Christmas is coming.....

Just ten more days til Christmas!  Somehow this reminds me of that little ditty we used to sing: "Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat; please do put some pennies in the old man's hat!"

Traditions!  Where do they come from and where do they go?  Sometimes it takes work to hang on to traditions; some just happen upon us, stay for a time and depart.  At our house there are a few old traditions that are dear to our hearts....like writing cards and hunting for the "perfect" live Christmas tree.

These were traditions in our family for years.  Then life got busy with other things and not so many cards were written.  It was much simpler and easier to just e-mail and send off a few photos.  Same with the tree tradition.  For a few years now we've passed up on having a live tree since friends passed along their artificial tree to us.  Here in our modular home where space in the living room is somewhat limited we decided it wasn't practical to try to have an inside tree.  It would take up too much living space!  But we did enjoy having our artificial fir out on the deck lit up with lights and visited by our feathered friends.

However, this year we have returned to some of those old traditions.  I began sending out our first cards from Hungary and now have followed up with more from Canada.  And our tree this year?  It's a Fraser Fir carefully chosen from our own farm here!  Last Saturday we went searching and in the far, back corner of our acreage found a pretty little tree that hadn't been pruned too much.  O.J. proceeded to dig it out and it now sits in a large pot in a corner by our front door.  We won't be using that entrance this Christmas but we will enjoy having a real live Christmas tree once again!

So, come visit our house as Christmas approaches.  You'll find touches of the past and some new decoations that reflect our recent days in Hungary too.  You'll see the Thomas Kinkade puzzle which we assembled years ago, the Christmas before O.J. left us for Myanmar.  Now it is hung each Christmas as a fond memory of the hours of labour that went into that puzzle some time ago.  You'll maybe notice the hand-painted sign sitting atop the tiny table covered by a carefully embroidered cloth...memories of our recent days in Hungary and our new friends there.  On the walls see more mottos from days present and past.  And of course there is the Fraser Fir tree brightening the corner by the front entrance.  Yes, Christmas is coming and Ron has started making his caramels.  He also built me a tiny bird feeder this past week and has been doing some TOC (teacher on call) work too.

Christmas is coming....and our family will all be together here soon! Grandma Gamache arrives in one week with Bryon, Christy and Kai due to arrive the next day.   This year there should be 12 of us all together for the holidays, ages 3 to 92!  And we all join in sending special Christmas greetings from our house to yours.....

Home sweet home....December 5th

Yes, it is true!  We are home again and it is so very wonderful to be back to Canada, back to family and people and places familiar.  How special to have our son O.J. at the airport to meet us with a sweet smile, huge hug, fresh baked cookies and lots of good news.  Later we gathered at Jeff and Jenn's along with Kaden, Abby and Emma for more debriefing before the kids' bedtime.  And this grandpa and grandma found themselves suddenly very tired too!  It was time to head down the driveway to our own home and to our own bed for the first time in three months.

Home sweet home.......

 

Yesterday was a time of cocooning and enjoying browsing through our piles of mail; cooking again on my electric stove....making soup and baking bread as the washer and dryer did their duty taking care of several loads of laundry.  There was time to venture out and inspect the new sign at our gateway announcing Christmas trees for sale here on our farm for the very first time!  And, the sun shone and the skies were blue...at least for a few brief morning hours.  By afternoon we were back to rain again but inside it was cozy and warm.  O.J. had not only started Christmas baking but he'd started putting up Christmas decorations and lights too.  So for sure we feel welcomed and loved, and for certain it is good to be home again in time for all the festivities and fun of Christmas here in Canada.  In closing this chapter we want to once more thank each and all of you who prayed for us and supported us in so many ways on this our first trip to Hungary.  Thank you for walking with us and encouraging us on.....

December 4th --- Heading home!!

As I write it is early morning on this the 6th day of December.  We are home again and so glad to be back to Canada, to family and things familiar.  It was a wonderful feeling to arrive safely on Canadian soil again as we touched down in Vancouver about 6:30p.m. on Tuesday evening.  It had been a good flight with British Airways from Budapest, to London and onward home again, skipping over several time zones as we flew westward.  Along the way we had several interesting  encounters with folks from various places.

 

 

 Notice the little Russian girls all dressed in pink who we met in the Budapest airport.  Only an hour later we found ourselves surrounded by a huge volleyball team from Croatia, en route to Finland for a tournament.  And then there was the tiny Punjabi princess who travelled with us on the same flight from London to Vancouver.  All of these brief encounters reminded us of our world and how small it really is when one can so quickly fly from one country to another.  And in this we take comfort as we settle in here at home once more.

 We know we need this time here in Canada to re-connect again with family and friends.  We need time to recuperate and rejuvenate and save up before we head out again to live and serve in Hungary.  Sensing that we will, in God's time, return again to Tapolca and loved ones there indeed made those final farewells much easier.  And thus this blog will not necessarily be ending now.  For those of you who have enjoyed taking this journey with us, we invite you to stay tuned.  In due  time we hope to return again.  In the meantime we know He has work for us to do here, and new lessons to learn, so these will be things to share with you as this blog carries on......

Parting words and final farewells....

December first has dawned crisp, clear and bright!  It reminds us of one year ago today when we left our home in Aldergrove and set out for a month in Myanmar with O.J.  That was one amazing adventure and now we are here wrapping up our last days in Hungary.  It is with a great mix of emotions that we bid farewell to our new friends.  The only thing really helping to ease the pain of parting is our hope to return again someday or to have our friends come to Canada to visit us there.  We believe all of this will happen in God's time.  For now it is a time to say farewell and depart for our homeland.  We are for sure excited about being "home for Christmas" with family and loved ones there.

As we enjoy these final days together there are the parting words often expressed in a variety of ways.  Many have come bearing cards and gifts.  Two of these gifts from different people have expressed the same words, spelled out in the original Hungarian script.  It is apparently an old household blessing, often displayed on the walls of homes in days gone by.  But today they are words that bless us and warm our hearts as we have them translated for us by our friends here.  So as we write today let us share this blessing with you, our blog readers too:

"Where there is faith, there is love; where there is love, there is peace;
Where there is peace, there is blessing;
Where there is blessing, there is God;
Where there is God you need nothing more!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Forever friends....we hope to meet again before too long.
 In the meantime, as the inscription embroidered so carefully on this  old wall hanging says,
 "Where there is God we need nothing more!"