Christmas dinner, a little taste from home!

Thank you to the Mackinnon’s for allowing us to use their home on Christmas day! We had a lovely Christmas dinner, (thank you Jonny!) Gary joined is for the day bringing with him a game (Phase 10) that kept us busy most of the afternoon! We even watched some TV programmes in English! Laura got a camera for Christmas, so the photos are all by LJ!

Christmas Eve.....With A Difference!

We decided on Christmas Eve to have a BBQ! The weather was lovely and we thought it would be a good idea, though it was hard to be in the Christmas spirit as it was so warm, but we did try! Jonny as usual worked hard at the BBQ and we then enjoyed a film before it was time for bed, (before Santa came.)

Christmas Holidays.....

We came back to the city on Friday in time to rest and get sorted for Christmas. We had a wonderful time together. It was great to get away and have some time catching up on what has been happening at home. It was amazing to have the lovely weather, blue skies considering it's December. We have included a few photos of a Christmas tree (ha ha) and also the whole family out for dinner.

It's Christmas.....With The Irons'!!!

This Christmas is a bit different.....partly because it's like 35*C! However, finally we got a camera and you can log onto our blog again without the fear of falling asleep with the lack of images on the pages!

Tomorrow morning we drive to Acapulco to do some very Christmassy sunbathing with Julie's family, so expect loads of by the pool pictures! We will be back again in a few days and will update you all with how we've been getting on and how Julie's family are getting on since they've been here.

Christmas partying.....!

Ok first off, we totally nicked this picture from the Agnew's website, however, when you've lost your camera desperate times call for desperate measures!

Last Sunday we had our Christmas party and it was a really good time of fellowship with the other missionaries and three visiting ladies (friends of Margaret & Robin.) We played quiz games to guess Christmas carols, although, Gary had the unfortune draw of being paired with me (the only one I knew was "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth.") Enough said!

We then played a white elephant game with unwanted rubbish from the house, we brought a foot scraper thing and some soaps I had "procured" from a hotel (You can take the boy out of the Shankill........) I ended up with a cool sandwich box, and Gary nearly caused a war as he thought the present had to be good and brought a measuring jug. (Well done must go to Leroy & Kay who finally captured it, even though they involved us in their twisted little game! Ha Ha)

We had excellent snacks and exchanged Secret Santa gifts which were amazing! We finished off by singing some Christmas carols and then went home, laughed out and well stuffed!

Ahh I love Christmas!

Holiday fever.....!

With the arrival of Julie's family we are going to take them away for the weekend to Acapulco, which seems amazing to us - but it really like the equivalent of the Mexican Portrush - only with more sun and less Morelli's!

We will post when they arrive to update you on our plans and then will aim for a mega-post after Acapulco. Please pray that we have a really refreshing time with her family and it's hard to believe we will not have seen them for 4 months!! Crikey!

Family Arrivals.....!

On Thursday we will go to the airport to meet Julie's family as they arrive to spend Christmas with us here! We are so excited and counting the sleeps! (5 to go by the way!)

It's amazing that we have been living in a house reminiscent of a jail cell with nothing in it, and all of a sudden because people are coming we have went crazy with the preparations. Jonny has been DIY-ing to the max (which if anyone knows Jonny, it's pretty amazing!) and we now have curtains in all rooms, a few random made up beds, fancy seat covering things and Christmas decorations. Not to mention that our fridge and freezer have never been so full. Plus this week we made a mega investment of a toaster, and bacon butties have led us to question why we never bought this earlier. However with the lack of HP sauce it's never quite the same heart attack inducing snack!

Christmas Countdown.....

Yesterday we put up the Christmas tree (thanks to the MacKinnon family for their kind donation!) It means our little house is a little more Christmassy for the arrival of Julie's parents! It is always fun putting our tree up, and we were listening to Christmas music the whole way through. It's also alarming at how completely un-Christmas it is for us, as it is hard to take it seriously with 20*C heat and cloudless blue skies. Oh dear we're really missing the freezing cold, dull, wet, Northern Ireland weather!

(Spot the sarcasm for a prize!)

Wanted.....Our Camera!

This week we can't find our camera! We have looked high and low and can't find it anywhere!! It's so sad as we can't put up any pictures for you guys to see. So we're gonna go for a mega hunt tomorrow and try to get some pics on asap. Sorry for the bland posts!

School.....End Of Term!

On Friday we finished school for December and finished our Basic Level (Julie) & Level 1 (Jonny.) We have a lot to be thankful for especially in all the travelling to and from school. We also were really blessed with our exams as Julie (who thought she did really badly) got 92% and Jonny who got 100%.

We had good teachers and really nice classmates and we are going to study with a private teacher until January and then will return to full time language again.

So in the next couple of weeks we are going to be working in the drop in centre, doing a bit of medical work and anything that needs done!

Please pray for us these next weeks as we also prepare for the big Irons visit, that we would have an excellent time this Christmas and be able to relax and show them much of the wonderful sights that are here and also have a relaxing time also.