Christmas Eve…..wow! We have been busy baking the last couple days. It takes a lot longer here because you need to track down the ingredients and when it’s not your own kitchen and you need to look for things and then you find there’s only 1 tsp of baking powder or 1/3 cup of cocoa…..well…you know what I mean! So we have cookies galore, cakes and more! We are doing the big Christmas celebration tonight. We will have dinner and a program (organized and directed by MelissaJ). A Christmas party is after that and the kids here get to stay up until midnight and then open their present! This works better, apparently, because the little kids are so excited that they can’t sleep properly and then are too tired the next day. So, Christmas day is, in fact when they sleep in and then we will make them corn chowder and buns for dinner! Sheldon and I made it the other night for Pastor Henri and sister Gladys and they LOVED it! I think they want to serve it on rice though, to make it go farther as there are about 150 mouths to feed (including the staff and guests).

As a family, we are planning to be a part of the fun! I am playing piano for the play and there are special numbers ( never a shortage….the girls love to sing and will jump at a chance on the mic!) Melissa and I are each doing an English song with our adult English classes too! Hers “Rejoice” and mine “This is my desire” (their favorite!) I want to enjoy Christmas day so our kids will come back to our little place here and get to open 1 present! Then we will put them to bed at a decent time so we can get up and enjoy Christmas morning! We plan to head to the ocean! Here at Canaan everyone will be sleeping so we will go take a break and enjoy the beach. We will come home in the afternoon to make dinner. And then….can you believe it, the hussle and bustle is all over for another year.

Sheldon and I went to the clinic again today. We missed that when we were in Jacmel. It is so fascinating and I feel like I’m doing something important in helping people. It’s kind of scary to think that the nurses are on their own sometimes! I am by no means docter or nurse but what we learned in or course has proven to be so valuable! With diagnosing the problem instead of just treating the symptoms we have been more effective by far. We need to help the nurses think things through and not just give everyone acetominophen for the pain! The books we brought from our course, “Village Medical Manual”, have been invaluable and I aim to teach Irve, the young guy who wants to go study in the states and come back to be the docter here, how to use them. I am sure glad that Sheldon and I both got a set because I should leave mine here for them. I will definitely miss all the margine notes though!

Better let you go. Enjoy the holidays with your loved ones. That is something to never take for granted. The time we can spend together is so precious. We love you guys and miss you. Merry Christmas to you and yours as you celebrate the birth of the Savior of the world! May you take time to reflect on the one who ‘stepped down into darkness…’ because of his great love for you. Blessings,

Kim and Sheldon,
Dawson, Jordan, Lauren, Kira and Melainey.