Last 2008 entry!

I couldn't let this year pass without one last blog about our Christmas celebration. I must say it felt different from every other year since we had none of our children with us. I realized how much I love giving gifts to them and watch them opening the gifts; that element was greatly missed this year. We spent Christmas Eve at one of our team members' house and had a delicious spread of food, shared some Christmas memories & read the Christmas story & played a game. Because one of our teammates was missing (having gone to Europe to join family) it felt like one of our children was not in the family pictures & that was a bummer. But we made the most of it and had fun anyway. Christmas Day we had the team here for brunch & later expanded our invitation to several others for our big dinner in the afternoon. The day was filled with eating, fun and games and by the time the last person left at 9:30PM I was so tired I fell into bed. It was a good day after all. And now on to 2009...we've been invited to a New Year's Eve party that promises to be wild. The only reason we decided to go is because we heard families were invited and not just a bunch of young guys. I'm sure there will be lots of drinking and dancing but you know, "all things to all men". We'll let you know how it turns out:)

So much to celebrate

I realized this morning when I went to my blog that I have not written anything this entire month! Please forgive me but somehow time just slipped away. The truth is that there is a lot that goes on here every day that we can't really write about for security reasons. I don't like writing in code language. It has been a packed month so far and we are looking forward to a little "down time" between Christmas and New Year's before we start back up with our English classes on January 4th. We had our first short-term visitor from the US this past week and he was able to experience life with us in the fast lane. We had 8 students come in for 2 days of intensive training. They all slept & ate at our house. Praise God for this big house that is so practical for these types of events. The 7 men and one woman who attended were so eager to learn & soaked up the teaching like sponges. Our #1 overall need here is for trained leaders; there isn't even one. We hope to continue to have these training events every couple of months. Needless to say, we are pretty tired out from this house full of people and in need of a little rest. Christmas is around the corner and although we've had our tree up for almost a month, it doesn't have a single present under it. This is highly unusual for me since I love to buy gifts for my family but I can't find anything here that I really want to buy and my children are far away this year. We do have some team events planned and will have a gift exchange with each other. But Christmas is just weird this year; it won't be our traditional event but hopefully meaningful just the same. It does make me realize how much our celebration revolves around family, gifts, malls, concerts, church... and how little it revolves around Christ who should be the center of attention! We have so much to celebrate during this Christmas season. The old saying that "He is the reason for the season" is still true and I pray that we will remember it more than ever this year. Christ is worth celebrating!
I'll try to do better at blogging in the New Year but no promises, just good intentions:)