This is going to be a very full post. We've had a lot going on the last couple of months! Crazy stuff!!
On November 2, our church did something they've done a couple of times. We had "underground church." Instead of meeting at the church building, we met in various "secret" locations around town in smaller groups. The point was to show a tiny glimpse of the challenges faced by the persecuted church around the world, where in many countries, they must gather in secret.
David led our group. We met at the Caves house under the guise of having a birthday party. Everyone came with Bibles in gift bags and the whole bit. There was to be no written communication indicating it was for church. But I can't tell you how many people forgot and texted me questions about "underground church" instead of the "birthday party."
Anyway, this is our group that met.
Later in the month, while David was in Haiti, I was stressing over a meeting with someone who has been less than kind. I asked Bekah to pray for me about it - that it would go well. Here is our text exchange that afternoon.
She is so funny! "Jesus prob. slapped him upside the head and told him to be nice." Ha ha! Love my quick-witted girl!
While David was in Haiti leading a team and building the foundation for a new church building (below), Mom came to visit. Lydia roped her into playing Scene-it. They were hilarious. Neither of them recognized most of the movies.
We also took some time to lighten Lydia's hair a little bit. These are the before pictures.
These are the after pictures.
Bekah led worship at youth group.
And I passed the CFE exam and got my Certified Fraud Examiner certification! Woohoo! A year of studying paid off!
We sipped a little hot cocoa while decorating the tree. The girls are so grown up now, it doesn't take long at all to get the tree up and decorated.
We had the office Christmas party. When our CEO/President came by, Mark asked if we could get a photo with him.
So here we are. Back row: Mark McFarland and Wayne Smith. Front row: me. Leslie McDaniel, Kallie Forte, and Kristi Meyer.
We also had a work group outing that was SO MUCH FUN! The directors paid for us to all go to The Escape Game in Nashville. You're locked in a room and have to solve a bunch of riddles and find clues that lead you to the key so that you can unlock the door and escape. You have one hour to finish the game.
Our group was big, so we split into two groups, both solving similar riddles/puzzles. Our group escaped (and got the I ESCAPED stickers). The other group didn't make it out in time. Their stickers say I ESCAPED. We had so much fun! It was super awesome!
In our group above are Duane Harper, Brian Chaffin, Rob Stouder, Leslie McDaniel, Kallie Forte, Kristi Meyer, Roger Brotz, me, Steve Mahoney, Richard Beard, and Mark McFarland.
Jon Boye posted this get-well card a kid made for one of their patients.
"Happy Holidays. Hopfuly you dont die"
Kids! Too funny.
The Tuckers came over and built a gingerbread house with the girls. It was barely built and they dismantled it and ate all the pieces.
Bekah got her braces off!!!
Williams got some good LEGO time with David.
GG got some good snuggle time with William.
We played games together at Christmas. We played this game called Telestrations. It's kind of like the Telephone game (where you whisper a phrase to someone, and they whisper the phrase to someone else, and then it moves to the next person...and at the end of the line you see if everyone repeated it correctly).
Only with this game, you choose a secret word, draw it, then the next person guesses. Then the next person draws it, then the next person guesses. And you see in the end if you end up with the same word.
The game is great for a good laugh and for poking fun at each other's drawing skills.
The word I drew from the deck was "coyote."
I had to think of a way of drawing a coyote that would be guessed as "coyote" and not "wolf" or "dog."
So I thought, I'll draw Wile E. Coyote (with the Road Runner, of course) and surely Aunt Judi could guess this.
I guess not. She still guessed Wolf!! Ha ha!
Needless to say, I didn't win that round!
Here's the fam at the Christmas Eve service at church. Mom wasn't feeling well, so she didn't go.
That night, when we got back to the house, we took a family pic of everyone together, including Mom.
We got to hang out with the Boyes. Jon got a Lego dreidel and Hasidic Jewish man. I didn't even know they made such things!
That wraps up all the happenings for November and December!
