That was then, this is now

Yesterday I posted about our recent snow storm. Today we woke up to the sound of branches breaking and falling to the ground. Several inches of ice and more snow are just too much for the trees here and there are many fallen branches. Everything is still closed and many people are without power. Despite the dangers it is very beautiful.

Picnic anyone??

I love this photo that Anna-Marie took at seminary.

This is Matthew with David Blair, who braved the snow to give Anna-Marie a photography lesson today.

Snow Days

We have had our first decent snow, on Marks first day back to seminary. Everything is closed so we all got to stay at home. The kids have just come in from playing in the snow for several hours. It is still pretty cold, with freezing rain coming down now. Here they call this weather, a wintery mix!

Matthew's 8th Birthday

On Friday night we celebrated Matthew's 8th birthday. We had the Dunlavy family over who we know through the girls basketball. They helped us make it a fun night and I think Matthew had a really good time. Here he is with his friend Ethan.

A good old, traditional, New Zealand game, "Pass the parcel".

The cake.

No Gordon family birthday is complete without the chocolate game.

Paragould, Arkansas

This is Mark with Jared who worked with Mark at the pool at seminary. It is through our friendship with Jared that we started going to Paragould.

This is the group that we had three marriage counselling sessions with. It was very encouraging to spend time with four couples who desire to serve the Lord.

Don't feel sorry for the kids, they had plenty of really fun things to do. If you think it is weird to jump on the trampoline with snow gloves on, they were actually crazy to even be outside. It was well below freezing that day.

Jared took us out to a friends place so that Anna-Marie could have a horse ride. Mark also got this "Bull" ride.

Outside Grace Baptist Church where Mark preached on Sunday morning.

We were taken out for lunch after church by the Pastor of Grace Baptist, Gerald James, and his family. We also stay in their home in an empty apartment. They are wonderfully hospitable people and we really enjoyed our time with them.

Relaxing on Sunday night playing Rock Band on an X Box.

Winter, Winter, Winter

So far this winter we have not had much snow. It has snowed a couple of times but has not been cold enough for it to stay on the ground. We did have some flurries the other day and Anna-Marie, anxious to try out her birthday present (a camera), bribed Matthew, with the promise of a packet of gum, to come out and let her take some photos of him. These are a few of them.

A Day on a Farm

A couple of weeks ago we spent the afternoon at our friends farm. The Lawsons have been very kind to us, allowing us to come out and cut up some of the fallen trees on their farm for firewood. It was great to get away from the city and to enjoy their fellowship. This is their wonderful farmhouse.

In the winter here the native trees are completely bear and the sun does not rise very high in the sky. Anna-Marie took this neat photo, actually these are all Anna-Marie's photos.

Even though it was cold it was nice going for a walk around the farm.

An 18th Century grave site that is on the farm.

The old fence goes right through the tree which must have grown over it through the years.

Hunting, American style. There are so many deer that people set up these seats in trees where deer often walk past. They just sit and wait.

Christmas Day

This year we had a quiet morning opening presents and then had some people over for Christmas lunch. We shared it with another international student from Ethiopia, Ezekiel and a family who moved here a few weeks ago that Mark met while life guarding. It was nice to get together with others. We also talked to family on Skype which is always good.

One of the favourite gifts of the morning was the Star War figures from Uncle Chris and Aunty Leanne.

Ping pong for little children. We have a table in our basement. Mark and the three older children are all getting quite good at it.

Some traditional New Zealand desserts, trifle and pavlova.

We gave the kids a gingerbread house kit on Christmas Eve. It was fun watching them put it together.