About two weeks before Christmas Jerrod and I decided to book a trip home for the holidays. We had such a crazy last few months that was really wearing on us, so we thought a break from Kenya would be good for us spiritually, physically and emotionally. Since it was such a last minute decision we decided it would be fun to keep it a secret! I ended up telling my dad, because knew we needed to be picked up from the airport in San Antonio. My dad partnered with Clifton in making the surprise so great. We flew in to San Antonio on Dec. 23 and my dad told Amy and mom that they needed to run up to San Antonio to get one last Christmas present. My mom already got her gift so she was wondering what this gift could be, and why would Clifton need to go with him :) So dad and Clifton headed up to the airport to pick us up, meanwhile my mom, Amy and the kids were at Amy's house. They picked us up and it was so good to see them. Jerrod hadn't been home since the previous Christmas so it had been a year for him since he had been in the first world. We stopped to grab Whataburger (our favorite) on the way home and went to Clifton and Amy's house. We stayed in the car while Clifton went in to tell mom, Amy and the kids that mom's present was in the driveway. They thought it was a new car or something LOL. They walked out and I jumped out of the truck and said "Merry Christmas"!!! My mom was hilarious, she couldn't believe it. She kept saying "Are you serious?" "Are you kidding me?" in this really high pitched voice. My sister didn't say a word, she just stood there with tears rolling down her cheeks. Layton immediately ran up to Jerrod (his bff) and we all exchanged lots of hugs and kisses. It was so awesome and definitely worth keeping it a secret! Here's a video from the surprise...
Then, we told them they had to keep it a secret for two more days, because we wanted to surprise Jerrod's family as well! So we enjoyed spending two nights in Pleasanton with my parents and sister and her family. My entire family got together a few weeks ago to celebrate so unfortunately my brothers weren't there. On Christmas eve we had our annual mexican fiesta dinner with tamales at Amy's. Then Layton and Molly got to open gifts from them. Molly was really into opening presents which was fun to watch. On Christmas day my dad made homemade enchiladas per our request for lunch. They were yummy! Then we headed to Houston to surprise Jerrod's family. We told them we would skype with them at 3:00, so we pulled up right after 3 and Jerrod walked in and said "who's ready to skype?" His dad was hitting him, and said he had a dream we were home for Christmas :) Then his mom and memom came running down the stairs bawling because they heard all the racket. Nobody could believe it. A few hours later Jerrod's brother Dusty, Seresa and their new baby Madison showed up. We came walking down the stairs and they were shocked. Needless to say we pulled it all off with both families!
It was so much fun to spend time with our friends and families. We had plenty of time to relax, eat lots of good food, go shopping, hang out, play with our nieces and nephews, watch football, and relax some more. We got back to Nairobi on Jan. 12th. It has been really great being back! This week we've been trying to catch up on things around the house and with ministry. Our director Tom and his wife Linda are in town for a few weeks so we look forward to spending some time with them. We are also looking forward to the Cowboy Fellowship team to come on Jan. 28th! It'll be Pastor Pete, my brother in law Clifton, and Adam the children's pastor. We can't wait for them to be here!
Blessings,
Amanda
