My Christmas Wish List...seriously

As this holiday season has rolled upon us I have found myself somewhat excited but also overwhelmed. After spending this past year outside the United States, being thrown back into the materialism is slightly disturbing. Don't misunderstand me, I am super excited to be with my families, but I will miss the simplicity of not being constantly bombarded with the idea of needing or wanting stuff. As I've thought about it these past few days I have decided to make up my "wish list" just a bit differently. There are a few things I want or need, but if you were to ask what I really want here it is.

*Prayers and/or a donation for Together We Can Haiti and the Agape House
*Prayers for Bolivia and Hermano Lucho
*Prayers for the church in Huanuco, Peru
*Prayers for Paz y Esparanza, Bob and Lori Leek and MPF, Rachel and Ivan and YWAM Ecuador, and Inca Link in Ecuador
*Prayers for Pastor Ghent and his family and Bethel Chapel Mission in Malawi
*Prayers and/or donation for Kids Alive Zambia and the children there
*Prayers and/or a donation for Mark and Helen Begerly and my squadmate Jen Kaiser in Zimbabwe
*Prayers for the KJ Center in Malaysia
*Prayers and/or a donation for Lighthouse in Action in Thailand
*Prayers for the Roeung family in Cambodia
*Prayers for Daniel and Esther Ahn and the Vision English Café in Vietnam
*Prayers and/or a donation for Children's Hope Ukraine.

These would be the best gifts anyone can give! Gifts like this are actually helping the people that need it. The exciting part is I know exactly where these gifts are going and have seen first hand the way they work. It would bless me so much to know the people and places I love are being so blessed!

Of Time, Winter, and The Hobbit

My my my my my,  it has been too long hasn’t it!  These past couple of months have been quite refreshing.  I actually almost forgot how to log on to my computer momentarily.  Now that I am back there is much to be done.  I feel like this break has changed the way I use the computer.  Now that everyone is used to that I do not intent to change it. 
These past couple of months have been busy, of course, with a new job (please be nice to telemarketers, they are real people) and traveling that should get under way again soon. I did enjoy this recent trip.  I not only got to see family, but also got to meet some amazing people ad  heard they are readers.  Thanks for all your encouragement, love, and prayers guys!

The winter/Christmas season is upon us once again.  That time of the year when we remember the miraculous birth and just what it means to have “God with us.”  It is a time when compassion and generosity runs high and romance too.  No, certainly not for me, but I have had two friends get engaged this month. 
Sadly I wonder why we wait all year to act like Christians.  Where is the compassion, generosity and love (non-romantic) that we are supposed to show during other times of the year? 
This is also the time to snuggle into your warm winter clothes, grab a cup of cocoa, and enjoy the snow outside…Hold it…what snow?  I don’t know about where you are, but here it has been in the 50s and 40s.  Yesterday and today have been our first real winter like days.  I keep looking at the weather in Kiev and wishing it this way.  I’m definitely dreaming of a white Christmas!  It could still happen…
Well, that about sums it up, I mean there could be a lot more to tell, but you know being a blog and all…what?  Oh, you actually want to hear about The Hobbit? 
Well okay, but just a little bit.  It was great.  There are some things I could knit-pick about, but I am trying to be lenient.  There are some things out of order, places I wish they’d spent more time and others less, a few character differences, and I do wish they had included more songs .  If you are a book fan then whether or not you like it will depend a lot on you.  I will say, just to dispel some concerns, there is no romance developed between Gandalf and Galadriel.  So to sum it all up- I liked it.
Okay that really will have to be it for now.  Perhaps I will stop in again before next month…perhaps not…
Merry Christmas and remember what this holiday truly means!
Through Christ,
Lady B

Be Born In Me

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas, dear readers!  I hope today finds you filled with love and joy but most of all I hope you will remember why we even have this holiday. 

Remember that today the King of all kings, Majesty and Glory Himself came down from His throne and became the lowest- a child born in a dirty stable to a young girl betrothed to a carpenter.  He came down for one reason; His love for lowly you and me.  His journey was painful and his death excruciating but His love overcame it all.  Now we can know His love and His power as He lives today if we will just except the greatest gift ever given.  He truly made away in a Manger.

Merry Christmas!

Through Christ,

Lady Helen

Homemade Christmas

What a lovely week away from the computer it has been!  I feel so refreshed; I did not even want to get back on the computer.  The only problem about not being on the computer was the fact that I cannot check my email and that is how I communicate with the majority of my family (I despise talking on the phone).  Since finishing my classes I have received my grades and…I passed!  Hurrah!!  No more classes!  I am done!  Of course, as many of my friends have pointed out, God may have other plans and I may just end up taking more classes, but for now I can relax.

As for Christmas, this is one of my favourite holidays.  First because of what it is and what it means and second because of the hustle and bustle and warmth that comes with it.  I do ask for your prayers as I have had three deaths in my family this year and Christmas will be hard for them.  Pray that they will receive God’s love and comfort and come to know Him.

So far I have been quite busy since I finished finals.  Because of the economy and Papa being out of work, Mama told us this year we had to give something that was homemade or used.  I have been very busy working on my gifts.  I knew immediately what I wanted to give Mama (which I would post, but she reads this so that would ruin the surprise).  My brother and Papa were a different story.  It took me a few weeks to  decide on ‘Edwin’ (temporary pseudonym for my brother until I can ask which character he would like to be known as) but I finally chose to make him a countdown to Christmas calendar.  I am pretty sure he will be happy to have one of his own.  As for Papa, I still have not decided I think it will just have to be a scarf I made for Edwin- he said it was itchy when I asked if he wanted one (he thought it was for Papa).  That leaves two other people, my dad and step-mom.  I have a candle (decorative not one you would want to burn) my aunt gave me that I will be regifting to Lady C and as for Daddy I haven’t the faintest.  In the past Lady C has given me ideas on what to get him but now…this is only the second Christmas since the divorce.  Traditionally, I get him a wallet every other year but I cannot remember what I got him last year.  Oh dear, what to do; what to do!  Any ideas would be lovely.  That is my homemade Christmas.  It is nice to give someone something you have been working on just for them.  And as I write this, it reminds me of Christmases gone by, even that first Christmas.  Now, I know Christmas was not around until the Middle Ages, but if it had been what kind of gifts do you think Mary and Joseph would have given?  Perhaps once they found a house Joseph made a bed for Mary to put the baby Jesus in and Mary would have made Joseph a new tunic.  Somehow it makes the holiday a little more cozy when it is homemade and a little closer to that time when God gave the greatest gift of all, His Son Christ Jesus.

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.                                                                Isaiah 9:6

 

 

Merry Christmas!

Through Christ,

Lady Helen