December 5, 2010
Merry Christmas everyone! Isn’t it a joy to celebrate our Saviors birth?! I am into the celebration. Last Saturday we put our tree. I thought we would be putting up our 2 feet tree we brought from the States but instead we ended up putting up an 8 feet tree we bought here in Soroti. Like I said I love the holidays, so when I was at the grocery store and they told me they had big Christmas trees for sale I got excited. Josh went with me later to see it. The box said 4 foot better than 2 foot I guess but it sure looked bigger as we took it out of the box. Our friend at the store sold it to us for a great price -- $22. We got home and started putting it up with the kids. The tree was not 4 foot the box was. The tree was about 8 foot and touched our ceiling (actually we had to bend the top so it would fit). How fun! We had a great time decorating and singing Christmas songs with the kids. We even had to go to the store again and buy more lights and tinsel. (Thankfully Soroti had some!) Grace stood on Josh’s shoulders to put our small star on top. Now our house looks like Christmas!
This weekend our family went to Mbale (a town an hour and a half away) for the night with the Kaiser family, our teammates. We needed to get new tires on our van and Luka was suppose to get lab work again to make sure everything was still ok. Unfortunately, the lab results did not make sense (number were off and others were good but they should have both said one thing or the other) so Luka’s doctor said we will have to try to do it again in January. Thankfully the rest of the weekend was successful and we had a fun time swimming, eating, and just being away. (I even got to relax in a hot tub – the only one I know of in Uganda.) It is such a blessing to be with my family.
I wish I could share my children with all of you. They change so quickly and are so much fun. Luka is talking a lot (some of it we’d have to interpret but most of it is understandable). He is so polite and says thank you for everything. It was so funny tonight when Grace was complaining in the car Luka said, “Grace, stop it.” He mimics everything and can say every ones names. He gets so excited to when he sees people he knows. It is a great age. The big news is Lydia stopped sucking her thumb! All glory to God. We put clear medical tape on for a few weeks and now she no longer needs that. I told her the first of November that it would be a great thanksgiving at Thanksgiving and with some hard work and pray she did it. We are so proud of her! And even bigger news, Grace prayed to have Jesus in her heart. Now that is a praise the Lord! We were reading the Bible before bed and it was the story of Jesus dying on the cross. So I talked to them about what it means and asked if they had or wanted to ask Jesus to forgive them and be the King of their lives. I knew Lydia had but I wasn’t sure what Grace would say seeing she was older now. She said she wanted to so Josh talked and prayed with her. I know all Heaven was rejoicing with us as another one of God’s children accepted Him.
You can be praying for my brother Chris who is now in Guatemala doing ministry for six months. Beginnings are always hard. Pray for God’s peace to be with him, for protection for him, and for God to use him greatly.
I have been wanting to write about how thankful I am for God’s Word but haven’t so I guess now is as good of time as any. I love it. It speaks so clearly and loudly to me. I am not saying I always go away from God’s Word spoken to but I do go away fulfilled and blessed, excited or challenged. I am saddened that as Christians I hear us speak about the Bible so little really. We are very good at talking about the latest news, TV shows, and complain about being busy with all our activities. Is it because we don’t know the Word of God and don’t spend time in it or is it because we embarrassed or shamed? There are many reasons why. All I know is that His Word is life to me. I cannot do without His wisdom and assurance, His correction and guidance. It is my peace and hope to know Him more and more. Anyways, I just want to share with the world each time He teaches me through His Word and so often I don’t. It usually just stays between me and Him. I wrestle with that. Is it just for me and my growth or am I called to share what He has taught me with others? I say all this because I want to share more what God is teaching me on my journal/blog. I guess it is a warning. However, as Mom time may not allow. Then I guess I will hold onto how God has spoken to me until the right time.
One last thing. You can be praying for the Christmas events we have in mind for around here. I really want to share the Light of the World with the world this Christmas. God is now using us as His light on earth, a reflection of Him. We have so much to celebrate at Christmas. It is where our salvation story begins. We are sitting in a world dying of hopelessness and we have the good news to bring them. So I pray that we have opportunities and make opportunities to share with the lost and hurting around us. I have a couple things in mind. As some of you know we will be, with the financial help of a church in MI, putting on a Christmas party for the Elim House (former street kids) and the street kids. I am nervous and excited. I don’t want the details to take away from the focus of sharing Jesus with them. I pray that knowing Jesus came to earth to save them they will be overwhelmed by His love. I would also like to share the Christmas story with our Indian friends. It is a bit tricky because they work at the supermarket and never close or have time to all come. I know God will give us a way to celebrate the real meaning of Christmas with them. I pray that as the wise men came to worship Jesus, our Indian friends will hear the truth and also worship. Along with these hopes I can’t wait to make Christmas meaningful for our family and team. I have so many ideas in my mind…candlelight Christmas Carols, women’s Christmas tea, crafts… Should be fun. Pray for Christ to be honored in all our celebrations this season. Merry Christmas everyone!
