CJ & Autumn Miller

Teco cuddling up with Paul on the couch... It didn't take long before She was taking both Pual and Connie for walks!  What a great pup!

Christmas 2008

    This was my first Christmas away from my family… ever!  It was difficult to know that they were all together celebrating the birth of Christ and enjoying great fellowship without Autumn and me.  However, God has truly blessed me with wonderful in-laws who have taken me in as part of their family (if you can’t believe that!).
    We spent Christmas in Birmingham, AL with the Schweigert crew.  Autumn's sister, Christy, recently returned from a six-month adventure in Romania with Heifer International where she lived in a village and worked with sheep farmers.  She had all sorts of exciting stories to tell us.  
We also took Teco with us.  I was a little worried because the Schweigerts are definitely cat people.  But Teco didn’t let me down.  She jumped right up on the couch with Paul and gave him some TLC that he couldn’t resist.  After that she had Paul wrapped around her finger.  Paul and Connie even dog sat for us one night and took her on walks and everything.  I’m sure Teco enjoyed all the extra attention she received!
     Christy returned to Texas with us to spend a week in Longview before she hitches a ride with a friend back to Wheaton for her final semester.  It’s a joy to have her here.  Autumn has to work all day, so Christy is left in my care and she puts up with me fine.  She even went flying with me today.  Unfortunately she has a little trouble flying and she got a little sick.  But she is trooper and I will quote her as saying, ‘it’s great fun right up until I get sick!’  She even said she’d go up again with me tomorrow so she can ‘kick this bad habit (of getting sick).’
     That’s what’s happening down in Texas.  We are still in the process of applying to AIM Air.  Nothing exciting to report, except a bunch of paper work… We will keep you posted though.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

CJ

Google Earth Picture of Nairobi's Wilson Airport & Kibera Slum: <http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&t=k&ie=UTF8&ll=-1.317514,36.803427&spn=0.029003,0.038624&z=15>

 AIM Air is based at Wilson airport in Nairobi, Kenya. The second largest slum in Africa (Kibera) is just to the NW of the airport. It is estimated that 1 million people live in this 630 acre slum. That would equate to about 800 people living in my yard—that multiplied by 630.

Please pray that God prepares us for this place! Our goal is to be in Africa by 2011. That is 2 years from now.

Autumn with orphans outside Kibera slum Summer 2007

CJ & I had Thanksgiving with the Millers in Michigan, so that means Christmas in Alabama with the Schweigerts. My sister, Christy came back from Romania today & we are excited to see her. I wish I could have been at the airport to welcome her back, but since I couldn't, I sent a “Welcome Home Christy” banner for my mom to hold for me. I told Christy I would teach her to knit, but since she has spent the last 6 months with her Romanian family’s sheepfold, she may have a thing or two to teach me about knitting. CJ & I drive (or maybe fly) to Birmingham on Christmas Eve just in time for the festivities. Our little dog, Teco is going with us. It will be funny to see how Dad reacts to her seeing as he has never been an animal lover.

This past weekend we cut down our Christmas tree & placed it in our big picture window. CJ needed a ladder for the top decorations.

Things Autumn is thankful for:

(In no particular order)

1.       Our new little  Brittany Spaniel, Teco

2.       Pansies to plant outside

3.       Work during this strained economic time

4.       Family to spend the Holidays with

5.       N1419S

6.       A more than spacious house to decorate for Christmas

7.       Christy returning from Romania next week

8.       A God who loves, convicts, & forgives

9.       My new found love of knitting & Pam for helping

10.   Our December weekends filled with guests & parties

11.   My Ford Ranger still a truckin’

12.   A handsome husband that makes coffee in the morning

13.   My mom’s chewy oatmeal cookie recipe

14.   Our fireplace

15.   Aircraft tickets just purchased to Sundance Film Festival in Utah

16.   Christmas stocking secrets

17.   The mice in our house have been eradicated

18.   My new retainer… seriously, so I don’t grind my teeth away at night

19.   Warm fleece socks

20.   A great set of in-laws

21.   Wheat Pita bread & plain yoghurt in the fridge

22.   New gloves

23.   Fingernail polish passed down from Aunt Sandy

24.   The Christmas wreath I bought last January

25.   Pumpkin seeds from Trick or Treat on College Street carving party