Christmas in Malawi

The last few days have been slow at times, busy at other times, sometimes fun, and at other times very sad. It has been an emotional and lonely time with a few sprinkles of fellowship, which we are so grateful for! I think that it was especially hard for me to spend Christmas Eve/Christmas day in such a quiet house!!! I miss the chaos of my mom listening/dancing to Elvis Christmas music, and my sisters and I begging her to turn it off. I miss the smells of homemade gingerbread cookies with silly frosting designs on them and drinking hot tea on the front porch early in the morning. I miss my brothers and dad teasing me (hard to believe, I know!) and throwing wrapping paper at each other on Christmas morning.

I must say, being here in Malawi for Christmas has been very hard, but good. I realize how much emphasis I put on all the activities and such, and how little time I spend reflecting on the fact that Christmas is about celebrating our Lord and Savior's birth. Christmas for Christians in Malawi is a big deal. They spend a lot of time at Church, singing Christmas hymns and praying and rejoicing together. Christmas Day isn't filled with presents or anything new. They mostly just get together with family and hope to have a chicken to eat with their usual Nzima dinner. It is very humble, and Christ centered.

I don't think I ever want to miss Christmas with my family again (even though I know we will be here again for Christmas next year), but I feel as though I have learned a lot this Christmas. I have been thinking a lot about the fact that my life is not my own, and that Dan and I belong to Christ. If He wants us to be away from the things we love and desire in order to do His work, it is what we need to do. I want to have joy as I am here, working for the Lord. If I have a bad attitude about being here, then I am unable to glorify God. I can't see the work He is doing here in Malawi if I am focussed on the things I am missing out on. My prayer is that I will be able to see these losses as nothing compared to the joy I have in Christ and the joy I find while following Him. Please pray with Dan and I, that we would mature in Christ, and be more concerned with God's will than our own.


On Christmas Eve, we had dinner with our dear neighbors, the Stom's. It was a wonderful dinner, as Laura is a wonderful cook!!! We then quickly turned the house around so that we could accommodate about 30 of the ABC college students who stayed on campus for the holiday break. Some of them are working at the radio station, some are guards and some are working in other areas here on campus. We had punch and dessert together and had a time of singing Christmas carols (some in English, some in Chichewa). Here are two pictures of us gathered in the Stom's living room, singing. The two little blondies are the Stom's girls. Clara had a blast singing and praying with the "tudents" as she calls them.


After the singing, prayers and dessert, we all watched the 'Nativity Story' which my mom had sent to us via my dad. It was a good movie and the students enjoyed it, a lot. Over all, it was fun to be with the students and the Stom's on Christmas Eve. I'm sure the students are just as lonely and homesick as we are, so it was good to be together.

On Christmas morning, Dan and I woke up around 8am. I sprung out of bed, excited to have tea and eat banana bread while we open our two presents from Dan's dad. When we sat on the couch, Dan brought to my attention that we should look in our stockings before we open presents.....this was a BIG surprise to me, because when I went to bed, they were empty, and I had no hopes of seeing them full on Christmas morning. I figured they were just up there for decoration. Sneaky Dan!!! So, we both got laffy taffy, pringles, and fruit in our stockings, which was very fun. Oh, and I got juice boxes, too. My favorite flavor of Ceres: Secrets of the Valley! Here I am with the stockings:

Here we are opening our gifts from Dan's dad. Of course, my dad brought TONS of goodies with him, and we are sooooo glad for all the clothes, movies, candies and other goodies....however, we weren't smart enough to save anything for Christmas morning!!! Needless to say, we were so glad to have a few gifts to open on Christmas morning. I got a cool little Paris trivia game. After testing myself a few times, I found that I only knew about 50% of the answers, so I had better get studying! I also got a really cool book of aerial shots of Paris. There are so many beautiful places in Paris, but this book captures them from above, which is really cool.



Dan got a 'Dick's' t-shirt from his dad....CLASSIC! Dick's is a famous drive in burger restaurant in Seattle. Dan and his dad both love this place, I don't know why...well, they do have good milk shakes! Dan and I play the game "What will you eat first when we get back to America/Nashville/Seattle". It's a popular game around here. Anyways, Dan always says "Dick's on the way to Thai Toms" (our favorite Thai place in the U District). He also got other goodies, including 2 books:)

This is our Christmas gift from our gardener. He made this beautiful flower wreath from the flowers we have here on campus. Since the rainy season has come, the most colorful flowers have been blooming all over campus. It is so beautiful!




After opening gifts, we made a big breakfast, complete with sausage (it's expensive, so we don't eat it often)! We brought it over to the Stom's and had Christmas breakfast with them. After breakfast, I took a nap and then Dan and I played cards. It was a quiet day, but relaxing and not quite as emotional as the day before had been. Some people say it must be my pregnancy hormones that are making me so sad, and I'm sure it comes into play. I always forget that I am going through this HUGE hormonal change (not to mention, physical change) and just figure that I am emotional.

Anyways, we made our mashed potatoes for the Christmas dinner potluck at the Chinchen's house. It was good to have a big feast, and of course to be with a bunch of people. We then tried to call family from our neighbors house (we don't have internet right now). I was able to talk to my mom, my sister Sarah, and my brothers Jesse and Joel until the internet went out and we got disconnected. I was glad to hear their voices, though and at least to be able to wish them a Merry Christmas. Dan was sad not to be able to talk to his family, but that's Malawi. You never know how long you will have anything around here (water, electricity, internet, etc.)

We topped off the night at Bob and Amy's house, watching a movie with some of the people on campus. As you can tell, movies are really popular around here, as there isn't much else to do:) Now, it is Wednesday, the day after Christmas. I am looking forward to having more time off from school, and getting things done. Dan and I hope to pick out a color for the "baby" room this week or next week. I also hope to get some curtains made, as well as have a chair cover made for this old retro rocking lazy boy chair that is randomly in our house. We figure it will work for a rocking chair, but just needs a little tlc. Hopefully, fabric won't be too expensive:)

Well, here is one more picture to end this blog entry. I am now at 18 weeks, and doing well (besides the continued back pain). Please keep praying for littlest to grow healthy and to make it to full term. As well, pray that the Lord will provide 'cheap' tickets for our travels home. We will continue to look into booking flights next week, so please be praying for that.

*please disregard our smudgy dirty mirror:)