1st Holidays in Country #4

What a month it has been!! We celebrated our 1st Thanksgiving in Jordan this year. The kids had school on actual Thanksgiving Day and we made cupcakes for their classes. In addition, both of the kids were able to tell their classmates what Thanksgiving was all about and why we celebrate it. 

We then had our Thanksgiving Meal with some of our friends on Friday. It was a great time of food and fellowship! Happy Thanksgiving! (a little belated).

Then December was upon us before we knew it and Christmas decorations were suddenly overtaking our house! We had celebrated Christmas with family in the States the past 2 years, so I went all out and made sure all of our decor was up! 

And then December 12 was here and Randall turned 33!!! Thanks to some sweet friends, Randall and I went on a date to a movie and dinner the night before and then celebrated his birthday as a family on the 12th. Below is his "b-day cake"...Toffee Brownie Cheesecake Bars! Can you believe all of that is in 1 dessert?? It was delicious! And YES, we shared!

And so the creation of the Teacher Gifts began... Because all of Morgan and Micah's teachers are non-Americans, I decided to make them yummy treats. Thanks to pinterest, I filled the jars with pretzel/m&m/hershey kiss treats and white oreo fudge. I decorated each jar with the teacher's name and decorated an ornament for them. 

The best part was giving the teacher's their gifts. All of Micah's teacher's hugged me and were so thankful! And all of Morgan's teacher's hugged her! 

On to traditions... decorating sugar cookies (for their classes) and taking pics by the Christmas Tree!

Christmas Eve...

The kids had school on Christmas Eve Day, but Randall and I managed to sneak in a coffee date that morning. I had this "genius" idea that we shop for each other and then wrap the gifts and then we would actually have  a"surprise" to open up from each other on Christmas Day. However, we ended up shopping for boots and bought a "need" rather then a surprise. It was a fun time together, nonetheless. (#maybenextyear)

We then enjoyed a quiet night as a family. Morgan read from Luke 2 and they each opened a gift. We played games and started watching White Christmas... A MUST in the McQueen Household.

Christmas Day...

Thankfully, we all "slept in" til 7am on Christmas Morning and woke up to stockings full of fun surprises. We were joined by Randall's parents, who stayed up extra late to watch the kids open their gifts. Thanks G.Pa and Grammy for hanging out with us! 

We had a fun time this year with the kids as they were so excited to open gifts from all of their family!

And then Breakfast! It was definitely a quiet morning as we were alone this year (for the first time). But I still tried to make it special! I made cinnamon roll balls, basically each bite was like eating the middle piece of a regular cinnamon roll. Delish! And we went all out and had ground pork with eggs! Yes, we went all fancy and visited the "Pork Store". YUMMY!

We went back to our roots of 80% Paleo Eating... with Califlower Pizza Crusted Pizza... but with REAL Pepperonis for lunch! Had to make up for those cinnamon roll balls at breakfast! :)

We received an unexpected text, but a very welcoming invitation to join our friends at the park! So, we bundled up.. because its COLD here (Cold for us) and played at the park with friends. 

We came home and took a plate of Christmas sweets to our neighbors, visited with them for a bit and were able to share the meaning of Christmas with them. And then we skyped with more family and had popcorn for dinner, while we finished White Christmas! (Popcorn is a food group, ya know???!!!)

It was a great end to a wonderful day, celebrating Jesus' Birthday!

 Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Love,

Randall, Liz, Morgan and Micah

Running the Race

Most who know me (Liz) know that I've been a runner for most of my life. Its something that I do not only to stay in shape, but to relieve stress and to think out things that are going on in my life (at the time)... which could be causing the stress. :) 

But over the years of growing up and maturing in my faith, running has served as a form of discipline as well as a time for praying and talking things out with God (in my head at least).  Since living overseas, I have ran in 9 different countries... and in all 9 countries, running has been different... (desert, cold weather, hills, flat, rain, beach, shorts, long pants.... normal for women to run outside & not normal for women to run outside) But the one constant is: the act of Discipline.

