Christmas...

I will be honest. I have been dreading this day since the day I realized I would be spending Christmas away from my family. For six months, I have come near tears just at the thought of this reality.

But Christmas came and it's almost over, and I made it. It was hard not to wake up in my parents' house and go downstairs and open presents and stockings. But I have been beyond blessed at the realization that my brothers and sisters here are celebrating the same thing we celebrate across the ocean.

Yesterday evening, I went with my supervisor's family to a Christmas Eve service that was a joint effort by our church and another church here in town. There were Christmas carols, a skit, and the Word was preached (though I didn't understand much of what was said...). After the service, we and the choir from our church were invited over to our pastor's house for food and more singing. This was my first opportunity to eat some true Romanian food. They had appetizers...ham, sheep cheese, olives and pickles, and then they served what is called "sarmale." It is meat (in most cases ground beef or pork) mixed with rice and condimented, wrapped in pickled cabbage and steamed. It was delicious. It wasn't quite the Guatemalan tamale I have been craving for a week now, but it was very good.

Today I woke up and had a sweet time with the Lord. I read the Christmas story out of Luke and was reminded again, as I have been over and over again, the reason for this day. I made a pie and went over to my supervisor's house for dinner. We didn't have turkey and dressing...what we had was even better. We had fajitas, enchiladas and chips and salsa. It was delicious. They are such great cooks and hosts....and have fed me several meals since I have been here. They gave me a cute candle holder for my apartment, and we played a game. We had coffee and ate dessert before I came home.

And now it's 10:55pm and I made it. Yes, I have wept some, but I have held it together better than I thought I would. I have been overwhelmed at all the notes I've gotten from people that they are praying for me this week. If this isn't evidence that we serve a living God, I don't know what is...because I don't know how I could have done it without His peace and joy today.

Most importantly, we have the privilege of celebrating the birth of a child that would change the course of history, and as I wrote at the beginning of this post, it has been a blessing to celebrate this same event across the ocean.