Church Christmas Celebration

Merry Christmas! We recently had a Christmas Celebration at our church (Gold Avenue Church) and I wanted to share with you some fun pictures and the story. I wrote in the script we used - our children and youth acted out the story of Jesus' birth and we celebrated with joyous singing of carols. Everyone who came was very blessed and the presence of God was there, reminding us of his love for each and every one of us!

I got to be the lead shepherd, because the sheep and other shepherds needed someone to lead them!

I opened with an introduction and a word of prayer, and then we began...

Scene One: The King Is Coming

Everything was ready. The moment God had been waiting for was here at last! God was coming to help his people, just as He promised in the beginning.

But how would He come? What would He be like? What would He do?

God sent an angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a girl named Mary who was engaged to marry a man named Joseph.

The angel went to Mary and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” You will give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.

God was sending a baby into the world to be the King and the Rescuer, the one that God’s people were waiting for. And, for nine months, as the baby grew inside Mary, she and Joseph waited for their son to be born. God was coming to live among them. For this reason, He would be called, Emmanuel, God who came to live with us.

Scene Two: The King Is Born

When Mary was close to having her baby, she and Joseph had to travel to Bethlehem, the town where King David was from. But, when they arrived, every home, every room, and every bed was taken. The only place that was left for them to stay was a stable among the animals.

In the quiet of the night, God gave the world his wonderful gift. The baby that would change the world was born. It was God’s own son.

Mary and Joseph wrapped up the baby in clothes, they made a soft bed of straw, and laid him in a manger. They gazed in wonder at him, marveling into the night at their son who was tender and sweet, holy and meek.

Scene Three: The Angels & Shepherds Worship The King

The same night that the baby was born, God placed a star in the sky that shown brighter than all the rest. The star was placed right above the stable where the baby laid as a way to light up the darkness and to show people the way to him.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Suddenly a great company of angels appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” The shepherds quickly traveled to find the baby and just like Mary and Joseph, they marveled at the newborn king. It was a glorious night!

Scene Four: Three Wise Men Visit The King

Now there were three very wise and important men that lived far far away from Bethlehem. But they saw the same star that God put in the sky when Jesus was born. They knew it was a sign and that a baby king had been born.

They traveled on their camels across endless deserts, up steep mountains, and into deep valleys, constantly following the star that would point them to where the baby was. When they finally arrived to where the star was, they rejoiced with great joy! And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him as they knew He was the true King that God had sent.

Each wise men offered their most precious gifts to the baby. They gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. But, the greatest gift of all was that the Prince of Heaven and Almighty God had become a helpless baby. This King hadn’t come to be the boss, but He came to serve and to love.

Song: Noel (Dance by Sarah) Link: Noel by Lauren Daigle

Scene Five: The King Came To Rescue

As Jesus grew up, everything He did shared God’s love. While nothing about him seemed like a king, with no riches, no royal robes, and no earthly crown, Jesus’s words and actions showed the true power and love of God.

Jesus came to the world to rescue, save, heal, and deliver. There was so much brokenness in the world and Jesus came to mend the brokenness with His grace and His peace.

Jesus healed the sick, raised the dead to life, brought freedom to the captive, and silenced the storm with one word. Jesus multiplied meals, became friends with sinners, and washed his own friends’ feet. King Jesus brought hope to a weary world and sweet hymns of joy to those who experienced His love.

Close: Receive The King

From that time until now, Jesus is continuing to make the world new. Now and for all eternity, Jesus is seated at the right hand of God, receiving praise and worship with words that say, “This is our King! This is our Rescuer! All Honor and Glory forever and ever! And Jesus invites us today to open our hearts to receive Him as the Great and Loving King. As the song lyrics of “Joy To the World” says, “Joy to the world, the Lord has come, let earth receive her King and let every heart prepare Him room.” Let’s pray.

Bonus picture of me with two precious little lambs, at our one and only practice the Saturday before!  Merry Christmas!

Finland and Romania Trip 2018

Do you remember what you did two months ago? Maybe? Well we were on our big European vacation! We started out packing up and eating donuts to find our flight was cancelled! After getting that worked out and getting new train tickets, we were on our way. On the way to Finland Raelyn did really well. Those long flights make even us adults a little cranky. And then we almost didn't get into the right part of our train to Vaasa. Thankfully the man Mark was sitting by helped us realize we had to move because the train was going to separate and go into two different directions.  By that time our luggage seemed so heavy, but we made it! Rainer and the boys picked us up and we had a late dinner with the family, like 9pm which is 2pm here, so more than 24 hours after we left our house.