And then we moved to Jordan this past summer and I was asked by a friend if I wanted to run a 1/2 marathon with her...  It didn't take long for me to say YES because a 1/2 marathon was something I've wanted to do & accomplish for quite some time. I've even trained for a 1/2 marathon before but didn't actually run the race due to other circumstances... 

And so it began... Discipline at its Finest...

"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get that prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that all not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever." (1 Corinthians 9:24) NIV

Sunrise Runs...

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, esp the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith." (Hebrews 12:1-2a) NLT

Hill Runs...

3.5 months later of intense training... running 5-6 times a week anywhere from 2-11.5 miles... sometimes alone, sometimes with my friend... Race Day was upon us!

"I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:13)

"Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it on my own. But one things I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize upward call of God in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:13-14) ESV

"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the good faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day- and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for His appearing." (2 Timothy 4:7-8) NIV

And just like that... the 13.1 Miles was done... I like to say 21K... it sounds so much further! :)

During the race, we were passed by faster runners, we saw people stop to walk (so we passed them), we saw those who were handicapped in some way racing among us, even 2 blind runners who had to have an assistant run with them, guiding them... trusting them (that was probably the most heart felt competitors for me)... and we all crossed the finished line at some point... enduring the miles, the heat, the last up-hill and the discipline of it all.

Training and Running in this 1/2 Marathon served as a picture of what this life is all about... Running the Race, enduring hardship, celebrating the joys and doing it all for the glory of God. 

P.S. running in the distance races is in my blood now... hope to train for another race in the near future :)

Party... Time...

I have several topics that I've written on.. but they are currently in my mind only. I have more pictures to post, but they are stuck on my camera or in iPhoto at the moment... 

Needless to say.. We have been busy and on the go quite a bit over the last month, but I do intend to play "catch-up" one of these days with this blog. 

For now, lets revisit Halloween and fun kid parties... The kids were invited to a Costume Party a few weeks back. We didn't refer to it as a Halloween Party because my kids have in their minds that Halloween consists of trick or treating, riding on a hayride, dressing up, and going door to door, resulting in having a big bag of candy for all of their "hard work". 

It was not that kind of Halloween this year... Instead, the kids did dress up: Morgan was a fairy princess going to a masquerade party of some sort (very cute though) and Micah was Luigi.

This is the amazing table of food that between all of the moms was provided for the party. Such a cute idea! 

And at this particular party, the famous bobbing for apples was done slightly different. It was water-LESS for starters. They tied a string around the apples and all of the apples hung from a pole. The kids then got on their knees and had to bite into the apple to win a prize. It was hilarious, needless to say!!! (And very clean too, I might add).

And then another way of "bobbing for something" was what we did with our fellowship group: Bobbing for Donuts! Thank you to Pinterest for this idea. It was even more funny watching the kids go after the donuts, some taking longer then others, but this time the prize was the donut!

 

Pics of our Princess and Luigi... (face painting was part of it too!)

Other games we did were: Pin the face on the pumpkin, ghost bowling (which consisted of toliet paper with black cut out ghost faces taped on & stacked like a pyramid for the kids to knock down with a foam ball)- sorry for the lack of pics.. they turned out super blurry. They also played 2 rounds of Halloween BINGO (again... thanks to Pinterest for the free printouts).

The whole gang!

At the end of both parties, there were sugar filled children and fun memories made! Until next year... Happy Halloween! 

A Visit From the GREAT!!!

About 2 weeks ago, we had the privilege of a visit from Paw Paw (Randall's Grandfather). It was such a joy to have him with our family and to see him interact with the kids. Micah especially "ate up the time" with his Great Paw Paw. He brought him books to read, games to play and even had him as a roommate, sharing his bunk beds. 

After the first few days, we took Paw Paw all over Jordan... we started at Jerash, which are Roman Ruins outside of Amman. 

So much history... Jerash is the site of the ruins of the Greco-Roman City, Gerasa, also known as Antioch on the Golden River. A lot of walking and climbing!

We also visited Mount Nebo. The place where Moses was given a vision of The Promised Land and where he received the 10 Commandments. The view consists of the Holy Land, the valley of the Jordan River and the West Bank city of Jericho. It was so beautiful and so AMAZING thinking we stood where Moses stood (or close proximity anyway) :)

The Jordan River was also a place we visited...  so much symbolism here... The tour guide said the pic to the right (below) was where Jesus was baptized as the Jordan River once flowed through this area.

