As 2020 comes to a close, COVID-19 is still a thing! A big thing in fact. It's crazy to think that back in March we were like, "Well, I guess we have to stay home for two weeks." 😆
At CC, on week 12, the kids got to put together their "body" that they had been learning about the past 6 weeks. Julie set up a whole operating room... it was so fun!
Abby's class:
Challenge B students came through during their break, and Micah noticed one little girl having trouble, so he stopped to help. :)
In Essentials, we played Parents vs. Kids Jeopardy and then had a hot chocolate bar while we read papers to each other. (The picture order got messed up.... the hot cocoa bar pictures are further down the page.)
Abby stayed home from church one Sunday because her tummy wasn't feeling good. To fell asleep at 6:30 that night and didn't get up until the next morning. But she was feeling much better then!
Until, that same day, her fish, Violet, died. :(
Sad Abby...
Keeping themselves occupied during "Table Time"...
The CC "Escape Room" review game and Christmas Party...
Here's pictures of the hot chocolate bar we did for Essentials Week 12:
I made the kids personalized mugs too. :)
Micah got to volunteer at the Operation Christmas Child processing center in Charlotte twice this month.... once with PTG (he went with the Ziebers) and once with a group from CC:
I saw one of my cousins post this on Facebook and just wanted to save this. This is the prayer my Grandpa (Norman Bender) said before every meal. (Actually, I think my Uncle Raymond said it, but he got it from his Dad, Norman.) I remember my Dad (Carl) often saying some form of "without the loss of one" during prayer at our house too.
The day of the CC Christmas party, I was supposed to bring clam chowder and cornbread. The clam chowder took a little longer than I thought to make, so I was rushed with the cornbread. But then it just WOULD NOT bake. I finally got to CC late, and put the cornbread in the oven at church to finish. I never could get it to bake right. When I got home, I realized why... the boxes of cornbread mix were still on the counter! What I was trying to bake was nothing but oil, eggs, creamed corn, and sour cream. 😆
One of my students gave me warm fuzzy socks for Christmas that Micah posed with.
Everybody putting in a new fan in the living room! We finally have a light that works in there!
Logic Camp for Micah and myself.... we loved it!
While Micah and I were at Logic Camp, Caleb and Abby did "Grandma and Grandpa camp" all day. :)
Abby had a Christmas dance recital! They had only learned their dances in 3 weeks because all of November dance was canceled since Ms. Tabitha and her family had Covid. (And then it was already scheduled off the week of Thanksgiving.)
The best part of December was Friday, December 18... the day we FINALLY received an official referral from Haiti!!!!
The night before, I had written this Christmas letter, mentioning that although we should get a referral soon, I'll "believe it when I see it." The very next morning we got the call! https://teamganson.blogspot.com/2020/12/merry-christmas-2020.html?fbclid=IwAR29XqV8Ez5EKPzO2x7h3_aaLMpO39GIX8Xy6tvOBtBt1r2hS1V9btQQE-8
I was on my way to Planet Fitness Friday morning when Angela Jackson, our adoption agency worker who oversees the Haiti program, called me. She chatted for a little bit about COVID and church, etc., and so I thought she was just checking in to see if we had heard anything from immigration or something small like that. But then she asked if I was home with Ben because she would like to talk to both of us... because she had received our referral! I think I probably deafened her with my "NO WAY!"
Ben was at work, so I texted him to say that we had received our referral and he needed to answer the phone when Angela called. So Angela called him and conferenced us together. (Ben said he was with Mike Jette when he got my text, and Mike left him alone to take the call. But Mike said he could hear me through the wall exclaiming at everything Angela said.) That's when she revealed that the referral was for TWIN 18 month old BOYS! I just couldn't contain myself I was so excited about two LITTLE kids! I sat in the parking lot of Planet Fitness and we talked through all the information she knew at the time and looked at the pictures she sent. (As I'm writing this blog post, I can't yet post the pictures or put their names on anything public like this blog. That will have to come later, after the adoption is "finalized" in Haiti.) Their names are a hoot, and we're praying about what to do with them. :) For now, we'll call them M & M.
