Jingle Mingle Follow-Up

TO THOSE WHO TOOK THE TIME,

The men and women in my unit cannot begin to thank you enough for the wonderful care packages that you sent. The time and effort it must have taken to organize, coordinate, distribute and pay for the packages must have been great. We really appreciate you thinking of us during the holiday season, when we are sure there was so much more to do in your own families to get ready.

Although we are separated from our families during this time of year, it is nice to get little reminders of things back home. I wish you could have seen the smiles on everyone's faces as box after box came in with what we call, "Licky's and Chewy's". People were digging through the boxes to find out if there was something that they just could not wait to have. No one walked away disappointed and everyone walked away with a better outlook if only for the few minutes when they were pounding their favorite treat.

Receiving boxes or letters always cheers people up. In this world of phone calls and emails, nothing compares to receiving something in the mail. Thank you again for your time and effort.

MAJ Joel Blaschke

What is the Meaning of Life?

Have you ever wondered what the meaning of life is? What comes to mind when you first hear the question? I have been pondering this question for a week now. I have three different answers, I mean what context are we talking about. I think of a newborn child as a precious life given from
God. I think of my earthly life as I have fun hanging out with my family and friends. Then there is my everlasting life with my father in heaven.

What has caused me to wonder about life is Mary. My niece isa caretaker for Mary who is 33. Mary was born with cerebral palsy and a cleft pallet. She is completely blind, with exception of seeing shadows. She is also completely deaf. She was not expected to live beyond 2 weeks. She is fed threw a tube for nourishment and also is fed soft food snacks. She sleeps on a bed that vibrates to the sound of music. She can hug you pull you close and also pushes you away. Her mother comes by daily to spend an hour with her - hugging her. Her father visits regularly - He talks to her and does both sides of the conversation. to some extent because she randomly laughs out loud and also cries. However she is unable to communicate her needs.

When I think about Mary and the meaning of life with respect to Mary and being a precious gift of life from God, I wonder if I would think so If I was her mother. I know many people have had children with Downs Syndrome or something else and have found them to be more precious gifts than those born completely healthy. I just wonder if I had a child who could not communicate with me, see the look of love in my eye, or hear me tell them I love them, if I had a child who was bed ridden for there entire life, would I see him/her as that precious gift of life

When I think about Mary with respect to our earthy life, I can honestly say, I would not want to live that way. I feel this way because I know a different life. I so much enjoy my time with family and friends. I can not imaging what life would be like if I could not go visit a friend, see a friend, speak to a friend. I know Mary knows no other life, so fortunately she does know what she is missing. I wonder if Mary is fulfilled in her life. I find it hard to imagine.

The bible teaches us that Life is the everlasting with God in heaven. Accepting Jesus Christ as our personal savior and having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is what gives us everlasting life. I wonder does Mary know Jesus Christ? How do you tell Mary about Jesus? How can she accept him as her Lord and savior? I want to think that somehow some way Jesus has talked to her and when she laughs, she is laughing with Jesus and when she cries, she cries for him. Maybe she is the lucky one, maybe she has always been able to have a personal relationship with
Jesus Christ, maybe for Mary it comes easy because she does not have so many other distractions.

I don't know the answer. I just know Mary has brought a lot of questions.

A Christmas Carol (not by Dickens)

Christmas is usually one of my favorite times of the year. I love the decorations, the cookies, the movies, the shopping, the cookies, the gifts, the music, the cookies, and, of course, the reason for it all – celebrating the birth of Jesus. As I’ve gotten older, the childlike wonder and excitement has faded a bit each year, but I’ve still always loved the season… until this year.

I have to be honest, this year I’ve had a lot of trouble getting into the Christmas spirit. Rather than giving into the joy of the holiday, I’ve been overrun by the stress of life. My job’s not been going well; my truck committed a gruesome suicide on the side of the road and cost a lot of money to repair; I have family and friends with serious health issues; I lost a check I really needed to deposit; my cat keeps clawing my furniture and playing in the toilet… even the little stuff - like thinking I had one more ice cream sandwich only to discover the box was empty – makes me feel like kicking my Christmas tree.

Am I alone in this problem? What’s the cure? I wish there was a quick fix, a pill for instant attitude adjustment. Of course, even if there was one it’d probably have horrendous side effects like nausea, insomnia, bleeding ulcers, toes falling off, and purple skin. And you wouldn’t be able to operate heavy machinery.

