Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! Thank the Lord we still have a season worth celebrating.

Remember Christmas? Remember waking up early on Christmas morning, sneaking out to the smell of the fresh pine Christmas tree, crawling under the tree to turn the lights on, and waiting ever so impatiently for your parents to wake up? Remember the Christmas program with the manger and the little biblically incorrect blue eyed baby doll. Remember the angel costumes with the itchy garland halos (if you're blond that was likely your costume every year when you really wanted to be Mary)?

What is Christmas all about? Certainly, we know what the holidays are all about. Presents of course. Let's just be honest. Why else would all the stores have so many sales and why is the traffic around the mall so awful this time of year? Presents. The world tries to fool itself by saying that it's all about spending time with family, but that point is not well argued at all. Haven't you heard the commercial about how much of a drag it is to "have to go see the in-laws?" Don't give me holidays. I don't want any part of such a contradictory holiday.

Remember the name? Remember Jesus? Remember? Often times I don't. It's very easy to get caught up in the commercialism of the season. I catch myself evaluating every commercial to see if what they're advertising is really what I want for Christmas. Could I ask for that and not hurt the budget too badly? What I remember is that December 25th is called Christmas, but in all this craziness about Christmas being called anything other than Christmas, I have been reminded that I have a reason for celebrating Christmas as Christmas. I celebrate a Savior who is worth far more than my temporary, covetous wants. He's worth far more than just His birthday. For unto us is born this day,... a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. A Savior. A self sacrificing, all powerful, loving-above-all-other-loves, Savior Jesus Christ. The Savior who died for me. I have been saved for years and I still can't grasp the fact that Jesus died for me. Knowing that I remain safely in His arms, I still long to hug Jesus. Say the name again and remember it this Christmas.

Jesus.

Pre-Winter Blues

I'm not a huge fan of winter, which means when fall rolls around I try to enjoy every last drop of warm weather before I have to freeze to death for several months. The first fall I worked at Piedmont, I noticed a tree out my window and across the parking lot. When all the other trees' leaves turned colors, "my tree" kept its beautiful green. I also noticed that in the spring it was the first to grow leaves again. Well this fall, they cut my poor tree down. Why? I don't know. Why do we cut any trees down? I get so frustrated when people cut perfectly fine trees down, not that I'm a tree hugger, but in a sense I am. Anyway, this is not my fall. Usually, by about now I'm trying to get excited about Thanksgiving and Christmas, but this year, I'm not really that thrilled at all yet.

Today we had our first frost. Brrrrr! So tonight I brought out my fall and winter clothes. Fall and winter clothes are so dark and gloomy. Also, the majority of my fall and winter clothes require the use of nylons. Yuck and Brrr! I once tried size Q to see if it would be better around my waist, but even size Q felt like a rubber band and they slid down my legs and made me look like a granny so needless to say, I ditched that plan.

Anyway, there might be some good things about winter... ...like Charlie Brown Christmas! ...or...Pea Coats ... or ... uh ... snow! but I haven't seen it in a long time. Or... uh ... hmm ... cranberry sauce! ...Oooo, I just thought of one I really, really like and that's Christmas trees. I love pretty ornaments. Hmmm, maybe I'll be excited about that. Only about a month and a half and I can have a sweet smelling Christmas tree in my home. Now that is something I can look forward to!

See ya later fri-end

Lately, I've had a couple of opportunities to have my fri-end (say that with a southern accent), Isaac, over. From the time he was just a little baby, he would come over to my house and ask to play with my pots and pans. Now that he is almost four, he comes over and we cook something. Recently, we made french toast together as a part of our pretend Pampered Chef show (him mom is a Pampered Chef rep). When he got home the next day, he told his mom exactly how to make them. You put 3 eggs in a bowl and mix 'em up, then you put Cinnimon in and you mix it up, then you dip the bread in it and throw it on the skillet and the bread screams YOW! To understand the topic of our conversation at the dinner table, you must know that Isaac's mom is in the very early stages of her second pregnancy. After we had prayed and all began to eat, Isaac turned to me and said, "Stephanie, how are you feeling today?" I just about busted out laughing. I wonder if that is a common topic at the dinner table in Isaac's home.

After dinner, we watch Pixar's Cars. He always has a grand time with the first race scene. VROOM! VROOM! Then when the movie is over we watch Mater and the Ghost Light. Then we pray and I tuck him in for bed. Isaac stayed over night a couple of times so that Dan and Rachael could have a little free time and then be here early in the morning for a prayer meeting without having to wake Isaac up too early.

Then last weekend, we had to say goodbye to our fri-end Isaac. His dad got a good job up in Ohio, where they are originally from, and they moved away. We helped them move, and to keep from crying when it was time for them to leave, Isaac and I imagined a face on the dashboard of the truck as we waited for mom to fill the truck with gas. I sure am gonna miss my little buddy, but he and his family have some wonderful things going on in their lives right now and I can completely understand their need to move on to the next step.

Come visit soon fri-end. He's gonna lose that accent up there. :(

Sponsor Bereket Samara

This is Bereket Samara.

