Christmas Cheer

It's, of course, hard to be so far away from family at Christmas. We have between us seven nephews and nieces who are so fun! We miss our families, but I decided that I needed to do something positive to build community here, and not just with the expat crowd. 

So Vanessa, my MCC colleague, and I hosted a ladies tea. We invited five Congolese women we feel connected to. Only two could come, but we had a really sweet time on Christmas Eve sitting together, drinking cider, and decorating Christmas  cookies! V and I made some sugar cookies and used the only cookie cutters we had - lots of African animals. We were stoked to find a few varieties of sprinkles in the store and food coloring, too!

The ladies who came were Gisele (on the right in the picture), who is the sister of my classmate from EMU, and Rachel, the wife of the pastor of the church we've been going to. The didn't know each other but were both so happy to be with us as we exchanged cultural Christmas traditions. We also shared what we're thankful for this year. I mentioned the incredible weather here and the sense of God's presence here with us and throughout the transition. God is our Good Father and we are his sons and daughters! Joyeux Noel!