Merry Christmas everyone! Isn’t it a joy to celebrate our Saviors birth?! I am into the celebration. Last Saturday we put our tree. I thought we would be putting up our 2 feet tree we brought from the States but instead we ended up putting up an 8 feet tree we bought here in Soroti. Like I said I love the holidays, so when I was at the grocery store and they told me they had big Christmas trees for sale I got excited. Josh went with me later to see it. The box said 4 foot better than 2 foot I guess but it sure looked bigger as we took it out of the box. Our friend at the store sold it to us for a great price -- $22. We got home and started putting it up with the kids. The tree was not 4 foot the box was. The tree was about 8 foot and touched our ceiling (actually we had to bend the top so it would fit). How fun! We had a great time decorating and singing Christmas songs with the kids. We even had to go to the store again and buy more lights and tinsel. (Thankfully Soroti had some!) Grace stood on Josh’s shoulders to put our small star on top. Now our house looks like Christmas!
This weekend our family went to Mbale (a town an hour and a half away) for the night with the Kaiser family, our teammates. We needed to get new tires on our van and Luka was suppose to get lab work again to make sure everything was still ok. Unfortunately, the lab results did not make sense (number were off and others were good but they should have both said one thing or the other) so Luka’s doctor said we will have to try to do it again in January. Thankfully the rest of the weekend was successful and we had a fun time swimming, eating, and just being away. (I even got to relax in a hot tub – the only one I know of in Uganda.) It is such a blessing to be with my family.
I wish I could share my children with all of you. They change so quickly and are so much fun. Luka is talking a lot (some of it we’d have to interpret but most of it is understandable). He is so polite and says thank you for everything. It was so funny tonight when Grace was complaining in the car Luka said, “Grace, stop it.” He mimics everything and can say every ones names. He gets so excited to when he sees people he knows. It is a great age. The big news is Lydia stopped sucking her thumb! All glory to God. We put clear medical tape on for a few weeks and now she no longer needs that. I told her the first of November that it would be a great thanksgiving at Thanksgiving and with some hard work and pray she did it. We are so proud of her! And even bigger news, Grace prayed to have Jesus in her heart. Now that is a praise the Lord! We were reading the Bible before bed and it was the story of Jesus dying on the cross. So I talked to them about what it means and asked if they had or wanted to ask Jesus to forgive them and be the King of their lives. I knew Lydia had but I wasn’t sure what Grace would say seeing she was older now. She said she wanted to so Josh talked and prayed with her. I know all Heaven was rejoicing with us as another one of God’s children accepted Him.
You can be praying for my brother Chris who is now in Guatemala doing ministry for six months. Beginnings are always hard. Pray for God’s peace to be with him, for protection for him, and for God to use him greatly.
I have been wanting to write about how thankful I am for God’s Word but haven’t so I guess now is as good of time as any. I love it. It speaks so clearly and loudly to me. I am not saying I always go away from God’s Word spoken to but I do go away fulfilled and blessed, excited or challenged. I am saddened that as Christians I hear us speak about the Bible so little really. We are very good at talking about the latest news, TV shows, and complain about being busy with all our activities. Is it because we don’t know the Word of God and don’t spend time in it or is it because we embarrassed or shamed? There are many reasons why. All I know is that His Word is life to me. I cannot do without His wisdom and assurance, His correction and guidance. It is my peace and hope to know Him more and more. Anyways, I just want to share with the world each time He teaches me through His Word and so often I don’t. It usually just stays between me and Him. I wrestle with that. Is it just for me and my growth or am I called to share what He has taught me with others? I say all this because I want to share more what God is teaching me on my journal/blog. I guess it is a warning. However, as Mom time may not allow. Then I guess I will hold onto how God has spoken to me until the right time.
One last thing. You can be praying for the Christmas events we have in mind for around here. I really want to share the Light of the World with the world this Christmas. God is now using us as His light on earth, a reflection of Him. We have so much to celebrate at Christmas. It is where our salvation story begins. We are sitting in a world dying of hopelessness and we have the good news to bring them. So I pray that we have opportunities and make opportunities to share with the lost and hurting around us. I have a couple things in mind. As some of you know we will be, with the financial help of a church in MI, putting on a Christmas party for the Elim House (former street kids) and the street kids. I am nervous and excited. I don’t want the details to take away from the focus of sharing Jesus with them. I pray that knowing Jesus came to earth to save them they will be overwhelmed by His love. I would also like to share the Christmas story with our Indian friends. It is a bit tricky because they work at the supermarket and never close or have time to all come. I know God will give us a way to celebrate the real meaning of Christmas with them. I pray that as the wise men came to worship Jesus, our Indian friends will hear the truth and also worship. Along with these hopes I can’t wait to make Christmas meaningful for our family and team. I have so many ideas in my mind…candlelight Christmas Carols, women’s Christmas tea, crafts… Should be fun. Pray for Christ to be honored in all our celebrations this season. Merry Christmas everyone!
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