Rainer and Mark, a friendship forged more than 15 years ago!

Our jet lag wasn't too bad, but Raelyn had a hard time adjusting to the time change and often woke up at night needing to play a bit before going back to bed. She did really well though, once we accepted her inability to sleep. The Lorenz family helped us feel right at home and on vacation! They did everything for us except chew our food ;) It had been 4 years since we saw them last, but besides the obvious growth in the "children," we reconnected so fast and it was like only a few months had passed.

They left their trampoline up for Raelyn, and she loved it so much! It was great to have an activity for her when she just needed to get out some energy or crankiness. She loved playing with everyone, but especially Kalle. He has braces and she loved his teeth jewelry. Almost as much as she loved going up the stairs. It was so nice that we didn't have to chase her every single moment!

We took a couple of nice long walks around their house in Finland. Finland is the same latitude as Alaska so it is very beautiful and has many forests. We were able to have many good conversations as well. It was nice to slow down, enjoy tea, conversations and try the licorice ice cream!

Lea, Katri, Rainer, Mia. 15 years ago when we got married, the two then young girls were so excited to come and see my dress. They still remember our wedding! 

The whole family L-R (bottom): Lea, Mark, Raelyn, Rebecca, Katri, Rainer 

top: Silas, Lasse, Mia, Kalle

We are thankful that we were all able to be together! Lasse goes to school out of town and Lea is away at college, but they were both able to come home for the weekend. We enjoyed our stay with them immensely.

After our long weekend in Finland, we flew to Romania. We arrived in Romania already adjusted to the time, so that was a nice bonus! We were able to be very flexible with our schedule and join h2h activities when it worked for us. We stayed at an airbnb in the city. This was nice because it allowed us to invite guests to our place and have it feel private. 

Raelyn the acrobat! She did well, and we even managed at least a little nap every day!

Our first full day we went to the orphanage which we had worked in since our first trip in 2007. Things have changed a lot since then, mostly the kids. Those who were young then are now about ready to age out and leave. Also the foster care system has grown a lot and many of the kids are now in families or back with their own families. So there were less kids and different kids there on this trip. It kind of felt like starting over, save a few kids we know really well. One of the reasons we really wanted to make it there this year is that our sweet little Alina is now 17! She finished school at 10th grade and is just waiting. We don't know where she will end up, so we really wanted to see her.

Raelyn had a blast with the kids who wanted to play with her.

 These girls kept calling her Cadence. Cadence was there with her family in the summer :)

The second full day we were able to see two of the young adults who made a big impact on us. Elena, who wrote us the letter in 2008 that made us prayerfully consider coming full time to Romania. And Marius. And if you know us at all, you know who he is! He was able to stay with us part of the time and it was so good! We felt like we were able to regain that close feeling of friendship and he got to meet and be loved by Raelyn. She had seen Marius on video chat before and she just attached to him from the start. It was like she understood that he is a part of our family.

 She loved to sit on his lap and feed him. Well, she loved anything and everything with him.

 Elena. We saw her a couple times and had a nice time having desserts and walking through the city. She is very dear to us and we were thankful for the conversations we had.

We went to another orphanage we had worked a little at. We also went down to the boy's transition house for the opening of the girls & boys transition programs. We went a saw very briefly an older lady from that town who was always telling us we had to have children. She was so happy to meet Raelyn. She depends on her grown children for financial support. We may complain here about social security, but we are really fortunate and have much to be thankful for. 

We also saw Florin & Ramona and were able to here about their active involvement in their church. It was refreshing to hear about young adults eager to cooperate with the Holy Spirit! 

We also spent time with Jen & Jenny, Cristi & Amy, Tom & Gila and others we know well from the five years we served in Romania. We have many, many more pictures and stories. In short, Romania still has that home feeling. We still love seeing our kids, although most are in their 20's now! 

Our animal lover

Oh yeah, we celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary in Romania. We did go out to a nice restaurant and had a very romantic time...with our toddler :) It really wasn't an after thought, being with the kids we love and miss deeply was very special.

 Until next time...praying for all of these precious kids!