The kids thought that this was the funniest gift ever!

It was addressed to Josh (senior) with a sticker that said "Just in case you forgot how to take a shower"(It's a towel)
Our boys laughed the whole morning and begged for it to be given to them.
Thank you Aunt Dee and Uncle Steve:-)

Happy Day!!

We had very exciting day in Matthew's world...he lost his first tooth. And boy did he let everyone and their neighbor know about this lol...Oh the days when loosing a tooth was the best thing:-)

Merry Christmas!!!

Just in case you can't hear him clearly, here are the words.
God's unfolding promise.
Adam and Eve sinned.
God promised to send a savior.
Abraham had no children.
God promised the Savior would come from Abraham's big family.
God spoke through the prophet Isaiah.
God promised the Savior would come as a child.
God spoke through the prophet Micah.
God promised the Savior would be born in Bethlehem.
Jesus is our Savior, Wonderful Counselor, Lord, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, Christ, Lamb of God.

We moved again...

But just to the unit across the hallway... No major damage to our stuff and soooo happy that I can cook our Christmas dinner in a dry home ahhhhh:-)

Flooded....

Sooooo We don't really believe in bad luck!! But if there was...we'd have it these days!!
Yesterday our apartment got flooded!! A water pipe burst open and in a matter of an hour (yes it took an hour for the maintenance people to get there:-0) the whole place had in some places 1 1/2 inches of water. I'm a little upset because we had just finished decorating our Christmas tree. And it looked so beautiful. Oh well...thank God we're all alive and well.

Got our Christmas tree!!

There is a warm feeling in my heart every year as I take all the Christmas decorations down from the shelves and start to pull all the ornaments and decorations out.I love Christmas! And although this year we'll feel a little lonely being so far away from our family and great friends, we can't wait to celebrate the birthday of our Lord and King.

A few pics before we jump into Christmas!!!

We live less than a mile from a beautiful park that has a lake. In that lake live many turtles but there is a special one that Jr longs to catch one day, so that he can see just how "cool" it looks up close.
And this is what he often takes to the lake...

For Halloween we had to improvise a costume for Jr.(since he had decided that he was not going to dress up this year, and changed his mind 15 minutes before we took Matthew trick or treating)Soooo we came up with a "SALESMAN" idea...you know the ones that go door to door. And Matthew was as he calls it "AN ARMY MAN"
At the second house trick or treating, there was a couple sitting on their porch giving away candy, as we approached the house the lady asked Jr -What are you supposed to be?- and when Jr said -I'm supposed to be a sales man- she turned to her husband and said - See? I told you he wasn't a pastor!-
HOW CAN WE EVER FORGET WE ARE IN THE BIBLE BELT!!! haha

Who's kid would stick a ROCK inside his ear?.... Mine

As some of you know a few weeks ago our little Matthew decided to introduce a small rock inside his ear (in his words he was - A LITTLE BORED at school-) ...this is a pic of Matthew at the doctor's office after she make sure there was no more rock (debris)inside his ear.
Thank God he was not VERY bored:-)

Jr's 10th Birthday!!!!

All he wanted to do for his special day was...to spent the whole day looking and "FEEDING" the alligators. I have to say that they were quite impressive!
And of course after the alligators he wanted to eat at his favorite restaurant, SMOKEY BONES, and since he does not like cake we had apple pie.

;-0

A little update on the Allen crew!!
So far it has been an Adventure with it's ups and downs. We love the landscape of Georgia and Alabama. There is soooomuch water everywhere and so many sites that take your breath away! (Not to mention all the critters that the boys have found) We like our new church and we marvel at the fact that even though these people didn't know us before we came here, they have open their homes to us as if we had been friends for years. That reminds us what a blessing is to have a family in the church.
On the other hand we miss our friends and family back in Cali so much, that sometimes it is hard to focus on what is to come here for us.
So here are some pics of our family and our new adventure.

At school!

As you can imagine Josh Jr. could not wait to take his snake (fender) to school. And so, he did. It was his time to shine and tell all of his classmates how AWESOME reptiles are.
And of course Matthew wasn't going to let the opportunity to be cool pass by.

We had a lot of fun over the summer, we explored the place all around. One of the kids' favorite things to do was (is) catch all kinds of toads, frogs, turtles, and crickets. We also had a chance to visit THE FLINT RIVERQUARIUM in Albany Georgia as well as the new COCA-COLA museum in Atlanta. And of course we spent a great deal of time at the pool.

No comment... see for yourself.

...and after the aquarium, ICE CREAM!!!