Christmas Letter from the Blacks 2015

2015 has been one of those years that has gone so quickly,

 I felt like I never got caught up with myself.

The biggest event in our family this year was the birth of our first grandchild Matthew 

born to Daniel and Suzie 

on Monday 2nd November.  

Jonathan has continued to Pastor the church in Leeds while finishing off his Phd - well just the very last bit to go now.  He has also been around various churches teaching on different aspects of Theology
He has been over to visit us a few times this year but we believe we were not the real attraction for the last two visits!

Daniel & Suzie had a very busy year with Suzie being pregnant and little Matthew being born in November.  Unfortunately Fred was away on business when Matthew decided to arrive but that just meant that I got to cuddle Matthew before Fred did.

Daniel is still busy managing Common Grounds Coffee Shop near the university in Belfast and won the Northern Ireland Barista of the Year Championship in September.

Suzie was enjoying teaching P1 but was happy when it came time to go off on her maternity leave and we are not sure how happy she will be to return to teaching because she is so happy being at home with Matthew right now.

Linda is still in South Korea but has moved to a different area, Wongju in February to teach English at a university now.  It means we have new names to remember of friends that she has now made but she is still keeping in touch with her other Korean friends in Gangneung too.

She was able to come stay for a few weeks in August after having one of her best friends visit her in Korea.  Of course when she comes, she always brings some fun presents and this trip meant a selfie stick for Fred and of course he had to try it out straight away.

She is sad because she hasn't met her nephew yet except on facetime, so she has booked to fly over for the whole month of February and we are all looking forward to that.



Fred is doing the consultancy work that he moved into with Dupont during 2014.  This means he is travelling a lot to places like Saudi, Morocco, Germany, Switzerland, Ireland, England, Finland, Australia and I've probably forgotten some others.
When he is here he is still leading worship and helping on the leadership of our church.

The Four Black Boys

This year I finished a Tesol course at Belfast Bible College along with a friend from our church and in September we started up weekly English Classes in the church.   There are about 35 people (mostly from Poland) who are regularly coming to learn English.  We did 10 weeks of classes before Christmas and we hope to have another 20 weeks before next summer so that takes a lot of time in preparation each week to teach a two hour class and I am back writing Lesson Plans again after all these years since teaching Maths.
I'm also continuing with the Sunday School Curriculum for our church and helping in other ways there too.

I have been busy with this blog that I started in 2012 but really got wholeheartedly into at the start of 2014 and enjoy the writing and making the graphics for it.  Quite often when we are out somewhere Fred will say "I suppose you want a picture for the blog?", or when we see something or talk about something someone will say "I can see a blog post coming out of that" and they are mostly right.


Fred & I did not get away on a nice long holiday this year (because he has been so busy with work) just two days in Ballycastle and the Dark Hedges but we thoroughly enjoyed that little weekend break for my birthday.

We also drove around various places in Southern Ireland for almost two weeks but that was not a holiday it was for Fred's work and I went along to make sure he stayed awake as he had to drive so many miles each evening from one place to another.
We did manage to have a few laughs along the way some of which you can read about in 10 Things that made me Laugh in Ireland


To finish up I would just like to give thanks to God for the fact that He has continued to be with us all in all our different locations and has guided each of us through our various experiences of this year.

Love to all

Sandra  &  the rest of the Black family

A New Christmas Decoration - A Dose of Encouragement

I really shouldn't have!

We have so many already!

I'm supposed to be decluttering, not bringing more things into the house!

But I just couldn't resist buying that new decoration for the Christmas tree.

I was out buying special Christmas Cards and looking for ideas for gifts in the Faith Mission Book Shop when I noticed it and the temptation grabbed me.

Fred just smiled when I showed it to him and didn't say the obvious

"not another decoration"  

 he can be so nice to me sometimes ( ok I admit it's not just sometimes but most of the time ).


It's not the only one I've bought this year, but ssssshhh that's a secret until closer to Christmas.

I have to admit I really like tree decorations that bring back memories like our 3 sleighs and the fan that get hung up each year.


But there is something special about bible themed tree decorations and the one I got was definitely bible themed with Mary and Joseph holding the baby Jesus.

