Homesick for the Holidays

This was our home before we left for Australia.  We lived in a quaint little cabin in the woods.  It was our favorite home, and we lived just a mile from my family so that was an extra bonus.  Fall/Autumn is my favorite time of the year.  So much so that we named our daughter Autumn. 

I will admit, when I start seeing all my friends post their photos of fall leaves, corn mazes, and pumpkins, I get a bit homesick.  Please don't misunderstand, I'm quite content where God has placed me but there is just something about crisp, cool, hoodie-wearing, pumpkin-everything weather.  I live in an area where we have two seasons - dry and wet (which means very hot).  Right now our temps are averaging over 100F every. single. day.  I don't own any long sleeve shirts, let alone a hoodie.  I wear thongs (ahem, flip flops for all you Yanks) every day. 

When your fall weather changes and snow begins to fall, and it's 110F here, all I want to do is lay in snow until I have frostbite.  Alas, I can't, so what do I do to make it through the holidays?

I plan new traditions on the field! 

Last year we hosted our first (now annual) Thanksgiving dinner.  We call it "Come give thanks with the Yanks".  (Yanks is what Australians call Americans no matter what state you're from.)  We have had so many people ask us if we're going to do it again, how can we say no?!!  Last year we had almost 50 people attend.  This year we are expecting 80.  My wonderful dad sent me plates, serviettes (napkins), cups, some other decorations, and canned pumpkin.  I went onto Pinterest and found lots of projects to add to the décor.  Everyone had a wonderful time as we celebrated and gave thanks to God for His blessings. 

(Just in case you are interested, turkeys costs roughly $10-$15/kg, which is about $5-$10/lb.)

Although, technically it's spring in Australia (but really, it's our wet season), we still decorate the house for fall, or Thanksgiving.  I'm so glad we brought our decorations along.  This really makes our house feel like home to us.

I find Christmas is a bit harder here because Christmas tends to be the hottest time of year here.  But we've made some wonderful traditions that we've come to look forward to.

Close to Christmas, we will drive around our town looking at Christmas lights, we've even driven to the next town (3 hours north) to look at their Christmas lights.  There aren't many, but it helps put us in the Christmas mood.  We just pretend it's freezing out.  :)  Last year we also decorated our house with lights, we plan to make it bigger every year.  What an opportunity to use our house to point others to Christ!

Last year we put on a Christmas play at our church, this took a lot of effort on my part and kept me very busy, but it was so worth it!

The largest attendance we had up to this point.

Who doesn't love cute little sheep?!

We also decorate our home.  I was once told it looked like Christmas threw up in my living room.  I think I'm okay with that.

We still build a snowman every year.

We just have to be creative!

 

One of the other traditions we have started is baking cookies for our local firemen.  Police officers are not allowed to accept cookies, what a shame.  As a thank you, the chief fireman gave us a ride in his firetruck!

Another fun thing here, is everyone has their Christmas party at the local pool.

And I also try to make a special Christmas dinner.



 

So, although we are not "home" for the holidays, we have found a way to not just survive, but thrive at our "home away from home".   I believe it was Jim Elliot who said, "Wherever you are be all there."  I am human, I do get homesick, I do miss my family, I still cry when I hear the song "I'll be home for Christmas", but I also don't want to miss the memories that we are making here.   I want to be in the moment. 

I once read where someone described our job title as "Someone who leaves their family, so others can spend eternity with theirs." 

"It will be worth it all."



I'm curious, how do you celebrate the holidays away from family and friends?

 

 



Christmas Blog Hop

 

Our annual Christmas blog hop returns in just one month!

Please plan to join us!

 

2011 Christmas Blog Hop

2012 Christmas Blog Hop

 

 

 

 

An Unfair Sacrifice

On the hottest two days of the year, I kept my oven running for seven hours making five batches of Christmas cut-out cookies and gingerbread men and caramel corn. Next the cookies had to be iced and then arranged and wrapped on individual take-out styrofoam trays. This was my latest brainchild for our church to make money (itself!) for our church building project.

Unfortunately, the next four days were rainy, which was the first strike against my new business idea. One day during a more dry but still drizzly spell, four teen girls walked around the strip mall nearby and tried to sell them. This actually was the second strike--they are very timid. (Yet I am happy and proud of their efforts!) But the final strike came when careless potential buyers broke several cookies, and of course, never bought them. How could I sell broken cookies? We made a total of $2, which wouldn't pay off the investment. I had hoped to make between $20-$30, which would have bought about three more bags of cement for our foundation.

