4 Sleeps Until Christmas

Morning!

So here in Africa, when someone is counting down to a certain day, they count it in 'sleeps' - number of time they sleep until that day. So just four sleeps until Christmas! Wow, so unbelievable it is so close! I think we have a few things still to do to get ready, but honestly I don't even know! Everything is so different here this year, I don't know what we need to do to prepare. I am just so looking forward to how we will celebrate Christmas with our community here. And then, to top it all off, when my parents arrive at the end of the week, we will also celebrate Christmas with them for another full day, and make sure to pack in all our American traditions. Best of both worlds :)

We had a great weekend full of many things going on. We were able to see many friends and enjoy the beautiful Cape Town weather. Kieren has a bad cold so she is a bit fussy here and there, but only normal kid stuff. What makes her most happy these days is to play with soccer balls - both big normal size ones and small 'bouncy ball' soccer balls that I got Casey for his birthday. She loves to chase them around the house - cute!

A prayer request. I have a friend in my HIV support group named Patricia who came to me on Sunday morning at church. It was her first visit and afterwards she came and gave me a hug and immediately started crying. We walked outside to talk and she said her husband had strangled her earlier in the morning and was being very violent. She threw him out of her house but has no idea how she will pay for food for her two kids, as she doesn't work except part-time in a 'creche' or preschool. It totally broke me and I am thinking about her constantly. I invited her over today to make Christmas cookies with me (as thanks to the Sasser family we have a whole Christmas cookie kit straight from America - yeah!!). It seemed so trite though, hey come make cookies even though your husband is beating you.... So the prayer request is two-fold. One, please pray for my friend as she is trying to figure out what to do next in her life, and so scared and overwhelmed. Second, domestic violence is something that I hear about ALL the time from people who I council and work with, and my heart is really drawn to help these people. I don't know what God has ahead, but I would really like to do something. I am thinking maybe I can start some support groups for these women to help them work through their stuff and not feel alone. I am working with an NGO that I met at the UCT conference, and the group is called 'Sisters For Sisters' and they have support groups for abused woman in other areas of Cape Town. So yeah, I don't even know, but I am so stirred by this problem and just feel like God may be leading me somewhere....

Many blessings for your week and may the sleeps come and go quickly so we can celebrate Christmas!

Love,
Sarah