Merry Christmas to You

Wow. Is anyone with me when I say this month has FLOWN by? Christmas is 2 days away!! I have already been home from Kenya for almost 2 months! And not a day has gone by that I don't think about the trip and the Madory family. I absolutely did not expect the culture shock of coming home. If you've never been on a trip like this you may not understand and I'm quite certain that I can not explain it to you. It has definitely made me look at my life and evaluate where I am, what I’m doing and where I’m going from here. And sometimes that’s a scary thing! Mentally it is very hard to return to work and "normal" life and even church and do the same old things without wondering if there is something more...

So if you've been thinking lately...what's wrong with Sarah? Why is she being weird? Well there you go. A friend reminded me a week ago to look back at everything God did during the time while I was preparing to go and during the trip and even after. And I’m here to tell you that it was pretty amazing. So why is it that looking forward we can still be uncertain about what God can/will do? Like when the Israelites saw the power of God while walking on dry ground across the parted Red Sea…then a very short time later were thirsty and hungry and asked why did he bring them out in the wilderness to die? Oh how soon we forget.

I also know that God does things for a purpose. When it seemed impossible to me, He did beyond what I could imagine. And as easy as it was for Him to do all those things, I know it wasn’t just because one day He thought “you know what would be fun...?” He does things for us with purpose. So I know he has a purpose for this trip and my life – as well as for each of you reading this right now. I know this post has more questions than answers but I just don’t know it all yet.

I do know that I am really looking forward to the time that I will be spending with my family celebrating Christmas, New Years and a certain someone’s birthday in between…ok it’s mine...but we don’t need to talk about age here! It is the passing of another year….and what a year it was! Of course I am not quite finished with my Christmas shopping. Just a few finishing touches though. It is Riata’s first Christmas and that’s a pretty exciting thing to be a part of – making Christmas special for someone else from the beginning. Something we have always done as long as I can remember is before we could even think about opening any presents we would gather in the living room and read the Christmas story of Jesus birth from the Bible out of Matthew and Luke. I am thankful that my parents made sure we knew what Christmas really meant. I am old enough now that I can admit there were times when I was little that this was not the most important part of the day for me. J But knowing the value now I’m glad that they made it a tradition in our house. Shauna and I were reminiscing about Christmas on the way home from church last night and I was reminded of something that we used to do when we were kids. Around Christmas time once the tree was up and the decorations were out, at night before we went to bed we would turn off all the lights except for the tree, snuggle up to my mom and sing Christmas carols...all the ones we could think of. It was kind of magical if I can use that word... the twinkling lights, the calmness and serenity of the carols, the warmth of family. It is a good memory and I'm glad we have it together.

So I hope you take the time to remember and celebrate the birth of our Saviour this Christmas. Also that you enjoy every minute of time you get to spend with family and friends making memories in the coming weeks.

Merry Christmas with Love,
Sarah