My high hopes crashed. I had really thought it might work to capitalize on Christmas cash with pretty cookies around here, but it didn't. Sigh. I could write a whole article on the worldview that doesn't value other people's work or personal responsibility. That my labors were ruined on top of the failed venture was really hard to swallow. This was a low missionary moment for me, I'll admit. All sorts of not-so-nice names came to mind for these crumblers-of-cookies (and therefore profit).

And it's not like I had anything else to do, right? I had sacrificed Christmas baking for the family, homeschooling time, personal hobbies, and sleep for this endeavor.

Well, I was advised by a friend to make lemonade with my lemons (or should I say, ice cream topping from my crushed cookies?), and I did manage to salvage enough un-crumbed cookies and caramel corn for Christmas presents for neighbors and for an adult Christmas party Sunday afternoon.

But I felt discomfited--because of the situation, as well as my response to it. I was frustrated. This was now my fifth idea for what to sell, and I was pretty optimistic that it would be a hit, especially at this time of year when they sometimes buy a little extra for Christmas.

"What in the world will they buy?" I wondered. I had thought the eye-candy of something related to Christmas would appeal to them. I should have known that "new-to-them" would not be an easy sell to people who still call butter by the brand name of the original distributor of butter and pop by the brand name of the original distributor of pop (Coke), and whose lack of tradition regarding Christmas (outside of a day off of work, maybe some extra food, and a time to drink) would render cookies in the shapes and colors of Christmas meaningless.

But why did they have to break the cookies on top of not buying them? I had even anticipated this and warned the teen girls to be careful. That was the straw that broke this camel's back. (Not a pretty picture, I know, but neither were my hopes.) My mind started down the road to reviewing faults of the Tsonga culture related to their manhandling of my carefully prepared cookies. Unbidden, but too indulged, a memory arose of two people at the nearby bakery each gripping three loaves of bread in succession and leaving finger holes in the loaves, before taking the fourth loaf, which was no different in softness than the former three now-mangled loaves still sitting on the shelves.

Why did they do that? This was so unfair! Yet another unseen, unthanked sacrifice for the Tsonga people to add to my list--not that I was keeping a list, of course!

That night, the passage of time having lessened some of my angst, I sat with the family listening to my husband read our daily devotional for advent, from Psalm 22.

"I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death. For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture."

The commentary said,

"Though he would be innocent, the Lamb of God would take the punishment for sin upon Himself. God gave His people a picture of how He would die--surrounded by scoffers and unbelievers, exhausted in body and soul. His hands and feet would be pierced as they hung Him up to die, and His killers would disrespect Him so much that they would gamble for His leftover clothes."

The Holy Spirit used my overly-tuned sense of justice to enlighten me as to how frustrated I would have been in Jesus' situation--a truly unfair one! He took cruel punishment He did not deserve, with no thanks or understanding, even by those He was closest to. Not to mention the slights and humiliation offered by his enemies.

He left the continuously offered worship and glories of Heaven and came to a place where the "manners" and "culture" of the people must have felt very degraded indeed. He "made himself of no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant, humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." He was unthanked, persecuted, hurt, grievously misunderstood, blamed, and sullied; yet He loved us and gave Himself freely for us.

And what are some cookie crumbs in comparison to that? I lay my hand on my mouth and shed a thankful tear.

Christmas on the Mission Field

Photo by: artur84

 Christmas.

Oh, the memories! When we lived in our “home” country, I remember fragrant trees full of lights, the magic feeling of entering the living room on Christmas morning. I remember believing in Santa Claus—and then finding out Santa was my Daddy. I remember eggnog, fruitcake, making cookies, and eating pumpkin pies. My mother decorated the table with red candles and greenery. We loved Christmas!