I’ll tell you the one thing that’s helped me the most this season: music. Christmas music, to be exact. I loooove Christmas songs (note the extras “o”s in “love” – that tells you it’s an extreme devotion). Every year I start playing them November 1st. I know I’m supposed to wait until December, but I can’t; they’re just too good to only hear them for one month. Anywho, when I’m feeling grumpy, my Christmas Ipod list is my go-to plan. I love the old traditional carols, the new contemporary Christian songs, the fun secular ditties… all of it. It’s very hard to stay grumpy when belting out words like

Joy to the World, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her king… Joy to the World, the Savior reigns… no more let sins and sorrows grow...

Just hear those bells jingling, ring-ting-tingling too, come on it’s lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you… giddy up, giddy up, giddy up, let’s go, let’s look at the show, we’re riding in a wonderland of snow...

Hark now hear the angels sing, a king was born today, and man will live forevermore because of Christmas day...

Pa-rum-pum-pum-pum...

Long lay the world in sin and error pining till He appeared and the soul felt its worth… fall on your knees, oh hear the angels’ voices, oh night divine, oh night when Christ was born

I’m dreaming of a white Christmas, just like the ones I used to know...

Can’t you hear them bells ringin’ ringin’, joy to all, hear them singin’, when it’s snowing I’ll be going back to my country home...

And still he calls through the night... a voice of peace to weary ones who struggle with the human soul.. the years they come and the years they go, though we may forget somehow, that the child once born in Bethlehem is still among us now... Emmanuel, God with us, Emmanuel, the Son of Israel...

I could go on and on; you should see me now, singing in front of my computer, trying to type correctly while dancing in my chair.

This year, more than any other year, I’ve been really trying to pay attention to the words of Christmas songs – almost every single one of them talks about hope, family, joy, love, peace… and the majority of them attribute those things to the birth of Jesus. The fact that so many people, both believers and nonbelievers, sing these songs all season long is a true Christmas miracle, in my opinion.

Every day this month (with one or two exceptions), I’ve posted one of my favorite Christmas songs to Facebook. I don’t even think most people noticed it, but I’ve had so much fun picking out which songs to do, going through the lyrics to find just the right one. It’s been the highlight of my day each day. And it brings me back to the joy of the season.

And you know what? Just by writing this blog, talking about Christmas songs and such, I already feel more Christmasy. So I’ve got a question for y’all? What’s your favorite Christmas song? That’s not an easy question, actually – I’ve been posting my favorites for 23 days now and it’s hard to pick just one (kind of like eating potato chips).

(And yes, I used the word “dittie” in this post. I couldn’t help it; I couldn’t think of another synonym for “song.”)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Steam escaped through the banana leaves from the ground - red hot rocks are rotated on the leaves by women wearing grass skirts, swishing as they walked, nets hanging from their heads and down their backs, babies crying from within. Men, wearing only a gourd, had killed a pig with spears then dug a hole lining it with hot rocks and leaves putting the whole boar into the earth 24 hours before.

Christmas in 1972 was in Bokindini, Irian Jaya, now the province of Papua, an island of Indonesia where primitive people still existed. A pig feast was created in our honor - the pilot's family, with three tow-headed girls straight from South Dakota. We recoiled from the large lump of pig fat that we were presented with by the Danis'. To them it was the highest honor (the area right around the tail!) instead we gravitated towards the steamed sweet potatoes thankful for something we recognized. I salivate now as I think of that wonderful aroma of tropical greens and fresh steamed pork.

For Christmas mom had gone to the 50 gallon barrel and pulled out presents she had bought months before in the States, carefully rationing them for the four years until we were to return on furlough. Wrapping paper was used carefully - presents were opened at the tape as we reused it year after year. My grandma didn’t really support my parents vision of taking her grandchildren half way around the world to serve as a missionary pilot/family so she made certain that in the crate we were allowed to bring from the states held an artificial Christmas tree in it! Every year for 12 years we made a tradition of putting that tree up while pretending the rain on our roof was snow. On Christmas day we would pull the drapes so we couldn't see the tropical flowers and happily sang Christmas carols around the beautiful tree that we had decorated. One year a generous donor air dropped turkeys to all the missionaries on the island; what a wonderful treat….outside the palm trees swayed and the temperature rose above 100 degrees.

