A Different Christmas

I could not sleep last night which is not an unusual situation for me so I read my Bible and kind of reflected back on this year's Christmas season. It really was kind of a different Christmas from past years. First Tim has a new job as a Corrections Officer so works shift work and he was on the all nighter over Christmas so we had to work around that. Jennifer was home from Ottawa and this year thankfully her flights to and from were uneventful compared to the previous year where we had to drive all evening to Calgary and back all night to get her on a midnight flight to Ottawa as WestJet could not take off out of Saskatoon due to the extreme cold. Then ofcouse we kind of missed the Christmas season with Louise's mom.
She arrived from Winnipeg and got off the plane and you could tell she was very sick.
The next morning she was taken to hospital where she remained for about ten days.
So it was lots of hospital visits and this year Louise and I passed on a New Year's party so we could stay at the hospital New Year's eve and not leave Grandma alone.
Then I had to pick up Jennifer from her New Year's celebration at 12:30am and then wake her up about 4:30am to get a 6:15am flight back to Ottawa. I am so glad that when this semester ends she will return to Saskatoon to work as a lawyer for a firm here.
Even though we missed the "having Christmas" part with Grandma Lepp there is one part I do not regret. Every night Louise and I have had devotions reading to her from Our Daily Bread. Then I have held her hand and prayed for her health, healing and safe return to her home in Kelowna. It has been such a priviledge to pray with her knowing the strong prayer warrior she is and how she prays faithfully for each and every member of her family. Just having those memories to cherish has made this "different Christmas" really meaningful for me. After all Jesus came to serve and it has been a honor to serve Mom in even such a small way.




We opened presents at Tim's house with Jenn, Tim and Karla after
he had finished his all night shift. Diego was interested in each and every present and when he finally figured out there was nothing there for him, he took a
nap. He did get a present later that day and now has to many toys lying around the house.