On Holiday

This has been an exciting, exhausting, and, on a couple of occasions, dangerous school year so far. (Not dangerous for me personally, but it has been for several of our staff.) I must say that I'm thrilled to have a holiday break. We were at school until 3:00 on the 23rd, leaving only one day to prepare for Christmas Day. I've told some of you that I felt a little cheated of the pre-Christmas vibe because of the late break from school, and my feelings haven't changed - I'm a little bitter. I'm still listening to Christmas music because I'm not ready to move on from Christmas just yet. One fun thing about Christmas this year, though, was receiving some gifts that were quite interesting. I'll let the pictures below do the talking.
As most of you know, Wilma has returned home for the holidays again this year, and of course she is very missed. I can't emphasize enough how quiet it is in the apartment without her - not that that's a good or bad thing, but she brings the exciting, full-of-life kind of noise to the household that makes you wonder what will happen next...because with her around, you just never know.
I don't really have any plans for this break, except that I am seeking God about what to do when school starts again on Jan. 8th. I have now finished my 3 1/2 month commitment to teach Mrs. Eva's 2nd grade class while she was out on maternity leave, and now that I'm officially not teaching a class, I'm not quite sure what's in store for me for the rest of the school year. I came back to Palestine/Israel this year not because I wanted to teach, but because of all the doors that God was opening up in the early months of this year (last school year), to see what He was going to do. I had already invested 1 1/2 school years at that point, and I didn't want to leave just when He started opening doors to the kind of ministry that I've been longing to do. And so, I agreed to come back to fill in for Mrs. Eva, and afterwards be a classroom assistant with no classroom responsibilities, so that I could also help lead some women's Bible studies (for our Arab teachers & for locals), help teach English to some of the local women, help lead extra-curricular programs at school (STARS, Bible studies, etc.), and also be able to work with Chrissie Shaheen in her endeavor to bring reconciliation between Arab and Jewish believers, especially women believers. My hopes are to not be tied down to the school, at least not to the degree that I have been. I believe that I received a Word from God at the end of the Christmas break last year, saying that I had "circled the mountain long enough...it was time to head north...make a right turn towards the vision & destiny of my core calling...what I had longed for but doubted could ever be was now at hand...." This Word was, let's say, perfectly timed with a request I had made to God in the summertime before I came back last year, and so I took it very seriously. At the time, I was sure that my core calling was for ministry of some sort, but not teaching. I was certain that I wouldn't come back here again because what would I do here if I wasn't teaching? And that's when all the opportunities for ministry here began to reveal themselves, and so, I decided to remain involved with the school & also get involved with these other opportunities that were presenting themselves. (Oddly enough, if I take the directions given in that Word literally, "head north...right turn...," from where we were located for the past two years, it leads to where we live now.) My dilemma is this: Ross has presented Wilma & I with a proposition to co-teach her 3rd grade class together and thereby half the workload for the class, which would supposedly free us up to do all these other activities. I must say that this idea doesn't sound exciting to me. I would be just as busy with the school as I am now, because to me, teaching kids all day, even with "half the workload," is still teaching kids all day, which can be an exhausting and consuming thing to do. (I love them, but oh my goodness....) Ross is being very gracious with this offer, and maybe it would be a good thing?? Needless to say, I would really appreciate your prayers in this. Thanks to all of you who are keeping Wilma, Erin, and me in your prayers and also to those of you who are helping to support us - again, we could not do any of this without you! I wish you all a blessed holiday season...


A Hot Water Bottle with a Hand-Made Cover from Miss Erin Humphries. She always knows just what to say.


Some Really Cute PJs from Autumn - who knows about life here much more than I do & understands how nice it is to get something in the mail.


Leggings & Socks from Harry & Carolyn. I can't say enough about how much you two bless all of us here. I love you guys! And leave it to Carolyn to make sure that we stay warm!


A Present from a Student. Just a regular black coffee mug, right? Oh, no...


This is what happens when it's filled with a yummy hot drink! Please note the best part: Know I am Not Berfect But I can Smile. It just doesn't get any better than this. Maybe you'd have to live in an Arab community to know why I love this so much...it's berfect.


Another view of the Mug of Me. See, it has my name and everything.


And yet another view. It's just that good.


Another Gift from a Student. I was wrong about the mug. It does get better than that - Jesus is the best gift of all. Points of interest regarding this Nativity: It says Jerosalem. Also, notice how lovely and white everyone is, and with blue eyes - even though you can't tell it in this pic. Even so, Jesus is the best gift of all.

Thanks to those of you who sent the gifts...you made my Christmas very special indeed! It's not all about the gifts though; thanks to all of you who sent me e-cards & Christmas wishes via Internet as well. I'm always so happy to hear from you guys!