Happy New Year!

Wicker and Hooks families together with our beloved friend, Angie, somewhere outside Red Square.

See the look of terror? Totally earned. Think wall to wall people shooting off fireworks from their hands and ashes in your hair. A once-in-a-lifetime experience. Or at least I'm praying it's once-in-a-lifetime!A lady in the crowd gave John John a sparkler. Isn't this a sweet picture? He's growing up so fast.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. Proverbs 1:7

Whenever a person holds onto personal rights, he sets himself up for the tyranny of fear when those rights are threatened. The only way to be free to experience God's will is to go through life with a loose grip on everything around us. He is the only security we have in life--and He is enough! Grace Rules, Steve McVey

с новым годом! (Happy New Year!) We had a wonderful visit with Daddy and my nephew, Dan, and then spent New Year's Eve with great friends. As you can see from the pics above, we went with the Wickers (Tim is Marc's traveling partner and all-around buddy) and our friend, Angie, to Red Square, but we spent the majority of our evening at the Courson's with lots of our friends from the Company. What a fun night! Somewhere out there is a distressing video of me singing "Roxanne" by the Police with the Wii game Rock Band, but if you see it, just know that I was coerced by several of my nieces and nephews, who have discovered that Aunt Kellye is a soft touch if they just make the "please, Aunt Kellye" face. Never could resist a group of teenagers. It's my burden to bear.

I am thinking a lot lately about God's will and His grace. Many of you are aware that there are changes in our organization, and that those changes directly impact our family. As you can imagine, we have been thinking and making lists and thinking some more, and when we think we've come to a conclusion, something comes up that makes us think we need to think some more. But more and more, I am coming to the conclusion that God's will for our lives isn't necessarily something we will find as much as it is something that He is revealing to us as we seek Him. Not as we seek an answer, but as we seek our God. To know Him, to get even a glimpse of His glory has become my goal. Yes, it will be nice when the decision-making process is done and we can move on to whatever is next. But for right now, I am content with where we are, with what we have, with who we are becoming. And I am content that my God continues to pursue me as I pursue Him.

As usual, the end of the year makes me introspective, and so I thought I'd make a list (I love lists more than you can possibly know) of some of the things I have learned in the last year. This is in no particular order.

• Friendships based on a foundation of a mutual love for Christ and a desire to see others come to know Him are unshakeable and priceless. I am so thankful for deep friendships that are developing here in Moscow, but our time with friends in Prague proved to me yet again that those friendships, shaped and developed during our training time in Richmond, are life-long and precious. I am blessed to have two women in the world (besides my family), one in Prague, the other in Brazil, to whom I literally could say anything and they would love me, anyway. What more could I ask from God than this? Blessings all mine, plus ten thousand beside.
  
• Forgiving is easier than getting over the offense. This is an area in which I am asking God to stretch me past the place where I forgive people for real hurts they've inflicted on me, but then refuse to let it go and let them off the hook. So glad God doesn't hold my offenses against me. That "as far as the east is from the west" thing might be the description of what God wants me to do with the hurts and wounds others have inflicted on me.
  
• I CAN do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Seriously. If you'd asked me a year ago whether we would still be on the field, I'd have laughed before telling you there was no way. And in my own power, I'd have been right. But Christ is serious about giving us the power to do what He asks. Life here doesn't look so impossible, anymore.
• Death is a hard thing to reckon with, whether you know it's coming or not. This year, we have experienced the death of our darling friend, Teri, which was completely unexpected, and Marc's Aunt Lee, which was not unexpected. As I write, a man very dear to me as I was growing up, Hal Herweck, Sr., is nearing death. The death of someone you love is heart-wrenching, no matter what. Priceless to me, however, is the knowledge that I will see all three of these folks again. Death, where is thy sting? Grave, where is thy victory? Nowhere...death and the grave have already been conquered. There is real consolation in that. We do not grieve as the world grieves. What a blessing.
• My family is precious. As the time nears for S.B. to go off to college, my heart aches and rejoices at the same time. Every second is important. Every memory is priceless. I'm learning to eat it up--all of it.
  
• It is good to be remembered. We got a card in the mail yesterday. As I reached for it, Marc said, "If we were going to get one card this Christmas, who would it be from?" Without thinking, I replied, "Sharon Chalker and her Sunday School class." And I was right. Faithful people in churches all over the States encourage us and pray for us. It means more than I can tell you. Way more.
  

I have certainly learned more than this, but these are the basics. It's nearly 2p.m., and my family hasn't eaten, yet. (We didn't get home until after 2, and we were on the phone until 3, so we slept in until nearly noon!) Marc has the bacon done, so I need to go whip up some biscuits. I can hear Randy Travis singing, "Oh, how I love Jesus" in the kitchen...not a bad way to start the year. Wherever you are in the world, I pray that you take a few moments today to thank God for the lessons you're learning, and that your husband is helping you in the kitchen, too. Blessings to you and yours!

His,
Kellye