Schroeder Family Christmas

One of the highlights of Christmas is making it to Chicago for The Schroeder Family Christmas gathering.  With there being 15 children in the family not everyone can make our Family Christmas event but most of the family does make it to this special event.    For many years now Bob and Laura have been hosting this at their house.  They are so hospitable.  We enjoy a great meal together with so many delicious desserts.  We spend a lot of time connecting with everyone, singing Christmas carols together, enjoying special musical selections from nieces or nephews, and the adult cousins do a grab bag together.  Someone got a selfie stick this year and that was a lot of fun especially to watch my father and mother taking a selfie with it.  We are so thankful for families that know the Lord.  As we connect with each other and share what is going on in our lives, we know that we will be praying for each other and cheering each other on.  

Family Photo Shoot

It was a real joy that we had Zachary & Elisha and Ruth and Glenn come home for Christmas this year.  Although it did not look like we would all actually be together at the same time.  Thanks to Glenn and Ruth and the fact that they drove all night to get here, we were together as a family for an afternoon and part of the evening before Zachary and Elisha had to head out. With our family getting more and more spread out it is always a joy to have everyone together.  It had been three years since we were all together at Christmas and it will probably be a few years before it happens again.  Here are some of our family pictures in which we captured our time together.

Emanate Graduating Class of 2015

Tonight we have the privilege of cheering on our third semester students as they graduate.  Wow, those eighteen months went by way too quickly.  It has been a pure joy to have these dear people here.  They have a love for the Lord and a heart to serve Him.   We are so excited for everything God has in store for them and their children.  Please be praying for these families as there will be many changes and transitions ahead of them.  They will be busy raising support, doing needed paper work, getting immunizations, and many more things in order to make their big move overseas.  We know as they continue to walk with the Lord they will be such a blessing.  Congratulations to our 2015 graduating class!  We are proud of you and will miss you, but can't wait to see where God leads you.  Keep pressing on and touching lives for eternity!

I Give You Good Price!

Yesterday afternoon we had our open market experience for our 3rd semester families.    For anyone who has been in a third world country often times there are some interesting smells in a open market.  Due to the heat and the different types of meats and fishes that are often sold in open markets we thought this year we would add the smell aspect to the open market experience.  Vern had no problem coming up with some interesting smells.  He opened up his stinky smoked fish that has been soaking in a vinegar, hot pepper and garlic mix and then he opened his VERY aged kimchi.  We also had some music blaring like you might also find in an open market setting.  Vern and Brenda helped out again as our vendors.  Vern was speaking Spanish and Brenda was speaking Indonesian.  Each child received some money.  They were able to go to the vendors and try to buy something.  It was an interesting experience for the children since every time they tried to talk to one of the vendors in English, the vendors would speak to them in a language that the children did not understand.  Like many open markets our vendors tried to interest the children in buying things that the children did not want to buy.  It was a fun experience for the children in learning about open markets and gave them a small snap shot of what it will be like for them when they move overseas and can not speak the national language.

We Care

Since our MK (Missionary Kid) Care and Education Department has been in existence here in Canada, I have had the privilege of spearheading sending Care Packages to our college age M.K.'s whose parents are still working overseas. The holidays are especially difficult for our college age M.K.'s.   Because of the great distance and expense it is impossible for most of them to make it back home for Christmas.  (Three of our college M.K.'s will be celebrating their first Christmas without their parents.)  These care packages are made possible through the very gracious gifts from our staff and students.  This year it was a joy to be able to package up and send out seven care packages and three cards with gift cards to 10 different MK's.  We want our MK's to know that they are important to us and we value them greatly.   If you are around any college age MK's this Christmas, take them out for coffee, give them a gift card, or invite them over to your house for Christmas dinner.  Let them know that they are not forgotten!

The Hanover Christmas Parade

Although I have gone to a few Christmas parades in the area while we have lived in Ontario, I haven't gone to one for a number of years.  I am a cold blooded person and it takes almost no time before my toes and fingers get REALLY cold.  However, I decided to brave the cold to go watch the evening Christmas parade in the next town over from us.  I layered up and wore two pairs of sock, one pair was my special Kodiak Heat Plus socks, and I had my ski gloves on.  We went to the parade with Seth, Camille, Jeremiah, and Aubrey.  Seth brought some hot chocolate which I thoroughly enjoyed.  It was a lot of fun watching the parade especially with Jeremiah as he loved the lights, big trucks, and horses.  I was glad I went but I have to say I did come home with very cold fingers and toes.  Vern made me a hot cup of tea, I  put on my thick, fluffy, pjs and sat with a heating pad on and a nice warm blanket to try to warm up.

The Beginning of the End

This morning we enjoyed a brunch with our graduating class.  It is hard to believe that the 1 1/2 years they have been here in the training is soon coming to an end.  This is the last seven days in the semester with our graduation on Thursday evening with classes being officially over Friday at noon, and many of our students will be taking off on Saturday.  It was nice to have a more relaxed time with the students as the next couple of days will be getting very busy.  How thankful we are for each of our students and the joy it has been to have them here.  Please be praying for both the students and us staff for us to finish strong.