Crooked

Last year, you broke into my parents' house. You dug through their overstuffed room of storage. You found their billion pound Christmas tree in the farthest corner of the overstuffed room. You dragged it out. Up the stairs. Around the corner. Onto the pink (salmon?!) carpet. And you pulled out the pieces one...by...one.

You proceeded to put up their Christmas tree because you knew they would not be able to, yet you somehow knew how important it was for them to come home to a place that felt like Christmas. You finished. The tree was crooked. You tried to fix it...to no avail.

My parents arrived home after two long weeks of crisis. My mom saw the tree. She cried. She could not figure out how the Christmas tree got up! She called me. "I know who it was, but I'm not telling. Ha ha." (Early 90s board game DreamPhone reference, anyone? Anyone?) Somehow, the erect Christmas tree alleviated a bit of the scariness, the unfamiliar, the loneliness of the season where nothing seemed "usual".

My mom saw that it was crooked. This was her favorite part about it. A perfectly crooked Christmas tree seemed fitting, given the season our family had just had. Their Thanksgiving and Christmas was unlike any other, but it turned out to be a beautiful season. Their traditions went awol, but it was a Christmas they will never forget.

The details continue and you already know most of them. The point of this story is that Christmas 2010 for Kelsey Keizer is going to be unlike any other. At times the Christmas season in Praha will feel sacry, unfamiliar, lonely.....anything but usual. How could it feel usual? The bigger point of the story is that there is a raw and pure beauty in crooked Christmas trees. And I pray that you will know and understand the crooked Christmas trees as they come to your door this holiday season.

May the lonely unfamiliar be overcome by a beautiful unfamiliar. May the lack of traditions entice you to create new ones. May your crooked Christmas trees be known to you as signs of the goodness and faithfulness of God. And may you always, always, always remember that Christmas is not in anything familiar, usual, traditional.....Christmas is Christ and Christ is with you in Praha.

Love from here to there and back again,

adrianne

Christmas Gift

I think I'm going to get you this for Christmas...

A Call to Anguish

KELSEY! A friend sent me this video a few weeks ago, and it rocked my world! I still find myself listening to it over and over. It's full of passion and calls us to action. Here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGMG_PVaJoI

In the season of Thanksgiving, I want you to be well aware that many people are extremely thankful for your friendship and your example of faith as you boldly proclaim the Gospel in Prague. Maybe you can teach some of your Czech friends about the traditions surrounding Thanksgiving--- can you find a big turkey to roast over there???

Love and prayers sent your way!
-Dayna

The Price of Wool in Transylvania

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1zZvpdPEJQ

My favorite scene thus far...

To live is Christ, to die is gain

Roses are red
Violets are blue
I'm angry at BBM
Because it delays by talking to you!

Have you seen the movie, End of the Spear? Great movie re-telling the story of Jim Elliot and his desire to reach out to this lost and dangerous indian tribe in Ecuador. With years of training, planning, studying, praying and searching, he finally got his chance to make contact with the tribe. Upon arriving Jim's son asked, "if they come to attack you, will you shoot back and defend yourself?" And Jim said, "no. I'm ready for heaven, they're not." Once Jim and his four men arrived to the shore of the tribe's village, within hours all of the men were speared and killed. Then, soon after their death, all of the wives and children of the killed fathers returned to the village to love on those people, proclaiming the gospel, and living out forgiveness and love, completely giving up their entire lives for the sake of the lost. Even Jim's son returned as an adult to live with the people, and live with the man that killed his father. One quote from Jim Elliot that really hits home and made me think of you and pray with even more eagerness for you is this - "he is no fool to give what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose."

Even though you're not in a country where any moment you could be speared and killed, the people around you are dying, lost, and with no hope. Robbie and I were both so broken yet refreshed after watching that movie and realized how often we make the gospel more difficult than it has to be, missing the big eternal picture of what it's really about. Continue to press on - abiding in Christ and delighting in the glory of God as you lay down your life for those around you - in the way you plan, understand the culture, intentionality, studying the word, praying, everything, and may you delight in God and endure in His grace.

Here's also a poem I wrote in class that kinda relates - its about the prostitute Gomer that God tells Hosea to marry - giving more of a reality of the need for Christ in our world.

Hosea

My oil here is low, very dim now
The linen turned to sandpaper between my thighs
feasting on a dwindled pocketbook;
stomach hollow, hunting for my lovers.
Endless chase, thornbushes blocking the path
of but a coat tail grazing the tip of my raw finger
in desperate reach. Come back. Where did they go?
Lewdness seeped through the hole in
my wool, attempting to conceal the
unfaithfulness between my breasts.
Allured in this desert
yet You speak tenderly to me.
Betrothed in righteousness and justice
You found me and clothed me.

LOVE YOU KK!! I'm thankful for your partnership in the gospel!

anna

Blog Hide and Go Seek

KK. Click on the blogs posted in May. There was one that was caught in the draft folder that I just reposted--so it's in the May postings. It is titled Memories From Warmer Weather.

Wady Bug

Rae was a Lady Bug for Halloween. The cutest little lady bug I've ever seen really. The next day, I asked her what she was for Halloween. She said, "A Wady bug!" Then when asked what you say when you go up to someone's door to get candy, she said after much deliberation, "Um, Um, Um, Umm. Please?"

Hilarious. And on any other day, Rae you are right on the money. :)