Christmas and the new cousin

We had a wonderful Christmas, I hope you did too! On Sunday night we presented the drama/cantada "Born to Die". It was a fun time. Monday afternoon we read the Bible story and opened our gifts, a great time of sharing. We also visited the family in our church that lost their son this year, just to encourage them. Tuesday morning all the Stilwells headed to Chimbote to spend Christmas with Steve and Molly and family. We had a great time together and we all enjoyed cuddling with the newest Stilwell - Caleb Daniel. In the afternoon the dads and children went to the beach. We moms stayed home visiting and lovin' on Caleb a bit more. We spend the night in a local hotel and returned home Wednesday about 1:00 PM. If you would like to see the pictures from Christmas, you can go to this website. http://picasaweb.google.com/perumom/Christmas2007

Christmas Program

Yesterday morning the children's Sunday school classes had their Christmas presentations. Unfortunately our camera batteries died before we got pictuers of all the classes. The little children sang about Jesus' love for all the children on the world. Aren't they adorable? I hope to post more pictures of the day after I get some pictures from Martha.

Goofies in the well

Deep down in the well

The piece of windmill that had to come out to be fixed. It is heavy!

Rebekah going down.

Abigail going down.

Four children down to the first level, there is a shelf there to stand or sit on.

On Tuesday we headed out to camp to work on the windmill, it hasn't been pumping water for a few weeks now. We found the broken piece and had to pull it up out of the well for it to be welded. Benjamin had to go down with his dad to help him with the pipe wrenches. After lunch the children all wanted to go down the well. How to get down you ask, simple put one foot in the bucket, hold onto the rope and be lowered down. They all did fine and were careful. They all loved the experience although Rebekah decided not to do it again. She has a hard time trusting the person letting her up and down with the crank. That person was her daddy. She had the same trouble on furlough with the climbing wall, trusting the person holding her. After working we played baseball and football.

Recital and Christmas picture

On Monday night Abigail took part in her first recital here at the seminary. She was one of only 2 children to play. Her cousin Hannah also played but she isn't a child anymore :) Abigail played a child's version of the Entertainer. She was very nervous but did a good job.

We have never owned a Christmas tree here in Peru. This year Rebekah decided to use some of her birthday money to buy the family a tree for Christmas. It is a great present to all of us. We love seeing it all lite up at night. The Peruvians enjoy seeing it too, through the window or when they come in. Here is a picture of the children in front of the tree.

Anniversary part 2

From the anniversary there are lots of great pictures of the children, both young and old, at Victoria. I wanted to share them with you. Warning, there are several!

Happy Anniversary Iglesia Bautista Victoria part 1

On November 26 our church celebrated its 7th birthday. Church anniversaries are a huge deal down here so we had special services Friday through Sunday. On Friday night it is always dessert night. Each family brings some dessert to share, yum! Saturday night is music night, there were lots of special numbers. In our family Jacob played a piano solo, Benjamin played his guitar and sang in a trio (at the same time), we sang as a family and Benjamin and David played a trumpet, french horn duet. There were about 13 special numbers all together. Sunday morning was the regular morning service followed by a potluck lunch, always well attended :) Sunday night was the main event with the cake and gifts for the church. Most gifts this year were financial gifts towards the additional property next door to us. It was a great weekend!