Katie's First Christmas

This was so funny. All the kids wanted a baby bottle of milk or a pacifier;-))))). So I laid my babies all in a circle and issued bottles of milk and pacifiers. They are such silly little kids. We all got a big laugh out of it!!!! The next day we began our Christmas baking and had a ball.

Trisha is under my supervision making the famous German bread called "Potica".

Here she is rolling the bread out paper thin and adding the nut filling.

Here it is ready for the oven. We cut it into loaves before baking it.


Then we decorated the Christmas tree after baking all day. Some of the things we baked were peanut butter chocolate balls, peanut butter chocolate pretzel clusters, nut rolls, Christmas nuggets, and rum balls...yummmmmm.

DeeDee is working on the top of the tree.
Little Trisha wanted her turn at placing ornaments on the tree top.

Here we had finished decorating and next we sat up our Christmas Tiny Town and our Nativity scene.

Here are the kids for their Christmas picture on Christmas Eve. Top row from left to right: Katie Aunna, Casey, Annie, Little Trisha and from left to right on the bottom row: Christian, John-John, DeeDee, Mary, and Karissa.

This is Christmas morning and everyone is chomping at the bits to start ripping open their plunder of Christmas treats.

We had a wonderful time with Katie Aunna and our other darling little children. Casey and Little Trisha were my biggest helpers this year. Little Trisha shopped till she dropped for Casey, DeeDee, and her own clothes. Casey wrapped until he had sore fingers;-). I had bought special gifts for the kids from Switzerland. Particularly a watch for Casey and also a Swiss watch for Trisha and little Swiss dolls for the little girls. John-John got his favorite toy in the world.....Geo Train Tracks and more cars for his huge train set up. He really enjoys playing his train set. I bought nice winter clothes for all the children and this is the bulk of their Christmas gifts. Thank goodness that all the kids absolutely love clothes!!!!

It seems rather cruel that Christmas has come and gone so quickly. Katie Aunna was delighted and she felt like she was in Heaven. It was a very special Christmas for her. Hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas break and remember that the biggest present of all was the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. I tried to emphasize this message often during our classes before I gave them a holiday break.

I am continuing to ask from the depths of my heart and soul that everyone please continue to pray for V. Please....let God speak openly to y0ur hearts and donate any amount possible to her adoption fund so she may be able to unite with her family. We would love nothing more than to be able to afford her adoption. She is (like Katie and our other children) a shinning diamond in a dark place where she will have a very bleak future with the limp she has. One of her legs is longer than the other and here Shriners could fix this free of charge. She also is in need of dental work and properly fitting glasses.

PLEASE......Open your hearts for any amount you are led to give to help her come home!!!! Even a small amount will help bring her closer to home. So listen to God's soft and patient calling to you and help "V". God's many blessing to you...He will reward your generosity many times over as He promises to do in His Holy Bible and further, He commands us to help the orphans.

Happy holidays and many blessings...Trisha, Duane, Casey, Christian, Karissa, Katie Aunna, Mary, John, and our two grand-babies Little Trisha and DeeDee!!!!!