Beauty is definitely in the eyes of the beholder. For us, this beautiful, tall gas tank with its Christmasy green color is absolutely gorgeous.This week, we have been trying to find a gas tank for our stove. The stove in our kitchen only operates with gas, not electricity. The truck that was bringing the tanks from Port-au-Prince to Cap-Haitien broke down a couple of days ago and still hasn’t arrived. Thus, we were reduced to cooking our food on charcoal outside. Since we gave our house workers Friday-Monday off, I didn’t relish the idea of trying to cook on charcoal by myself for the first time. Thanks to some great friends who knew of our dilemma, this morning they sent their chauffeur to our home with this huge gas tank. Now, the stove’s all hooked up and the turkey that Agape Flights flew in for us at the last minute (Thanks, Agape!) can be cooked on Christmas day.

On top of that, some unexpected surprises came in on Agape today. A friend sent all kinds of sweets specially packed for us to enjoy over Christmas. Sunset Church of God (Tarboro, NC) sent us a big food box, and my sweet sister even sent us a check for Christmas. What a day!

Having said that, an otherwise dismal day turned into a spectacular one just because friends near and far were thinking of us. Our perspective of an uneventful Christmas has turned into a joyful one. Even though we always feel an ache in our hearts when we can’t be stateside to celebrate Christmas with all our children, thoughtful hearts such these sure help lift our spirits.   Tomorrow, we’ll be enjoying a pre-Christmas dinner with some dear missionary friends.  It’s so nice to be remembered  and all these blessings definitely put things into the right perspective!