Thank you all for celebrating the birth of our precious little angel with us. I may be prejudice, but I agree with my friend, Darline ... the Kendall girls DO make beautiful babies!

We have a new granddaughter !!

Andrea Grace Carroll

She arrived on December 20, 2005 @ 4:42 p.m.

7 #'s, 11 oz. ~ 20 1/4" long

We thank the Lord for His mercy and grace on behalf of our daughter and new grandbaby. We now have more grandchildren than children. Abundant blessings!

p.s. Still waiting for pics ... will share those when they arrive.

The last couple of weeks have been moving quickly. Have had some wonderful times with all of our family ... our physical family and our families here in Estonia.

The first of December brought lots of joy as I celebrated my birthday with so many of my sweet friends. Jared was here for my special day so that made it an even sweeter celebration. I received email cards from friends in Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, Canada, Russia and Estonia. We had our regularly scheduled Far Above Rubies class that night, so the girls came with gifts, hugs and well wishes, too. Got to spend an unexpected night at the Banks' house on the 2nd, when we had car trouble on our way home from taking Jared to the airport in Tallinn. Played another game of "Crazy Canasta" with the guys but still no satisfaction  ... even for my birthday! Had a great time anyway. You all made me feel so special. Thank You!!

On December 9, we celebrated our one-year anniversary in Estonia. Hard to believe it's been a year since we moved here. A lot has happened in the last year but I won't tell you about it now. We'll save that recap for another time.

We've had our last classes for the year of 2005. The girls in our Far Above Rubies class have finished the first stages of their Crazy Quilts. I know you'd love them as much as I do. They are having so much fun, which makes me happy too! Now we are taking a holiday break to re-group, set some future goals and enjoy the holiday with all those we love here in Estonia. When we begin classes again after the new year, they will begin embellishing their squares with embroidery, lace, and buttons. Then they get to make the squares into shopping bags (which they use quite a lot in Estonia).

Saturday night was our church Christmas party. This year, we decided they needed a little touch of some American tradition so we shared with them the time-honored "white-elephant gift exchange game". Twenty-seven wrapped gifts awaited them when they arrived. After feeding them lots of traditional Christmas goodies, we shared with them the rules of the game. It took them a little while to get into the spirit of 'stealing' from one another but once Aksana lost her twirly/springy Santa hat and her juggling balls, it took off from there. We enjoyed watching some of our more sober members let down their hair a bit. Laughter was aplenty and fellowship was sweet.

We also encouraged our little church to get into the spirit of 'giving', so we had each of them bring 25 little gifts to fill gift bag/stockings for each other. We encouraged them to be creative and try to seek thoughtful, low-cost gifts to give one another. They took our instructions to heart and placed items in the gift bag/stockings such as bundles of little sparklers, tiny books, candy bars wrapped in curly ribbon, scented tea-lite candles, handmade cards and bags of their favorite tea. Not everyone did this, but those who made an effort to share themselves in this way seemed to be the most joyously blessed of all. We know we were truly blessed as well.

This week we finish up our last few language studies for this year, do our last minute Christmas shopping and begin making plans for 2006.

We pray for you all, a stress-free week before Christmas. God Bless!

We had a great Thanksgiving holiday with our friends and family in Tallinn. It's always good to be with those you love on the holidays. We sure missed our family at home ... Amber and Lacey (and their families) got to be together in Lubbock ... Dustin shared his holiday before leaving for Iraq with Brandi's sister and husband, Kathy/David ... and Courtney, Adrian and Ty celebrated with Adrian's family.

We were blessed to be with Jared and our long time friends, the Bank's family, who we've loved for so long that we consider them family. Our fellow Estonian missionaries, Ron and Judy Warpole, were there too. Between us, we managed to pull together a very traditional Thanksgiving meal with turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce (all the way from America), mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie. We all left the table proclaiming once again that we had overeaten ... which of course, is also traditional. Unfortunately, our men didn't have their holiday football to watch so instead, Mike and Brandi built a heavy-duty shower curtain system in Deb's downstairs bathroom. I don't think it was their idea of the perfect after-Thanksgiving activity, but they got to do something 'manly' so I think they felt pretty proud. ~smile~ Mike and Brandi then skunked Deb and I in a game of Crazy Canasta ... AND  ... that seemed to make them feel pretty proud too!

