unexpected turnout!

It is 5AM and I can't sleep because I'm worried about my son, Glenn getting on the plane in Chicago since there's a sheet of ice on top of the snow and freezing temps! It looks like he might make it on time to Istanbul to catch his flight with his sister & husband to see us for Christmas. The older brother will follow in a couple of days. What a wonderful feeling of anticipation as we await our children's arrival. God sure loves to give us good gifts.
Last Saturday night was our Christmas program at our church. We had put a lot of work into it and planned & practiced like we should. We all invited friends and hoped that some of them would come. Everyone in the congregation was asked to bring cookies for the occasion. Our normal attendance has been running around 50. We put out 80 chairs thinking that our faith was huge and we'd never fill them. The people kept coming long after the play had begun and we ended up with about 110 people at the end. It was so thrilling to hear many people say that it was the first time they'd ever heard the Christmas story. After the play, Darrell closed with a short message on the Light of the world and everyone lit the candle they had received when they arrived. The funny thing was that so many people had cigarette lighters, that they all started lighting their own candles so there was instant light instead of a slow lighting of the room. Oh well. The fellowship afterward was wonderful and people stayed around forever. God multiplied the cookies and there were plenty for everyone. Someone was able to sneak a picture which I will include here. Also the cast of the play minus our two Kurds and 1 Arab wisemen. They were awesome.

Christmas musings

This may be the only blog I get to this month since my children will be arriving in exactly one week and then I will be all theirs until they leave! I'm sure I'll have lots to blog about when they leave and hopefully some family pictures. This season is so different overseas than in the US. Although I sometimes wish I could stroll in a mall all decorated with Santa, lights & Christmas music, I do rather enjoy the calmness of our Christmas here; hardly a decoration to be found and the scrawny trees & Santas hardly remind me of the "season to be jolly"! We put our tree up early this year and I love the lights & gifts under the tree, candles burning and music playing. But the focus is so much more on Jesus and the real reason we celebrate this holiday. We are putting on a performance of the Christmas story at our church this Saturday and it promises to be a great event. Many who come will never once have heard the story. Even I, after having heard it maybe hundreds of times, actually cried when I read the play script the first time. It is an amazing story that we never tire of. Our week is packed full of activity: girls' Christmas party tonight at one of our teammates' houses, team Christmas party tomorrow with a few extras invited, our Christmas program at church on Saturday, baking & cooking & freezing for the arrival of my kids next week and then celebrating twice as my older son arrives the 29th. What a wonderful time of year! I read a blog this morning from a friend suffering with cancer. His attitude and character is so God-honoring. He admonishes us to enjoy and love our families as never before because we never know how long we'll have with them. They are truly God's most wonderful gift to us after Jesus! I pray that we will all remember this as we gather with loved ones this Christmas season. The other night at our prayer meeting, we sang just about every Christmas Carol in the book. Before we chose a song, we had to tell why we liked it. I really love all the carols and the concept of Immanuel is so special; to think that God left heaven and became a man so that he could be with us on this earth and show us how to live, is just mind-boggling. If only we could explain this very complex truth to our friends here. Only the Holy Spirit can open their eyes and help them to understand! Have a wonderful Christmas and a joyous time of celebrating the greatest gift of all time: JESUS.