This is it!

I'm tired, I'm hot and I need a break. December is always a busy month, and particularly busy in the world of humanitarian aid work. Proposals are due. Reports are due. Staff leave the field. This year, we are implementing a new system and training new staff, so it seems especially tiring. Nothing seems easy. If you aren't fighting tooth and nail for funding, you are holding disciplinary panels for staff who are in breach of policies. Having only a few days left until I have a bit of a Christmas break, I can manage (thanks only to the peanut butter M&Ms received in the post - thanks Mom). But I have to say, I think I hit my breaking point when I opened my desk drawers this morning to find rat droppings! I discovered this when our cleaner was in my office. She gently said "A rat is living there." "In my drawer?" I non-gently said. Funny, I don't remember receiving rent. This could be what pushes me over.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Well, not so much in Sudan, but it IS beginning to feel like Christmas. I decided last Sunday was the official start of the Christmas season - clearly far after American Thanksgiving and on the eve of the start of advent. So, I decided to begin the celebrations by watching the classic - Christmas Vacation (love that movie!) and listening to my most favorite Christmas album in the history of Christmas albums - Alabama Christmas (it brings me back to so many childhood memories).

Living in Sudan for the second Christmas season, it made me realise how, at home, I easily lose focus on the meaning of Christmas. I get caught up in gift giving, sweater-wearing, fire-starting, hot chocolate-drinking Christmas activities. I love all the festivities - the Christmas parties, the decadent food, the TBS 24-hour marathon Christmas Story, the egg nog and Christmas lights. As I am sitting in my office with close to 100 degree temperatures, these things don't really apply and I'm forced to really go back to the meaning of Christmas and focus on Jesus' birth. Clearly, the birth of Jesus is fundamental to our religion and important in so many ways. However, what I often forget is the Christmas story's message of Faith. How faithful were Mary and Joseph? Will my faith ever be as strong as Mary's? When things go right or I feel that I can handle everything on my own, I am not too faithful. Often times, only in desperation do I listen for God. To be in Mary's shoes would have been both extraordinary and terrifying at the same time. I'm so thankful for her faith and her part in the Christmas story. As Christmas is upon us, my wish is for increased faith this season.