Gifts to Ecuador

Have you ever prepared a box of gifts for a child through Operation Christmas Child?

I remember doing this at church when I was in elementary school. I remember doing this in homeroom in high school. I remember doing this on my own during college. I have always enjoyed picking out toys, toiletries, and school supplies for a child in another country that does not have as much.

Recently, Operation Christmas Child has made available a way for you to track your box - they will email you and let you know what country your box was sent to.

Nate and I put together some boxes this year, and I got an email saying they want to Ecuador! Yes - Ecuador, the country I minister in this past February!

The email had a link to a website with more details, stories, pictures, and videos. Check it out here if you are interested. The videos will make you smile!

Our boxes were two of 151,200 that went to kids in Ecuador this year - a simple task we did that will bring joy to children and allow them to hear to good news of the Gospel.

Family Christmas

Our family decided to celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve this year, with responsibilities at church on Sunday morning, we still wanted to have a relaxing morning. We set cookies out for Santa on Friday night and crawled in bed anticipating Christmas the next morning!

Amy and Julie decided we needed a real tree this year, and there were several presents under it on Saturday morning! We enjoyed choosing gifts for each other to open - some gifts were to replace what was lost in the flood and others were simply for fun.

After all the gifts were opened, there were still stockings to do! Amy had made new stocking for us to replace the ones lost in the flood. Mom and Dad have not had stocking in the past, but my sisters and I had a fun time stuffing them [overflowing them!] full of goodies for our parents!

My grandma from Maryland was able to celebrate with us this year, and Nate came for our appetizer dinner before the Christmas Eve service at my parent's church. While we celebrated on a different day, we still kept our Tischer Family Christmas traditions alive!

Oh What Fun!

It looks like we should be heading to a Christmas party! Both of my sisters are home, so we are having a party! We've had a couple nice family dinners all together and have plans to celebrate Christmas. Trying on our dresses from high school was just one of the many random things we will end up doing during the time they are home!

My grandma is also in town, so while Mom and Dad are at work tomorrow, my sisters and I plan to spend time with Grandma. We'll probably decorate a gingerbread house, bake lots of cookies, and have Grandma take us out to lunch!

Julie and Amy decided we had to have a real [big] tree in our house this year, so that was their project today. They found and cut down a tree for our living room, and we all spent the evening decorating it. It already has quite a few presents under it, waiting to be opened on Saturday morning. Yes. Saturday. We decided to have a more leisurely Christmas morning on Christmas Eve. We'll save our [new] stockings [that Amy made!] for Christmas morning before church, and have a nice turkey meal for supper on Christmas day! Grandma will be with us for the weekend, and then we head to my other grandparents on Monday to celebrate with more extended family for the day.

It's nice to have the whole family together - we haven't all been together since May! I'm looking forward to our time together as we continue to make Tischer Family Memories - like trying on fancy dresses!

Breaking in the Kitchen

Here's a look at our new kitchen. And that pile of pots and pans means we have been putting it to good use!

I picked out a handful of new recipes to try for my birthday. Mom started working on things in the morning, and the meal turned into a three-person morning activity! Mom was working on three recipes at once, trying to coordinate each one with the others. Dad stepped in to help, but I continued to hear, "Oh shoot!" come from Mom's mouth on occasion - what was going on in that kitchen?! I decided to keep my distance and hoped to be pleasantly surprised when it was time to eat.

My sister, Julie, wandered through the kitchen, and Mom pulled her into the mix! Julie became in charge of grating the cheese...lots and lots of cheese!! I picked out buffalo chicken grilled cheese and Dinosaur BBQ's mac 'n cheese for my lunch. I could have continued the theme and asked for cheesecake, but I requested fruit flan for dessert.

After an overflow on the stove, a few substituted ingredients, and an exhausted cook, we sat down to a very tasty meal!

