Goodbye 2009

Happy new year!

A friend from the ship made a slildeshow of pictures from our year in Benin which we hope you will enjoy. It's certainly been a very different year for us. We are enjoying a break with family and catching up with friends but are excited too that we will return to West Africa before too long and continue to be part of the work of Mercy Ships as we serve the people of Togo.

We Must Go--Benin 2009 (created by Marcin Bielan)

by HMN80

Happy Christmas!

Miss Amy thought all Brits say 'Happy Christmas' and never 'Merry Christmas'. Unfortunately it wasn't me that broke it to her that it is not strictly speaking true- it was all  the big merry Christmas signs in Tesco. either way we hope that our friends are all having a lovely day wherever they are.

This Christmas we have learnt that Away in a Manger has a different tune on the other side of the world, that there are no candy canes to be found in the local area much to Toms disappointment and that it is possible for someone in their twenties to have never tried a mince pie before.

We are enjoying celebrating Christmas, spending time with family and friends, eating food we have missed this year and driving on the left side of the road. But we remember the reason for the season, the One who without which we would not have Christmas, and give him thanks.

finally

We are docked in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and are so happy to be here. It is so nice to finally stop rocking about, we are putting our cabin back together, which is no small task! Then we wait for the country briefing and to clear customs and then you won't see us for dust, be will be at the park - finally a park just up the road - we are very excited :-)

It is amazing to come back, to see the man playing the trumpet there on the dock to welcome us, just as he did when we left. To know that we have come full circle, that we have completed a whole outreach with the ship, that we have survived our first year. We can look back and see all the God has done in Benin and in us during the last year and are amazed.

The Bethlehem Express...

...was the school play last night, which would have blown you away, had you been here braving the big swells with us. The children have spent the last week singing, acting, dancing, producing sets, costumes and publicity. They should be so proud of themselves, it was fantastic, properly FANTASTIC. Having a school with all ages does provide a nice mix of the small and cute with the bigger and talented making an all round brilliant performance. The play was loosely based on the film the Polar Express, but the children on this train rode to Bethlehem to discover about Christmas, ending at the nativity. All the bigger children started on the train in their pyjamas and then did a bit of dancing. Tom got off the train at an earlier stop to be able to go and change into his Kings outfit. We were really proud of him, he had about as much rhythm as either of us would have had trying to dance, but gave it a good shot! Josh had never been totally convinced about the idea of being a sheep, preferring the idea of being a lion or helicopter in practices. He wasn't any more convinced in the actual performance having been trying to fall asleep on my lap while watching the start of the play, and continued his stance of 'i don't want to be a sheep' throughout. I think he really wanted to be big Josh as the conducter, he keeps standing on the sofa shouting 'all aboard'! Kind of funny that after the 'i don't want to be a sheep, i dont want to be a sheep' last night,  today it was all 'i want to be a shepherd, i want to be a shepherd'.

Tom dancing in his pj's

the hot chocolate song

Ok so most of my pics were blurred, so if I get any good ones I'll add them, dancing children on a moving ship is not the best combination for crisp photography, at least not with my camera!

Christmas themed dress up day

You might have to bear in mind that we had been awake most of the night, moving our bookcases at 3am and all sorts. A post similar to how I am feeling can be found at

http://alirae.net/blog/archives/334-are-we-there-yet.html

We didn't let the boys up until 7.30 (school at 7.55!) and then temporarily failed to remember it was dress up day. Tom almost went in his dinosaur t shirt. Anyway. Here's some pics...

Our little shepherds

Tom the Shepherd, Libby the angel and Megan the reindeer with Miss Estelle

Miss Amy and most of grade 3