TIME WITH FAMILY

Sophia enjoying the room Tio prepared for her!

      Erin , Elias, Sophia and I were able to spend Christmas and New Years in Texas.  It was our son's first trip to America which feels so weird to write.  Of course anywhere can feel familiar and like home when you have a loving family waiting for you.  My brother went over the top in how he prepared the kids' rooms.  Sophia, especially, who is always shy for the first five minutes she sees anyone no matter how familiar, immediately dropped her guard in when she saw her new room.  She slept in a tent!  It was a perfect ending to a hard day of traveling.

All the cousins!

     Erin's family was great as always.  We ate so much together and watched our kids play.  Sophia loves her cousins and hasn't stopped listing their names yet (Aidan, Jacob, Chloe, Riley, Will and Baby Bennett get mentioned everyday here in the Great White North).  Grandma and Grandpa were great as well providing a life saving rocking chair to help us put our boy to sleep every night.  The only thing missing was Papu and Abu (who will be here April!).

How can you not love this guy?!

      We also connected again with our friends at Richland Hills Baptist, Marine Creek, Gethsemane, and CityView and others. 
     The time we had made me think about how blessed we are to have a loving family to visit, the resources to travel, and the health to enjoy every second.  God is good!  I also am thankful that we have a place in Toronto that we were happy to return to because of our incredible chance to serve here in a meaningful way. 
Thanks to everyone who made our short time in Texas special and we look forward to keeping you posted on a great year!