Yes I admit is is rather similar to the the one I wrote about in The True Christmas blog post last year.  

But I think perhaps I was drawn to this new one because we have been doing a lot of holding and cuddling of our baby grandson since he was born at the start of last month.

It is amazing how one small child can change the structure of a marriage relationship - it is not just a couple any more it is now a family with another person there forever making a 3 Sided relationship.  This is a life-altering event in any marriage and as was mentioned in a recent post Congratulations;  it can be the best day of the lives of the couple.


Jesus obviously changed the structure of his family not only in the obvious special way as a new life born into that relationship but also because of exactly Who He was - the Son of God.  His birth was not only the best day of the lives of Mary and Joseph but also the best day in the life of the world thus far - God had come down to earth.

Look at the wording on the decoration

Jesus came to be the hope of all the world,

                                                          of everyone,

                                                                           of you ,

                                                                                      of me.

This was definitely a life-altering event for the whole world.

Our new decoration reminds us of the new Hope we have in Jesus when we acknowledge He is Lord and accept His gift of salvation.

Born as a baby but born to be the Saviour of all.

Jesus is all this

and

our true hope, 

regardless of us 

or anything else that is going on in the world.

I am thankful that I have a Saviour and that I have the Hope of all.

If you would like to know more about how you can personally experience this life-altering event please take a few minutes to watch the video 3 2 1 on the sidebar.

The True Christmas - A Dose of Encouragement

Today I'm going to tell you about another decoration I love putting on my tree every year because this one tells us about The True Christmas.

Previously I have been writing about some of our Christmas Tree Decorations.

We had  3 Sleighs for Christmas  and   A Fan for Christmas

These two along with this post will be hopefully be a good dose of encouragement for us all at this special Christmas time. 

All around us at this time of the year we see everything being used to represent Christmas.

We see Santas.

We see Turkeys.

We see Trees.

We see Gifts.

We see Pictures of Snow.

We see Everything becoming Red.

But we see less and less 

of 

The True Christmas.

This decoration was bought in America when we lived in Delaware so it has been on our tree for over 20 years just like the other ones in the last two posts in this series.

Yet I still remember the day I bought it.

I was with my friend Suzanne in a Christmas Shop she had taken me to.  While we were paying for our purchases I noticed something else and as I moved away to get it I said to Suzanne

"I must lift one of those"

and I was so surprised by her reaction

"you can't say that Sandra"

I couldn't understand why she jumped in with this so quickly.

So I asked her why?

Suzanne explained that to use the word  "lift"  was implying shoplifting.

Suzanne knew what I had really meant but she was concerned that the shopkeeper would have heard me and not known my proper intention.


I had simply meant

I must pick up one of these to add it to my items to buy 

but the way I had said it meant something else in that part of the world.

Now when I look at this Tree Decoration of Mary and Joseph with Jesus I remember three things.


Firstly I remember the Original True Christmas when Jesus came into the world.

Secondly I remember those 3 years we spent in America where we made new friends and shared in new Christmas time experiences.

Thirdly I remember the True Meaning of Christmas which is just the same today as it was all those years ago.

Why should it change?  

Jesus doesn't change.

God sent His Son Jesus into the world to be our 

Saviour

Redeemer

Ransom

to be

 Immanuel

"God with Us"

But what do others think of at Christmas?

They think of the things I listed at the start of this blog post.

They think of all the busy days and activities at this time of the year.

They think of the money that will be spent.

They think of the holiday from work.

They think of Seasons Greetings and Happy Holidays to just mean exactly what the words say.

But when they hear

Merry Christmas

they don't think that it means exactly what it says.


They don't consider how it is the commemoration of the miracle of God coming to dwell on earth to live as a human like us so that He can do for us what no-one else could possibly do.

No, they hear the words that are intended for them to hear 

but they think of completely the wrong meaning of the phrase just as that shop keeper could have thought of the completely wrong meaning of my words all those years ago.

I love the fact that when I went to take the picture of this decoration there were two lights right above it as if to highlight it particularly because really that is precisely what we should be doing.

To so many people Christmas is no longer based on Christ.

So let's try to help others to actually think of

The True Meaning of Christmas

in every opportunity we have so that they may come to know

The True Blessing 

of 

The True Christmas.