My husband and I were in our twenties when we made the move across the sea. Spain was a whole new Christmas experience. While strolling through the city, we noticed that almost every store window contained some version of a manger scene. Some included a whole village of people, cows, and sheep—beside wise men and camels! We took our little children to the parade in town. It started with a young man in Eastern dress carrying a pole with a comet-star on it. Then came people with torches, and floats. The first float had a makeshift stable on it, with Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus inside. After the floats, passed shepherds with small herds of sheep and children carrying lambs and rabbits. There was a group of men in native Spanish costumes, strutting with huge bells on their backs. Then, we heard the excited crowd, “They’re coming! They’re coming!” In no time, we could see the horses. Melchor, Baltasar, and Gaspar (the three wise men, traditional Spanish names for them) rode in splendid costumes and threw candy to the children. (How much closer this is to the Bible than Santa Claus and elves!) Our Spanish church held a traditional Christmas feast—lamb chops and much more, each lady bringing her own special dish.

The season in Spain lasts from Christmas Eve until January 6^th (Kings’ Day, Reyes). We enjoy the long season because it isn’t all over on Christmas Day. It gives us more time to think about what God did when He became flesh for us.

Christmas also provides us with a natural opportunity for a gospel witness to the people we know and to the communities around our church. (Several people are in our church today because of Christmas tracts.)

Christmas abroad is nothing like Christmas at home. But it doesn’t have to be.

One Christmas, we visited our son and daughter-in-law, who minister in the tropics. It was so different to see palm trees adorned with lights and to get sunburned while enjoying a Christmas walk together!

The message of Christmas is always the same: God wants to redeem people, so He made a Way. It was the Way that was planned before the earth was formed. (Hebrews 9:26) He planned to let His Son take on the body of a baby, live a sinless life, and be sacrificed for the sins of the world.

Jesus is the message of Christmas.

How can you bring the true meaning of Christmas—Jesus—front and center in your family?

Here are some suggestions. Some will recreate that “fuzzy feeling” of Christmases past for you and your family, and some are to help you keep a Jesus focus.

1. Decorate. Do whatever you need to with the means you have to make the inside of your home festive. Use garlands or paper chains or ribbons. Hang shiny things and red and green. Use candles. You don’t have to have a tree, necessarily. If it works with your adopted culture, put up a manger scene or two. Let the children help. Decorations make Christmas special.
2. Bake. I’m certainly no pastry chef. Some of my cutout cookies ended up as unrecognizable. But they smelled good while baking, and they tasted yummy. Especially if you have little children, make cookies. You can make something simple and decorate with colored sugar or sprinkles. Any baking the family does together is memorable. You can make pumpkin (or butternut squash) pies, fruitcakes, or festive fruit breads. Even an apple pie or chocolate cake takes on a new face during the holidays. Our family especially loves cinnamon rolls with icing for Christmas breakfast!
3. Create family traditions. For some reason, Christmas is tailor-made for traditions. Some that our family enjoyed were: decorating and baking together, an English language missionary-only get-together on Christmas Eve,* reading Luke 2 before opening Christmas stockings on Christmas morning (oranges and walnuts in the stockings, with candy and maybe a little present), opening Christmas presents one at a time after breakfast, turkey and stuffing for Christmas dinner, and lots of Christmas music from the day after Thanksgiving until after Reyes (January 6^th). (*For the missionary Christmas Eve, we observed it early in the afternoon. It included music and sacred readings—something from each family—and some funny readings after the more spiritual part. Everyone brought Christmas goodies to share. Later, some of the families would have their Christmas Eve at home. We would go back to our house, get the kids to bed, and bring the gifts out of hiding and put them around the tree for the early morning surprise.)
4. Read the Christmas story from the Bible. Read Luke 2 and Matthew 1:18-2:23. Passages like Philippians 2:5-11 and John 1:14 take on fresh meaning at Christmastime. If you have small children, help them understand the Christmas story. Teach them to love the Baby Jesus. Tell them how God came to earth. You may want to act out the story, using robes and drapes for costumes and a doll for the Baby. Let them color pages about the Christmas story. Talk with older children about the characters in the Christmas story. (Who was Gabriel? What can we admire about Joseph? What did Mary give up to become the mother of her Savior? Why is Mary’s speech so much like Hannah’s in 1 Samuel 2? Why was the birth of God’s Son first announced to shepherds? Did the angels sing? How old was Anna? How did Simeon know this Baby was the Lord? Who were the wise men? What happened with the star? Why was Herod furious?) Make the Christmas story central to your Christmas celebration. Make sure the Birthday Person is the reason for the party.
5. Share the gospel. According to 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, the gospel is all about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. But, without Jesus coming to earth as a human being, without His incarnation, the gospel wouldn’t have been possible. Jesus said, To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice (John 18:37b). People are more receptive to hearing about Jesus at Christmas than at any other time of the year. Be prepared and share Christ this Christmas season. Make sure the whole family gets involved.

