It’s COLD here in Hiroshima! If you’re reading this wearing
short sleeves or even just one layer of long sleeves, please don’t let us know
what the weather’s like where you are! :D The kids sleep with four layers on
top and two on bottom, Peter and I sleep with scarves on…
Practice is well under way for our Kids Brown Christmas Parties which will include a skit performed by
the students in front of expectant parents. This week is the last week of
practice before the parties next week – eek! During the parties, we’ll be going
over the story of Jesus’ birth and do a “review” in the form of a fun quiz. The
quiz will ask them questions like why the top of a Christmas tree is decorated
with a star or an angel, and other questions that will help them to see the
story of Jesus’ birth around them when they see Christmas decoration and
give/receive gifts. Hopefully most of the kids will remember the story from
last Christmas and this year’s re-telling will reconfirm in their hearts and
minds the true meaning of Christmas and the greatest Gift of all! Pray for the
parties on Dec. 9, 11, and 12th.
Pray for our family during the next couple of weeks as our
schedule is a little bit crazy. Peter and I are both helping out at Asaminami
Chapel’s Elementary School Kids’ Christmas Party this Saturday and are taking 4-5 of Juhee’s friends with us too.
More than 70 kids + 15 parents have registered for the party! Add in staff and
we’re seriously going to be really packed in our little chapel! I’ll be
bringing the kids back home while Peter stays to lead praise at ABC. Sunday is Sunday School, service, and hand
bell choir practice at Asaminami Chapel before we go home and grab a quick
lunch and hopefully nap too(!) before our Pioneers Hiroshima Team’s Christmas
Dinner. We’ll have to take Juhee and Sungjae with us to the Kids Brown
Christmas Parties on Tuesday, Thursday,
and Friday as both Peter and I will be going to all three and we won’t
finish in time to pick-up the kids. Not sure what we’re going to do about Juhee’s
homework… We’ll be coming home late too so pray that we won’t get too tired or
sick till after the craziness is over. Wednesday
evening is the monthly joint Prayer Meeting so Peter will be going to that. Thursday morning is also the day of
Asaminami Chapel’s Ladies’ Christmas Party so I’ll be going with (hopefully) a
few friends. Saturday is Juhee’s “alumni”
Christmas Service at Samuel. Sunday
is regular service in the morning but then we need to rush off to Koyo Chapel
for the Christmas Baptismal Service. Thankfully, things calm down a bit after that.
We still have three more Christmas
events after that (Sungjae’s preschool’s Christmas Service, Asaminami
Chapel’s Christmas Potluck Lunch, Christmas Eve Service) and a few
non-Christmas related events too, so please pray for health and perseverance,
and wisdom to know when to rest and when to ask for help.
I’ve been experiencing a lot of pain in my hips and pelvic
bone areas, something I didn’t have issues with when I was pregnant with Juhee
and Sungjae. It’s been making it hard for me to walk, do housework, and go up
and down our narrow, curvy stairs at home. I’ve had to go back to relying on
Peter for help, just when I thought I would finally be able to function
somewhat normally before giving birth. I mentioned to Peter the other day that
if I was like this while I was pregnant with Sungjae, there would have been no
way that we could have continued raising support to come to Japan and it’s so
true. I worked till the day I gave birth with both Juhee and Sungjae, but with
this pregnancy, I’m not sure how much longer I’ll last till I’ll really have to
whittle everything down to bare minimum. It’s a very unfamiliar feeling and one
that is really humbling me… Please pray that the pain will decrease and that I won't have gestational diabetes with this pregnancy like I did with Juhee's.
One thing I really really want to do, is to have a birthday party for Juhee. We haven’t
had one for her the past couple of years ‘cause of busyness and travel, but as
this will probably be her last birthday celebrated in Hiroshima, she’s been
really good about mommy not having the time and energy to do one the past
couple of years, and she really really wants one this year, I really really
want to have one for her. Please pray that I’ll have the energy and that we’ll
be able to narrow her list down ^^; to the perfect 7 girls for her Frozen-theme
7th birthday party. Pray that we’ll be able to find the right time
and date too as we have Christmas events till the day prior. Her birthday falls
on the last day of school before winter break, but they have school till 3pm,
so not sure if that’s a good day to have a birthday party… The next day is a
national holiday (emperor’s birthday), so many of her friends may not be
available. Some Japanese families do a Christmas-type thing that day as
Christmas Day is not a national holiday here (Juhee has a ballet lesson that
day, same as any other Thursday). As a party favor, I’ll be putting in a manga of the Christmas story in
each of their bags. Hopefully the girls and their families will read it many
times, come to know what Christmas is really about, and want to find out more.
Pray that in the midst all of this busyness, that we will be able
to stay focused on the reason for our busyness, the birth of our Savior, Jesus
Christ.
Pray that once all of the busyness dies down, that we’ll be
able to get some good rest. I think we’re just going to chill at home and maybe
invite some friends over. :)
There are other prayer general,
not-necessarily-December-related requests too in our Partnering in Prayer
Section (further down right hand column), so please head on over if you’d like
more.
Have a wonderful and warm Christmas, reveling in the love
and joy of being a child of God! May many in Hiroshima, all over Japan, and all
over the world, come to know that Truth this Christmas…
So grateful for each and every one of you! :)
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