I pray you will know the The True Christmas this year and every year to come.

It's God's Love #25

This is the Christmas post for my Sunday Series.



Each week I have featured a Bible verse graphic to concentrate on the Love of God.


Today I also want to share a very short video.

Perhaps you will think of a verse around God's Love as you watch the video

or perhaps you will think of God's Love extended to you and your family over the years

        whichever it is

I pray you know the true meaning of God's Love this Christmas.

Because Christmas started with a Baby

And Christmas is still all about that same person

Jesus

Our Saviour

So as well as giving and receiving gifts this Christmas why not

Merry Christmas to you all and may you know the love of Jesus as Saviour which is the real gift of love this Christmas.

A Fan for Christmas - A Dose of Encouragement

Children make a lot of crafts at school and Sunday School especially at special times like Christmas.

How many times have you run out of magnets to attach another picture created especially for you?

Some people keep all of their children's pictures but we didn't,

     we just enjoyed them at the time

          and then enjoyed the next one

               and the next one

                    and the next......

However some other things the children have made for us or bought us have been kept and one of these things is one of the decorations Fred and I put up on our Christmas Tree last week.

I have never worked out what a fan has to do with Christmas but then I suppose a lot of the decorations we have for this festive time do not really relate to Christmas time so why should this one have to.

It is gold and green and tones in with what we expect colour schemes to be at Christmas time.

It was made by our son Daniel many, many years ago and although we do not wrap it up carefully each year as we do with some of the other ornaments for the tree, it has never got damaged in all the years.

But even though this fan does not remind me especially of Christmas or the Bible it does remind me of Love.

Daniel made it carefully and it was well-made.

He gave it to us for the tree and even though this was probably prompted by his teacher, all these years later I see Love in this simple tree decoration.

I don't particularly think Daniel was thinking about how much he loved us when he gave it to us but I do know that because it was made by him that I love it.

It certainly is not because of the colours as I am not very fond of green but you see colours do not mean anything in this case.  It is the fact that this was made by my son, that is special to me.

God also took delight in His Son Jesus and His actions.

God even spoke out and told people how pleased He was with His Precious Son.

Do we speak favourably about our children?

Do we tell others how much we love our children?

Do we tell our children how much we love them?

The next time you see something that was given to you by your child or made by them think about when you last told them how precious they are to you.

If it was a while ago, go tell them now.

But even more importantly

if we are trusting in Jesus and know the importance of Christmas,

the Love that was expressed at Christmas and the love later expressed by Jesus on the cross 

then

are we speaking out about Christmas

and are we speaking out about Jesus

and

God's Love for us?

If you didn't read my previous blog post about our Tree Decorations you can do so at  3 Sleighs for Christmas

3 Sleighs for Christmas - A Dose of Encouragement

                                       

Our Christmas Tree was too big.

Well too wide to be precise.

We had bought it about 7 years ago when we lived in Belgium and had more space to have a tall and wide tree.

We really liked it because it was easy to assemble and was prelighted so no fiddling and fighting with strings of lights.  The most time would be spent actually putting the decorations on the tree.

But now in our present home we had struggled with not really having enough room for this tree definitely in our lounge but also not really having the proper space for it in our large kitchen with seated area.

Last year we thought too late about trying to find a new slimmer tree but this year on Saturday we decided to go ahead when we saw a slimmer tree very similar in style to our other one.  In fact this one was going to be slim enough so that we could put it up in the lounge now that we had the smaller suite.

Last week when I wrote the Wednesday Encouragement post I was disappointed that we hadn't got our tree up yet in the kitchen because we were waiting for the painting to be done and I couldn't start writing about our Tree Decorations as I had hoped but today I can.

So I want to start with the 3 sleighs

On the tree each year since Christmas 1993 we have had these three sleighs.

They are almost identical except for one thing.
They each have the name of one of our children on them.

Fred & I hung them on the tree last night.

As per always my thoughts went back to when I got them.

We were living in the US in Hockessin, a village outside Wilmington in the State of Delaware.

That was where I was introduced to Christmas fairs and Christmas shops and Personalised Christmas Tree Decorations.

