Merry Christmas! There's just 10 days left for you in the West, but we get to celebrate twice here with Orthodox/Easter Christmas being celebrated on January 7. We will see a few more decorations after January 1, but there is not much community Christmas festivity here in Cairo.
As we come to the close of another year and remember the birth of our Savior, we continue to rejoice in the calling God has on our lives to be serving in Europe and the Middle East. We all continue to grow and learn so much about our own faith as we seek to encourage, inspire and serve others. This year, our family has served in Italy, Hungary, Germany, Lebanon, and Egypt, in addition to spending time with families and many supporters in the United States.
Our kids continue to grow in maturity and experiences. Grace will be 17 in February (insert scream here); as a junior in high school, she is juggling softball, classes, yearbook staff, and band. Titus is now 14, and learning to balance an active social life in the eighth grade along with his classes. Zeke is now 12 and has been excelling in and out of the classroom as he is the only sixth grader to make the competitive “math counts” team. All three kids continue to help us serve the ministries in Cairo in some way, and all three are looking forward to international trips with their school next year. We are so proud of our kids!
We will celebrate our 21st wedding anniversary on January 1, and then the start of our fourth year of service to this region on January 7. We are excited that our responsibilities will take both of us to Paris for a children’s ministry conference in March—it’s a tough job, but it does have a few of these “wow” moments.
We had some health scares this fall: Titus needed surgery to repair a dislocated thumb; and more recently, Grace had a surprising bout of kidney granules. Both of these situations have not only been moments of answered prayers, but also reminders of God’s continuing protection and provision of good health and safety all the while.
We pray your Christmas is full of peace and joy. Thank you for your prayers for us!
The Oldhams
