Santa Clause

Last Saturday we saw 2 Santa Clauses at 2 different locations.

First we went to our favorite Cosely Zoo in Wheaton, did crafts and saw Santa. Later that day we met the Ogborns at Blackberry farm and rode the Polar Express and saw Santa.

It never occurred to JT that Santa was in 2 places at once though:

From 2010-12-04 (by Eye-Fi)

From 2010-12-04 (by Eye-Fi)

Model Trains

Our boy LOVES trains. There is a big model train display at the Morton Arboreutum right now. And he could spend HOURS looking at it... oh wait he has.

From 2010-12-14 (by Eye-Fi)

From 2010-12-14 (by Eye-Fi)

From 2010-12-14 (by Eye-Fi)

A Casa Viva Christmas

 

	A Christmas Care Package Every child has a story, every story is unique. If a crisis occurs, children need handcrafted solutions. We honor children when we consider a full spectrum of care.  Read more in the Casa Viva Christmas "Welcome Home." Two New Children Connecting to Families Please pray for Kattia, 8 months, and Deikel, 9 years, who will be connected to their new Casa Viva Families in the coming weeks.  Transitions are never easy, especially when they happen during the Christmas season.   Send a Care Package to Latin America Your partnership helps us create unique solutions for children by bringing together the local church, local Christian families, Casa Viva's professional staff and more.   Give online here.
Give Online | Website | CVCR Blog | CV Greenhouse Blog Questions or comments? Contact us at info@casaviva.org or call 630.427.4040. Casa Viva, PO Box 120, Wheaton, IL, 60187 Forward to a friend View in a browser

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Spertus, You Treated Me Well

Today I attend my last class at Spertus. About 2.5 years ago I started their program to receive a Masters in Nonprofit Management. I studied with the same 14 people for the majority of those 2.5 years.

My cohort was a diverse group of nonprofit workers from across Chicago including nurses, child support service workers, a teacher, a botanist, fundraisers, and second career adults.

I learned a lot from my classes and truly enjoyed many of my professors: Felix, Karin, Charles, Almarie, Betty, Michelle, Peter, and Laura come to mind.

I would highly encourage anyone pursuing the social sector as a career to consider Spertus. It's a good solid program with a great cohort model.

Learned a ton. Enjoyed it much. Glad to be DONE!!!

JT and the Lights

Yesterday (Monday) we decorated for Christmas.

We went out and hand-cut a tree for our living room. We also set up a short 4ft tree in the kids' room. We went out and bought true Christmas lights for that tree... you know the kind of bulbs that are big and you have to twist into the sockets.

Anyway JT LOVED having the tree in his room. After we set it up, he asked if he could sleep by the tree, I said sure why not.

So we got out his sleeping bag.

As we were laying there talking about the day he starts to say,

"My love my lights... blue, green, pink, red, and lellow. My love my lights." He said that over and over several times to me. About 30 minutes after I left Kristin listened to the door and she heard:

"My love my lights... blue, green, pink, red, and lellow. My love my lights... blue, green, pink, red, and lellow. My love my lights."

Well 15 minutes later, mind you this is like 1.5 after bed time. Joshua comes out and says, "can we turn the lights back on?"

I asked if he unplugged them, well I went into the room and they were still plugged in, but sure enough, no lights....

It was about then that I realized there was a pile of bulbs on his pillow.

Joshua had literally unscrewed every single bulb. And when he unscrewed the last one, the lights went "out".

So we screwed the bulbs back in. Packed up the sleeping bag and within 5 minutes he was dead asleep.

#

Dashing Through the Snow

"Dashing through the snow.
In a Laundry Basket pulled by TJ."

From 2010-11-27 (by Eye-Fi) Thanksgiving

From 2010-11-27 (by Eye-Fi) Thanksgiving

From 2010-11-27 (by Eye-Fi) Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving #1

Some family photos from Thanksgiving.

From 2010-11-27 (by Eye-Fi) Thanksgiving

From 2010-11-27 (by Eye-Fi) Thanksgiving

From 2010-11-27 (by Eye-Fi) Thanksgiving

From 2010-11-27 (by Eye-Fi) Thanksgiving

From 2010-11-27 (by Eye-Fi) Thanksgiving

The Temple

We recently took advantage of a Groupon and visited the DuPage Children's Museum. At the museum JT was excited to find a TON of architecture blocks. Joshua wanted to build a Temple... so we did.

Quite a masterpiece if I say so myself. #

From 2010-11 (by Eye-Fi)