First Sunday of Advent

Doug had the opportunity and privilege of preaching at St. Andrew's, perhaps for the last time as our permanent pastor will soon be arriving.  That makes for a good illustration for advent - the hope of something coming.

The text was from Jeremiah 33, and you can see the text of the sermon from St. Andrew's Website.

Merry Christmas! May the power of the incarnation touch all of you this Christmas season.

Thanksgiving #2

 We are incredibly blessed to have the dual privileges of being overseas and also having family close.  So what a special opportunity to have Thanksgiving with family.  Dad cooked the turkey and Doug's parents invited two other families. 

It became evident that after 7 kids feasted, it was time for the Thanksgiving tradition of swimming in the tropics!

O Tannenbaum

We had the chance to put up the Christmas tree, which was a great success.  Other than a bit of frustration over the lights not reaching, it all went well.  How fun to see the ornaments that the kids made when they were little. . . and fun to pull out our stockings.

Here are some pictures of our family gathering as the Christmas music and the ornaments came out.

The girls were very excited that mommy brought home makeshift reindeer antlers from one of her student's presentations.

Thanksgiving

One of the amazing and wonderful traditions at ISKL's middle school is the annual Thanksgiving feast.  It is a bit funny on a school night to come together for the big Thanksgiving feast, but what a fun gathering as the administrators provide the turkey, and the rest of the amazing food is brought by our amazing faculty and staff!

Indeed, a delicious experience, and lots of fun as well.  It is interesting each year to consider that our kids grow up thinking that Thanksgiving is when you get hot and sweaty running around the school.  Yes, isn't that what it is all about?


This year Gabi added her own tradition, providing shoulder massages to raise some money (for herself, nothing charitable here.)  It was 50 sen for 5 minutes or 1 ringgit (about 30 cents US) for 10 minutes. 

Two teeth

We lost something in our house.  Can you guess what it is?

China Lah

Certainly not the most culturally accurate depiction, but here is Rania having some fun with one of the linguistic quirks of Malaysia-speak - lah.

Tracy in Vietnam

Tracy had a wonderful week in Hoi An, Vietnam as part of GAP.  It was a lot of time on the bike, but she also got some crafts, visits to orphanage, cooking lessons, and even some shopping.

She came back to KL excited from a great trip, but so excited to see her family again!  What a neat experience.