The New Year

2011 has not gotten off to a very good start for us. We were traveling over the holidays and got to see our families in Missouri. The trip was good-- much better than we were expecting, to be honest. But like any trip, we were exhausted and anxious to get back to our home here in BC.

When we arrived at our house here in BC on Jan 5, we soon realized that there had been a break-in over the holidays. So while we were looking forward to unwinding, unpacking, and sleeping, our first afternoon/evening back in Canada took a very unexpected turn. We dealt with police reports, visits from our landlord and locksmith, and the start of the very long process of changing personal information that was stolen. We were discouraged to say the least.

We were finally making some headway with getting our house back in order yesterday when we noticed a foul odor in the house. We couldn't pinpoint it, but it seemed to be near the vents. We called the gas company and were advised to leave the house until it could be checked. After more than an hour of waiting in our car (parked on the street) after Micaiah should have been in bed, we were finally cleared to return to the house. While there was no major leak, they said the fan on our furnace had burnt out, causing the smell to be distributed through the vents when the furnace would try to heat the house. They turned our furnace off. They also noticed a small leak on our gas line to our fireplace, so the gas had to be shut off. We were so tired but managed to borrow some electric space heaters and did a family camp out in the living room. Funny, but that's been one of my highlights from this past week-- Micaiah loved the idea of moving the mattresses into the living room and all snuggling in together!

It is so amazing to see what a positive attitude can do in a situation like this. Here I am all discouraged, tired, and in tears and my 5 year old is praising God and just giggly over the fun she gets to have! Tim, too, has been reminding me that complaining does nothing to actually change the situation. Well, nothing but discourage others! So as we've been reading Scriptures on complaining, worries, anxiety, fear, etc., we've decided as a family that we're going to choose joy. Especially when it isn't easy! Because that's when it truly does transform you.

So maybe my past week hasn't been what I would have chosen, but I still have a Good God who loves us and takes care of us. But maybe it's easier to say that when my daughter is screaming "O happy day!" at the top of her lungs. :) Thanks, God, for the many blessings you give me each and every day. And thank you that your grace is enough to get me through the trials we face each day as well.

-JLR

12 Days of Christmas

We've been watching the calendar this year in expectation for returning to Missouri for the holidays. When I checked the calendar today, I noticed that today is Dec 14-- 12 Days from Christmas (counting today through the 25th)!

Well, I never have been sure whether the 12 Days of Christmas was before or after Christmas. After a quick Wikipedia search, I found that traditionally it goes from Christmas or Boxing Day to Jan 6 (Epiphany). But since I was already thinking of the songs, I thought I'd post about it anyway. My all-time favorite version of this song is the one with Mickey, Donald and the whole crew... ah good memories from my childhood! I also loved the Alvin and the Chipmunks Christmas album (a real record!) that we used to put on the record player as we wrapped presents in the warmth of the fireplace in the basement. Good times.

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...
12 drummers drumming
11 pipers piping
10 lords-a-leaping
9 ladies dancing
8 maids-a-milking
7 swans-a-swimming
6 geese-a-laying
5 golden rings!
4 calling birds
3 french hens
2 turtle doves
and a partridge in a pear tree!

-JLR

I'm dreaming of a...

So the song says "white Christmas," but as we all know that isn't possible in certain parts of the world. When we were in Tanzania we substituted "wet Christmas." Just yesterday I was thinking that neither of those really work for BC. I mean, it rarely snows, so it would truly be a dream to have a white Christmas, and it's raining all the time anyway (much like Seattle), so who wants a wet Christmas... still I felt there should be a substitution. So as we were skyping with family and noticed the glare on the computer, I found it-- "bright Christmas!!!" I'm dreaming of a bright Christmas... hahaha.

We had an awesome Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. On Christmas Eve we lounged around, went for an afternoon walk to the local playground, and enjoyed a standing-room-only service at our church. Then we came back and enjoyed a dinner of Cranberry Cider Pork Chops that were amazingly delicious (thanks for the recipe Mary McCarty!!!). Then we opened our one Christmas Eve present, which was new jammies for the family, snuggled up in our new jammies, and read our advent readings. The new pajama thing is something I'm hoping to make a tradition-- it's so fun that all of our Christmas morning pictures are in our new clothes! Anyway. We also enjoyed hearing Tim's parents read us The Night Before Christmas story on this cool recordable book they sent to Micaiah. I grew up reading that story, and while Micaiah knows that Santa isn't real (he's just a pretend character that's fun to pretend about), it was still fun to hear the story as I used to as a kid.

