No...it's glory to God in the highest, Daddy

Our beloved friends, the Coursons, with Mom last night at the Christmas Eve party at our house. Frances is signing "Merry Christmas," but I caught her mid-sign. Frances and Kris work with the deaf.
Our friends Masha and Ira (short for Irina) with Mom last night. Momma was a busy girl.
My precious friend, Frances, and I give Momma a big smooch. I think Momma had a pretty good time. It was kind of loud, but she usually likes a big crowd.

All the paths of the LORD are lovingkindness and truth to those who keep His covenant and His testimonies. Psalm 25:10

While most of you who read this are just settling in to sleep for the evening, let me officially wish you a very Merry Christmas from Moscow. с рождеством из москве! We had about 20 people in the apartment last night for a Christmas Eve party, and we thought we might sleep in, but John-John is up already and wanting to wake the house, so this will be brief. As you may or may not know, my Daddy and nephew are here visiting for Christmas. I think they've had a pretty good time, and they've certainly gotten a good feel for Russia. It's always interesting to have someone come in from the States, because it gives us a chance to see our world through different eyes. When my sister came in February, her reaction (and rightly so) was to how hard our world is. We walk most places, even with access to the car, because of traffic. Everything is expensive. People are often what we would perceive as rude. My Daddy's reaction has been to how good our life here is. Our friends, our growing command of the language, our ability to do so much here...what a difference almost a year makes! Both are reacting to our reality as we see it, and since February, our reality has changed so much. We are out of full-time language (we'll never be out of language completely, no matter how long we live here), our kids are in school thanks to the generous donations of many kind people who love us, Marc has transitioned into his "real" job, which he adores, we have close friends...life has drastically changed for us. And not that we are paragons of keeping God's covenants and His testimonies as it says in the verse above, but I do believe that all of His paths for us are lovingkindness and mercy as we seek His face and His will for our lives. If you'd asked me a year ago, I would have been very doubtful about our ability to stay on the field, and I would have been right. In our own power, we could not have lasted here. In our own power, Teri's death alone would have knocked us off the field. But He is sovereign and merciful, and the longer we are here, the more I begin to have an inkling of how much He loves us. More than I can imagine. More than I can comprehend. Enough to wrap Himself in flesh and become one of us. It is the greatest story ever told. Last year, we didn't have a single Russian friend beyond our language teacher. This year, we have been inundated with Christmas wishes from Russian friends whom we love deeply. That isn't us. That's Him. He's at work. He is Emmanuel. He is God with us. I am so thankful.

Oh, the title of this entry. Last night, Marc was reading the Christmas story from The Message, and when he got to the part about the angels, John John jumped up and ran over to look at the Bible and said, "No, Daddy....it's glory to God in the highest. You're reading it wrong." I know I'm his Mommy, but you have to admit that's pretty cute. It was a good night. It was, for the most part, a room full of people far away from home, but happy to spend Christmas Eve with each other. Well, he's "quietly and nicely" waking up his sisters, so I'd better run. Wherever you are in the world, I pray that you recognize the many blessings of a loving Father who loved you enough to send His only son, and that everyone in your house is as excited about Christmas as everyone in my house. Blessings to you and yours--and Merry Christmas!

His,
Kellye

Everyone needs an Aunt Lee

Who can resist that smile? Not his Momma, I promise.

Yep...those are haystacks. Thanks to Cathy Matheney, who sent us two huge boxes full of Christmas goodies, including butterscotch chips!

Many Christians believe that we need to be strong if God is going to use our lives. The reality, however, is that we don't become strong enough for God to use. Instead, we must become weak enough. Steve McVey Grace Rules

It's been a rough week here at the Hooks' house. First our washer broke down, then I became really ill (I am finally on the mend, I think). Then we received word that Marc's Aunt Lee had passed away. This was, as you can imagine, very hard for Marc, who had been quite close to Lee growing up. Lee had received Christ as her Savior only the week before going into hospice care, so you can imagine that we were so relieved to know that she had taken care of the eternal before passing away.

I was not ever very close to Aunt Lee. She and I were very different people, and we really didn't totally understand one another. But I always appreciated the important role she played in making Marc into the man he has become. She taught him photography, took him to unbelievable places (she probably would think the Arctic circle in January sounded like fun!), and just generally doted on him. She went to everything he did--even church things, though she was definitely not a believer and definitely not interested in being a believer. She thought everything Marc did was wonderful. Every person should have someone in their life who thinks they are smart and talented and great...and Aunt Lee was that person for Marc. Those things that are sometimes hard for people to verbalize--like "Wow! That's the best video I ever saw!" or "Of course they want to hire you--you're unbelievably talented"--Aunt Lee always managed to put into words. She was never surprised by his success, because she recognized all of the good inside him. Those things that Marc (and every other person on the planet) needed to hear, she always said to him. What a gift to him, and what a blessing to those of us who are honored to have him in our lives. She was a unique person, gifted in encouragement. My guess is that if we were to talk to other people to whom she was close, they would probably say that she was always an encouragement to them, too.