I saw the sleighs and remembered the fun our three kids (plus Fred & I) had had in March that year when we had woken up to find 14 inches of Snow at our front door.

After shovelling the driveway a few times and playing around and then in for hot drinks we joined our next door neighbours to race down through our back gardens.

What fun, what laughter, what coldness, but what enjoyment from a simple act.

We really didn't want to stop because we were enjoying this unusual activity.
It was very unusual for us because we had come from Northern Ireland where we rarely see 4 inches of snow let alone 14 and rarely get the chance to even try to slide down a snow slope.

Eventually we had to drag ourselves and the kids inside as it started to get dark and we were concerned about frostbite from those round red patches appearing on our cheeks.

So here we are again at another Christmas with the memories from 21 years ago.

I remember getting these tree decorations at a craft fair a month before Christmas and surprising the children with their special named sleigh for each of them to hang on the tree as the last decorations that year.

Do the children remember that event as distinctly as I do?

I don't think so but they do remember hanging them on the tree for years.

A lot of our tree decorations are individual things we have picked up over the years and not colour co-ordinated to be extremely fashionable and make a glamorous tree.  I want to have memories of happy times together as a family or remember friends who may have given us something for our tree.

I want to be able to look at my tree and say thank you to God for the lovely memories and the family and friends that he has put into our lives.

My tree will not be perfect but why should it because nothing can be perfect and in striving for my tree to be perfect I would miss out on remembering the memories and blessings of the past.

There is nothing or no-one perfect in this world except for God the Father, Son & Holy Spirit.

So as I remember my imperfect tree and it's decorations I am going to be thankful to God for my 3 children this Christmas and my husband and all the memories and blessings we have seen together as a family.

Then I will pray for the future members of this family and the future memories to come and the future blessings God will bestow on us all because He loves us even though we are not perfect but just trusting in Him.

What will your tree be like and will you remember your blessings?

These are the things that mean a lot to families at Christmas especially when not all of the family can be together.

This year like last year Linda will not be with us over Christmas time, she will still be in South Korea but her sleigh was put up last night and the boy's sleighs were also put up by Fred and I because they are not here for the decorating of the tree any more.

Even though they have their names on them I believe they are more my special item than theirs because I was the one that chose them,

and

they are staying on my tree, not going with them!


They can wait until they inherit them.

What are you doing for Christmas? Advent 5

Today is the last day of Advent.

The last time to consider the four words we have looked at through this time of Advent.

Our last update on the Advent reading plan 

Day 24.        1 John 3:7 & 8

Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.

He that commiteth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning.  For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

Jesus came into the world to help us to stop sinning and to be our substitutionary sacrifice, taking away God's wrath if we do sin.

We received a lot of cards which wished us a Merry Christmas and some took words from a carol or mentioned the shepherds, wise men, angels, star etc.

Here I have picked out 4 of the cards we received which highlighted the four words of Advent

HOPE

LOVE

JOY

PEACE

May I wish you the true 
Hope, Love, Joy and Peace 
that Jesus brought on the first Christmas 
and still brings to us as we trust in Him.

I took some time last week to sit and listen to an old Christmas Music collection that my son had found on YouTube.

It was a compilation of Christmas songs by Max Bygraves which my kids used to listen to on the way to school with their cousins.  Their uncle played this same album in the car all through December every year and they all used to moan and groan about it but now it has turned into a fond Christmas memory.

On You tube it is in several parts to cover the whole album, the first part is here if you want to have a listen.






That is something that Christmas does in us, it stirs up memories.

Today I was thinking about how the memory of the first Christmas with Jesus coming to live on earth in God's plan of Salvation brought Mary to the anticipation of this Salvation.

Then how the memory of working alongside Jesus and knowing Him gave the disciples the faith to proclaim the Saviour and that He would return one day.

And because we know God's word came true about Jesus coming to be the Saviour of the world then we can trust that His word will come true about the return of Jesus too.

So the first Christmas leads us to the anticipation of the return of Jesus hence the celebration of Advent, where we are awaiting His Coming.

           Advent means arrival or appearance

Are you awaiting His arrival or appearance ?  

Have you trusted in Jesus and believe when He said He would come again?