On Friday, Brandi and I, Jared and Kari, went to Old Town Tallinn. It was very cold and windy but it was fun to walk in the snow. We visited the sweater wall and bought Jared an Estonian sweater, ate hot spiced almonds, enjoyed shopping in the Christmas village on the square, stopped in the 'Kompressor' for pangookid (Estonian pancakes filled with meat/cheese), walked up 'Long Leg' Street to see the overlook of the city and headed down 'Short Leg' Street back to the square. By the time we returned to our car, we were froze from nose to toes ... but we had a great time.

On our way home, we stopped by the Liivalia Bible Study center and crashed Mike and Deb's Estonian language lessons. Their teacher made us feel better (less stupid, that is) about the difficulty we have had in learning the language, gave us some pointers and got us motivated to put our noses to the grindstone once again.

Friday night, one more game of Crazy Canasta with the guys ... still no satisfaction. We do intend, however, to come back and gain victory at some point in the future so we'll have to get some practice in before the next holiday visit rolls around.

Since returning home on Saturday, we've shared fellowship with the church on Sunday and enjoyed spending these last few days with Jared, as well. On Monday, we put up our Christmas tree so we could celebrate "Christmas" with him. Unfortunately, we didn't have the traditional Egg Nog to drink while decorating the tree but the hot tea was pretty good. Then we opened our presents to each other. Jared gave Kayli a beautiful set of nesting dolls from the Ukraine and I got a gorgeous little 'Gzhel' teacup and saucer. 'Ghzel' is a village in Russia that makes blue and white painted china. I've loved it since we lived there and have collected a few pieces along the way, thanks to sweet folks who have given me great gifts.

Monday, we also said goodbye (for now) to our son, Dustin, who left for Iraq that evening. It was a phone call filled with tears and expressions of love ... and his promises to return safely home. We will miss him. We pray daily for his spiritual strength, for his physical safety and for his service to God through his service in the military. Thank you for your prayers as well.

We just got word from Dustin that he has arrived at his destination safely. They will be in a holding area outside of Iraq for about 3 weeks until they are ready to travel into the country.

PLEASE NOTE: There is a new "Prayer Request" sidebar to the left of this entry. Please be watching for updated prayer requests each time you log on.

God Bless

We've had a good night with our church group tonight. We thought it would be fun to share our American tradition of Thanksgiving with them so we cooked all day, had a houseful (20 were here), ate turkey and all the fixins', and shared all the reasons why we are all thankful to God.

It was a blessing to have them here and to give Jared a better chance to get to know the people who have become so dear to our hearts.

We will head to Tallinn tomorrow to share our actual Thanksgiving holiday with the Banks' family and the Warpole's. We plan on having some wonderful time of fellowship and fun with special friends. We might even get in a game of Crazy Canasta while we are there. Jared will also get a chance to catch up with the Bank's kids. They've been like family to all of us for many years, so it's like coming home to them as well. 

Plans are to take Jared to Old Town Tallinn on Friday and to show him lots of other sights in our little country. He loves architecture and photography, so I know he will have a blast.

As we reflect back on our year (what an amazing year!), we want you to know that we are so thankful for you ... for your contribution to our mission work, for your encouragement and for your prayers.

Happy Thanksgiving ... and God Bless!

We just received word that Brandi's Sister, Kathy, and our son, Dustin, were injured in a fall from a roof at Kathy's home. Dustin and Kathy were on the two-leveled roof putting up Christmas lights with an extension ladder. Kathy was holding the ladder on one level of the home and Dustin was placing lights on the second-level gable roof. They were down to their last 3 lights above the garage. One of the clay shingles shifted and caused the ladder to fall. Kathy's foot was caught as it fell and she was flipped. She fell forward down the ladder and landed on the edge of the concrete and the grass.

