Christmas is here!

The fam at the Christmas Eve service

Our family traditions live on! On Christmas Eve we went out to eat at one of our favorite restaurants after the service at West Cobb Church. We figured out a few years ago that there's not much of a wait on Christmas Eve. We walked right in and ate some great steaks.


Chris and Kate

Christmas morning we did stockings-brunch-gifts, but everything seemed 'extra' special since all six of us were here together for it. Today we're headed over to see the other half of the family (the Borders clan). More photos to come!


The tree at the Christmas Eve service at West Cobb Church


Kate, the designated cookie cutter


Cookie decorators at work: Kari, Corrie, Christian and Mom


Cousins: Dannelly, Kate and Corrie


Chris is famous for his creative cookies. This year he took one with a crack and painted on jeans and a shirt to make a 'plumber cookie'. No one ate it.


Cousins: Chris, Kari, Jonathan, Bryce and Corrie


Girl cousins: Kari, Kate, Corrie and Dannelly


Playing Mad Gabs - very funny stuff...


...as you can see from us (Jonathan) laughing "with" me!








Kate and Kari modeling Hungarian scarves


Chris opening gifts in his stocking

We've saved the best for last!

We started the week at the Member Care conference in Richmond, Virginia at ILC, went through Marietta to say hi to our parents, and finished the week in Tennessee with Kate and Chris. But I jump ahead of myself...



Glenn and I had a great week and really enjoyed the conference, especially the time with our teammates. The shopping wasn't bad either!



We also had various errands to run and "things to do" while in Richmond. One of the things to do was to mail two suitcases to Darin and Kesha who served with us in Budapest. They completed their 2 year commitment overseas and returned to the US in November, but needed help getting some things back to the States.



Another thing we had to do was go to Cheeburger Cheeburger (no misspelling there) for Glenn. We ate there several times when we were at ILC a year ago. They are famous, or rather, well-known for their homemade onion rings and about 25 flavors of malts and shakes.


Yum! Yum!

Our Member Care teammates

Glenn and I ate there at the beginning of the week to make sure it was as good as we had remembered (it was!) before we took our teammates at the end of the conference. You know, if you know something is good, you want to share it with others...

On Saturday, we flew to Marietta for a quick visit with our parents. I mean "quick"! Barely over 24 hours.

Lunch at the Borders' homestead

We ate lunch with Glenn's family and spent the afternoon visiting with them before heading across town to spend some time with my dad and Emogene.

Johnny's Pizza

First choice was pizza (natch) so we ate at Johnny's on Saturday night (Don't worry, Kari-we're still on for Johnny's next Saturday when you get here!)

Second choice

Sunday morning we visited First Baptist Church Marietta where my Dad and Glenn's parents are members. It was good seeing all our old friends and meeting their new pastor, Dr. Bill Ross. We decided to go to FBCM this first Sunday because we will be speaking at our home church, West Cobb Baptist Church, on December 23rd.

After church we ate lunch with my sister Elizabeth and her husband Brennon, Dad and Emogene at our favorite Mexican restaurant and then went to visit our former next door neighbors, Ed and Jo Chupp. I can't believe I forgot to take a picture of them! Someone needs to remind me to do it when we go back to visit them when Kate, Chris, Jonathan and Kari get here!

After a short visit with the Chupp's and talking with the family that is living in our house, we headed up to Maryville, Tennessee to spend a few days with Kate and Chris.

It was soooooooo good to see them!

Glenn and Chris are going backpacking Wednesday-Friday while Kate and I stay home (dry and warm). On Friday afternoon, we will all head to Marietta for Christmas. Jonathan and Kari arrive from France on Saturday! It is such a wonderful blessing to all be together for Christmas this year. Thank you God for your goodness to our family! May we never forget how awesome You are!

This One's for Kari and Jonathan!

We said good-bye to dear friends in Budapest and boarded a plane on Friday at noon that took us to Richmond, Virginia by way of a short stop in New York. We arrived at ILC on Friday night and crawled into bed at 12:30 am (which was 6:30 am Budapest time!). A long day, but fortunately, uneventful!



This photo is for Kari and Jonathan who are also so close they can almost taste it!



