Marsha's Blog

Last week I talked about the “Oranges in the Stockings”, and those simple joys of small gifts on Christmas morning.   Christmas stockings go way back in both the Woods and Smith family traditions. For us, it was a way to postpone the feeding frenzy of opening presents until after breakfast. In my Smith family growing up, we had stockings, a proper hot nourishing breakfast with clean up, and then, and only then, we’d push on to the real business of presents. But that’s another story, maybe best for the shrink. For many years Tony & I played the game of gathering and hiding “stocking stuffers” all thru the year, then finding a way to sneak them into their appointed places on Christmas Eve. Now that the children have grown and gone, the mantle of responsibility has gone along with them, and we love hearing the stories of how they have produced the magic in their own homes. Without giving it much thought, we always ended up, after placing the small gifts inside the stocking, r...

 Good Morning All, As the ‘lead up’ to Christmas is in full swing, just like most of you, I’m wondering what to get for so-in-so ………. trying to think of what they’d really like. I’m beginning to think teen grandkids are the hardest of the lot.   Thinking about this, I had a flashback to my daughter’s first Christmas with us.  God led us to her in a lovely Russian orphanage, 3 years old and beyond the age of government support, but with nowhere to go.  She’d been treated well, but as we got to know her, we realised that there had been some ‘scarcities’.  Thankfully they were only material things, like food and clothing; it was obvious that she was much loved, but still she’d had been experiencing an austere life.   Finally arriving at her new home in Japan, we geared up for Christmas – the first one for 3-year-old Nicki. When Christmas morning arrived, she was absolutely delighted to find the mandarin orange in the top of her stocking.  (I’ll ...

 Dear friends,  Well, we all got thru our Thanksgiving season and I'm guessing that now you're thinking about Christmas! Tony got our Christmas lights up a week early this year, strictly against tradition, but he claimed his authority as Patriarch. But rather than pontificate about Christmas just yet, I'm going to pass this little ditty along just in case you haven’t come across the story and might like to spread some 'Good News' around.  Please enjoy.    It’s the story of a candy maker in Indiana who wanted to make something that would help us remember Who Christmas is really about.  The result was a Christmas Candy Cane.  He incorporated several symbols for the birth, ministry, and death of Jesus Christ. It goes like this: He began with a stick of pure white, hard candy. White to symbolise the virgin birth and sinless nature of Jesus.  Hard candy to symbolise the solid rock, the foundation of the Church, and firmness of the promises of God. He t...

Happy Thanksgiving!   I hope your experience this past week was at least as emotionally and spiritually satisfying as ours. Let me tell you about it:  We came to Australia from Japan nearly 30 years ago.  I remember my initial culture shock at finding that this was definitely “Not” America.  America was founded, at least partially, by people deeply religious and wanting to build a place where they could live out their faith with a freedom they didn’t currently have.  The first European settlers to Australia, on the other hand, were for the most part convicts who would probably have preferred to be anywhere BUT here.  But the years have passed, and now I think both Americans and Australians can point to a God-blessed heritage. We share a similar history in that the indigenous people provided help to those first poor settlers whose ignorance would have proved tragic had it not been for their help. The Pilgrims had no idea how severe the winters could be,...

  Good Morning! It’s Spring here Down Under, and that’s prompted Tony and me to undertake “Operation Garage Cleanout”. Honestly, I can’t say that the place looks much cleaner today, but I’m standing here with both armfuls of great stuff I found in the clutter! A lot of it looks like good blog ideas, so watch out. As missionaries over the years, we’ve had to periodically either move out of places or else organize and pack everything for safekeeping until we could come back from short-term or Stateside assignments. For that reason, it’s been a little traumatic to look in our garage and realize some things out there haven’t been moved in over 10 years!  So one of the “tear-inducing” treasures I found was a little plaque. It’s made of stone with a poem printed on it and covered in decoupage. We picked it up 33 years ago while on a “grief trip” after Trevor died. This is not uncommon for people who’ve had a long “sick journey” with a loved one and need to take some time to rest....

I remember back in 1985 I was having a hard day.  I remember now because this week, I came across a handwritten note that I have kept all these years. It said, (in Japanese, if that matters),  “Marsha Sensei, I have loved what you have been teaching me about Jesus. My husband was transferred and we’re moving away today. I will never forget you, Mariko.” That’s all it said.  I found it in my letterbox, no return address, nothing. The reason I was feeling down was because I had no way of contacting her. I almost felt that she’d orchestrated it that way for a reason and it made me sad. Japanese, as a whole, are very non-confrontational, even concerning their own destinies, and it hurt to see her go.  I couldn’t chase her down and realizing time was short, cram the Gospel into her. But while I was musing, the doorbell rang and I had a package. It was from a friend back in the States. Let me tell you about her.  We grew up together in a small Colorado town.  She...