A Blessed and Merry Christmas!

Our Kitchen Table, Fourth Sunday of Advent

This week has been busy as we clean and prepare for Christmas, and we've been overwhelmed by the kindness of dear friends and family. One family, long-time friends, sent us a check for $200 last week!!! That gift enabled me to go Christmas shopping for the kids, buying them each a gift and a few stocking things, plus paying off an overdue bill. And Keith had money come into the office unexpectedly (a gift from his dad) which allowed us to catch up on several more bills.

And the kids have worked hard (E at her job at the Bible camp; the boys doing yardwork for family and for neighbors) to earn money to buy each other gifts; it's so wonderful to see their joy in purchasing gifts for one another!!! The vast majority of the gifts under the tree were purchased by them for one another and for Keith and me. They're so excited!!!

Yesterday we opened an envelope mailed by someone in our small town: inside was a second envelope labeled with the kids' names containing four $100 bills!!! The kids need clothes so badly--I finally bought T a pair of jeans this week so he'd have one pair without holes in the knees. E and J definitely want to use the money for clothing, especially since J really needs a winter jacket; all he has is a sweatshirt. And several of them need snowboots.

Father Acker of Alpine Anglican and his wife also bought me a replacement battery for my laptop--something I have really needed and couldn't afford!! And my lovely boss at Brave Writer sent me a much-needed and very generous Amazon gift card!!

And tonight one of our pastors from Lake Murray drove up the mountain to give us a "treasure box" full of frozen food, two jars filled with change from another family (at least $90, perhaps more), and a personal check for $200!!!

We are so blessed by God through His family of believers!!

And then my parents gave us a HUGE check that will allow us to pay off a great deal of our debt!!! We've been praying for a complete payoff of all our debt by the end of the year, and here is most of it!!!

Our Christmas Tree, 2010

So with our hearts overflowing with gratitude, we thank all our friends for praying for us and for blessing us with friendship, help, and love through Jesus Christ our Lord!

This year has not been easy, but God is good, all the time, and His people are amazing!!!

Wishing you all a blessed and very Merry Christmas!!!