Happy New Year!!!
For all of you that know our family well, you will know that December is crazy without all the Christmas and end of year stuff thrown in the mix. We have had an amazing month! It was Fenella an my 20th wedding anniversary on the 1st, it was Holly and Hannah's 9th birthday on the 4th, it was my birthday on the 12th, it was Amy's 18th birthday on the 21st and today it is Fenella's birthday. On top of all this I'm sure Fenella commented that we have been to 15 various concerts and school services with the girls and Fenella's various orchestras and choirs. There was almost too much activity and not enough time to enjoy everything that was happening. This much I know, however, my five girls have made me so proud and as a result I have the joy of being their dad and husband.
This month was crazy and amazing all at the same time. There were times I was totally out of control and other times when it was obvious that God was the one in control. There was the time at Crimond School when Alex and I took their end of term assembly and just knew we were in God's hand as we connected with the kids and saw the Spirit fill the atmosphere. The staff and kids were great and the flow of the assembly was special. End of term stuff is a unique time, especially at this time of year. There was only one school I had heard that did not have some sort of "Nativity" focus during their Christmas concerts. And before we get all uptight about the whole Christmas not being the actual birth etc... I am really delighted about this time of year because there are so many families who HAVE to talk about the Christ because their children are coming home singing the carols and the songs for their concerts. There are loads of children and parents receiving a blessing as a result of this time of year - Fantastic!
In our classes we had good reason to be happy. We had our Christmas party for the Primary school age. It was so much fun and a fine way to see the year out. Everyone had a blast and as usual we never got through all the games we had planned, but that's OK because when time flies you know it is time well spent. On Wednesday we had a movie night to close out. We watched the Veggitales "Saint Nicholas." The kids enjoyed the message and the time of fellowship. We began meeting earlier on Wednesday nights to incorporate more Fellowship time. Since we started this it has been a great success and the kids are thriving around some "Old Fashioned" games like, Yahtzee, Draughts (Checkers), Dominoes, Snakes and Ladders etc... Wednesday nights are a joy and we are excited to continue this format into next year. Again we are reminded of the need for constant evaluation and change to make sure blessing can be found when the kids come into our care. On Friday we had a good last class. The worship time continues to be a challenge. Since we had an influx of younger teens it has changed the class. Although this is a trying time just now, I am confident things will move on as the "New" begin to understand and accept what we are about. In spite of some trials we still had some nuggets of gold. The message we wanted to get across was that we will only have content lives when we know we are prepared for what life throws at us. We challenged the group to write out something about themselves that they wanted to change and that would help their character be more like Christ. I have a stack of 25 statements of varied content from teens who want to improve their lives. Later in the new year we will visit these and evaluate. This lesson was on the tail of our last challenge for the group to be more prayerful and asking God's help to bring about blessing in their lives and also for someone else in the group. There are some trials ahead for this class, but God willing, they will be overcome with something good.
I have to be honest and share that this term has been tough. It is becoming so obvious that encouragement and support are essential. This break has been timely and refreshing. Please continue to pray for us.
God bless us all in 2010!
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