Christmas is Coming!

 Hello all

 

Welcome to December!  By now you in the Northern Hemisphere should be snugged down and anticipating Christmas. I can imagine you looking thru frosty windows out at glistening lights, humming Christmas carols and sipping hot chocolate. (sigh!)

 

And yet, here Down Under, I have never quite “gotten” the Hot Christmas idea, but I have to admit that it’s fun to hear the grandkids frolicking in the pool and wondering what cool quick dry ‘frock’ I can come up with for the Christmas Eve carols. And then is the 8:00AM Christmas day service that is also so much a part of Australian tradition. 

 

We love being with family then, and seeing the gleam in the children’s eyes. I was almost moved to tears when I asked my middle grandson, Ezekiel, what his favorite Christmas memory was. I expected to hear something involving food and/or presents, but he thought a moment, then said, “Oh, that’ll be THIS Christmas, because we have a ‘newcomer’! He was talking about Cousin Jeremiah, now coming up on six months and already smiling at the sight of his extended family.  Occasionally, children can be so sweet .   

 

But we have a big surprise for a few of you who may not have heard. Good Lord willing and the CoVid tests come back negative, Tony and I will be leaving Australia and heading to the US and beyond in early January.

 

Tony’s been offered a guest professorship in Hawaii (Yes, I can hear you groaning), to teach his Doctoral study, “Anagaion, a Brief look at Christian life” for a semester.  Then we’ll hopefully get over to a place near you to continue our visiting, attending Missionary reunions and the like.  Then depending on all those factors like our health, finances and the crazy Covid world, we’ll keep going east until we make it back to Australia, about this time next year.

 

And so, starting in the New Year, we’ll be on the road.  I covet your prayers as we jump through just about every hoop we can imagine to firstly get OUT of Australia, (on a plane) and then get INTO Hawaii. We’ve been working on this venture for months and it’s so complicated that we’ve put a ‘murder board’ on the wall and are daily ticking off chores to be done, (tax clearance, myriad immunizations, people contacted, Bible studies rerouted, car sold, lawn care…….it goes on and on). 

 

To that end, we won’t be sending a personal blog every week, because who knows what or where we’ll be?  However, if you like to read something, just to keep up a habit, we’re trying to work out how to put an old book of mine (which just happens to have 52 chapters) up online where you can read an excerpt every week, usually something about life on the mission field. Also I’ll be posting personal comments and observations on this space as we can find internet and are able to. We do so want to share our lives with you while on this journey. You’ve already been such a part of us over the years, and I would really be sad to see our relationship grow apart. 

 

I really appreciate your friendship.  Lately a lot more of you are following me, from many places in the world including some that Google just lists as “Other”.  I enjoy wondering if you’re really people or just a bunch of bots trolling endlessly looking for some sort of meaning! I always love and get encouraged when you comment personally.

 

So for the next couple of weeks, I’ll be sharing some of my favorite Christmas tales to add to your potpourri of happy memories for this blessed season.  


so let me say as I wrap it up, “Here comes Christmas!  Let’s do our best to get the real meaning out of it, God’s love for us in that He gave us His Son, and also that He had given us families and loved ones to enjoy during this time.


Love always, Marsha



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