Horrible Holidays!

I laugh as I type this and realize it will be a shock for some of you to read, but that was the reality for us. As exciting as this whole adventure seems (to some) the reality is quite difficult, especially for a hometown girl like me who has never been away from home for the holidays. Here are some of the highlights and the lessons learned.

Christmas Eve: We had planned on going to the International Church for a candlelight service and then to walk around downtown Athens to see the lights and to ride the carousel in the main square. We had bought preparations to make a nice steak dinner to eat before we headed out for the night. At 2pm, Peggy got the flu and spent the rest of the day vomiting and in bed shaking with a fever. Mike was left by himself, at home with no TV and a sick wife. A great new tradition!

Christmas Day: Peggy was better. Began the day skyping with Mis and Paul and new granddaughter Amelia in Guatemala in my bathrobe in our car at the Bible school parking lot (we don’t have a land line phone or internet yet but can connect to the net in the parking lot of the school!) Read the Christmas story together, went for a walk, had our first fire in our fireplace, shared dinner with 3 other families from the mission. Skyped with Mike, Nisha, Jackson, Michele and Jeremy who were together in snowy Colorado.

Lesson learned: Christmas is not a matter of traditions kept but something we live in our hearts: the joy and wonder of the birth of our Savior Jesus who left heaven to come to earth because of God’s great love for us.

New Year’s Eve: We gathered with many of the other HM missionaries at the home of Johnathan and Miriam Macris. There were about 25 of us there and we had dinner, sang some Christmas songs, shared prayers requests and then were praying when the clock struck midnight. Peggy spent a lot of this night trying to fight back tears as she looked around the room and saw all the families together and was aching for her own. For some reason this night was even more difficult than Christmas.

New Year’s Day: We lit a fire in our fireplace and watched the DVD which was made to celebrate Peggy’s Dad’s 80^th birthday Dec 23, 2007. Needless to say, another day spent in tears. Poor Mike, you can imagine how fun all this crying is for him. Then we spent the night babysitting for other missionaries here. The only problem was that the kids were more awake than the babysitters!

Blessings (among other things): Spending some great times with other missionary families during this season which made us realize and appreciate “our family” in the body of Christ both here and back in the US.

We are grateful that the holidays are over and are hoping that the first time away is the hardest!

Lesson in progress: Our Needs + Christ’s Riches = a Perfect Fit.

God didn’t make us to be self-sufficient. He carefully crafted our longings and feelings of incompleteness, to point us to Him. We are to rejoice in our neediness which enables us to find intimate completion in Christ. We're learning how to seek Christ to meet our every need and are grateful that He is faithful in all things!

GOD’S BEST TO YOU ALL IN 2008!

We love you and miss you all dear family and friends!