Joyous Christmas! Joyous because we celebrate the birthday of our King, Jesus the Christ. May He get lots of presents on His birthday!

Sometimes it is easy to forget Jesus is not an absentee King. Just because we cannot see Him as the disciples did, in a visible body like ours, doesn’t mean He isn’t here. He is very much Present with us who have put all our trust in Him to deliver us from our sins and promised us eternal life. He is busy at work in our world and calls us to join Him. What an unspeakable privilege!

There is so much work we do just to live in this world which must be done over and over again, yet will not last past this world. And now in the midst of that tedious yet necessary work, Jesus calls us and commands us to be about His work which will last through all eternity! Climb on board! (If you’ve been here on a mission trip with Mustard Seeds and Mountains you’ve probably heard Randy’s train parable. It is true!)

Being involved in people’s lives can be, and usually is, “messy”, as one of our former interns sagely observed. I am learning to keep my eyes on Jesus, as the scripture plainly says to do, so that my Perspective will be continually corrected to see as God sees things, and not get caught up in emotion and the ideas that abundantly propagate from people in the world, or even well meaning followers of Jesus, all around me. God alone knows best. In the heat of battle I must look to my Commander for my directives, not the enemy or even my fellowmen. I am so thankful for God’s Word! I am so grateful for His Spirit Who guides and teaches.

This past month has been full yet not overfull. There is always more to do than I have time for each day, yet God gives us only so many hours each day and energy to go with those hours so no sense fretting over that unfinished to-do list! The hours allotted are not going to change, so our expectations of what we can accomplish have to! Life is more enjoyable and we are easier to live with, too.

Randy and I are now preparing to travel to PA for a Christmas family reunion, although 2 of my brothers will be absent. It has been a few years since my siblings and Mom have been together. Though our own children and grandchildren will be in California, we have spent the last 2 Christmas’s with them and that has been a joy and a privilege.

Randy and I will be traveling again to CA in February for the next set of follow up appointments for me. I will be doing this every few months for the next several years. The upside of that travel and expense is we get to see our kids and grandkids when we go out. We will miss the birth of our next grandchild by 2 months this time, unfortunately, because he or she is due end of April. But Seth and Melissa and children are planning a trip back east this summer at which time they will be coming here for a visit. We are looking forward to having them all here, the first time in West Virginia for Caleb who is 3 years old!

Jaime, our newest grandson, is slowly showing improvement in his bout with colic and reflux. He and his parents will be very happy when he out grows this! We are so thankful for God’s mercy that everyone is otherwise healthy and faring well.

Randy has been working on the final edits of the book “Mission as Life”. He may be self publishing; we’ve been seeking the Lord’s guidance on this. Your prayers are appreciated as he moves through this process, choosing a publishing company and setting up meetings and conferences to promote the book. We see it as a tool to help parents build Kingdom vision in their families, to push forward God’s agenda in this world. In fact, if you are interested in having him come speak to your church or a group, once the book is in hand, please contact us!

Randy’s skin cancer surgery went quickly and well. He is healing up now. We pray this will be the end of this kind of thing. I haven’t had another incident of legs going useless. I had an MRI which, though I haven’t seen the doctor for an official read of the results, her office indicated it must be normal or the doctor would have called me. So life goes on as usual. I am so thankful Randy and I have been healthy this year, no colds or sickness.

I have been remaining strong as I cut back slowly on the…do you really want to know the name of the drug??? The generic for CellCept is Mycophenolate Mofetil. Yessiree! And I’ve heard it murdered more than once in the pronunciation! Can’t blame them! Anyway, this drug is a strong suppressor of the immune system, given to recipients of donor organs. But almost from the beginning of the time I started taking it, several years ago, I’ve prayed I could one day come off it. Isn’t God good. (That is a statement, not a question!)

Let’s worship this Good God with the gift He most desires, our living sacrifice of ourselves to Him. He is Worthy.

Jacque