Symanzik Family Update

As this holiday time comes we will be celebrating with a tree ( a little live one, it will get bigger each year!!!)....... I brought our stockings over from the states and we will hang those up.
We've done our shopping in the noisy, crowded malls here.
Christmas in the Mall

Christmas in the Noisy Mall

But what our thoughts are continually drawn to is .....the love of our
Saviour Jesus Christ and his blessing of coming to earth to save
us........the peace that only he offers no matter where in the world we
are celebrating His birth....................the love of family and
friends, and how richly blessed we are.
May His peace be your gift for Christmas.

Peaceful sky at sunset

Merry Christmas from us!

I just thought I'd write and tell you that though our kids have their ups and downs with the move over here, overall they are doing very well. It is a blessing to me as a Mom to see how well they are adapting. Praise be to God for his mercies and grace.

Ben in HomeSchool Gym class with friends

Kirsten with Soy Yan and Joy, friends in her 3rd grade class

Mikayla with Danielle, Jean, and Rebekah after the Middle School Choir Concert - all friends in school

Kirsten enjoying fruit

Mikayla practicing clarinet

Ben with a coconut shell just broken open

Bugs? Yes, we have bugs. Little ants like to crawl around in the house though I have declared chemical warfare on them in my kitchen!
We do have a gecko or two in our home that are our friends. All buildings seem to have geckos in them and people just let them stay as they eat bugs. I think ours are doing a great job as the little ants in the bedrooms have lessened tremendously.
We took some pictures of a horned beetle and a snail we saw outside!
Thankfully I've only seen one cockroach so far and that was at the market, not in my house!!!!!

Snail

In the Filipino language, a Christmas lantern is called a parol. There's no greater symbol of the Filipino Christmas spirit than the parol. All through the Christmas season, star-shaped lanterns can be found hanging outside homes and along the streets of cities and small provincial towns, farms and fishing villages. Whatever the material or shape, the parol is a recognizable symbol to all Filipinos and represents the star of Bethlehem that guided the Three Wise Men to the manger of the newly-born Jesus Christ.

The parol is a main component in the Filipino celebration of Christmas, which has become a Festival of Lights. The festivities cover the months ending with "BER" which are September, October, November and of course December. Christmas music can be heard sporadically in the beginning of September, and one could feel an increasing sense of the coming of Christmas as more and more Christmas songs are blared in the mall, played on the radio, and as more homes, businesses, streets and parks become brightly lit with wonderful colors. The malls and department stores are the first ones to decorate, and showcase their mangers and beautiful parols.

Christmas in the Mall

Sitting at the kitchen table last night I felt my chair and the floor swaying a bit for a minute or so. Kurt was out jogging so he didn't notice it as he ran. It was pretty mild but what a weird feeling to be 'sitting still' but moving. And it reminded me of the verse Psalm 46:2-4 " Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells."