The Gift That Keeps on Being Given....(huh?)

About 12 years ago or so, a tradition was birthed in our family. It involves fruitcake. I am not a fan of fruitcake for several reasons, one being that I'm not a big fan of "chunks in my stuff". At least that is how I phrase it! :) And well, we all know that fruitcake is full of chunks! Ewwwww!

Anyway, I use to wear a pin on my coat that said, "Get revenge...give fruitcake!", just for the laughs and reactions it got. Now, admittedly, I can't remember the details of how this all started but for about twelve years now my nephew, Kyle Johnson, and I have been giving each other fruitcake, every Christmas. It gets better.......not just giving fruitcake, but giving THE SAME fruitcake to each other, trading off year after year! We have gotten very creative over the years as to how we give it so as to throw each other off at times, but you can bet that that fruitcake is going to show up sometime during Christmas day...count on it! (By the way, we did have to replace it once about 8 years ago because it got ruined but other than that, it has remained the same one.....it's like a Twinkie, that thing, it just won't die!! It's one of those that was bought at a local gas station, made by Hostess!! LOL)

Well, last year I spent my first Christmas in Macchiato and in the midst of lamenting a Christmas far from my family I had forgotten about the fruitcake. But Kyle didn't. It was his turn. So imagine my surprise when I opened a box of gifts sent from home, and the minute my hand touched the little brick I knew exactly what it was and laughed....and cried!!

That being said, this year it's my turn to give the fruitcake. However, Macchiato's heat and ant infiltration proved to be too much for the little Hostess fruitcake and I had to throw it away after many attempts to try to save it.

But.........all is not lost, and the same fruitcake shall be given, just this time creatively, through the Internet!

Merry Christmas Kyle!! Lucky for you I took a picture before it got sent to fruitcake heaven!

Enjoy!! We love and miss you all!!

Bieber Fever in Macchiato..."Aaack!!"

First let me say that until they called Marshall, "Justin Bieber", we had no idea who he was and had to Google the name to find out. Since that first time, he has patiently (ok, sometimes not so patiently) posed for pictures as countless girls have asked to take their picture with him. CEO only knows how many FB pages his picture has been posted on.....much to his dismay! LOL

They are so funny how they pose with him!

He never knows how to stand!

They are very specific though about how they want the photo taken!

So for now he endures Bieber Fever, and is ready for the fad to pass, so that he no longer hears, "Baby...baby....baby....ohhhhh" whenever the kids in the neighborhood walk by the house! Some day, this will be funny to him. :)

Barry and Dito

Dito is a precious little 4 year old boy who lives with his parents who run the orphanage at "Maxwell's House". This young couple have three adopted boys on top of running an orphanage with 13 children of various ages. The family is like-minded and the father also leads a group there at the orphanage. They have been very faithful and have trained all the children raising them to love the CEO.

Dito is their middle child. He has been sick, on and off, all of his short life. When we came for our vision trip in February and first met him, he was the sickest child I had ever seen that was not in a hospital. He couldn't eat or drink, just laying down with no energy. Right after that they began treatment for TB and he began to improve. However, lately they have discovered that he is very sick, his disease is life-threatening. I am asking that you pray for him daily and ask the he be healed and that his body will respond to the medicine. We were there yesterday and he never came out and his mother said he still can't keep anything in him. As you can imagine, his parents are devastated and while clinging to their f*ith, they are trying to accept this news. I hurt for them. They are wonderful people with hearts of gold and they are hurting so much right now. Please join us in lifting up "R", "Y" and Dito. They need a peace that passes understanding and strength to face the days ahead.

I asked her yesterday if I could share their story so that people around the world could lift them up and it was wonderful to see the smile it brought to her face. They are tired, emotionally drained, and concerned for their son. If you are like-minded they are your family too, please remember them!!

*I wrote this a week ago and for some reason, it didn't post. Since then he has begun to drink some suppliments that he is keeping down.