Merry Christmas!

It does not really feel like Christmas is just 1 week away. I am not really sure why, but it just doesn’t. I guess here, we do not have stores taking advantage of the holidays and everyone decorating their houses and streets. The people and life here in Niger continue, as if Christ did not really come to earth for us. Though, living here, life as it happened in the Bible has come alive for me. There are sheep and goat grazing, no snow (though getting chilly...down to 16C at night!) and I can see how Mary and Joseph could have been stuck in some cave with just some hay to lay baby Jesus on. How are we feeling this first Christmas in Niger? Well, pretty darn blessed. We have healthy children, a beautiful home, the means to live very extravagantly in comparison to our friends here, and a Saviour who came to earth JUST so we could be forgiven. Can’t complain much!

Well, this past month has been busy, as usual. Jaelyn had track and field day at school, and then we went to Turkey! We went for some training on taking the Bible and being able to tell it in story form. This was very useful training, seeing as we live in an oral society! We then had a field forum where almost all of the international workers here in Africa met...it was a much-needed time of recuperation and we were very thankful to have had it. We went full-speed ahead for 2 weeks after coming back and here we are, already on Christmas holidays!

If we have not yet had a chance to wish each of you a Merry Christmas, please accept our warmest wishes. We are so grateful for all of you and for your prayers. On another note, for any of you who would like to make a donation to the global advance fund (GAF), you can go to the support site of my blog, or you can click here to donate online. The global advance fund is what allows us to be here, and though there were people trained and ready to be sent to North Africa next month, they have not been able to leave due to a deficit in these funds. We here are doing our best to keep expenses under budget, but it is not enough. Please consider making a year-end gift to the GAF so these workers that are ready to go out can do so. THANK YOU, and once again, may your homes be filled with the joy of the season!! 

Jaelyn on field day with her friends from school

Nathan came with us to Jaelyn's track and field day, and to keep him busy, I "raced" him back and forth between 2 pylons...in 30+C weather, it got tiring! So, I asked Kerrianne to take over! What a great sport she is!

Jaelyn waiting for her turn to throw the frisbee...this was her best event

Jaelyn mid-air in long jump...this was not her best event :) It was not really a "long" jump for her! 

Jaelyn running to get to the finish line...at least she was smiling!

sitting on the airport floor waiting for a connection (I think we were in Paris)...yes, I let him sit on the airport floor! Africa is changing me, my friends!

pretending to be asleep on these chairs outside the restaurant in Turkey

Jaelyn too, but you can see her smiling

no, this is not movember leftovers, Rog has started to grow facial hair in order to look older. Here, you are not given respect if you look young, hence, the need for the facial hair (plus, it is a pain to shave all the time)

Enjoying the beach by the Mediterranean Sea...

Nathan LOVED it...went to the beach a handful of times and EACH time, he got himself soaking wet...

THANK YOU to Lynn Su who took care of our kids so we could be in our training! Snack time!

Playing airplane with aunty Lynn

our team kids in their uniforms...poor Jo has outgrown his!

i-scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!!! One of Rog's favorite foods and he has not been able to enjoy it in Niger (hard to get here and it melts almost instantly, I have yet to try making it, though our teammates do!) So, when they had it in Turkey a few times, we made sure we took advantage of it!

Got to spend time with Jocelyn Reverente! We spent almost everyday in Quebec City together, so it was a treat to be able to spend 5 days in Turkey together!

a family picture at the hotel, but DOUG WIEBE had to get into it!! 

kids loved spending time with aunty Jocelyn!

had a layover in Paris and so we went to McDonald's for dinner (and breakfast) at the Paris airport!!

the newest addition to our house

Rog on the roof fixing up our second hot water heater...this is the deluxe model that gives us hot water to our showers and our laundry!

Nathan so proud of his work...he had "homework" to catch up on after Turkey

we had a Christmas dinner at our place after Turkey with the team

the kids

how you fix a traffic light in Niger...

My attempt at making wontons from scratch...these are the wrappers

my finished product! 엄마! 엄마 생각 많이 했서요!!!

sorry, still can't seem to make my pictures turn out straight...this was an apple pie I  baked...didn't have a pie pan so used a baking dish...it was ginormous!!