The Rissell's

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Memorial 2013

Last night was the Memorial of Jesus Christ death, celebrated that day around the world by over 19 million. We were able to show our appreciation for what Jesus did by sacrificing his life so we have the opportunity to live forever in a paradise earth. Our congregation met at a rented facility since we have 5 congregations that meet in our Kingdom Hall. There were 185 in attendance for our congregation. It was wonderful to see so many!!

I snapped a couple pictures of the girls at home (Josh had to get there early to help set-up). Then we headed off, visited with our friends and enjoyed the event. Abigail & Sophia did wonderful in passing the bread & wine without any incident. After, Pops & Grandma had the idea to hit DQ, so that's what we did!

The Beauties

Abigail & Sophia

Sebastian, Mick, Sophia & Ab

Morgan, Celeste, Asia & Sophia

Brooklyn, Seth & Abby

Celeste, Asia, Morgan & Sophia

Our Family

Ajeh, Noa, Ab & Soph
Love the stairstep height

Ajeh, Noa, Ab, Sophia & Isabella

DQ after - notice Ab's face - she was so done
with pictures and it was past bedtime

Sophia, Pops, Grandma & Josh

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Hickory Dickory Dock

A couple weeks back, some families from our congregation met at Hickory Dickory Dock. It's a nice place for the kids to run around, drive bumper cars, play laser tag and have fun. As adults, we can catch up and even enjoy some laser tag too! It was a fun Friday night together as families.

Abby, Seth, Noa & Ajeh

Seth & Abby

Noa & Ajeh

Morgan, Sophia, Celeste & Asia

Abby & her bestie Noa

Christy, Susan, Benicia, Me & Tammee

Josh, Chloe, Brooklyn & Johnny

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

6 Year Old Cutie

This girl cracks us up! She is adorable, funny, says the cutest things (lately it's "as well" at the end of many comments). Her proper English is really cool!

Her reading is AMAZING! She is now on level H, which is beyond where she needs to be by the end of the school year. Only 5 (out of 19) in her class (including her) are at this point. The newest part is Accelerated Reading (AR) points. It helps them develop reading comprehension - she reads a book (not a simple book either) to us and then the next day takes a test on the computer - it asks questions about the story with multiple choice responses. So far she is 100% all the way!!

Daddy & Abby

6 year old Cutie

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Josh's Bethel Trip

Mid February Josh was able to volunteer one week at the headquarters of Jehovah's Witnesses. There is always remodeling and new building going on in Brooklyn as well as upstate New York. He was able to score a reasonable flight $146 round-trip into JFK. It was a treat for him to hear he would be working in Brooklyn, as his cousin Erik and his wife Pas are located there. Erik called him a couple weeks before his scheduled arrival to say he was excited to see his name listed on his crew for the week! COOL!

He stayed in Building 119, ate meals in Towers Building, worked in Building 124 and went to the meeting in 107. Everything is taken care of - all his meals are provided, cleaning & laundry. He loved all the association with the brothers and sisters - meeting ones from all over the country. Erik & Pas took him to a Thai restaurant and had him over to their place as well. We Skyped that evening.

It was a sacrifice since Josh is self-employed......not working = no income for the week. Jehovah has blessed his efforts though and we were grateful for Josh to have the privilege of being invited for the week and experience being surrounded by brothers and sisters for a whole week. It benefited all of us! We missed him a lot (even tears on the part of Sophia as we left him at the airport), but before you knew it, it was time to pick him back up. All back together again!!!!!