And for those that remember, on February 10, 2014, Morgan had asked Jesus into her heart and had waited until her Great Paw Paw could baptize her... it just so happened that we then moved to Jordan a few months later... and the same river Jesus was baptized is here!!! (you get where I'm going with this...)

This is the before picture...

(behind Morgan is Israel!!!)

Such a precious moment...as Paw Paw was giving Morgan instructions on how he was going to hold her nose with the handkerchief and "dunk her"...

Buried with Christ in Baptism.... and Raised to Walk in the Newness of Life!!!

What a priceless moment!!! A memory Morgan will never forget!

Such a special relationship...

A beautiful place where Jordan meets the Holy Land.

We continued our adventure to the Dead Sea... the lowest point on earth! You really do just float...

And since I was there... I had to "bathe" in the dead sea mud... WOW! It was an experience for sure!

Who knew the Dead Sea was so Beautiful???

Saved the Best for Last... The Holy Land!!!

Paw Paw crossed over and  toured around all day with some dear friends of ours...

The Garden of Gethsemane, The Prison Jesus was put into and His tomb...

And the Best News of All....

What a great day for Paw Paw as he experienced the Bible come to life!!! 

(one day our family will cross over and see all he saw with our very own eyes!)

Paw Paw, we are so thankful that you came to visit us. We cherish our time spent with you, all of the amazing sites we toured, the privilege of witnessing you baptize Morgan in the Jordan River and all of the precious memories we made!! We love you so much and welcome you to any home, anywhere we live!!!

 P.S. Micah misses his roommate!!! :)

London in a Day...

I know, I know... I promised to update this blog more often once we moved and got settled into our new country...

It seems like just as we got settled, it was time to travel. Again....

But this time I traveled alone to the UK for 5 days for meetings/trainings & a retreat. The only time I've ever been to the UK is to travel to and from The States with a layover at Heathrow Airport. I had never actually toured or been on the ground... Until Now....

In between a week of meetings/trainings, we took a day off to ride the train into London, prayer walk a very multi-cultural neighborhood...lots of Arabic Everywhere!!! 

But then.... we toured the 2nd half of the day... Whoo Hoo!!! I've only waited 32 years to walk the streets of London...

This was an ABSOLUTE MUST!!! You can't go to London and not take a Telephone Booth Pic!

And the GREEN! So Much Beautiful Green, EVERYWHERE! (this was outside the city where we had our meetings)

Big Ben...Oh! This site was absolutely breathtaking! When I came up the stairs and out of the tunnel from riding the tube and looked up to see Big Ben with my own eyes.... AMAZING!!! (I have to admit, I was imagining Peter Pan, Wendy, John & Michael flying around it on their way to Neverland) :)

The (backside of) Westminster Abbey... The architecture is so beautiful!

It was like a scene out of a Movie being played out before my very eyes!

We literally ran to see Buckingham Palace because we had a 9pm train to catch.. but it was worth the quick peak! I've seen this site so many times on T.V. and to see it with my own eyes was really cool! The rest of the pics in the collage below are sites around the city.. whether it was the architecture, the movie-scene look-alike (in my mind at least), or the famous red, double-decker bus...ALL of it says LONDON!

The top Left picture says it all.. EAT. Seriously, it was like culture-shock, similar to America seeing all of these yummy, familiar food joints. But my FAVORITE was Chipotles... which I actually did eat at.. the rest were just places in passing. But Chipotles was like a Taste of Home for me! 

And one more telephone booth pic... because I can... and because this is such a classic London Picture... (excuse the little-girl/un-natural pose as Randall calls it) :)

 

I loved my time in the UK for several reasons... the ladies I was with are like family to me and the time with them was so special. You can't beat the food there! The touring in a day was so much fun and surreal...and definitely a place I would like to go again with more time to see and visit the inside of some historical buildings. 

Needless to say, another country checked off of my bucket list (with the hopes to return again)... and a reminder of such a blessed, adventurous life I (we) live.