Good morning,
We hope your Christmas was wonderful and full of family and great new memories were made, it was an emotional few days for us.. our first Christmas away from family. It was hard not to picture our granddaughter Mias' excitement waiting for Santa and watch all the family hover around Dayton as he "experienced" his first Christmas on earth. Thanks to our great friends at home all our presents were delivered on time and everyone was happy. I asked my good friend Coleen to make quilts for our sons using all the African, Haitian and Sierra Leonean fabric we had acquired. She's been working on them since summer and the last I saw before we left they were looking beautiful! Made in blocks of coordinating color and edged with black strips and backed with ivory cotton muslin. The kids loved them.
We spent Christmas eve day at the beach. Church on Christmas morning was beautiful. Everyone was dressed in gorgeous fabric, even the kids. The youth got up and did bible verses and sang and the pastor preached on the joy of the birth. We sang Silent Night and the First Noel (in English). It was moving. Everyone here says Happy Christmas instead of Merry Christmas but other than that it was very similar to what we are used to. I'm attaching a picture of one of the kids from church, too cute.
Christmas night we did something similar to what we used to do in the states. We went to the movies. David and I have been taking walks in the evening, wandering down trails and stopping to visit people. We had met a man who has been building a "movie theater" using bamboo and thatch with bench seating. David asked him if we could rent the theater Christmas night. We provided fuel for the generator and a few DVDs' and he had a old TV and DVD player. We invited all the kids around the area and the entertainment began close to dusk. First David and I taught the kids songs (Hey Hey Mon has made it to Sierra Leone) and then I became Frankenstein and chased them all over which they loved! Even a few parents got into that game... the joy on their faces at the simplest of things. Everyone filed in, sat down and the movie began, unfortunately the sound didn't work on his DVD player but the kids quietly sat through the whole movie enthralled... Hmmm talk about putting things in perspective what started as a lonely day ended filled with such joy! Wish we would have thought to bring kids movies... We think maybe we will do it on our front porch next time.
Thank you for all the prayers, we know they were instrumental in giving us strength the last few days. Blessings for the New Year!
In Him,
Mr. and Mrs. David
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