Thanksgiving up until Christmas 2019

Every year there is a display of handmade wool, shyrdak rugs by our friends at Altyn Kol in Kochkor. If we're in town, I try to swing by and I'm often tempted to buy something, even though I already have a half dozen shyrdaks in my house. This year was no exception, though I did walk away empty handed. See if you can pick out the carpet I wanted to take home.

I'll tell you, it's the circle one above. the blue was so vibrant and almost teal. I loved how different it was from the other rectangular shaped carpets. I do have a picture though, so it might be a future, custom order from me...we'll wait and see.

Turkey! Each year we host several Thanksgiving get togethers. This was the turkey for our first one!

We set up a kids' activity room for them to play with Legos, make band bracelets, do stickers, etc. while the parents "talk."

Our first Thanksgiving of 2019!

The table of yummy goodness!

Traditionally, we set up for Christmas on the weekend following Thanksgiving, so here we go. Our Kyrgyz Nativity set.

Our tree for the year.

My favorite "new" ornament is the Paris ornament we picked up last December when we spent Christmas in Paris with our friends, the Weltons.

Table in the entry way.

Another Thanksgiving feast.

Kids playing and talking in the office.

Our Thanksgiving #2 group photo.

Following Thanksgiving, we went to Karkol for our yearly outing to meet up with business associates and get in some skiing with friends!

Kids in the backseat.

We made a gas and bathroom stop and all the animals find the girl who is the animal whisperer...yep, she wanted to bring them all home with us.

I'll admit, I was tempted to bring this kitten home. Sissi named her Amber because of the color of her eyes.

Cows at the gas station!

Trains on the tracks, by the dirt road.

And, cows walking along the side of the road, with their owner/herder on horseback.

We made it to Karakol Ski Resort.

Indy and I on our 22nd Anniversary weekend.

The view from one of the top lifts at Karakol.

About the midpoint, coming down.

Sissi did great. Her ankle was acting up. It was the first time skiing for the season and her ankle still gives her problems from her fall off her horse last fall.

Sissi with her friend.

Some other views from the top of Karakol

Krypto, ready to head down.

Krypto's good friend, Ian, on his board.

Just some of the things you can buy when in Karakol.

Card games at dinner with friends, while the parents talk business.

Tired kiddos, staring at a wall sized world map.

The cute son of some friends of ours.

Parents talking business over dinner. 

Stopping by for some coffee and hot chocolate at the new Karakol Sierra.

Sunny morning, but we're at Sierra!

My birthday dinner, after we got back to Bishkek. We went to "Meat Street" which is about 4 blocks from our house.

My dinner was really, really good!

Gwangi had his favorite, khachapuri.

Me and my girl at dinner.

The boys across the table.

Indy and I at dinner for my birthday.

The next weekend, after church, was the annual Christmas bazaar at the Hyatt.

Sissi came home with a few new ornaments and decorated her room.

These are my new ornaments! Hand painted from Uzbekistan.

On a library trip to Hope, Krypto found his book on the shelves in the library! He was super excited.

Another get together at our house. Look at all those shoes.

and, all those coats!

Jeff's English class came over to experience an American Thanksgiving and hear about Christmas!

They are all listening and asking questions.

Group photo!

We finished our fall semester podcast night's program...Focus on the Family's "The Truth Project." We watched an episode every Monday (or sometimes Tuesday) night as a family and then discussed the Worldview issues. It was a great discussion starter with our kids.

Fall of 2019 - RPGs, Health Co-op, Pets, and Hikes

I am writing this towards the end of January....of 2020. I know, I think this is the furthest behind I have ever been on the family blog before, but honestly, the Fall of 2019 just went by in a blur. I still don't feel caught up, but I'm trying to at least post about the highlights of life so the kids will have a record of it someday!

When we were in the US this summer, you might remember that Gwangi got his Star Wars RPG (RPG = Role Playing Game) set and we have a monthly standing date with friends here in Kyrgyzstan where they get together and play-act their created Star Wars characters in different scenarios and adventure arcs. Usually, Gwangi is the GM (Game Master) for their Star Wars RPG sessions. Here they are, during their first foray into the world of Star Wars "Force and Destiny"

All the paperwork and charts that go along with playing an RPG...it adds a sense of reality, so that your character can't just do anything. There are repercussions based on actions taken, a character's skill set, health, etc.