She was injured pretty badly but we are so thankful that she was not hurt worse than she was. Her left wrist suffered a compound fracture in two places and her right wrist, chest, legs, and ankle are badly bruised and swollen. She is in surgery now having pins placed in her lower arm and wrist. Her husband says she is in good spirits but worried about how she will take care of all the company coming for Thanksgiving.  He says since her left hand was the one injured, she'll still be able to sign credit card slips, therefore surviving her preparation for the Christmas holidays.

Dustin also fell from the roof but was able to control how he fell a little better. His ankle was bruised and sprained but it doesn't appear to be broken. For this we are greatly thankful.

Please join us in praising God that they were both protected from more critical injuries and ask God for Kathy's quick healing. 

Had our last Far Above Rubies class tonight before we celebrate our Thanksgiving next week. Our study of Proverbs 31 continues. We are on verse 13 that says 'she selects wool and flax and works with eager hands'. I have taken this opportunity to focus on the creativity of God and His design.

Last week we began our study of God's design with Psalm 139:14 ...  "I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well".

In my preparation for this class, I came across a statement in the Treasury of David commentary to describe what it means to be "fearfully and wonderfully made". It said  ... "painted as with a needle, like a garment of needlework, of diverse colors, richly embroidered with nerves and veins..." I love that picture of God's creation of us!

With this study of God's design and, in keeping with the idea of working eagerly with our hands, we have begun our quilting project that many of you have contributed your scraps to. The girls have received their sewing supplies and picked out their fabrics. The foundation has been laid. They are on their way to creating their very own shopping bags with a Crazy Quilt design on the front.

A few years ago, my friend Autumn, taught me how to make a Crazy Quilt. These kind of quilts date back to the Victorian Era. This is a technique in quiltmaking where irregularly-shaped pieces of fabric are sewn together to form a collage of colors and textures. These pieces of fabric often came from garments used for special events i.e., birthdays, christenings, weddings .. and even deaths. When the piecing together was finished, all kinds of embroidery and embellishments like lace, charms, and buttons were added to create a beautiful display of their history and their memories.

I have to say I wasn't always fond of this kind of quilting. I am not really a Crazy Quilt kind of girl ... I fit more into the patchwork genre. Crazy quilts seemed to be too haphazard; placing all different colored pieces here and there to get a mixed-together design. I like the patchwork quilts where you cut each piece perfectly, line them all up perfectly, stitch them together with exactly the same size seams and they come together to form a perfect design. This fits my personality better. I kind of like things to be lined up perfectly. I know most of you didn't know that about me!

So why, then, did I choose to teach my girls how to make a Crazy Quilt? Because the spiritual implications of a Crazy Quilt are amazing to me.

I realize that no matter how much I'd like to have the 'pieces' of my life all lined up perfectly, life just doesn't happen that way. Our life is full of irregularly-shaped pieces; some are beautiful and some are not ... some are bright and some are dark ... some are impressive and some are ordinary ... some are crisp and new, and some are tattered and worn out.  God, in His unfailing love, 'paints us as with a needle, like a garment of needlework, of diverse colors, richly embroidered'. He takes those irregularly-shaped pieces and  places them together just the way He wants them, adds all kinds of beautiful embellishments in the form of joys and blessings, and creates out of our mixed-up lives, a wonderful collage ... a masterpiece that He calls His creation.

When I try to see through God's eyes, I can't help then but be thankful for the Crazy Quilt I am becoming .. sometimes mine seems a little crazier than I'd like ... but in God's hands, He says I am becoming a  masterpiece, "a display of His splendor" (Isaiah 61:3). What's even better is that we get to 'become' together.

Thank you all for your help in sharing God's unfailing love with those in Tartu.

Our life continues to be busy ... today we've been getting ready for Jared's arrival, shopping, putting last minute details together for our 'Far Above Rubies' class tomorrow night, doing laundry, cooking and so on.

What a special treat we've been given to take a minute to 'be still' and soak in the beauty of a nighttime snow fall. The weather is oh so chilly ... winter is definitely upon us in Estonia ... but there is something so awesome and peaceful in watching the huge flakes float down from the sky. The leafless trees and the brown fields that looked so gloomy and gray this morning are now covered with a clean, white blanket. Kind of makes it hard to put down my cup of tea and move away from the window to get back to work.

The Father has blessed me with a gift tonight. Wishing for you a special gift from God as well.