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December 2014

Our last month living in the United States.  We've come a long way since last January when God started really laying this overseas move on our hearts.  Thankfully, we've had some meaningful time with family here in California, and we've been able to celebrate some momentous occasions and build good memories.

This month my dad turned 60!  Although we celebrated a bit early so my brother could join us, we also celebrated Quito day in honor of the city that my father grew up in.  I can't get enough of the ceviche and empanadas that accompany this special day that will always remind me of my rich heritage.

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We also spent that same evening decorating for Christmas.  

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Homeschooling was very loose in the month of December.  We spent a lot of time just doing extra fun things, and focusing on what Christmas is about.  We especially enjoyed going through Ann Voskamp's Unwrapping the Greatest Gift and making our paper Jesse Trees.

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Since we are truly nerds at heart, we also went to the STEAM Maker Faire in Del Mar.  We had a great time seeing all the amazing things that people have made and learning more about science.  Guest appearances with Star Wars are always an added bonus!

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Steam fest San Diego

Phil accidentally started a new business this month too.  This guy truly has the best timing!  He is making his own custom wooden keyboards or selling them as kits.  Check out his website!  Even kids can make them.  =)

Atreus cases


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N also turned 7 years old this month.  He shares a birthday with Jesus which is pretty cool.  We took him to Boomers and Panera Bread for his birthday with the grandparents.  We definitely miss having all our friends around, but we had a lot of fun playing video games, bumper boats, go-karts, and a round of mini-golf.  Happy birthday!

Birthday golf

So, remember how I said last month that I need to be better about taking pictures at holidays.  I made a real point to take a bunch of pictures at Christmas of the people we were with and things we did.  It was great... up to the point when I was downloading the pictures onto my computer and accidentally deleted half my pictures from December.  Thankfully, we had some pictures from Phil's camera and a new camera we got from Christmas!

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Playing with our new rocket balloons with Great-Aunt Rickie and future-Aunt Shannon
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These guys sure know how to get us into the Christmas spirit!  =)

A couple of days after Christmas we went for a prayer walk at a local monastery.  The views were amazing.

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Phil and I also celebrated our 10-year anniversary on New Years Eve!  Here's to another 50 more!

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We also got all of our paperwork done for Thailand.  We leave January 15th!

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So, that was our last month.  Good-bye 2014!  We are looking forward to the adventures this new year has in store for us.
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