Thank You Nana and Poopa!
I think the face says it all Uncle John and Aunt Lisa!
This face says "It is 12 noon on Christmas day and I've yet to open a gift!"
To all of our wonderful family, dear friends, and all other confused people trying to find the most recent update for your McAfee antivirus, MERRY CHRISTMAS from West Africa!!! It's been a long, but great day for us. This is our second Christmas in Africa and although we miss you all terribly, a feeling of belonging has begun to set in here.
Our Christmas party was a smashing success Tuesday according to those that attended. We had made up 70 gift bags with peanuts, homemade banana muffins, zucchini muffins, and peanut butter cookies. We figured we were making way more than enough, but who wants to run out. At the point that Mike told the story of Jesus birth I counted 55 nationals, not counting our missionaries. I knew a few had already come and gone at that point, but didn't know that many more were yet to come! We gave away every muffin, peanut, cookie, and scrap of popcorn we could find in the house!! We put down about 12 kilos of rice and ate 2 sheet cakes, cupcakes, cookies, and 3 loaves of banana bread, not to mention around 8 gallons of KoolAid!!! After the last family had left and we were taking home the lady who had cooked some of the sauce for us, we were chatting about the party. She said, "You know that was a good party because there is no food left. If everyone just sits around and talks, but doesn't eat, the party is not good, but if they eat all of your food, THAT is a good party!" Hee Hee! So we were all tired, but so glad that not only did we have a good party with good food, Mike told a good story. May the Lord continue to work in the hearts of those that heard. (Now you have to say "AMEN!" that's what a good national would do)
Our teammate Jon was feeling back to normal and did some serious mingling on behalf of the team!!! Poor Autumn and Teresa got stuck in the kitchen doing the dirty work, but we were so thankful to have them doing that. I mostly just ran around in circles forgetting what it was I was looking for.
We had a lovely time at church this morning. That's what you do here on Christmas, go to church. The kids sang with the other kids in French and then Caleb sang a solo of "Away in A Manger". We came back home, opened gifts (and by open, I mean wildly ripped wrapping paper off of packages and threw to the far corners of the house) and then joined our missionary family for a little Christmas dinner. I ate far too much and then we belted out some Christmas carols and headed home to call as many of the great people that we love so much as we could fit into one evening! To all of those that we didn't get, we love you and miss you. May God bless you all this Christmas season... May you see His lovingkindness in a very real way and grasp how wide is His love for you... May you have peace in your homes... May God's favor and grace rest on you and your families... And may this find you in good health... You have officially been blessed Cote d'Ivoire style! If you were here, you'd have done that for others several times today and in the next week hundreds more times!
Well, if you are feeling a little chilly about now, just hop on the next plane to West Africa and come see us! We'll feed you good food and let you thaw out!
Merry Christmas to all!
Heather
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