Tonight we celebrated Christmas with our China family. The hotel was nice enough to comp. us a party room to gather, share scripture, pray, and eat pizza!!!! Yeah, pizza!!!
God has blessed us with the most amazing group of people. We have several Christians in our group which is so needed and appreciated. We all gathered, sang a few Christmas carols, shared prayer requests, prayed over each other, read the scripture for the birth of Christ, built a manger scene with the kids (pictures attached), and laughed at the kids who can't understand a thing we are doing. They totally don't understand prayer. Asher actually will come up to you and basically smack you in the face such as saying wake up you crazy people. I hope that we can show him the love of God and the power of prayer soon.
This evening was so perfect for lifting our spirits as a whole. Just shows you how important it is to gather frequently with other Christians to give each other love and support. We really needed that medicine today.
Asher has been pretty good today. It seems his love and trust is growing for each of us alot today. His tantrums were very little today, which is pleasing. He is trying to learn some English with very little encouragement. He repeats just about everything we say and we catch him using some of the words at appropriate timing. He even is saying thank you with out having to be told all the time now.....what accomplishment! He and Sydney are getting along much better. She wants to love on him all the time and he tries to torment her a little but she takes it in stride and just kisses the top of his head all the time in understanding. She is the best!!! Tonight before bed time and after baths....he was very eager for her to come out of the bathroom after her shower and he laid on the floor outside of the bathroom trying to peek under the door at her just laughing, finally she was peeking under the door at him too which he thought was hysterical. She would stick her fingers under the door at him to touch his fingers too, this went on for about 20 minutes and was quite a site (pictures attached). After they were finished, she sat on the bed and he told her a bunch of things that no one could understand and she puckered up to kiss him and he actually kissed her back, WAY COOL that is the first kiss he has been open to giving any of us. I was so thrilled and wanted to get a picture that I asked her to try again and sure enough he was willing and I got a picture, priceless.....I would say the relationship trust and growth has hit a milestone today which was a true Christmas gift.
I sit here reflecting over our evening while he is sleeping and Keith and Sydney have found the English version of Santa Claus 3 aon TV and I see big progress and have a much better feeling and peace than I even imagined could be possible yesterday. I am so thankful for that and I know that God felt my anxiety and fear and has set me at ease with delivering a good day for us all.
As I mentioned earlier, we shared the Christmas story from the Bible with our group this evening and I was so touched to try to relate what Mary must have felt when Gabriel came to her to announce that God had found favor in her and that she was expecting and for her not to be afraid. Trying to focus on what Mary must have felt at that moment, I couldn't help but to have tears in my eyes thinking of how God has chosen us to care and love for another one of his children. It is written that Mary was scared and I too have been scared and unsure of the outcome and the road ahead. It is written that Mary was shocked and I too have been shocked by what I imagined would be and the reality of what is, and even more so by how I can see things becoming in the future, for the good of course. It is written that Mary was trusting and I too am trusting that God knows all much better than we and that he will take care of everything. It is written that Mary was obedient and I too think that I have been obedient in showing the purest form of faith by following the scripture to care for the orphans. It is also written that Mary gave herself to God's will and I too at this time give our family and this roller coaster that we are on over the God and I have faith that he will deliver us. Although, I realize that not all the road is straight and easy going. We are bound to be tested so that we can prove our love and trust to God, which we so modestly do not deserve but are so blessed to receive. God has entrusted us with such a precious gift and today we have seen that we will be filled with love for one another and step by step will build a solid foundation to be able to deliver this precious child back to His kingdom some day. Today I realize that there is a light in what seemed like such a dark tunnel yesterday. And, I retire to bed with a peaceful head and a happy heart for the love of my family, our bigger family, our friends, and this moment. God Bless you all and Merry Christmas for what is the beginning of your day and the ending of ours....one less day until we see you all again. Good Night. XOXO.
God has blessed us with the most amazing group of people. We have several Christians in our group which is so needed and appreciated. We all gathered, sang a few Christmas carols, shared prayer requests, prayed over each other, read the scripture for the birth of Christ, built a manger scene with the kids (pictures attached), and laughed at the kids who can't understand a thing we are doing. They totally don't understand prayer. Asher actually will come up to you and basically smack you in the face such as saying wake up you crazy people. I hope that we can show him the love of God and the power of prayer soon.
This evening was so perfect for lifting our spirits as a whole. Just shows you how important it is to gather frequently with other Christians to give each other love and support. We really needed that medicine today.