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Bereket is looking for a sponsor through Compassion International. I have agreed to be responsible to find Bereket a sponor. Here's what Compassion wants you to know about him:

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"Compassion chose Bereket to be a part of the Child Sponsorship Program because he is among the poorest of the poor in Ethiopia. because his family has so few resources, Bereket faces life threatening illnesses daily, has a limited opportunity to attend school, and is forced to live in shoddy, often dangerous, housing.

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"Let God use you to bring hope into the life of Bereket. With the help of you, the local church and Compassion, Bereket will receive the medical care, educational training, food and spiritual guidance he needs to reach his God-given potential."

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For the past year, Ryan and I have been sponsoring a little girl from Ghana, West Africa. It has been such a blessing to have her in our lives even though she's so far away. We are able to sponsor her for the amount that Compassion asks for, just $32 per month. Since we were recently in West Africa, we know that $32 is enough to take care of schooling, medical bills, food, and clothing.

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We often receive letters from our little girl, Comfort, and we are happy to write to her. We also pray for her and are free to share the gospel with her. It is cool to know that even though we are not on the missionfield yet, we are playing a huge role in the life of one person who lives there now. One day we plan to meet her, however if we don't, when we meet her in heaven we will be blessed to know that the Lord allowed us to play a small part in her life.

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I hope you'll consider "adopting" Bereket as your own Compassion child. If so, please let me know and I'll sign you up. Think of how the Lord could use him through your influence!

Flying Cow :)

Quick little update

I love this blog. We have such a cool support group through our readers. I'm not really sure how many readers we have, because different people tell me they read our blog every so often. Cool beans! ...not that I have a whole lot to say... Anyway, we know we have a wonderful prayer group out there sitting in your twirly office chairs (unless you're like me and sit in an old dining room chair) and I just wanted to let you know how much you are appreciated.

Next week, Ryan and I plan to begin the application process to become "real missionaries" with ABWE, and then we hope to go to candidate school in February. Our desire for Togo has not faded in the slightest. In fact, it's only gotten stronger. We hope to be back in Togo in five years. Year one will be spent with Ryan finishing up flight school in May. The next two years or so we'll spend in pre-field ministry, and then we'll spend two years in France for language school. Of course, we realize that "if the Lord wills we will live and do this or that" (James 4:15b), but that's just our desire at this stage in the game.

Ryan has begun his commercial flight training. He says that flying the 182RG is like flying a cow. I said, "I'd like to see that sometime" as images of flying cows popped into my head. I can only imagine what it would be like to fly a jersey cow. Maybe I should write a children's book about it or something. Anyway, Ryan's still plugging away and doing very well ...at flying the cow :).

Well, missions conference at our church is this weekend. It seems to be coming together. Please pray that we have a good turnout at the women's luncheon on Saturday. I pray that our missionaries are blessed while they are here and that the Lord is honored throughout the whole conference.

Powerful Prayer

I was just reading one of the books for my missions practicum homework and ran across an illustration I just had to share with you. I'm sure you've heard stories like this before, but I always enjoy hearing them again. This one gave me goose bumps.

This story is from Thomas Hale's book On Being a Missionary. Published by the William Carey Library. Page 347.

"Let me tell you a story. It's about a medical missionary serving in a developing country who had just come home on furlough, and who was asked by the pastor of his home church to give a report of his work at one of the church services.

"This missionary doctor told the congregation about his work at a rural hospital, and how periodically he had to journey by bicycle two days to a nearby city to get supplies. The journey each way required camping overnight at the halfway point.

"On on of these trips he encountered a young man in the city who had just been injured, and so he treated the man's injuries and witnessed to him about Christ. He then journeyed back to his hospital, camping overnight at the halfway point, and arriving the next day without incident.

"The missionary doctor continued his story. "Two weeks later I repeated my journey to the city. When I arrived I cam across the young man I had treated two weeks earlier. He said to me, 'I know you come to the city regularly to collect money and drugs for your hospital. So, on your last trip, some friends and I planned to follow you back to the camping spot where you spend the night and rob you and kill you. So we followed you, and waited until you were asleep. Then as we were about to attack you, we saw twenty-six armed guards standing around you.'"

"The missionary said to the congregation: "When I heard that I laughed. I told the young man that I was absolutely alone at that campsite. But the young man persisted. He said to me, 'No, you were not alone. My five friends also saw the guards. We all counted them, and came up with the same number: twenty-six. It was because of those guards that we were afraid and left you alone.'"

"At that moment a man in the congregation jumped to his feet and interrupted the missionary's story. He said to the missionary, "Excuse me, but could you tell me the exact day and time that these men were planning to attack you?"

"The missionary took a moment to recollect the date and hour, taking into account the change of time zone, and then told the man standing in the congregation.

"The man then said to the missionary, "An hour or so before the attack would have taken place, I was on my way to play golf. But the Lord suddenly put a burden on my heart to pray for you. I didn't know why. The burden was so strong that I returned home, and called some other men in the church to meet together to intercede on your behalf."

"The man paused, and looking around at the congregation, said, "Will all those men who joined me in prayer that day please stand?"

"When they all had risen, there were twenty-six men standing."