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| A Christmas Card pic taken on our deck |
December the 25th is the day we have set aside as Christmas Day to celebrate the birthday of our King and also a day which commences the Christian calendar. JOY TO THE WORLD THE LORD IS COME. Mary’s song, “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour.” should be ours the whole year long. He is Emmanuel, God with us and this is the greatest story to ever tell.
John and I did not go out to church Christmas morning because we had been so sick (tell you about that soon) but instead stayed at home to save our energy to travel to John’s brother and sister-in-law’s home to join with other family members for a terrific Christmas meal and lively conversation. John and I celebrated Christmas morning at home opening our stockings. We had to use a pair of John’s gym socks because we couldn’t find our quilted Christmas stockings. We garnered mostly candy and books.
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| The Grandchildren enjoying Christmas meals at their own table |
Christmas with our boys and families, with the exception of Reece and Kelly who live in Vancouver, happened on December 26th, Boxing Day, and a holiday for Canadians. We had a great time opening gifts and eating the traditional turkey, dressing, ham and baked beans and all the usual trimmings that go with Christmas.
Backing up, we celebrated one of our daughter-in-law’s major birthday milestones with her husband and the two grandchildren at a Chinese buffet on December 14th and had a great time even though our granddaughters took turns breaking dishes and our one granddaughter was upset because she wanted the green Jell-O that was being taken away in the pile of rubble from the first dish to go. The food and family togetherness were great. Both kids had been a little sick earlier in the week.
Our oldest granddaughter has been learning to sing in a small choir who were entertaining at a senior’s residence on the 15th. The performance was great while our daughter-in-law was feeling a great deal less than great.
We celebrated New Year’s Eve very quietly and did not stay up to see the apple drop in Time Square. We rarely make resolutions at the New Year because by the end of the first week we have already broken most of them. However, New Year’s Day’s devotions brought the verse from Ezekiel 36:26 to us. “A new heart I will give you and a new spirit I will put within you.“ What an opportunity this was to make a resolution! There was a whole new year stretched ahead of us with blank pages. What would the coming year bring if we resolved to be more faithful disciples and to always be open every day to the indwelling of the spirit. Did we make a resolution? What do you think!
We feasted yet again on New Year’s Day with Casey, Lisa, Charlotte and Amelia and Roxy, their dog. What a blessed time when family is around. My brother and sister-in-law came for the day at few days later.
On January 7, we were invited to the birthday party of a young boy from our congregation who was turning seven years old. Last year, because his birthday is so close to Christmas, he asked his invited guests to donate towards our church’s mission to Haiti rather than bring him any presents. This year he did the same thing and we showed a very few pics of what life is like in Haiti and what a difference can be made when someone cares. The next Sunday the mission to Haiti was presented with $325. Praise the Lord!
We also had an opportunity to help celebrate the 90th birthday of one of God’s faithful children.
The Good:
After we first arrived home we kept a very busy schedule catching up with people which was good, getting to appointments arranged before we went to Haiti which was good, and thinking that we must do something toward Christmas as it was sneaking up on us which was good. We put up the main floor tree, and the downstairs tree, listened to Christmas carols and considered that we had all kinds of time because we had done some Christmas shopping on the way home which was good.
The Bad:
I went to my dentist who so kindly e-mailed me back in Haiti with respect to my very bad toothache. I’m sure I told you earlier in a blog entry that she diagnosed an abscessed tooth and prescribed some penicillin which I was able to get from the Bethesda Medical Clinic on the other compound. The penicillin cleared up the infection for the most part but as we were getting down to our last two weeks my tooth just kept letting me know it was there and by the time we were driving home from Florida it was REALLY letting me know – the bad. I was able to get an appointment within 3 days of arriving home – the good. My dentist started a root canal but was unable to find the second root – the bad. Off to an endodontist I went the following Tuesday having psyched myself up for another root canal session only to be told that this visit was just a consultation. Please come back next week– the bad.
The Ugly:
Think back to our granddaughter’s choir at the senior’s home where our daughter-in-law was not well on Thursday, Dec 15th. By the end of the concert she was really sick. We went back to their home to read our granddaughters a story. One went right to bed with Mummy who was throwing up and we read to the oldest. We left immediately and half way through the night it was my turn to be nastily (Is that a word?) sick, passing out a couple of times while I was at it, and throwing up all over John who was trying to get some sleep between my visits to the room next door. John was an excellent nurse, washing bedding and being very patient until it was his turn about 6 hours later. Between the two of us we were an ugly pair. Neither one of us was able to get out of bed for more than five minutes at a time until the following Monday, Dec 19th.
Somewhere during the flu epidemic I was to have had my root canal done. Cancelled!! Still feeling horrible I called the doctor’s office and was advised to get electrolytes into us. John perhaps shouldn’t have been driving (I knew I couldn’t.) but went to the nearest drugstore and bought the electrolytes. It was the worst tasting drink (the ugliest drink) we have ever had but it helped. On top of all this we both came down with colds, mine quite a bit worse than John’s. I also realized that I was not going to get any Christmas baking done. I didn’t feel up to it and it was now Dec 20th. Christmas was 5 days away! We did our Christmas baking at a Mennonite bakery about 20 minutes from us
(This really doesn’t belong in “the ugly.”)
(This really doesn’t belong in “the ugly.”)
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| The Grand River taken on my Christmas shopping day in Fergus |
During the consultation for the original root canal the endodontist found a second tooth requiring a root canal. Back to him I went on Jan 4 for the second root canal and later in the month to my own dentist for the permanent fillings in the root canal teeth and a repair on another tooth.
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| There HAS to be a happy pic - no snow! |
The End:
We have been loading up again on items that cannot be purchased in Cap Haitien in preparation for our return trip. We are planning to leave home on Feb 1 or 2nd, weather depending, but do not fly into Haiti until February 16th. Why leave early? We are going to rest, rest, rest, and try to completely return to good health prior to our arrival in Haiti. Since January, among other devotional material, we have started reading some of Max Lucado’s books together. This morning from Just Like Jesus, the verse to start out the devotion was, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive ourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. “James 1:22-24 (NIV). The ending…let God have you, and let God love you…
