Thanksgiving in Scotland

This Thanksgiving we were invited to some MTW Missionary friends' house for a wonderful evening. Jennifer and James live in Dornoch, which is an hour and half north from us. We all had a great time with lots and lots and lots of yummy food. We had a real treat...they had a couple visiting them from the US and he was a professional chief. Need I even say the food was great! Poor Andrew had injured his neck the night before so struggled through the night a bit but at the end he said that he had had a wonderful evening and so did the rest of us. Gaius and Gideon stayed awake the whole time, however as soon as they hit their car seats at 10.30pm they were out cold!
From the Left: Jennifer, Andrew and co and next to Eleanor is James.
Other new friends from Dornoch.
It looks like Andrew is leaning forward but he is not...this was the permanent position of his hurt neck - poor guy. He is such a tough guy and kept up with the weekend's plans, including preaching an AWESOME sermon Sunday on the Centurion in Luke Chapter 7, without looking like his neck hurt!
Gaius and Gideon had sooooo much fun with the kids and all the nice adults.
This photo may seem strange, TWO Turkeys. Yes, I told Jennifer I would make a duck but I could not source one and Andrew wanted Turkey, Jennifer could not source the Ham she was going to do so she did a HUGE turkey. My turkey was not needed so we took it home. What does Eleanor do with an extra turkey? Invite friends over the next night and does Thanksgiving again! Of course! We invited our good friends the Birds over and I made a full Thanksgiving spread! It was fun and a great night. We sure have a lot to be thankful for.
We bought edible decorations for the tree including candy canes, chocolate/caramel bells, and smarties (like M&M's) balls. Tonight during our second Thanksgiving dinner we let the kiddos put them on the tree - they loved it!


Gideon had a hard time once he realized there was chocolate in them. He was desperate to eat them. For some reason you will not find any edible decorations near the base of the tree!
Our beautiful TREE!!!
It looks like the Turkey got to the dog! All the turkey Andrew fed the dog while he carved the big bird, and the rest of the scraps from the table has put our Max to sleep. He is snoring as I type! I think we will be joining him soon.

OH CHRISTMAS TREE, OH CHRISTMAS TREE!!!

Sure, some of you will think I am crazy but we love it! We all went into town today and were able to get our Christmas Tree!!! Now that I think of it, how ironic it is that we came in from the country where we are surrounded by trees to the concrete laden city to buy a tree--kind of odd, yes--but hey they were cheaper! This year we bought it from Home Base and could not have been happier with our 6ft 10 pound tree. FYI that is a record low price normally they are 30 pounds for 6ft. Besides, we think it is perfect for our little cottage! While in town I picked up a few things to decorate our window with.

We came home and had an amazingly festive time. We really could have been a scene in a movie...Christmas carols playing in the background while the mother puts on a tasty yet healthy supper. Father and son put up the Christmas tree with little tot looking on with wide-eyed excitement. Photos being snapped left and right. Then, after a lovely dinner, they all hung tree ornaments and lights and decorated the room with festive little bits and bobs. The only thing wrong with this picture is Gaius' mohawk! I cut his hair yesterday morning and could not resist leaving a mohawk - at least for a week, then I will shave it off! Daddy does not like it very much but Gaius and I do!

I hope these photos put you all into the mood to begin celebrating JESUS' BIRTHDAY, the best time of the year!

Toddlers Group

We enjoy going to Toddlers. For those who do not have a clue what I am talking about...Toddlers is a community or church based mother and child play group. We go to one on Fridays in Kirkhill, which is just 5 minutes down the road. This past week we visited a Free Church group at a church I have spoken at in the past. I had a lovely time. Really, these groups are just a great excuse to let your children play with toys you can't afford to buy and talk to other women!

This was the first time Gideon had ever sat at a table like a big boy! Ahahahaha he is growing up too fast! Tuesday the 25th of November!
This toy is way cool and Gaius has so much fun playing with a table covered in trains! Example for reason #1 why women take their kids to Toddler groups--toys they can't afford:)

An Unexpected Weekend! Gideon Went to Hospital.

This weekend we had a fun outing planned with our friends, Andrew and Karen - dinner and a movie (they organized baby sitting!!!). My Andrew and I were very excited about a night out as we don't get them very often.