I forgot about exercising and headed home (after stopping by the post office to get the church mail like I needed to do that day.) I called for the kids when I walked in the door and told them I had a surprise for them. I showed them the picture on my phone and said, "Meet your new twin brothers!" I've never seen three more excited kids, jumping up and down and screaming. :) Then we asked Joyce if she and Wes were home so we could stop by. Once we walked in their house, I told them we were stopping by because I thought they might like to see a picture of their new grandsons. Micah recorded their reaction. It was pretty fun! :)
Another fun part about that day... when I got home from Planet Fitness, our neighbor, Cliff, had dropped off a Christmas card for us. We don't interact with him much, but he wrote us a sweet note about how he always appreciates the cookies we bring every year and that he thinks we are doing a great job with our family. He included a $100 bill in the note. I thought it was a little "God note" to remind us that he will provide for our adoption. And later that afternoon, when I actually walked around to the neighbors to deliver the cookies, I was able to tell Cliff's wife, Marta, what that meant to me. So now we know that there will be a 7 1/2 year gap between Abby and the twins. The year she leaves for college, they will still have one year left in Foundations/Essentials at CC (elementary school.) 😳
Ben's office had a Christmas decorating contest. Ben pulled in Caleb and Abby to be elves the day of the judging.
We all had to turn our backs while the judges made their decisions. We joked that Mike Jette was standing in the corner...
Ben made our kids stand right in front of the judges while they made their decision. They still gave Ben's team 2nd place. Those heartless people!
Abby helped Ben at work one day, and Mike Jette told her that if she organized his desk drawers, she could keep all the change he had. She was VERY excited about counting it all up. :)
Sometimes Ben just likes to take pictures of his view from his office. :)
The same day we got our referral, we got to have Anna Fichtinger (age 3) spend the night while her parents were away! Abby was so excited, and she loved playing "big sister!" Anna slept on the floor in Abby's room, and Abby said she only cried once at night until Abby gave her a stuffed animal to hold. The next morning (Saturday), I came out of my room at about 7:15. Anna was coming out of the bathroom. She had already changed, brushed her teeth, and "made her bed." Who is this 3 year old???
The Moody teenagers came over to hang out, but I think Anna roped them into entertaining her most of the time. :)
Just a little Christmas shopping...
Two cookie trays someone ordered from Caleb:
The "Christmas star" appeared around December 21... the first time it was visible in 800 years! It was really Saturn and Jupiter just very close together in the sky. We drove to Riverwalk to get a good view, but I realized we could have seen from home too. For all the talk, we weren't that impressed. 😆
A picture someone took from their telescope... you can see Saturn's rings and 3 of the big moons orbiting Jupiter.
One day when we didn't have much to do, we decided to try geocaching. We found 3 at Cherry Park and one at Winthrop. It was a pretty day, and the kids and I certainly had fun!
My advent wall... every day revealed a new name for Jesus and a Scripture to read.
Christmas morning, believe it or not, there were a few snowflakes outside! It was a Christmas miracle!
Caleb's favorite gift was probably his axe that had multiple tools in the handle...
Abby checking out her Hatchimals:
Micah's gift to Ben... 😆
Mastermind was a gift we got Micah that was immediately a big hit. The kitty pillow around Ben's neck was something the boys gave Abby...
Christmas afternoon we went to the Kaufmans to open presents and see the Ziebers too. We played a hilarious game that was kind of like "telephone", but with alternative drawing and writing.
The word I had to draw was "ultrasound." I thought I did a pretty good job...
It morphed a little as it went around the circle until this was the last drawing Becca did. She thought she was supposed to be drawing "giving birth.":
My birthday was on a Sunday, so after church while Ben took the kids to play flag football, I sat at Panera and read a book and ate a lot of really yummy food. Then I did some shopping for Abby's birthday and went home to relax in the evening...
Super impressed by Abby's friendship bracelet maker:
Caleb enjoying his axe:
On Tuesday, Dec 29, the Buchers came to visit (they had just had Covid and everyone was all recovered and out of quarantine), so we had the Buchers and Ziebers over for dinner. Then Carrie and Lindsey and I went out for coffee the next day. That evening, Carrie had a positive COVID test. (whoops!) So we quarantined for 10 days. (The tests Ben and I took 5 days after exposure came back negative.) Carrie felt pretty bad for a while, but recovered just fine, and no one in the rest of the Zieber household had bad symptoms. Since we didn't have a party at our house like normal on New Year's Eve, we had a yummy dinner just to ourselves. Ben was asleep by 11:00. The kids and I were in bed by 12:05. :)
