MERRY CHRISTMAS TO OUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY AROUND THE WORLD!
We trust that you had a merry and happy Christmas this year and pray for wonderful new year for you that will bring forth testimonies of God's love, goodness and faithfulness, and promises fulfilled.
Christmas is a beautiful time to be in Madagascar! It's hot and rainy, and full of children and an abundance of JOY! So many people around the world made Christmas extra special for our children in our Iris family, including a surprise visit from the United States Marines, new outfits for all of our children, including dresses and futbol uniforms, and special toys hand picked for every child! Christmas morning was full of worship, dances and skits, laughter and tears of joy. They are the loves of our lives, and we overflow seeing them full of joy. We are so thankful!
Not only do we get to celebrate with our own family of 118 children, but with hundreds of other children in our community, in the rubbish dump, and many of the poorest of the poor throughout our city of Antananarivo. We prepared "Bags of Love" full of pasta, candles, matches, and soap for over 300 hundred families living in the Rubbish Dump in our community. Every family on our Iris Kids in the Community Program received, on top of two weeks worth of rice and lentils, gifts of oil, cheese and condensed milk. Our mamas on milk program received new bottles full of Christmas sweets. And we were able to give individual gifts to hundreds and hundreds of children, many of whom would never receive another gift, have never owned anything new, or have never had a real toy to play with.
We love to give to those whom God loves. And we love to do family, worship, and celebrate Jesus with hundreds and hundreds of His children in our community.
It is such a joy to give to those whom God loves and holds dear to His heart. And we are so thankful to everyone around the world who made an amazing Christmas possible for our family, and the many other children and families we work with. We saw so many faces light up with joy as they received gifts and felt special and loved. And mostly we are thankful for our Savior, Jesus, who came down, to lay down His life in love for us. What incredible love, that we now get to give away.
THE GREATEST GIFTS
Our most precious possession is found in Him alone, but we rejoice when God gives us gifts, and to us, the greatest gifts we receive are our children. In them, God blesses us extravagantly and abundantly.
Last year, just two days before Christmas, we received a perfect little girl named Narovana. Her mother died giving birth and she came to us at just five days old. We were so happy to be able to bring her into our family, and now to see the happy, healthy, and beautiful little one year old she is! We can't imagine our family without her! This year, we took in another incredible treasure from God. On Christmas day, as our children were opening their gifts, a woman showed up at our center with a baby that she had found abandoned on the side of the road. After going to the police, we found out that this sweet little boy would come live with us in our Iris family. We don't know his name or his age (we think he may be year and a half) and we don't know what he's been through, but we do know that we already love him more than we can imagine. We have affectionately nicknamed him Toky for the time being, and are so happy that after his rough beginning, he is now home with our family, and gets to know what love looks like.
Our family is constantly growing and God is allowing us to love His most precious children. The other newest addition to our family is a little girl named Cassie. Cassie is one of the children supported on our Kids Community Program, and her family is very poor. Cassie is four years old and came to us weighing just 5.2 Kilograms (11.4 lbs). Her weight is so low it doesn't even read on our medical weight chart for children her age. Cassie and her wonderful mama are now living in Akany Laza, our house for the rehabilitation of malnourished children with two of our missionaries, where she will get good food, love, and medical care, while her mother learns to properly care for her. Cassie has a long road ahead of her, but we are so happy and excited to be a part of her journey. She has already gained almost 1.5 Kilograms, and we are excited to continue to watch her grow!
​Looking back on this year we cannot help but overflow with thankfulness at all the God has done in our family. The way He has rescued and healed our children, He has grown our family, and His grace and goodness through every season.
We are also endlessly grateful to everyone who has covered us with prayer and poured out love and gifts and support for our Iris Madagascar family.
We hope this new year fills you with more joy in Jesus than you thought possible!