(yep thats me in those attractive black frame glasses!!)

Denise Stuessi-King

Christmas Eve At The Truck Stop

It was late and we were tired and heading out 66 in the dark was the last thing we wanted to do, but it was Christmas Eve and my parents were expecting us. We looked forward to the family time, but the three hours getting there was a bit of a drag, especially since I was pregnant with our first child and had to stop frequently for obvious reasons.

Leaning over to be closer to John in the front seat, I glanced at the dashboard and noticed the temperature light was in the hot range. What to do? We were in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night. We drove on looking for an exit that might be helpful...all the time keeping our eyes on the ever rising gauge. The bright lights of Toms Brook truck stop came into view and with a huge sigh of relief, we pulled over and found our way to some men who were hanging around near an open garage bay.

In my mind I was thinking..."We have no money and no way to get any. How will we pay these men anything, even if they CAN help us?" Things were different then. There were no debit cards, no cash machines nearby. Cell phones were non existent, so calling for help was not a viable option. To make matters worse, our new friends weren't repairmen at all, but were the guys who helped replace tires on the big rigs. But, at this point, they were our only hope.

Up went the hood and men began peering and poking, harrumphing and sighing. I sat in the car all pregnant and lumpy, trying to be invisible. They cranked on this gadget and that, and eventually arrived at a solution that, while not perfect, would get us back on the road home. All I could think about was not having any money to pay them.

We thanked and thanked them and offered to send them a check when we got home, but they absolutely would not take anything for their work. I couldn't believe their generosity but it reminded me that good, kind people are out there and will do what they can for others. It's been 21 years and I have not forgotten these Christmas angels or their kindness.

Christmas Eve at the truck stop turned out to be a beautiful thing.

Christmas Angels

"Mr. Mason! Mr. Mason! Stay with us...don't leave us! It's Christmas Eve and your family needs you!" My father was close to death at this point, having been brought into the emergency room with a possible heart attack. The staff at the hospital were frantically working over him, trying to save his life, calling out to him the whole time, trying to keep him alert and alive.

Dad would open his eyes every now and then and was so confused. He was seeing angels....bright white and silver angels...Heaven! He must be in Heaven! But these heavenly angels were not singing nor were they letting him find the rest he was longing for. They were yelling at him, sticking him with needles, and rest was not on the agenda. The emergency room staff had decided to brighten things up a bit since they had to work Christmas Eve and had chosen to dress up. Dad's hardworking nurses were angels, down to the tinsel circlets on their heads.

The Lord spared him that night, just for another 2 months, but we loved hearing how he looked up into the bright light and saw such wonderfully kind faces shining down on him. Angels there to comfort him and ease his fear and pain, and to reassure Him of God's great love for him. He told that story over and over for the next two months, and when he passed away in February, we knew he was seeing real angels this time.

Jingle Mingle

Friday night was the 1st Annual Jingle Mingle and we had a terrific time. Our goal was to pack cookies for our troops and those in our church who've had a tough time recently. We mailed out 6 boxes to our deployed men (totaling nearly 60 pounds) and 13+ platters of cookies were hand delivered over the weekend. God was glorified in the way the ladies of GLCC worked together to make the night a success! We managed to eat a bit and socialize too....good times and good friends make for a special night.

Thanks to Julie Davis for sharing her story of God's provision while Mike has been gone. I know my eyes weren't dry during her talk!

Thanks to Cindy Wayland for leading us in the "Jingle Mingle" icebreaker. Lots of fun and lots of laughs as we learned more about each other.

Megan and Adriana were great to share their thoughts on the new ministry for moms. We're so excited for January and what that new group will mean for our young moms!

Lisa Fowler, Cindy Wayland, and Jennifer Upmeyer were the force behind the event. Working with them is so very uplifting and yet can be a laugh a minute. Thanks Janda Sample for being the tech wizard keeping the music going as well as the computer. Your musical selection was quite varied...Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer...a real crowd favorite! June Leatherman, thanks for helping decorate! You have such good ideas:)

To the ladies who delivered the cookies to our GLCC friends, you did a very special thing. I know if I opened my door to see a friend bearing a tray of cookies, my day would be brighter. Thank you for taking your time to visit and share a smile.

Notice we called it the 1st Annual Jingle Mingle? There's a reason for that....mark your calendar for next year. You won't want to miss it!