Nate was able to join us for lunch, and after we ate, we tried another new recipe - eggnog cookies. Nate has not been able to stop talking about eggnog since he started thinking about Christmas, so I figured he would love these! Our time in the kitchen had a few interesting moments as well, but the cookies turned out yummy!

We certainly put our new kitchen to good use today! Notice the lower cabinets, dishwasher, and counter tops in that picture! With just a few details left to take care of in the kitchen, Mom is looking forward to a break on the house project until after Christmas. I'm sure she'll do plenty more cooking and baking with her "time off" and enjoy her new kitchen!

Free Passes

About a month ago Nate and I went to a snowboarding and skiing movie. Everyone who went to the movie got free passes to a few different mountains. With limits on what days you could use the passes, Nate and I went today, even though only a few slopes were open at Windham Mountain. After the two hour drive, we were on the slopes around 11:30. Nate has his own snowboard, and we were able to borrow some skis for myself. Free lift tickets and no rentals - score!

They were making snow and only two chair lifts were open, so we went down the same slopes over and over. I had not skied in two years and the conditions were not excellent, so I cautiously made my way down the mountain each time. We did warm up to an intermediate blue slope, but I let Nate brave the black diamond alone this trip!

We're hoping to use another one of our passes sometime this season to enjoy these winter sports some more!

Think Pink

My coworker, Emily, is pregnant. It's kind of interesting when you work at a pregnancy center and a staff member is pregnant! We have enjoyed sharing in Emily's excitement as she and Ben anticipate the arrival of their little one. Many of us have been predicting the gender of the baby - with lots of guesses for a boy, I said it's a girl. Yesterday Emily and Ben found out they are indeed having a little girl!!

As soon as Micaela and I heard the news, we decided to decorate Emily's office with all things GIRL! We got pink balloons, streamers, and confetti. We wore pink and purple and got pink candy, a pink flower, and a pink gift - an elephant bank to start her college fund! We did this before Emily came into work, and it brought a smile to her face when she came in.

We are looking forward to meeting this little girl, and we loved celebrating with her mommy today!

To Grandmother's House We Go

Nate and I spent some time in Canandaigua visiting my grandparents for a couple of days. After stopping in Skaneateles for their Dicken's Christmas, we joined my grandparents for a dinner my grandma had made. My grandpa sets up his own Dicken's Village in their basement every Christmas, so we checked that out. We played a card game, drove around to check out Christmas lights, and just enjoyed the evening together.

In the morning, we went out for breakfast at a little cafe/diner that my grandpa goes to almost every morning. Three of us got the french toast special, and it was yummy! It was neat to get a peak into my grandparents lives during the time we spent with them. We also went over to their church to see where they are involved in ministry.

Grandpa travels to Ecuador every spring with a group from their church. He showed us some pictures and videos of recent trips, and this led to a mini computer lesson on how to use a flash drive! Grandpa also writes stories about his younger years, so he read some of those to us.

With the Village on display, they have lots of guests during this Christmas season. Nate and I helped them get ready for having 14 people for dinner and a tour of the Village. Grandma also showed us the many paintings she has done over they years that are now displayed around the house. Their dog, Lizzy, kept us quite entertained - she just had a procedure done, so had a plastic guard around her head to keep her from licking it. She kept running into things, but she sure could still eat all of her treats from Grandpa!

We enjoyed our time with Grandma and Grandpa, and I'm thankful for their heart for the Lord. Their desire to serve and live for Him was so evident in their actions and in conversation. What an example they are sharing!

Mom Loves Her Projects!

My mom loves projects! She usually plans ahead before she tackles a project, but when our house flooded three months ago, she jumped right in and took on this new project! She has overseen rebuilding our home from the beginning, organizing days to clear out our house, making sure everything was sanitized and dried out properly, making decisions about what we needed to be able to move back in, coordinating work efforts to re-wire the electric, sheetrock the walls, and install kitchen cabinets, and so much more!

