Christmas 2009

We pray you all enjoyed the beautiful Christmas season. We enjoyed seeing the pictures of the white Christmas that many of you were able to have in the Texas area. Please send us your family newsletter updates via email when you have time. We would love to hear from you. We had a quiet two days. On the 24th, we traveled with some local American friends to a Chilis. It was a treat to be able to eat familiar foods and visit with believers. In the evening, we were excited to light the final candle on our Advent wreath: The Christ Candle. Christ - The Messiah - The Anointed One...what a joy it has been to spend the last month focused on the blessing God gave to us in the gift of His son. After my last blog, a sweet mentor friend of mine reminded me on facebook that we know peace now because he came the first time and sent the Holy Spirit to be with us until He comes again - BUT, true peace will only come when He comes again. In looking towards the new year, our family feels challenged to see how we can continue the celebration of advent (the anticipation of His coming) in the new seasons. How can we keep our hearts full of the anticipation of His coming again? What can we be doing to get ourselves ready? What can we be doing to help others to be ready? I am sure that we will have a lot to blog about in 2010 as God stretches our faith, teaches us and encourages our hearts. God is true to His promises and we are determined to be faithful to His call. Because of Him, AT
Pictures: The first one is, of course, us at Chilis. We are truly thankful for our home supporters that make it possible for us to live here but also what a blessing you all are to go beyond that and help us with special treats. Thank you; Thank you; Thank you! The next picture is of the kids seeing for the first time what their special gifts were going to be on Christmas morning. I love the surprise! Gift giving is one of my love languages - I LOVE Christmas time! The next few pictures are of the special gifts we bought for each other. The kids worked really hard all fall to save their money. They were thrilled to buy presents for each person. "Faithfulness is always rewarded" - great lesson for finances and it is helping push us all through language learning! The last two things are videos. I am having a hard time getting videos to upload - not sure what my problem is....SOOO, these are not the cute ones that I have tried for 2 days to upload, but maybe they will make you laugh.