Merry Christmas 2007

Merry, Merry Christmas everyone. Thara, Pat, Trish, Margie, Kelly, Amrita, you're especially in my thoughts today, hoping you've had a peaceful Christmas Day with those you love.

The beginning of our day was busy with Fred cooking and me cleaning and making last minute cards for the Grand-girls from their Great-Grandma. She has difficulty seeing so I make the cards for her to give to them. Fred made a wonderful dinner: Lasagna & Baked Spaghetti, salad & garlic toast this year. Angel Eggs, Olives & Shrimp completed the meal. He's such a good cook. The kids all arrived at 3:30 and the afternoon was filled with laughter and the girls sharing the gifts they had brought for us to see. Stef & Syd read the Christmas story and the four of them sang a few Christmas songs. I had to announce their entry of course and this year they named themselves "The 4 Girls". That fits.

I took a lot of pictures and mainly just watched the girls enjoy themselves. They are all growing so quickly. I've told them it's okay to slow down the process but thus far none of them have listened to me. Time waits for no one, does it? And changes come whether we're ready or not.

Earlier today I sent an email to family & friends and I'd like to share that with each of you:

"Hello Family! We didn't send cards this year, instead, through a ministry called Voice of the Martyrs, we supplied Bibles & other materials to a small village in China. We are blessed to have so much in the United States, there is no lack of Bibles, or churches, or Christian literature. Sometimes we can take all this for granted. People in other countries often have so little and we have so much. We need to share and use the resources God has given us to help them and that's what we did rather than send cards.

We want you all to know we love and appreciate you; you are often in our thoughts and in our prayers and we sincerely hope the coming New Year is one that will be filled with the knowledge that Jesus is Lord to the glory of the Father. Because of His birth, we celebrate this Holy Day. We take time to read the Christmas story in the book of Luke and we realize that without His coming to earth, there would be no salvation for mankind. He didn't come to give us riches and fame, but to give Himself as a ransom for many. On this day, let us remember, He came in obedience to His Father, to redeem us from sin and He did that by coming to die.

He is no longer the Babe in the manger, He is no longer the suffering Savior on the cross,He is seated at the right hand of God and soon, very soon, He is coming again!

Our deepest prayer is that everyone we know and love will be ready to meet Him. How do you do that? By realizing you are a sinner in need of a Savior. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We repent, or tell God we're sorry for what we've done and we turn from our old way of doing things and we turn to Christ, seeking His direction in all we do. We ask Him to forgive us and come to live in our hearts and He promises that He will when we sincerely ask Him to.

May God in His unending mercy, grant peace and comfort to those who mourn. May He draw the unsaved to Himself and give them the greatest Christmas gift they'll ever receive ... Jesus."

Good night dear ones and may God be more than we ever realized He could be as we go into tomorrow and a new year.