Christmas Day was similarly relaxed. Micaiah didn't wake up until about 8am and even then was more into snuggling with us in bed than jumping around and opening presents! Talk about a blessing! Tim read us the Christmas story in bed, then we headed out to open stockings and gifts. After presents, we had a big breakfast of eggs and sausage. Around mid-day we had lots of time to skype with family (both mine and Tim's) and Micaiah tried out all her new toys. in the afternoon we had a big lego-building party, which was oddly one of my favorite parts of the day! I made a turkey for dinner, which we barely put a dent in. But the upside is that now we have loads of turkey meat in the fridge and freezer!

It was sad to not be around family during the holidays this year, but at the same time it was very enjoyable to have some time to ourselves. Tim is gearing up for a big spring semester and will need all the energy he can muster. Plus, we're also celebrating the new Christmas story that has been published in the Mara cluster (9 languages!) in the past month or so. I've really enjoyed the opportunity to think of our friends there and how the Gospel may be impacting their lives. God is so good.

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, too!

-JLR

Christmas Decor

The day after our Thanksgiving party (which was actually a Saturday since most of our guests had classes on Thursday and Friday), we removed all the autumn decor and began to put up Christmas decor. I always used to dread the process itself, but I realize that in order to get the beautiful end-result and ambiance that I so LOVE this time of year, it is a necessary evil. :) So we made an event of it. We put on some Handel's Messiah and began to sort through boxes of evergreen garland, lights, a tree, and some bows (all that were made available to us by our landlord and/or previous renters who left stuff behind!), and got to work.
I love the feel of Christmas!

-JLR

American Thanksgiving

So much for "stay tuned for a bunch of posts"...

Three days after the turkey-toe fiasco, we celebrated American Thanksgiving. I hate having to specify which Thanksgiving, actually, since I used to only ever think there was one. :) But where was I... oh yes, the Thanksgiving get together. So much fun! We had I think nine people at our get-together. Food was the classic menu with a few special (though not exotic) dishes... turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, noodles (in a gravy for on top of the mpotatoes-- a kirksville thing), gravy, green bean casserole, garden corn, sweet potato casserole, cranberry jello salad (Tim's grandma's recipe), rolls, apple pie, pumpkin bars, peanut butter (and chocolate) pie, and ice cream. It was all so yummy!
We also had our Gratitude Garland displayed. It is a tradition we're hoping to make annual... you write things you're thankful for on autumn-colored paper leaves. Then you string them together and hang it as decor! We have so much to be thankful for, so it is a very good exercise to remember all the blessings God has given us over the past year.

-JLR

Halloween 2009

We spent Friday afternoon carving our pumpkin. Tim loves to clean out the pumpkins, I love to carve, and Micaiah enjoyed a bit of both! We also enjoyed the roasted pumpkin seeds a few hours later. :)
Micaiah in her giraffe costume (a hand-me-down from her cousins). Giraffes are her favorite animal.
So the funniest thing happened last night while I was handing out candy to trick-or-treaters. First of all, Halloween is really big here in BC. REALLY big. There are houses really elaborately decorated. One of our neighbors even staged a car vs bicycle accident in his driveway, complete with loads of fake blood! There are also lots of fireworks throughout the night and especially late in the evening. It was strange but we had been forewarned, for which I was very thankful. Anyway, a boy--probably 9 or 10 yrs old-- walked up to our door. We happened to be in our entry way and saw him reach for the doorbell (there's a window by the front door). At the exact moment he reached for the doorbell a neighbor set off a firework in our yard and it triggered the alarm in a truck parked on the street. He was so terrified! As I gave him candy, I would have sworn he had pooped in his pants bc it smelled awful! I felt so bad for the kid and yet, it was the funniest thing I'd seen all day!

-JLR