Friday morning at 5.30am when Gideon woke Andrew got him out of bed and Gideon's right eye looked like someone had punched him. I kept an "eye" on it for the morning. I called our GP to get an appointment as it did not seem to be getting any better. The GP saw it and thought we would need to go into the hospital to have the specialist look at it.

So we took him to the hospital that afternoon. The ophthalmologist told us it was conjunctivitis that was a bit out of control and gave us drops and asked to see us on Saturday morning. Yeah! This meant we could still go out, and we did. We picked Gideon and Gaius up from the baby sitter in town after the night out at about 10pm. I picked Gideon up from his bed and the swelling in his eye had doubled in size again. We left Gaius where he was and rushed Gideon to the ER(A&E). We saw the out-of-hours GP who then went and got the Ophthalmologist we had seen earlier - the poor guy was till there at 11pm. He booked Gideon into the children's ward for intravenous antibiotics and observation. He also noticed it was spreading into his other eye. By about 2am Gideon was getting his first intravenous antibiotics. He stayed there till Sunday afternoon. The staff in the children's ward were wonderful and Gideon is doing great. On the second morning the swelling was almost completely down. He is now at home on oral antibiotics, two different types. This infection is something they take very seriously because its vicinity to the brain could be a problem. Gaius had a wonderful weekend - he got to stay with the Wyllie's the whole weekend!
Photos just do not do justice to how big his eye was but here is one anyway. It was his right eye.
Gideon in his bed.
Gideon's hospital cot bed. He loved to put the bar down.
Gideon's hospital room. There was a bed and bathroom with a shower for the parents.
Gideon Feeling Better

Growing Up!

When I was in my teens I remember feeling as though life seemed to roll along like a Cadillac on a sandy beach. Every decision I had to make was directly related to how "long" it would take. Wow! a year-long commitment was like signing a mortgage, it would take a lifetime and by the end I would be "old." I have distinct memories of my father trying to persuade me to believe that four years was really not that much of my life, "Yeah right, Dad." Well, it turns out that 12 months is an amazingly short amount of time and the mass of different things that can be thrown into that year is a whole 'nother story!

Gideon, is just over a year and I can't believe him. I looked across at my little baby sitting in his high chair and it was uncanny how much he looked like a little boy. Gideon is as opinionated as his brother and Gaius can no longer get away with either having something that Gideon doesn't have or stealing things from him.

The whole point to this post is to show you a very cute photo of Gideon in his new car seat facing forward. Boy, did he love it and he felt such the big boy!



Gideon's stamp of approval---sleep! Gideon is our ball-lover and this was his special treat from Mommy while we shopped to-day. He is funny how he will kick and throw a ball while he is on the ground but he also loves to just hold the ball. Funny kid! Gaius got a matchbox airplane - he is really into airplanes!

p.s. Some of you might be wondering whose car Gideon is sitting in. Our good friends, the Wylies, lent us their car as our car's breaks gave out. Praise the Lord! (for the loaner, not the break problem!) We were waiting in line for gas (or waiting in the cue for petrol), moved up to the pump, and bamm - the breaks did not work. I was driving and it was terrifying! Praise the Lord we were not on the main road.

A Restaurant

My mother called this afternoon, just briefly, in the car as she and my father drove to the restaurant to link up with another church family after church. I have no idea which restaurant but I do know that I wished I could have been with them to enjoy the fellowship.
The last Sunday the kids and I were in Houston after a wonderful worship service when Dad preached a sermon that convicted me so greatly...time for a rabbit trail...

"you can listen to this sermon http://www.ffarpc.org/sermons.htm, Sep 21(Andrew has a couple there also!! plug plug:)). I was greatly convicted by the fact that the one thing that I needed to do to be happy from a spiritual perspective is to share my faith and minister to others! The location is not the most important thing nor is it the people you are working with, but rather the fact that you are doing it. Sure it is wonderful when you are with people you love and in an area you like, however the only way to truly be happy is to come to the realization that your sole happiness is in glorifying God, and obeying His commandments (Matt. 28:16-20). Then you will enjoy Him and subsequently your life - no matter where you live, what you do for a living, or which church you are a part of. It is wonderful when the Lord speaks to you afresh with an encouraging word to give you great hope and clarity of thinking!"

