December FLEW by for us! Here is a photo-recap of one of our favorite months of the year!
I am honored to take the annual Christmas photos for the staff and residents of the Hope Center! Below, Nathan captures me wearing my 'photographer hat.'
Below, the real photo:
Following the group photo and all the various combinations of groups, we moved into the kitchen where we decorated cookies that Nathan had previously baked.
We said goodbye to our dear friends, Gordon and Carol, who came for two weeks and helped us with Handmade in Albania orders. Below, we enjoyed coffees and hot chocolates by a woodstove while we waited for the Covid PCR test results to come in prior to their return flight to Texas.
Below: we made Christmas tree ornaments one Saturday during kids club.
Below, Ellie rehearses with Luli for music that the kids will perform for the Christmas Eve service.
Below, we said 'goodbye' to Sara, the PT for VT who is emigrating to Germany. It's a hard reality of living in Albania. The concept of 'brain drain' is real.
That makes us all the more appreciative of our friends like Eda and Luli (below) who feel called to remain in their country and minister to their friends and neighbors. One Sunday afternoon they came over to help us with the ever present job in December of making Christmas cookies. Because of Covid in 2020 and our furlough in 2019, this was the first time in three years that we've made Christmas cookies to share with our friends. It was a fun tradition to resurrect!
Another big project in December was the opportunity to help coordinate the translation of Christmas with The Chosen. We got to play around with a new translation platform that made tracking progress a lot of fun!
One Saturday evening we received a frantic message from our new Afghan friends that their son had been hospitalized. We made a trip up to their city the next day to see what we could do to help and offer moral support.
We were so glad to see he was doing better!
Reni received the shirt below as a Christmas gift and wore it several days in a row.
We were invited to the Christmas dinner at the Hope Center. It was a really special event to be invited to!
The photo below might be puzzling, but let me provide context. We had not had a toilet seat since late September because we could not find one that fit our toilet! When our plumber finally tracked one down a week before Christmas I couldn't resist snapping the pic below. My early Christmas gift!
Another round of Christmas cookie decorating for Christmas eve!
The night before my birthday we braved the traffic to see the lights in the center of Tirana.
There are a large number of booths selling drinks and sausage and other foods. We enjoyed something to eat then rode some rides!
It was also one of the coldest nights in almost a year, so we were a bit foolhardy to do something that made us colder!
He was a pro!
A waffle, on a stick, dipped in chocolate? Um, yes please!
For my birthday we went to the mall for last minute Christmas shopping, then we met our friends, the Dukas, and watched Spiderman and had coffee and dessert!
Christmas Eve found us grateful to celebrate the birth of Christ with a packed house. Below, Shpresa, Luli and I are filling plates with the post-service refreshments.
Nathan greets our guests
We watched a clip from The Shepherd at the end.
On Christmas morning, Reni read from Luke 2 and we opened gifts with Pam.
Later in the afternoon, the Dukas joined us and we decorated cookies together and enjoyed Christmas dinner and games.
It was a wonderful Christmas day!
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