Well, a little boy is asking to make his own toast this morning, so I must run. Wherever you are in the world, I pray that you have been blessed with an Aunt Lee, someone who is outspoken about their love for and belief in you, and that your son has memorized all of his lines for the Christmas play this afternoon. Blessings to you and yours!

His,
Kellye

Lessons I've learned about success

Anastasia smiles for the camera while everyone tries their first pumpkin pie (which I made totally from scratch and turned out to be pretty tasty).
Marc is explaining something to Anastasia, and she is obviously listening pretty intently.
Sergei is smiling at something Karoline said, while Leigha (sitting) waits to eat and Marina (looking at the camera) goes to get something to drink.
The table set for dinner. The tablecloth, napkins and plates were sent to us by my sister's Sunday School class at First Baptist of Allen, Texas. The plates have part of Psalm 100 on them, and everyone spent time reading them before they got their food.

We must renounce confidence in our ability, acknowledging that it is only by His indwelling life that we accomplish anything of value...Ability becomes a liability when we trust in the ability instead of trusting in God. --Grace Rules by Steve McVey

Yesterday was our English Club Thanksgiving celebration, and we are very happy with how things went. We ate, talked, laughed, and each person had the chance to say what they are thankful for in their lives. Marc prayed in Russian (yea, Marc!) and read from the Psalms. Then, in a moment I will not soon forget, Sergei read a poem about being thankful to God. Then he looked around at each of us and said, "I am thankful to the Lord, for He has been very good to me." That may seem like a baby step to anyone living outside of Eastern Europe, but for those of us here, it's a giant leap. It is good and comforting to see progress...a testimony to God's grace toward us.

One of the things that has happened is that my idea of what success is has changed over the fourteen months we've been here. I will never forget sitting across from Teri Tarleton at ILC in Richmond and hearing her say, "Kellye, my only fear for you is your need for success. Success in Russia looks different from success here." When I came to Russia, the thing that drove me the nuttiest was that I felt like I'd been put in a situation where success was not an option. Full-time language and full-time homeschooling didn't leave much of an option for feeling anything less than a failure. I probably muttered to myself a thousand times, "If I can't do it well, it can't be done." Looking back on that, I hear the pride wrapped up in the idea that I am so...smart, organized, together, motivated, hard-working...that I can do anything. And my intentions were good. I wanted to succeed at this life just like I'd succeeded in my life in the States. I wanted to be successful for God, to do great things for Him.

Of course, what I've learned is that God doesn't need me to be successful for Him. He needs me to be available. He needs me to be faithful. He needs me to be listening. He needs me to be open to things I've never, in my whole life, considered doing. But He doesn't really need me to be successful. You want to know the truth? There's a lot less pressure in a life that isn't so focused on success. I don't have to have the biggest English club to feel like I'm doing what God wants me to be doing right now. I don't have to have great AP scores. I don't have to speak perfect Russian. (Ha! I'll NEVER speak perfect Russian!) I just have to do whatever it is He's given me the grace for this day. Tomorrow, I'll get more grace and a different set of instructions. I don't have to worry. He's got it all under control. He'll let me know when I need to know what's next. Wherever you are in the world, I pray that you are depending totally on God for whatever is next in your life, and that your team and your husband's team will NOT be playing in the national championship against one another. Go Gators!!! Blessings to you and yours!

His,
Kellye

Oh, to grace how great a debtor...Jesus saves!

This is my traditional picture to capture how many people we had in the apartment. It is customary to take off your shoes when you enter someone's home. This was our entryway during our after-Thanksgiving party.
There was, of course, Phase Ten to be played.
John-John and his friend, James, are playing Xbox. I love the look on John-John's face.

Freedom's calling
Chains are falling
Hope is dawning
Bright and true.
Day is breaking
Night is quaking
God is making
All things new.
Jesus saves!
--"Jesus Saves"
Travis Cottrell
David Moffitt

Wow! A weekday post...amazing, I know. I usually don't have time to do this in the mornings before school, but this was a story I had to tell, so I'm making time for it. I hope you will find it as encouraging as I do.

