Happy New Year Around the Globe!!!!

Happy New Year from our village to yours (OH, ok, our house to yours)!!!

Here is just a bit of an idea of what it looked like in town New Year’s Eve day (and about the same on Christmas Eve day). The picture really doesn’t tell it, but there were people EVERYWHERE!!!!!!

We did have a calm evening but I can’t really say it was quiet as we could hear the music playing in several different directions. We felt the importance of staying home to ensure no break-ins as well as safety for us. We had a great time because we had a big envelope of Christmas cards from our Norcross church family to open.
Now look, we have gift of special messages under our Christmas tree!!! THANK YOU FOR YOUR LOVE AND THOUGHTFULNESS!!!!! These cards were wonderful and are so extra special (as you are) to us!!!

This morning something that was cool was we skyped into a “PJ” traditional party that is in our “old neighborhood” in the states. It was 6:50am here so we had NY with them as the ball was just dropping at midnight!!! It was awesome as they held the computer in the air so we could see everyone and hear the big Happy New Year wishes!!!

It was raining but we headed out with one of our night staff. We were taking him back to his village but he also invited us to come to a traditional “breaking out”. It is where the girl is kept inside from age 15-18. They teach her about life lessons. Then, this morning when she “comes out” there is traditional music and drums and it is a big party. We thought it might be something interesting to see. Well, our most reliable car, the 4X4 broke down just inside their village. It was raining. It is the ONLY car that WAS working, it is New Year’s day! So, there was a God send. A person that knows cars very well. He said that the master cylinder was “gone.” NOT GOOD!! But he worked a while under the hood and on the clutch (that was not working at all) and we were able to drive back to our village. We could not shift out of first gear but at least we made it back. Now another car to repair. I would say that we are not going anywhere today or tomorrow. We pray that we have the van back Monday as we will start picking up our kids the middle of the week.

We continue to give God thanks and glory for what He does for us each day. As we reflect on 2010, it brings to mind the endless list of things that we had to accomplish before coming to COZV.
We know that only because of God’s grace and the way that He was preparing the way for us, before we even came here, that we made it through everything that happened in the 2010 journey. We are thankful that you are on this journey with us and we pray that you will accept His blessing for 2011.

Ephesians 4: 22-24 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self…and to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.