidently, that is what they think of as a "classic American song" and many kids in China learn it.
Nothing to boos your teenage son's confidence like a bunch of 20-something women who want to hear you play guitar!
Babysitting our little friend Selah Shaw. She is the cutest! And not afraid to take Caleb down! :)
House church at Arnold and Juanita's house...
Wild drivers!
We wanted to take a picture because Ben and Micah and I were all wearing red. Caleb decided to step in. :)
Last day of CC before winter break.... presenting about musical dynamics...
I popped in Challenge A. They were doing scrabble with Latin vocab...
At the International Student Dinner, Caleb was a hit with the Chinese students showing them his magic disappearing-card trick:
It was Brianna's birthday, so we all sang happy birthday to her. She was so grateful, she cried, then shared that she couldn't believe she had so many friends to share her birthday with. :)
We put up the Christmas tree before we left for Maryland. Abby was a little excited... :)
On Lindsey's birthday, Carrie and I and the girls drove half way to meet her and Zuri in Gaffney. Happily reunited...
After lunch, we walked around a mall. The girls all wanted to try on some outfits...
So then as a joke, the girls got to pick outfits for the Moms to try on. We of course has to pose like them too! 😆
A bunch of churches in Rock Hill did a joint Thanksgiving worship service. It was in an old beautiful church... there was a choir with robes and a whole variety of music. Rock Hill Vineyard led the last song. :)
Micah loooooved the grand piano!
We drove up to Maryland on the Monday before Thanksgiving. This is the first we saw Kenton with his "permanent" leg.
The first couple of days were BEAUTIFUL weather. Cousins played ultimate frisbee and Spike Ball outside, and then when they needed a break, they played Mafia. There were a LOT of mafia games that week!
Tuesday night we had a belated 80th-birthday party for Dad/Grandpa. First order of business, Caleb and Grandma had a chocolate chip cookie contest. The three birthday people (Dad, Kenton, and Kaitlyn) got to be the taste-testers. Grandma won unanimously! (Caleb demands a rematch for next year.) :)
We got in teams and wrote out the words "Carl Bender" down the side of a a paper. Groups had to come up with words that started with each letter and described either Dad or turning 80. Then they had to take those words and make a poem/short story about Dad.
Making gingerbread houses with cousins!
Abby was proud of her marshmallow snow man. :)
This is the first year we didn't do a gift game. We all opened presents from Grandma and Grandpa, and then we played some fun games. There was a "family trivia" game (which meant Grandma and Grandpa had to tell a bunch of stories!), a not-so-newlywed game (with Grandma/Grandpa; Kenton/Holly; Dennis/Machelle); charades, and then the game where you put an Oreo on your forehead and have to get it into your mouth without using your hands.
Kelsey and Hunter. (Less than a month after this picture, they got engaged!)