Sleeping until 10 am, we finally crawled out of bed to go meet Brian and Michelle Stevens at Applebees for a long lunch. They are the wonderful couple that is coming in April to Budapest to manage the Eden House. We enjoyed getting to get to know them, sharing about the work and ministry, and hearing about how God led them to join our team. We ask you to keep them in your prayers as they have MUCH to do to get ready! We remember all too well all there is to do before saying the last good-bye!



Glenn usually spoils me by letting me choose where to eat, but Glenn put in his request long ago for Cheeburger, Cheeburger so that's where we went for dinner on Saturday night. They have delicious "real" hamburgers (you know, not pressed patties) and the most awesome fried onion rings. Their only weakness is that they serve Pepsi. Coming from Atlanta, we are Coke fans through and through, but up here in Virginia, everyone serves Pepsi.

In just a few minutes Glenn and I will be heading back to the airport to pick up Alvin and Mary Doyle, our co-workers from Budapest who have been on their stateside assignment for the past 5 months. They are attending this Member Care conference also, and then will have one more month in the U.S. before returning to Hungary. It will be good to see them again and get caught up on their news.

We will be here until Saturday, at which point we will pass through Marietta on our way to Tennessee to visit with Chris and Kate, arriving at their place on Sunday evening. We look forward to seeing you soon!

America, Here We Come!

Monday morning we woke to a surprise!



Two inches of beautiful snow had fallen during the night.



But have no fear! The stores were ready with their many different types of sleds; everything from the old-fashion wooden ones to spiffy, ultra-modern plastic seats that hold nothing more than a bottom and two feet. Fortunately, I own a pair of ski pants that would keep me warm while sledding. Unfortunately, we don't live near a hill. I remember when Glenn and I were first married and living on the seminary campus, we woke to about 6 inches of snow one morning. We learned that poor seminary students "borrow" the plastic trays from the cafeteria to use as sleds. It works pretty well, if your bottom isn't bigger than 12" x 18"!



Saci loves the snow, but doesn't like the draft in the mud room, so every so often she would step inside the house to see if we had changed our mind about letting her in. Her family returns to Budapest tomorrow so we will have to say good-bye to her! She's been a great dog!


Glenn "babysits" the older Corder children...


While I babysit Rachel!

In addition to the exciting birth of baby Rachel, we've been able to spend some time with Nancy who came for knee surgery. After getting dressed in her stylish hospital gown, one of the orderlies needing to get the surgical room ready came in and and asked her if surgery would be on her left leg. We all kinda panicked!

So we decided to mark her left leg just to make sure there wasn't any doubt. NEM! means NO! Her surgeon and the nurses all got a kick out of it, as did the rest of us!

She was in and out of surgery within an hour, and two hours later was eating a hamburger from Burger King! Everything went well with the surgery and she is recovering nicely.

Today we said good-bye to the Corder family as they returned to their country of service. We have grown so close to them that it was difficult to say good-bye. I told Nancy as the Corders pulled out of the parking lot, that saying good-bye to folks that we'd gotten to know so well is the hardest part of our job. We will miss them!

And for those of you who know how much I love dishes (Kari, Kate, Kristin, Donna, Diane), I hope you noticed my Christmas dishes and goblets. When I started setting the table for this meal, which was on December 1, and pulled out my small amount of Christmas dishes, I grieved a little for all the dishes and things I gave away or sold before coming. Same thing at Thanksgiving! I kept thinking, "You know, a year ago I had ..." Oh, well.

Tomorrow starts the real countdown until we fly to America. 5-4-3-2-1! We leave here on Friday morning, and will arrive in Richmond, Virginia that evening. Saturday, we are meeting up with the ISC couple that will be coming in April as host/hostess of the Eden House for two years. (They live about 2 hours from Richmond.) On Sunday, we will pick up Mary and Alvin Doyle, our co-workers, at the Richmond airport. Mary and Alvin will be attending the Member Care conference with us next week. It will be good to see them again. They return to Budapest on January 10th.

After the conference, we will spend one night in Atlanta before heading up to Tennessee to visit with Chris and Kate for a few days. Kari and Jonathan arrive in Atlanta on December 21st. We hope we get to see a lot of our friends during the short time we are in the Atlanta area! I'm sure the time will fly by all too quickly.

Szia!