Symanzik Family Update

Ben has a very tender heart to the things of God. He thinks often of heaven and what heaven will be like when we get there.

This morning he announced to me, "Mom, I want to die when I'm a kid so I can go to Heaven."
"Why is that, honey?" I asked.
"I want to play with cool toys and play with God!"
"That would be neat to play with God, wouldn't it!?"
"Yes."

A month ago Ben rededicated his life to Christ as his personal Lord and Saviour. He had accepted Jesus as his Lord and Saviour when he was three but didn't remember the event so he asked to pray again 'now that I'm 6 so I'll remember. I love Jesus so much.'

Since then he has been asking more and more questions about eternal life, how to love Jesus in this life, and what heaven will be like.

(I really enjoy our night time routine of reading the Bible, studying the catechism, and praying together. He is a sweet boy and I thank God for him. We have many good talks together at bedtime.)

Cheri Keagy's song "Heaven's On My Mind" has been playing through my head all day since this morning's conversation with Ben.....

"If you see the light
Inside my eyes
I can't contain this inner peace
It's welling up inside of me
If you knew Him then you'd agree
And love Him too
Just the way I do

So glad to know
I'm gonna see my God in heaven
So good to be assured of my home
And if you need to know
The reason why I shine
It's because heaven, heaven's on my mind
Heaven's on my mind ........."

3 John 1:4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

Matthew 19: 14 Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."

Christmas Day at our home was festive and fun.

The kids had stockings to open. We ate a breakfast of hard boiled eggs and cinnamon rolls.

Then we lit our advent wreath and sang some Christmas hymns.

The kids enjoyed opening gifts from family and friends.

Our good friend, Beth, had lunch with us. We had a stocking and gifts for her!

Here she is helping the kids put a castle together!

Then we went to church at 4 p.m. Mikayla and I have been practicing with our church choir to perform the Christmas Cantata "Peace On Earth." It was a lot of fun and culturally enlightening.

Mikayla was one of the banner dancers for the song "Eternal One."

The cantata performance started around 5:30.
Then our church had a Christmas dinner. Rice, fried chicken, roasted pig, and many other good foods were served.

We are very blessed. Words fail to express how thankful and humbled we are that God our Father has called us into full-time missionary service.....

O Come All Ye Faithful Joyful and triumphant,
......Hail! Lord, we greet Thee, Born this happy morning,

O Jesus! for evermore be Thy name adored.

Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing;

O come, let us adore Him

In the previous post I mentioned our neighbors had a pig tied up for their Christmas feast.

On Christmas Eve morning they hog tied and bled the pig to roast for their Christmas celebration.

We didn't go over to get close up shots as they would've felt obligated to share their pig with us. As evidenced by the pictures, they do not have a lot.

The people next to us are really nice. Most of the men are jeepney drivers and mechanics. Even though they are hard workers, the average take home pay per day for a jeepney driver is about 200 pesos (the equivalent of about $4.75 US).

Later that morning we took them all Christmas gifts of rice, toothbrushes, shampoo, coffee, and candy for the children.

Here in the Philippines the big Christmas celebrations usually start Christmas Eve at 10 p.m. with a big meal, party, a family reunion of sorts, and they welcome in the Christmas day at midnight.

Christmas day tends to be very quiet as most people are sleeping due to being up so late the night before.

Our neighbors behind us had games, a raffle, and dancing until 3:30 Christmas morning. The music was loud, the atmosphere fun!

Kurt and I were both surprised our kids slept through all the loud music. We, on the other hand, sat up in our sala for an hour or so drinking hot chocolate at 2 a.m., unable to sleep due to the noise!!!

Our neighbors next door have a pig tied up they bought from market for their Christmas feast.....

roosters crow......

Christmas music can be heard outside....

the sound of two-stroke tricabs is less today......

there seems to be a bit less street activity today.........

even though it is still noisy outside it still seems a bit quieter today -

a time to reflect on the love of God our Father for sending His only Son Jesus Christ into the world for us....to save us from our sins so that we can one day spend all eternity with Him!!!!

"O come, Let us adore Him!"

Ben loves to play pretend.

Recently he received 'Army pants' from one of his Aunts and an army vest from a friend here.

In Kindergarten they've been learning about King David. For years I've been praying over Ben that he will grow to be a man after God's own heart like King David; a strong warrior and a tender hearted man. Ben is showing signs of both as he grows and develops.

So it was fun to see him playing "Army" - as in commando and yet he was King David!!! (Really, he has a sucker in his mouth, not a cig!!!)