Many, many days, it is just plain hard to live here. A friend of ours put it perfectly yesterday. He said it was work to live in Moscow. You're working all the time. It's not something I can describe, but suffice to say that living in Moscow often makes me feel worn out and wrung out and discouraged. I can't talk about other fields, but I can tell you that Moscow is just plain hard. And because we've been raised as Southern Baptists, we've spent our whole lives hearing numbers. There were this many in worship, this many in Sunday School, we visited this many at visitation...you get the idea. So when numbers drop in whatever ministry you're working on, it can be very discouraging. And that's exactly what has happened lately with English Club. We have been having maybe 5-10 people, when we ran in the high teens this summer. Of course, we understand that people's schedules have changed, and so they are working on Thursday nights, etc., but that doesn't prevent us from feeling like mediocre missionaries, at best. So last night, I just asked God to help me find a way to really invest in whoever showed up for English Club. No matter how many people came, I asked Him to help me pour myself into them. And then something very interesting happened.

Only two people showed up last night. Two. Leigha, who is a 17-year-old high school student, and Marina, who is a chemical engineer in her mid-50s. At first, I was disappointed. I had just said to Marc that it wasn't worth the preparation to only have a few people, so maybe we should just cancel English Club altogether. But he reminded me that we really only started with two people, and God had been faithful so far. So I came into the living room to chat with them before the lesson started, and I found them looking at the Christmas decorations. Leigha was smiling and Marina was gazing around the room. "Kellye, (I wish I could spell my name like Russians say it...sort of like kyeelee) I have never seen such decorations as these." I began explaining all the decorations on the tree, what the ornaments mean, different relationships they represent, and how we chose them very carefully to bring with us. I even talked about my Momma wrapping each ornament individually, and how it meant so much to me to have my decorations with me at Christmas, especially since Russians don't celebrate Christmas in the same way or at the same time as Americans (and most of the rest of the world) do. Leigha quietly said, "My family has a Christmas tree. We celebrate on December 25th." I looked at her and smiled. "Really?" I said. "Why does your family celebrate on the 25th?" She smiled at me again. "Well, my aunt once lived in the United States. And we are Christians." And then, very quietly and in Russian, she said, "We are not Orthodox." For a split second, we looked at one another. "I understand," I replied in Russian. And suddenly, English Club had taken an interesting turn.

So we went on with the lesson, but everything had a different feel to it, at least to me. As we were doing the lesson, I kept catching Marina gazing at our Christmas stockings, which my Momma made for us. "What is it called, Kellye, this putting together of different fabrics?" she asked. I told her it was quilting, and that my mother had made the stockings for us. "She is very talented, your mother." Yes, I agreed. I told her that I found them very comforting, because I knew that each time my mother had stitched things for me, she had thought of me, loved me, and prayed for me. "She must love you very much," she said softly. Then I showed her the quilt my friend, Janet, made and that different members of our church had signed. I told her that even that afternoon, I had sat in that chair with the quilt on my lap, reading a book, and thinking about the people who had signed the quilt and the beloved friend who had made it. I emphasized again that these things meant so much to me. "They must love you very much," she said. I went on to tell her about quilt ministry at our church, how my mother and her friends had sent blankets all over the world to people who needed them, because God had given them that talent to use for Him in places they would never see and never visit. "She is an extraordinary woman, I think. Your mother," she said as she gazed, once again, at the stockings. Then the "Hallelujah Chorus" played on Marc's iPod, which we had hooked up to play softly the whole evening. "What is this song?" Marina asked. So I told her the story of Handel, of the king standing in praise the moment he heard the hallelujahs, how all over the world, when people hear the opening chords they stand in honor, not of tradition, but of the baby Jesus, who was sent to save us. And suddenly, English Club had taken a VERY interesting turn.

Now, I would love to tell you that Marina bowed her head right there and accepted Christ. She didn't. But she laughed and talked, something she has never done in the six months she has been faithfully coming to our house. It struck me that God had given me so much grace that night...first to be encouraged by Leigha's faith, and then to be encouraged that He is at work in the people to whom we minister...even when we can't see what He's doing. It is so difficult to strike up spiritual conversations with Russians, yet He had given me an entire night when I had nothing but spiritual conversations. He is good...all the time. And so, my Momma and her quilts came to English Club last night, ministered to my Russian friend, and helped me talk about Jesus. Not a bad day's work. Wherever you are in the world, I pray that you are having opportunities to tell others the good news that Jesus saves, and that your apartment is ready for the big party at your house tomorrow afternoon. Blessings to you and yours!

His,
Kellye