Christmas season

 This Christmas season we have enjoyed working with the church members to create different decorations for their homes each week after the service.  Instead of dividing the children from the adults for a separate class during the sermon, we stay together for the whole service.  Abraham's sermons have, naturally, been about Jesus' coming to earth.  

On the first Sunday, we made yarn stars.  The teens tired faster than the younger kids of winding the yarn around the cardboard base, but everyone finished, and their bright stars were ready for the next week's decoration.

Near our home, there is a family business buying and selling used pallets.  Abraham and I loaded up on pallets, and then he and another young man worked together to make the example pallet Christmas tree

 The kids and teens threw themselves into the activity on the second Sunday.  One young lady in particular, hesitant at first to use the power saw, soon cut the measurements with confidence.  Other children also took their turns cutting. Another two worked steadily, attaching the "branches" and reinforcing the "trunk." The youngest kids swarmed the finished trees to sand off splinters and rough patches.  

On the third Sunday, two younger boys helped me cut branches off my over-grown rosemary bush.  With the fragrant branches, wire hangers, wire, and lots of ribbon and pinecones, the church members created wreaths.

Next week, we will make a simple manger scene and then have lunch together with the church family.  Because of various schedule constraints of family members, we will then return the kids to their homes (a feat which often involves piling 17 or more people in our 7-person car - good thing most of them are slender!), and then welcome relatives for a second Christmas celebration in the evening.

May you have a blessed Advent and Christmas.  May this season be a time when you recognize that Jesus came to this earth for all the joyful, the hurting, the lost, and the lonely. Please pray for the Christmas preparations here and particularly the celebration on Sunday.  The majority of those who join us can spend a few relaxed, loving, fun hours here, but then return to painful situations at home.