Settling into December..

Bug is settling in at Cottage 6 and making friends with the little cats that are the mouse catchers
on the Boy's side. 

We are settling in a bit here at Cottage 6 and on the boys side of campus. I have been reminded in the last several weeks how much fun we had ministering to boys when we were still working as single teaching parents before we moved to Cottage 3 and took over there in the girls cottage where we served for two years. I am beginning to think that this was God's plan for us all along to transition to again working with the boys. Even though I am outnumbered in this new cottage 9 to 1 (even the new puppy is a boy!) I am in heaven watching Cliff and Campbell play basketball and baseball and football and video games. They are in heaven, too and it such a joy to see Bug's smiling face and hear Cliff as he find ways to sneak lessons into the games they play. 

I'm trying to get things unpacked and put away slowly. Bug's room in always first on my list
so that he feels like he has a place that is familiar to him. 

Enjoying his new room and his little bed he has nearly outgrown! 

Christmas is one of BGC's busiest times and it has already begun to rev up here. We had a wonderful time here at Cottage 6 hosting the other cottages who had residents who could not go home for Thanksgiving with close to 30 people and more food than could have fed an army, but now we are in high gear racing toward December and all the fun that comes with it. 

My little man is getting so big!! He looks so grown in his suit and bowtie for the Thanks n Giving Dinner. 

Bug and three of our boys, Erik, Jeremiah and Leo, looking handsome for our Thanks n Giving dinner.  

Bug and Zach, who is the son of our single teaching parents in cottage 6, Chelsea and Bruce. 

Bug and his friend Regina playing after Thanksgiving at c6. 

We have the High Rollers Motorcycle Club (with probably about 500 motorcycles who will come rolling in) coming out on Sunday for their annual toy drive for us. Pray for sunshine Sunday morning so that the kids can line up out on the fence and watch them ride in. That's the best part, but rain is in the forecast for Sunday so prayers for it to hold of are appreciated. 

Then, the next weekend is Tour of Lights, our Christmas decorating contest and my favorite part of the season. I say every year that I can not believe I actually get paid to decorate for Christmas! We are planning to do a Bulldog theme this year since that is the mascot for the local High School where the boys all go and because we already have a bunch of Georgia Bulldog stuff that I think we can use for that purpose. I have drawn out plans and created Pinterest boards galore! Cliff and our program manager were teasing me last night that my drawing for how I want everything decorated could not be more complicated if it were the blueprints for the Millennium Falcon, but I am confident we can pull it off. We got honorable mention for our Elf on the Shelf themed lights in Cottage 3 last year, so I am hoping to actually place this year in the contest. 

I'm attempting to make snowmen out of cups like I have seen on Pinterest! we will see how it goes!! 

It is taking way more cups than I anticipated!! 

The next day is both my birthday and what we call Day of Wonder. Its the day that they kids get to open all of the presents from our cottage Christmas sponsors and I could not think of a better way to spend my 38th. It truly is a joy to watch them open gifts. 

After that it will slow down a bit moving into the actual holiday season. We are planning to take some days off around the big day since we worked Thanksgiving and hope to get to see Cliff's family that is spread across the country in New Mexico and Virginia. 

In the meantime, I am trying to carve out Mommy and Bug time while the older boys are at school for fun Christmas traditions like making Ginger Bread cookies. His Elf on the Shelf brought him this kit and he had such fun with it, though I think he was a bit disappointed that the little gingerbread man did not jump off the pan and run out the door like in the story! He insisted that ours looked just like the suggestions on the box so Mommy had to do her best with limited skills to recreate the pictures!! Haha!! 

Only in The South do you make gingerbread men at Christmas time with no shirt on!!

Please continue to pray for us as we transition here in Cottage 6. Pray for our boys, Carlos, Marcus, Morgan, Jeremiah, Leo and Erik.

Please pray for our Picayune, Mississippi friends, Amy and Tommy Smith and their two little ones, Hope and Liam, as they join us here in Houston and at BGC and take over in Cottage 8. It really is humbling that God has used this little blog and my ramblings to help inspire them seek out and to follow God's calling on their lives. I could not be more excited that they are here! They are such an example of what God can do when you step out on faith and just say, "yes!" to Him. Pray also for their boys in their cottage in this time of change.

Please also pray for  my parents as they begin the process of all the contracted repairs on their home after Harvey. Its an exciting but crazy time with so many changes taking place at "The Big House," as Bug calls it.

Please pray also for our friends that we left behind at College and Career.

We are so thankful for your prayers and I will update soon with more pics from Christmas and all the festivities coming up soon!!