Christmas cookies and truffles

Sick of pictures of Alina yet? I think this new-found energy is also translating itself into more blogging.

Anyway, this week, we made Christmas cookies as well as chocolate truffles. We had a blast, and here is the evidence:

I've never seen a person with chocolate in their eyelashes until today.

Actually, I wanted to try out these 2 recipes this week for a reason. On Sunday the 14th, we're planning on having a Christmas party for the children of our church. There are actually 4 families besides ours who are officially members of our church and who have children between the ages of 2 and 10. We never see any of them at church on Sundays. Maybe on Easter or Christmas Eve, if we're lucky. Anyway, I called and talked to 3 of the 4 moms a couple of weeks ago and proposed the idea of a Christmas something for the kids. All of them sounded enthusiastic at the idea. I then sent home-made invitations addressed to each of the kids. They have until tomorrow to RSVP, and so far we have heard nothing from anyone. We're really praying that these kids will all come and that this will be a chance to re-connect with these families and talk to them about the idea of having some sort of ongoing Sunday school program. I've also invited a family from Melle that we know with 2 boys (no answer from them yet, either), and a mom that I've met recently is going to come over next week to help me bake cookies for the event! Please pray for each one of these individuals, that this Christmas will be a significant time for them. Thanks!