Sometimes Sissi plays, sometimes she uses their Saturday RPG sessions to invite over a friend.

We're so happy that Vera and Winnie are good friends! They cuddle and play together and Vera loves to groom the rabbit.

Every afternoon, after lunch, the kids go outside with the pets, get some fresh air and run around before heading back in for afternoon school. Winnie loves to eat my plants in the garden.

We try to get in a couple of hikes a year. With our schedule this year, this was the only one I can remember. We coordinated with some friends and carpooled to Issyk Ata for a day hike. Here are all the kids, ready to go.

The view was beautiful. It was early in the color changing season, so lots of yellows, but not too many oranges and reds yet. I bet a couple of weeks later it was even more amazing.

Vera loves to run free on our hikes. She runs back and forth along the path checking on the first person, then running back to check on the last person, then running to the front again. She's a great "shepherding" dog.

Here she is following one of our friends.

Had to get a shot of our pretty girl with all of the loveliness around her.

The view, without the dog.

Working our way through the ravine to get to the waterfall.

We made it! We have done this hike a couple of other times, but we were always on the wrong side of the canyon...this time, we finally found the waterfall we had heard about.

We could have kept going, but we had some tired people in our group, so decided to head back and order some pizza together!

We love watching our Winnie grow up. She's such a cutie and super sweet, loving to lick your fingers and lay up against you while she sleeps and you pet her.

Krypto with Vera.

Sissi has been helping out a friend who does horse therapy with special needs kids. Every once in a while she still rides as well.

It's fall, and that means canning season. I hit the road side bazaar one day on the way home to get my 20+ kgs of tomatoes and all the side veggies to make a bunch of jars of spaghetti sauce and also a bunch of apples and pears to make our winter supply of applesauce.

Then, I usually set aside a Saturday to cook and can. I think I did 4 batches of spaghetti sauce and 3 of the applesauce.

These are all my jars, cooling before being put away.

We are also doing a bi-weekly Health co-op this school year with our friends. We're using the Apologia Health curriculum and each time we get together one of the children does a review of the chapter and then a presentation digging deeper into one of the sections. We're working on public speaking skills, organizational skills, making Power Point slides, and being able to accept critiques of your work. We spend the second hour doing lab activities and exercises that tie into the chapter's topic.

A lab for our Health class.

Krypto played soccer with the Varsity Hope Academy team. It was his first time playing since he was much smaller, and he learned a ton! We're thankful for Hope including our homeschooled kiddos in their extracurricular activities!

Another RPG session! Love our kids' friends!

These two boys went and took the PSAT at Hope in October, they both did super well! Proud of them!

We had a visit from some friends from Turkey! Games all around!

And, I guess we did have another short hike, just an hour or so up into Ala Archa National Park.

We took our friends from Turkey on the hike, so they could see a bit more of Kyrgyzstan's incredible beauty.

A bit of snow covering the ground in late October.

Family shot, while on our hike in Ala Archa.

Back at home, kids with Vera!

Vera's sister, Vinny, came over for dinner one night. Can you see the similarity?!

More fun with friends and RPG playing.

Health co-op, again.

This was a fun one; going over the digestive system and putting mashed up food and orange juice, to simulate stomach acid, through a pair of tights...the smell was not pleasant!

One of the biggest pieces of news is that Krypto actually published his first book! It's a fantasy, action adventure novel that is most appropriate for teens to young adults; though we've heard of kids as young as 10 loving it and adults that are grandparents have enjoyed the read as well. You can get a copy on Amazon...type in "The Bow of Ice" and you'll see that it's available in hard copy or on Kindle. Read it and leave a review! His second book is in the editing process now and we hope to publish in late May or June. The final book in the series is written, but not edited. Hoping to publish it in time for the holidays of 2020! This kid is on fire!