God Is With Us

Merry Christmas
"Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel," which means, "God is with us." 
Matthew 1:23
It amazes me to think that the God of the universe chose to enter the world as a helpless, dependent baby.  God could have come as a fully grown adult, or even another type of being, but God chose to come and be one of us, to be God With Us.  What kind of a God does that?  Our God!  Enjoy our God this Christmas!

 I plan to spend this Christmas in London with a wonderful friend from home - Kaila! Kaila moved to London last month to work with Greater Europe Mission and More than Gold. Check out her blog here.  I'm really grateful for this huge blessing of being able to spend Christmas with a dear friend :)  I'll be in London from the 22nd to the 27th, and then it will be back to work. 

 By the way, these pictures are from the Mentoring Clinic that I was a part of from December 1-5th. They were incredibly full days - starting at 9 or 9:30 in the morning, and going till 9 or 9:30 in the evening.  There was a break in the afternoon, but we had homework to do then as well.  Here are some things I learned and some highlights from that time:
- Everyone can be a mentor!  We all have something that we can pass on to someone else.
- We need a variety of mentors in our lives.  One person can't fulfil all of our needs.

- The 'mock' mentoring session.  On the last day we had a chance to put our learning into practice.  We split into pairs and took turns mentoring each other in real life situations.  It was wonderful to see how practical the teaching was, and be able to use the tools they gave us.
- Our trainers!  They were really funny, but also able to teach.  I especially enjoyed hearing from Elke (pictured to the left).  For some time I've been on the lookout for female leaders who lead with competence and confidence, and she did that well! 

Switching gears... way back in September, we had an adventure week which was kindof an orientation to being back at Lifehope.  One day we had a photo scavenger hunt all around the Black Country and Birmingham.  The winner of this scavenger hunt could pick a prize.  My team, pictured to the right, after a long day of running around, finally won!  More than three months later, we picked our prize - dinner at Jamie Oliver's restaurant and a movie - Sherlock Holmes 2.  It was wonderful!

A few pictures of baking and decorating sugar cookies with some of the students and staff!  We got quite creative in our decorating - I made an American shaped cookie and did the American flag on it, and also the Canadian flag.  The one with the circle and black lines is the South Korean flag, and the red cross is the English flag.

Today it was so nice and sunny outside that I went for a walk to one of the parks nearby.  Solo walks in nature are always a treat for me, and it was especially nice that I could do it this late in the year!  I didn't even wear a winter coat!  Enjoy some pictures from the walk...

A little hard to read, but it says "Halesowen: Once Nail Making Capitol of England."  This used to be a very industrial area, thus the name "Black Country." 

I realize when I post all of these pictures of 'fun' things, that it may look as if that's all I do...but I wanted to clarify that with the strict child protection laws in the UK, it is hard to get pictures of work with young people.  If they are under 16, you usually have to get permission from the parents.  Where it is possible, I'll try to show pictures of ministry.   Thanks for your understanding, and for your incredible support over the last months.  I truly appreciate it! 
Shalom,
Tami