Have a truly blessed Christmas, wherever you are!

Photo: Gualberto107

Holidays: Trading the Tree for Yarn

When we found out we were going to move to our new country, we knew we would have some decisions to make, even decisions on how we celebrate holidays. We were moving to a country where the people worship trees and idols.  We were concerned with how they would perceive a tree in the home... or a nativity scene on the mantle.

Christmas is still such a new holiday in this country. This is the fourth year it has been an official holiday.  Most people really are not sure how to even celebrate this new holiday.  It is a prime opportunity to introduce them to the real meaning of Christmas.

We sought counsel from other missionaries serving here. Some do not use a Christmas tree or any decorations that might be confusing. Some have a Christmas tree each year, but keep it in a private room. Others just celebrate the holiday the same way they did in the States.

After listening to the counsel and seeking God's direction for our family, we chose not to have a Christmas tree or any decorations that could potentially be confusing to someone entering our home.  As a family, we decided that the traditional Christmas tree was not as important to us as using the opportunity to show the real meaning of Christmas. We didn't want any room for confusion or distraction.

(This post is definitely not an attempt to criticize others who have chosen differently on the field. It is simply the direction the Lord led our family. This is all coming from a family who every year went up on the mountain to cut down a Christmas tree, ride a tractor down the mountain with our new tree, and drink hot chocolate while we decorated the tree in our home! My hope is that this post will encourage and inspire those who may have to or simply choose to celebrate Christmas a little differently for whatever reason.)

Since having a tree each year had been such a special, very treasured event, I knew we had to come up with an activity that got us AWAY from the tree. So in the States, we gave it a trial run. No tree with presents underneath, no nativity scenes, no Christmas lights on the house... but instead...

We followed a star.  Um, and a bunch of yarn!

Holidays: Thriving, Not Just Surviving (Part 2)

(Holidays: Thriving, Not Just Surviving Part 1)

Our birthdays were one week apart; so we chose every year to celebrate them together. Jason's Mom and I even planned our own birthday get-togethers. We would conspire if we wanted a cookout or if we wanted to go out to eat. We chose the menu, the dessert, and location. Then we would pass the information on to the guys. It was their job to make our plans happen.

Sharon (Gramma) and I were quite a pair. And we loved sharing our special day together because we loved each other so much. I never had a reason to complain about my mother-in-law. She was amazing!

Holidays: Thriving, Not Just Surviving (Part 1)

It was a simple mistake. A miscalculation. A wrong assumption. And it was my fault.

{Second Annual} Christmas Blog Hop!

 

It's that time again!

Last year we had a great response for our Christmas Blog Hop,

and I'm excited to do it again.

 

Not sure what to do? 
It's quite simple, just link up any or all of your Christmas posts here.  Show us your Christmas decorations, your tree, your traditions, family photos, holiday baking, anything Christmas related!

To encourage you to link up your posts, I'm hosting a giveaway!  For every (blog post link-up) you will get one entry to win a $25 Amazon Gift Card!!  So if you link up one post, you will get one entry, if you link up three posts, you get three entries!  So, get started!

 

Also, please share the button so others know where to find us so they can join in the fun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas Countdown Tree {Advent}

This year I was looking for a Christmas advent or countdown for my children.  I wanted it to point them to Christ and help show them the real meaning of Christmas.  I searched pinterest and google, but came up with nothing that I really liked.  I decided to make my own using Scripture passages.  The idea for this is everyday starting December 1, we will turn a card over and read the Scripture on the back.  By December 25, we will have read the entire Christmas story.  I am hoping this will also help my kids to memorize these passages, as well.  It begins with Matthew 1:18-21, then Luke 2:1-20, and ends with Isaiah 9:6. 

 

(If anyone knows how to add a document, I would be more than happy to attach the document to share with others.  Maybe I'll google this today!)

2nd Annual Christmas Blog Hop

I had so much fun looking at your photos last year,

please plan to join us again!

 

(I'll be adding a button soon!)