Asher has been pretty good today. It seems his love and trust is growing for each of us alot today. His tantrums were very little today, which is pleasing. He is trying to learn some English with very little encouragement. He repeats just about everything we say and we catch him using some of the words at appropriate timing. He even is saying thank you with out having to be told all the time now.....what accomplishment! He and Sydney are getting along much better. She wants to love on him all the time and he tries to torment her a little but she takes it in stride and just kisses the top of his head all the time in understanding. She is the best!!! Tonight before bed time and after baths....he was very eager for her to come out of the bathroom after her shower and he laid on the floor outside of the bathroom trying to peek under the door at her just laughing, finally she was peeking under the door at him too which he thought was hysterical. She would stick her fingers under the door at him to touch his fingers too, this went on for about 20 minutes and was quite a site (pictures attached). After they were finished, she sat on the bed and he told her a bunch of things that no one could understand and she puckered up to kiss him and he actually kissed her back, WAY COOL that is the first kiss he has been open to giving any of us. I was so thrilled and wanted to get a picture that I asked her to try again and sure enough he was willing and I got a picture, priceless.....I would say the relationship trust and growth has hit a milestone today which was a true Christmas gift.
I sit here reflecting over our evening while he is sleeping and Keith and Sydney have found the English version of Santa Claus 3 aon TV and I see big progress and have a much better feeling and peace than I even imagined could be possible yesterday. I am so thankful for that and I know that God felt my anxiety and fear and has set me at ease with delivering a good day for us all.
As I mentioned earlier, we shared the Christmas story from the Bible with our group this evening and I was so touched to try to relate what Mary must have felt when Gabriel came to her to announce that God had found favor in her and that she was expecting and for her not to be afraid. Trying to focus on what Mary must have felt at that moment, I couldn't help but to have tears in my eyes thinking of how God has chosen us to care and love for another one of his children. It is written that Mary was scared and I too have been scared and unsure of the outcome and the road ahead. It is written that Mary was shocked and I too have been shocked by what I imagined would be and the reality of what is, and even more so by how I can see things becoming in the future, for the good of course. It is written that Mary was trusting and I too am trusting that God knows all much better than we and that he will take care of everything. It is written that Mary was obedient and I too think that I have been obedient in showing the purest form of faith by following the scripture to care for the orphans. It is also written that Mary gave herself to God's will and I too at this time give our family and this roller coaster that we are on over the God and I have faith that he will deliver us. Although, I realize that not all the road is straight and easy going. We are bound to be tested so that we can prove our love and trust to God, which we so modestly do not deserve but are so blessed to receive. God has entrusted us with such a precious gift and today we have seen that we will be filled with love for one another and step by step will build a solid foundation to be able to deliver this precious child back to His kingdom some day. Today I realize that there is a light in what seemed like such a dark tunnel yesterday. And, I retire to bed with a peaceful head and a happy heart for the love of my family, our bigger family, our friends, and this moment. God Bless you all and Merry Christmas for what is the beginning of your day and the ending of ours....one less day until we see you all again. Good Night. XOXO.
5 comments:
Just wanted to let you know we were thinking of you this Christmas morning. I'm so happy that your Christmas was blessed by time with your new Christian friends. You have truly received a wonderful gift from God. We love you all.
We are so glad to hear that your Christmas day was so much better than the day before.
God is good!
We send you our hugs and kisses and continually pray for you.
We miss you and hope to see you soon.
God bless you!
Love,
Mike and Deb
God has blessed you with such a wonderful gift. Im away from my family this year for christmas and im kind of sad about that but after reading your blog i feel much better. I will be home on the 7th of january and cant wait to see my family. God has blessed me with a wonderful family and now hes made it even bigger with asher. Im so happy for you and praying for you constantly. Cant wait to meet asher he seems wonderful. merry christmas and god bless see you soon your brother in christ. Jb
Just wanted to let you know we had pizza last night in the room also. We connect web cam to home and watched kids open up presentso. Chloe got to open a few here also. We will be leaving the hotel at 1pm to head your way. Hope you have great day and see you tomorrow.
Mark
I'm so grateful you guys got together with Christian friends and celebrated the birth of our Savior. Shelley, neat how you related the experience of Mary to your own. So blessed that your Christmas day was blessed. We have been hangin' out with the fam all day. Bill and Julie and the kids are here for a couple of days, and we have played and ate and played and ate until we are all exhausted from Christmas celebrating. Cute pic of the kids kissing. Thanks again for sharing your experience with us. We love you!!!
Ray, Machelle and Celeste
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