Cousin Love!

Although this picture might not capture it well...it was SO awesome to have Craig's sister Ali and her daughter Evie spend a week with us in MO. Stella and Evie are only a few months apart and it has been so fun to watch them grow and change over the last year and a half. It is hard to believe they are almost two. They really did so well together..but of course had a few fights...ha ha! Learning to share is never easy!

Evie is going to make an awesome big sister some day ;)

The Gilley cousins all together...so fun!

Refrigerator..what?!?

So, if you are thinking this is an odd picture to see on my blog...you are right! Just giving another little update on what we have been learning. YEP today we spent 45 minutes talking about what is the best refrigerator to take overseas....not only that but we talked about the golden rules of operating these battery powered fridges. It is pretty crazy to think about...did you know that your open ice cube trays are making your freezer work A LOT harder?!? I never knew that until today. HA HA! All that to say...wow we have so much to learn and we are so thankful to be here at the Missionary Training Center! Definitely didn't think we were going to be learning about this..ha but SOOO glad we are!

Exciting Christmas Holiday

Aj with his brothers...

Aj with his sisters...

Gilley Family at Aj and Kaley's Wedding on 1-1-11!

It is hard to believe that our Christmas break is done and over with and we are already back in classes. SHEESH! We had an awesome three weeks in Jackson, MI spending Christmas with Kayla's family and then Aj's (Kayla's little brother) wedding. In the midst of the fun we also ended up with both kids in the ER. Nothing too major but it was not fun to have sick kids while we were away from home :( Good thing we have such sweet and flexible kids!
Now we are back at the training center and into classes. We are currently taking Missionary Technology learning about solar systems, how to build an odorless out house, cleaning your water, and many other useful things that I never knew that I needed to learn. This morning they were telling us about the possibility of waking up with green hair if you went to be with wet hair in the tropics, yea green with mold. YUCK! Oh Lord...help! There were some other pretty scary stories that definitely caused me to think, "God are you sure you want this for me!" But I was once again reassure that yes, this is where God is leading our family.
We are also taking Parents and Education learning about the various options for our kids education as well as important things to keep in mind with parenting. Today we spent most of the time talking about the challenges and blessings of having Third Culture Kids. It was an interesting change in thought for me. Usually when talking about Third Culture Kids or Missionary Kids people were talking about me, my siblings, my friends...but here we were discussing our kids and what life will be like for them. Very different to think about.
And exciting!
Well...there is my brief update and hopefully a newsletter will be completed soon and you will get even more info! :) If you aren't on our mailing list and would like to please let me know!