Christmas in Niger, 2013

Christmas often brings up all kinds of feelings, thoughts, and discussions of people back in North America. While we do not have to worry about even dreaming of a white Christmas, we find ourselves missing that part of Christmas, even though it is more of a North American thing to have a white Christmas. I am not sure of too many places that have that. So, we celebrate Christmas like any other North American in Niger. We wake up, open a few presents and have a big dinner. Janice actually found a 6 pound turkey here that sold for like 30 dollars. We had chicken. After dinner, the kids play with their new toys, or go outside to play with all the neighbor kids. We actually held a surprise from Mikaylah as shown in the photo below. Her neighbor last year in Kokomo wanted to bless her with one of her American Girl dolls. We snuck it into our luggage without Mikaylah knowing and got it over here for Christmas. Thank you Brooklyn, you made her Christmas! 

Jayson needed some new shoes and Uncle Ron and Aunt Linda did not disappoint! He has actually learned how to tie his own shoes now and loves running around in his new sneakers!

You know the most important part of Christmas our here is the fact that our kids get a unique opportunity to share with people who have little to nothing. Below is a pic of Mikaylah holding grandson of one of our workers. Our kids when trying to tease them about santa clause are very quick to remind me why Christmas is such an important holiday. Of course, we still can celebrate no matter the temperature, no matter the weather, no matter if there is family around because Jesus came to be the supreme sacrifice for our sins on this glorious holiday. While we love to decorate and open presents, we do make time to remember this very important fact. This baby had such eyes for Mikaylah. It was so adorable.

and of course, we miss the time with all our families back home. It is during this time, that we become a bit homesick. Knowing all our families are gathering for dinners and other such occasions. We have such a huge community of missionary families out here and that really helps. I often refer to the real missionaries as those who are living in the bush and are on their own. We, here in Niamey always have someone to hang out with when needed. That is what I like most about Christmas break. Just hanging out with people around town, at Park W, or some other place in Niger.