...O.K. back to the post...we all went out to the Mexican restaurant just down the road from the church. I remember it like yesterday - the long table filled with people I love, people of all ages, occupations, and backgrounds, united by Christ! When I come home this is something that I look forward to with great anticipation--I can't wait till the next time.

My Mom had put Gideon to sleep and he was peacefully sleeping in her arms, all the other kids (led by the oldest, Ashley, where outside playing and my parents and church family were sitting around laughing and having a wonderful time!

Sermons

At the bottom of the posts you will find a Sermon player containing sermons for your encouragement. We hope to continue posting updated sermons on a regular basis. Please continue to look back for more!

Gideon's HUGE First Birthday BASH!!!

Where do I begin...this party was amazing and I don't know how we will top this one. The Matthews Family will find any excuse to throw a party and get everyone together for food, fun, and fellowship. Gideon's first birthday was a wonderful excuse. We had over 45 people come to help us celebrate his birthday at the village hall. Our good friend Andrew W. owns a bouncy castle business and generously brought two castles, a carnival pop corn machine, bubble maker machine, and bucking bull (this was the favorite). Thank you Andrew for all your hard work! Everyone had a great time! We also had a few games and a piñata, which the kids loved. Add some food, drinks, friends, and fellowship and that's what we call FUN! Hope you enjoy the photos!

Happy First Birthday Gideon! All the children (over 18 ranging from 1 year to 15) played beautifully together and had a wonderful time. These two girls are so lovely -if I could I would adopt them tomorrow! They both took great care of Gideon (so I could be a good hostess) and Gideon thought he was in seventh heaven. Two beautiful girls to entertain him, play with him and all the activities, and meet all his hunger and thirst needs!

Gaius' girlfriend on one of the two bouncy castles. This castle has a small opening and inside it is a cave-like area with plenty of room to bounce.

The hall was so full of bouncy castles, bucking bulls, food tables, drink tables, and a carnival pop corn machine that there was hardly room for the adults to sit--but we figured it out!


This bouncy castle was a real crowd pleaser. It had a large bouncing area and a slide--Gaius' favorite!


We had two games, musical chairs and the flour game. Everyone loved the flour game. I made an uncooked flour cake and placed a candy on top. The goal was to go around the circle with everyone taking slices out of the cake while trying not to make the candy fall. Whoever made the candy fall had to go in head first and dig it out with their teeth. Lots of Fun!!


The bull was one of the kids' favorites and definitely the adults' favorite. All the kids had a go multiple times and so did a lot of the adults. Even a grandpa gave it a go and he was far better then I was! Gideon, the youngest bull rider on record--loved it!
Texans doing what Texans do!

It is a lot harder to get on this bull then you might think and for that matter it's a lot harder than it looks to stay on it! Andrew was the master bull rider, doing Texans proud! I was just an embarrassment to Texans in general (Andrew lasted 14 seconds on high while I lasted 2 seconds on extra low - can't go any slower--to my defense I was sitting on the thing wrongly and it was not till after I had fallen off the thing three times that Andrew W. explained what I was doing wrong!


We arrived back home from our trip to Oban on Friday night at around 7pm. I then began to cook six cakes and then fill them with three different fillings. What a fun excuse to stay up till 1 am! The next morning I got up and put these six cakes together to create this two to three layer teddy bear. The belly of the bear was a rich fudge chocolate cake with a dark chocolate truffle filling three layer cake. The head of the teddy was a vanilla cake with a raspberry cream filling. The paws and ears were a banana cake with a cream cheese icing filling. The entire cake was iced together with a butter cream icing to hold it together. Then it was topped with a whipped cream icing to give it that soft teddy look. It was yummy! Though I did not get any cake at the party I made up for that after we got home in the evening and then next day. Cake sure does make a yummy breakfast--at least when no one is looking!

Everyone is singing Happy Birthday to Gideon!
All the kids loved the piñata, and it was a real hit! It was one of the last things we did and the kids all took little bags of candy home with them.
Gideon opened a few presents, he received tons, at the end of the party. Then a few more at home that night, then a few more Sunday early morning, late morning, after church, after naps and before bed! The next Monday morning Gaius woke up, walked into the living room where the presents were housed, looked around as said, "More presents Mommy? Gideon more presents?"