Things are finally getting back to normal around here. We had a great Christmas. The kids drama went really great. The other years we have done a drama there has been sparse attendance, but this year the auditorium was filled. The kids loved it and the parents did too. We never just give the kids gifts. They are always based on faithfulness or as a prize for hard work. This year we didn't have a lot to spend on the kids and so we found stockings at a grocery store here for about $.45 a piece and we put all the kids' names on them with glitter glue. When you are not able to do a lot for each child, we have found that personalizing something takes the emphasis off of the fact that the toy was really cheap. We filled the stocking with a popcorn ball, some cookies and a small toy. Everyone loved them. We gave them out only to the kids who were faithful to the drama practices and Sunday School. We started out with 40, but the last practice was poorly attended so we ended up with 29 kids actually getting the stockings. Some of the kids that didn't get one were disappointed, but we just explained that God blesses when we are faithful to put the right things first.
Christmas eve we went over to Ernesto and Nelly's house (they work with us in Ojojona) to give them a Christmas basket. They had made fresh squeezed Orange juice and coffee for us. It was so good, but until then I didn't know that I had an intestinal parasite. I had been having slight stomach aches up to that point, but I had thought that it was just because of all the work that I had to do the past week and thought it would go away when I stopped running. Unfortunately, intestinal parasites thrive on someone that has eaten citrus. I went to bed Christmas eve feeling a little sick, but woke up Christmas morning feeling much worse. It was then that I realized what I had. Christmas day was spent with friends of ours at their house so all I had to do was make four pies that day. At 5:00 pm (when the pharmacies opened again) I was able to buy the medicine I needed and by bedtime was feeling much better. At least I can't say that my life is boring.
The kids' main gift this year was a swing set. They loved it (watch the video to see their reaction, but keep the sound low, the microphone on the camera works well). We had them open up their other presents first and then they did a treasure hunt and found the swing set put up in the front yard. We had closed all of the curtains (which are only sheers) hoping that they wouldn't see what we had put together during the night. Thankfully they didn't and they were greatly surprised. Jason's gift to me was a cell phone that also is a MP3 player. I have had the privilege to taking it back to the store twice. Once because the program to download songs didn't work and the next time because the memory chip was bad. Now that it is working, I love it. I spent many hours trying to figure it out and was beginning to think that he only bought me that phone to teach me patience. I wanted to throw it out the window many times :-). It is working great now and I love it.
Today I went in to get my eyes checked as I have been having slight headaches. I found out that I have a slight astigmatism and will need to wear glasses full time. Thankfully they are not very strong. I will get them tomorrow and then have to go through the process of getting used to wearing them again. Seven years ago I started wearing them for reading and watching TV and they corrected themselves so I discontinued using them, but now the doctor says that I will have to wear them all the time.
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