Merry Christmas!

Dec. 28

Merry Christmas! I hope all of you were as blessed this Christmas as we were. The week started out with making tea rings (cinnamon rolls in the shape of a wreath) to give to all our missionary friends. Every year Josh’s Mom makes them too so it made it feel like Christmas smelling them all week and bringing them to our friends. Josh was really happy when it was finally his turn to eat one. We also brought chickens to our Ugandan friends and workers for Christmas. They were thrilled.

Wednesday our team had a goodbye party for Josh Feenstra, our six month volunteer. We all played football, had snacks, and prayed for him. We will miss Josh he was great with our kids and fun to have around. Josh’s family is also here for three weeks to see and serve with our team. We have enjoyed having them here and admire a whole family coming to serve. Mrs. Feenstra came over twice to be with me and the girls. She taught Grace, did crafts with the girls, and helped me bake. It was so nice. Anyways, back to football it was fun once again until Josh (my Josh) pulled a muscle in his leg and now can’t run at all. He just loves sports and gives his all all the time. Thankfully it is something that will heal after a couple weeks of rest.

Thursday night was our little family party. It was such a blessing! We started with a candle lit supper. The kids thought it was pretty special drinking their Christmas punch out of wine glasses. Lydia sat at the table saying how thankful she was to be here and how good life is. She is so much like me. Just taking in all of life and thankful for everything. Then they opened their presents from us. I was quite creative and found most things around here that I knew they would like. They had so much fun opening the gifts and loved them. Lydia was thrilled over her bath robe, roller blades, princes coloring book, and new back pack. She gets so excited over every present. It is so much fun to see her joy. Grace got a new dress up princess dress, coloring book, doll clothes, purse and water bottle. Luka was adorable. He kept saying open present. He would sit with his little feet crossed and slowly open his package. Rip a little, peek inside, rip a little, peek inside… Then he would say, “mank you” (thank you). He got a lot of new cars and he sat happily all night (and all the next day) playing with his cars. He was precious to watch. The kids were very proud of the gifts they got for each other and for Josh and I too. Then we had ice cream for dessert – great way to end a great night. I loved our little Christmas! The whole night was beautiful. The house looked Christmasy, the kids were enjoying everything, and I just took it all in with joy in my heart.

The next day was Christmas Eve. I was busy all morning baking but I didn’t mind. I had the Christmas music on, the lights on, and it smelled good. It is part of all the fun and anticipation. In the afternoon we went to our friends the Dwires. We put Luka down for a nap while the adults played games. The girls did a first on Christmas Eve – they went swimming! That is something you don’t do in Michigan. I guess if we can’t go sledding we mine as well go swimming. Tim and Angie and family came too. We all enjoyed appetizers then a wonderful supper – talk about good eating! Dan and Amie do such a wonderful job of making everything look so nice and always give you their best. The kids played and watched movies while the adults played another game. Then, even though we were all full, we had chocolate and caramel fondu. That was fun. It was a great night! Always goes too fast. But it really felt like Christmas Eve. Again I was so thankful. We are blessed with great friends and family.

Now, Christmas Day! We went to church but our little church only had seven adults and seven kids there. Oh well, he preached a good Christmas sermon and we were home in time to get ready for everyone to come over. We set things up outside again and our team came over for the day. I just love having everyone over to celebrate. It looked so nice and everyone brought amazing food. We had another feast – we even made ham. After eating we had our team gift exchange and we did white elephant gifts. I thing everyone really enjoyed it. The Feenstra family also brought gifts for everyone – so thoughtful. The rest of the afternoon we played games – Christmas Bingo, Christmas Scattigories, and Christmas Charades. It was fun. And what I call the Christmas miracle happened -- it was cloudy and the temperature went down to 72degrees! When it has been 100 around here 72 feels like winter weather to us. We were all so excited. The ladies all put on their long sleeves and drank coffee and wassail (that Jennifer made and tasted and smelled so good). It felt like Christmas! Once it got dark outside the party moved inside. We had snacks and played another game. Everyone was just enjoying Christmas together. It wasn’t until about 9:30pm that our house was quiet again. Too quiet. Christmas was done. But what a lot we have to be thankful for and what great memories we have forever. God is still the same loving God He was that night in Bethlehem when He gave us His Son. He continues to celebrate with us the joy of our salvation. Merry Christmas!

Yesterday we had a Christmas party for our Indian friends. God has been so good to me. With all the parties we have had, some of them being ministry opportunities I believe God called us to do, I never felt stressed or worried. I committed everything to Him and He was faithful in making everything work out. I made chicken, spaghetti, fruit, chapatis (tortillas), and we had lots of goodies left over from Christmas. Our friends closed their stores early to come. Some of them arrived at 8:30pm and others at 9pm. (Time for bed anyone?) Eight of our Indian friends came and eight people from our team. Our Indian friends were quiet but I think they had a nice time. Language is always a bit of a barrier. I found out that only two of the men eat chicken (left over chicken anyone?) and no one eat much but that is ok I know it is different than they are use to. Our main reason we wanted them over was to share the story of Christmas and why Jesus came. Josh shared with them and then offered Hindi Bibles to them. Three of them took one. We also told them that God gave us the greatest gift on Christmas and that is why we give gifts now at Christmas. We told them that God loves us and that is why we love others and why we love them. We gave them each a small Christmas present and told them we were thankful for their friendship. Our party ended about 10:30pm. I don’t know what they thought or felt about it. Josh said they talked all the way back to the store (home) in their language. We prayed over this party and for our Indian friends a lot. I believe God allowed us to plant a seed last night. Now it is God who will continue the growth of that seed. I pray they felt love, heard truth, and saw Jesus in us. It is our sincere prayer that our friends come to know Jesus, the greatest gift of all, as their Lord and Savior. May God’s Word and Spirit show them the Way.

Can’t wait to share more with you in the New Year!