Mom has done all this while still continuing to work her regular job. She has done all this while still fulfilling her commitments at church. She has done all this while still keeping in touch with far away family. She has done all this while still having a joyful spirit. She has done all this while still wanting us to have a special Christmas.

She has put the house project on a slower pace lately, wanting time to celebrate Christmas. Our house progress has moved right along, and she is taking a well-deserved break! There is still plenty more to do after the holidays, and I hope she is able to get the rest she needs to gear up for the next step in this project!

Thank you, Mom, for the time you have put in and the commitment you have made to rebuilding our home. Many have been impressed by your positive attitude, and I appreciate your flexibility as we live together in a half-finished house. We will be able to look back on this experience with great memories! I know your true hope is in the Lord, and He has certainly blessed us with family and friends that care for us. Continue to allow them to wrap their arms around you during this time, encouraging you on this journey. I love you, Mom, and it is a joy to be a part of your family!

In the picture above, Mom is cleaning up after a painting project. She is how she also washed our dishes for a few weeks! We did not have a sink in the kitchen, but she wanted to move in anyway and agreed to wash the dishes in the bathtub. She has certainly made sacrifices during this time, and I hope she knows that they do not go unnoticed.

Looking Like a Kitchen

My uncle came down for a day this past week to install our lower kitchen cabinets and our kitchen sink! We now have running water on the first floor, and we hope to move kitchen items into the new cabinets soon. We still need to install the lazy susan in the corner and the dishwasher next to the sink. Counter tops will be in soon, and kick boards and knobs will come eventually.

We did redesign our kitchen less than ten years ago, and my mom like it just the way it was. That made it easier to make decisions about this new kitchen. She had the original layout and plans, so took those in when ordering cabinets. We did save the upper cabinets, and the store still had the exact match for the lower! We changed a few of the colors, and while we did save our old sink, Mom is excited about the new stove - it has a flat surface, unlike our old one! We have already done some cooking and baking in our new space, and are looking forward to it being done by Christmas.

While we are making progress at our house, homes around the area are at all different stages. I had the opportunity yesterday to help clear out a house down the road. This place had not really been touched for 3 months. Friends of mine from Rochester came down for the day to work on it, so I joined them for the afternoon. We tore out walls and floors, and it was strange to think that my house used to look like that. Unlike us, many families are not rebuilding. Several homes around us have been sold or are for sale. The owner of the home we were at planned to sell the house after it was cleared out. I was glad to spend time helping at a house and being reminded of what others are still working on.

We are still moving forward and continue to appreciate encouragement, prayers, gifts, and support. God has given us a sense of joy and peace during this time through family and friends like you!

Lunch Break

This is Nate's first attempt at taking a picture of us - a little blurry, but I like it! I like it because it reminds me of the times I met him for lunch at his work. Since I have Fridays off, I would sometimes meet him for his lunch break. We met at a nearby Subway a couple times, but then we realized we would have more time if we just brought food and ate together in his truck. It was always fun to spend a little bit of time together on Friday afternoons, but yesterday was our last lunch together at Willow Run - where Nate works. His last day there is on Tuesday! He took a new job at Frito Lay with an undetermined start date at this point. He still put in his two weeks at Willow Run, looking forward to some time off in between around the holidays. He will still be working his part time job at Frito Lay until the transition to the full time driver's spot.

It will be a little harder for me to join Nate for lunch at his new job. He did say that he gets to take a passenger twice a year, so I'll have to join him on the road at some point! He is looking forward to this new position. He has been working at Willow Run for 6 years now, mostly as a yard jockey - moving trucks around in the yard and getting them ready to take out. [By the way! After our lunch on Friday, Nate drove me out back to the yard so I could see where he spends most of his day. I always enjoy seeing where people live or work, so I was glad to see that before his time there is through.] More recently, he picked up a part time job at Frito Lay, hoping to get in there full time eventually. A spot opened up for him, and he is looking forward to scaling down to just having one job.

Maybe Nate will have to come visit me for lunch now until he starts his new job!