.. and she took all these things and pondered them in her heart
This is me on top of the world.. we climbed a mountain and this was our view.. and no i did not photoshop the background in.. it was really there!!
ME an d my precious friend Maya as we climbed liglig mountain!
This is me and a 90something year old lady who walked 2 hours hunched over in half from years of field work to come to church!!
This is the scenery we saw as we hiked to the village..totally Gods’ amazing creation!
Me and Sita taking a break from the hike to joke around.. well the whole time we were hiking let’s be honest we were laughing like little girls .. they are so much fun!! i’m so glad God gave me a friend like her
This lady along wtih about 20 other nepalese and a bunch of flour sacks, and this goat road with us for about 30 minutes in the back of this pick-up truck.. isn’t she precious Merry Christmas guys. Ughh.. i had this really nice blog entry written and then the power went out, wrote it again and then the internet went out.. so here is the next try.. sorry I have not been able to write as often.. again.. read the above sentance and you will understand. In fact today we got our new power outage schedule.. yucky– from 4 hours a week to now about 65 hours a week.. most days 10 hours a day. Trying to pretend like we are pioneers huh!
I want to thank you guys so much for your prayers while we were in the village. It was such an incredible trip. God really showed me the miracles found in Christmas while I was in that village. But I am not going to write about that on here, I already wrote about it in my prayer letter. If you do not receive my prayer letter please write a comment on here with your e-mail address and I will e-mail you a copy! 🙂
So I have been learning alot of things in my heart lately as I have contemplated the christmas story while spending my second christmas in Nepal. For example: Yesterday I was thrilled to get three christmas packages: 1 which was quite a suprise from the graduate students at PSI of chattanooga campus (thanks soo much guys) and 2 from my awesome mommy and Daddy. The one from my mommy and Daddy made me feel sooo loved. My mom included things that 1) would feed me physically 2) feed me spiritually 3) make me laugh 4) make me smile 5) make me remember that I was missed and loved 5) meet practical needs in my life– like the magnetic kitchen conversion chart which is much needed for recipes here and our oven being in Centigrade instead of Fareinheight. I was thinking about it. In America if my mom had packaged ranch dressing powder mix packages and muffin mix, I am sure that I would say thankyou and appreciate it, but I would probablly not do the happy dance and jump around the room with leah and celebrate like we did here in nepal. We are soo excited about the little things here because we just don’t have them. Never have i appreciated so much gifts like candles, plastic bags and vitamins! The gifts my mom and dad sent me made me feel so loved and special. It got me to thinking.. God sends us good and perfect gifts ever day. He sent the gift of His son of course, which we celebrate at christmas. But think about the other good and perfect gifts he sends to us each day. .. Gifts to feed us physically, gifts to feed us spiritually like a good sermon at church on Sunday, Gifts simply sent to make us laugh, Gifts sent to make us smile, gifts sent to make us feel like we are wrapped up in his love like the fuzzy pink bathrobe my mom sent me last year and i wear ALL The time now. How often do we forget to acknowledge and recognize the giver of these gifts. Are we like oh think you very much, you should not have like I probablly would have been had I received ranch dressing powder in america… all the while thinking could there not have been more, a BETTER gift– or are we jumping around doing the RANCH dressing powder HAPPY dance like leah and I did. Just a thought? At christmas time.. think about the GOOD and perfect Gifts God has given you and do the happy dance!!
ok.. my other thought that God is showing me this christmas. My sister posted the best pictures of our family celebrating christmas with my dad’s side of the family (www.gingerbreadfam.blogspot.com) When I saw these pictures I could not stop the tears from streaming down my face. Not because I was sad, or because I was homesick, but because I felt like I was right there wtih my family. Look at precious little Alex’s smile.. wonder what made them laugh in that picture.. oh look how great my family looks all together.. bet they had a good meal.. thinking all about what was going on in those pictures. It made me smile, made me feel like I was there, made me remember all the good times we had together, made me think of some of the trials that we have made it through together. And I started thinking.. God is in heaven seperated from us that are living on the earth. But He sent Immanuel God with us… (and His name shall be called Immanuel.. God with us) God is smiling with us thinking.. look at her laugh, He is celelbrating how much we are growing, He is looking on with such joy as we smile and laugh.. He is thinking Remember that time when. Immanuel God with us.. now that’s a GIFT!
Jenn; You look beautiful sitting on top of that mountain! Wow! You are a wonderful lady that has grown so much since I frist meet you at Central High! We love you and love reading your blogs! Thank you for all the prayers that you have sent up for me during this past year and I am so thankful for the gift of God’s son. We do not realize how God has blessed us here in America. Keep looking for our package. It should be there soon. Love you, Mama Ellis
I am so glad that our packages made you do the happy dance! There are more coming in the mail. Has anyone ever told you that your writing is so wonderful and inspiring? You are awesome!!! Your pictures were beautiful!!! I am glad that you felt like you were there in the pictures. I loved getting to talk to you the other day for so long. You are absolutly wroth waking up early for. We love you so much and miss you. We will take lots of picutres at Christmas and put them on the blog for you. Merry Christmas with lots of love!
Jenn. I totally needed that! I am going to a ranch dressing happy dance for what Jesus did for me by coming to earth after I finish writing this. i am so proud to have you as a sis. You are going to change the world!
Hey have a wonderful Christmas. Looks like you’re having an amazing time. Chrissy
I love you and reading your post makes me so happy!!! Thanks for my super amazing happy comment you left on my blog! It was SO GREAT to hear about your weekend and everything you did… I love connecting with you, and keeping up with your life… you are such an amazing and inspiring friend!! Have I mentioned that you’re one of my heros??? I feel so so so blessed to have a friend like you! I’d love a copy of your prayer letter! [email protected]
love you so much girl!!!