Baby Randy

Congratulations to my brother Travis and sis-in-law Janelle and the birth of their new baby Randy (named after our daddy). He was born on the 17th and we were so excited to celebrate him on Thanksgiving! Sammie and Jaxon are stoked to have a baby brother. 

This is him on Skype with his auntie Tiff, saying "I'm hungry!" 

Happy Thanksgiving

For one of our school projects, we made Indian feathers. Little did I know, Daddy was outside making the boys bow and arrows to go with them. It was a fun school day as we talked through America's history. It will always be in our hearts, no matter where in the world we live.

Our fun feast that consisted of chicken and gravy, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole (from scratch with battered and fried onions on top and a mushroom soup), sweet potato pie (butternut squash with marshmallows on top), corn, veggies and ranch dip (packet from America!), rolls, pineapple/marshmallow/apple/whipped cream salad, no bake chocolate oatmeal peanut butter cookies, peanut butter balls and a dutch oven pumpkin pie from scratch.  

It was fun to cook it all! But it was even more fun to see my boys light up when they saw it all! Yay for no rice and curry! 

One Happy Family

Koda's festive sign and the boys artwork from school

One day during our school time, we crafted little turkeys out of coconut shells. My brother gave me the idea! The boys collected their sticks, mommy cut the feathers and daddy hot glued :)

The boys colored these! So proud of how well they're doing in school- Koda writing and reading and Kenai coloring in the lines! 

It was overall a great holiday! We sure do miss our family back home and holidays just aren't the same. It was my first Thanksgiving with my dad gone; hard to process at times, but the Lord is holding me up. 

Rubi and Allan's Wedding

Rubi and Allan have been planning on getting married for some time. With the difficulty in understanding of some family members, its been a hardship for Rubi and Allan. With the blessing of Rubi's immediate family and all of her friends, they decided to get married and just make it a small ceremony. But like any girl that gets married, its supposed to be the day that you feel the most beautiful for your new husband. Its a day like you never want to forget. For Rubi and Allan, they believed that "fairy tale" was an impossibility for their financial situation. As soon as Rubi told me the news after Ladies Tea on Tuesday, I looked her in the eyes and told her that I wanted her to feel like a beautiful bride, like I did and like many girls do on their wedding day. Cody and I discussed it and wanted to give them a wedding gift; and what more than to "make up" the bride as a gift! I knew she didn't have the money to get a dress/saree and I couldn't imagine her not wearing something beautiful and white on her day. I took her shopping the next day; we had two days to get everything before wedding day. We found a beautiful saree (wedding dress) for her, and all the jewelry and decorations that matched. She took some gold earrings to the bank to get some money to buy Allan a wedding ring. I helped her pick out his ring as we bartered with every jewelry shop in Pottuvil, our nearest town. After lots of bartering, we were able to get that ring for the price of $50. She was so excited to get it and I was so proud of her for being responsible by purchasing it herself. She had just enough money left to buy Allan a white collared shirt and a tie. The next day was Thanksgiving and I had planned to cook the whole meal, so Rubi and I both went shopping at the markets for all the food that I needed. She knew I wouldn't be able to help her the next day, as it was a family day for us and I would be very busy. 

So when wedding day came on Friday, Sharmely, Inoka, Saje and I went flower picking at 6:30 am. We got arms full of beautiful flowers and were able to decorate the local church just enough to have a special touch. Thanks to my cousins that do it all the time, I had some good ideas to go off of. We had the church decorated by 8:00 am and I was off to Rubi's house to get her all ready. Sharmely did her make-up while I did her hair and jewelry. She looked and felt beautiful. 

I ran home to shower and grab my camera and was back at the church by 9:30 am, where I captured their special day on my camera. I put some of those shots below. 

Sri Lankan Life

These are beautiful birds that we've spotted flying around our house and yard lately.

Koda is pretty much done with taking naps, but sometimes we still have him lay in bed and read books. This is how we often find him. Just a little tired, I'd say :)

Just a normal morning in our front yard; kids following the cows around

Koda and his best buddy "Uncle Boo" playing caramb (the pool of Sri Lanka)

Hashni's Birthday Bash

One of our precious friends, Naranja asked us to help out with her little girl Hashni's birthday party. Cody decorated a beautiful cake for her and she had a nice little party. My heart breaks for this little girl. Another birthday went by and her daddy is in jail. He was falsely accused of murder two years ago. He has been in prison ever since. The system here is so bad and messed up, that his trial has not even begun. To get me to understand how long it takes to make something like this happen, Inoka and Sharmeley explained to me that the men that raped and murdered their parents over 18 years ago, have still not had a trial. 

It is a weekly prayer that we pray at Ladies Tea, that this precious family would be reunited. They have faith that Papa will do this, but not knowing his will and plan is the part that we work through all the time. Keep these precious girls in your prayers and their daddy/husband. 

Girls Night

We had an EPIC GIRLS ONLY Dinner and Dance Party. It was such a blast! 

We competed using our Wii Dance games. There's one Hindi song on there that the girls know and enjoyed dancing to. But they loved all the songs. Saje took first place and I took second. Fun times! The girls love doing things that get them out of the normal "boring" (as they call it) routine. 

Live Fish Well

Cody helped his fisherman friend Kumar make a live bait well for the side of his boat. I can't imagine how he would have done it on his own. Cody used his electric drill to drill out all the holes for the water flow. Kumar was super thankful. 

Halloween

The only "tradition" that we did this year for Halloween was to carve a pumpkin. The kids had so much fun helping daddy carve it out. 

Electricity for the First Time Ever!!!!

After 55 years, with the help of the HDC team and STN staff Andy, Johnson's parents now have electricity for the first time ever. We went as a family out to Komari village and spent the day with them. Cody and Andy and Johnson worked hard to finish the job and Lathika (Johnson's wife) and I played with the kids and helped Johnson's mom Charlotte make lunch for everyone. 

 Johnson and Lathi's precious baby girl Stephanie

 This is Johnson's niece. She is so cute. This is her showing her teeth- haha! 

 Rice and curry lunch. Johnson's mom makes the best! 

 Appa Johnson and Stephanie

 Andy and Cody working hard

Johnson's dad Ratnasingam working hard cutting up fish to sit out and dry. They sell this during the off season and people it when there's no fish.

Koda all smiles playing in the garden

Washing dishes time!

Charlotte all smiles after having light in her room and house for the first time after 55 years.... tears and all. Thanks to HDC team for helping financially and hands on, Andy and Cody for their hard work. 

What a job!

Lathi and Steph