My Van

Recently I had the opportunity to buy this mini-van from the business that I work for. I had been pr*ying about the area of transportation and I felt like G*d answered this way. I'm very thankful for this vehicle and the blessing that it is to me!

Listen Up!

This month, one project we did at school was creating some MP3 files for our beginning level students to listen to as a way to practice English and improve their listening skills and pronunciation. I enlisted the help of a couple co-workers and we turned my house into a "recording studio" :) They did a great job and we were able to get the first few units done in a few hours. Some of my students are shown in the picture listening to these files on the computer as one of their assignments for the week.

Graduation and Wedding

This month my friend P graduated from nursing school. It's always a big day of pictures, silk flowers, and stuffed animals :)

Also this month, I attended the wedding of some friends. The middle picture shows a small cake that I made and decorated for them.

Misc. Pics From December

Waterfalls and Sunsets

Luang Prabang was a great place to enjoy sunsets and many types of waterfalls...beautiful!! I love God's splendor and creativity :)

Luang Prabang

Angela and I went to Luang Prabang for a little vacation. Getting there was the most difficult part. My stomach couldn't handle the twisting mountain roads. It wasn't a pretty sight :( Once we got there, we had a nice relaxing time. I miss coffee shops, so each morning we spent several hours in one of the coffee shops reading and writing :) We also saw some traditional dancing at the theater, ate some great food, went to the night market each evening, and just enjoyed God's creation as we looked out on the surrounding mountains and rivers.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

It is always hard to be away from family and America this time of year, but God blessed me with a lot of people to celebrate with . And each year I find new ways to enjoy my Asian Christmases :) I like the simplicity of Christmas here and it helps me focus more on the real celebration of Emmanuel.

My friend Angela came up from Thailand this year. On Christmas Eve a large group of us got together for a Christmas feast! There were over 20 of us at the table...a ham and turkey came from Thailand and everyone helped to contribute delicious side dishes and dessert :) After dinner we did some caroling, lit the advent wreath, watched the kids sing "Jingle Bells" with instruments, heard the Christmas story, and played "catch phrase" and other games. It was a lot of fun!

On Christmas morning, Angela and I had a nice breakfast and opened a couple gifts under the tree. It was such a blessing to "skype" our families and feel connected to them during this time. Christmas afternoon, we went on a walk around the rice fields with some friends. Then we finished the evening eating Indian food and watching "Elf" with some other friends.

Christmas Party

My co-workers hosted a Christmas party for some of the neighbors and also the national staff families from school. I also invited a few people including my friend P and her mom. My friend Angela was also visiting for Christmas. It was a fun evening ...games/puzzles, then we shared a meal together (didn't eat the small birds, but everything else was good :) Next my co-worker shared the Christmas story, and after that everyone really got into a holiday craft (making snowflakes with pins and beads).

Christmas Cookies!

One of the fun parts of Christmas for me is making cookies :) I had a couple opportunities to do that this season. First, the women who live in Heaven's Hill had a cookie exchange. That was a nice way to eat some Christmas favorites without doing all the work! Another opportunity came when several women helped to make about 12 dozen sugar cookies for the students at school to decorate. You can see that the students enjoyed personalizing the cookies in some colorful and creative ways :)

Christmas At School

Christmas provides the opportunity to share the Christmas story and God's story with our students! We decorated the school with a nativity scene, garland, lights, and some bulletin boards which served as conversation starters with students throughout the month. On the last day of class I had my students over to my house to do some Christmas activities. As they each received a small gift, I shared that Jesus is God's gift to each of us. This term we combined a Christmas party with the ceremony where certificates are handed out to those who have completed all the requirements.