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.