Greetings to all at this wonderful time of year!
I know many of you feel that this time is more stressful than wonderful, but if we focus on the truth behind all the glitter, we will see the wonder of it all. The truth is that Jesus left His glory to come and live in human degradation, so that He could show us the Father's glory; and ultimately to deal with our sin problem so that we might glorify the father, too.
Thus, when we exchange gifts, we think of the gift of His life; when we see the lights and sparkles, we think of the light of His glory; when we see the joy on the children's faces, it rekindles in our hearts the joy of knowing God.

Time for Christmas News from the Barnard Family:

Andy has been doing quite a bit of travelling lately, and there is more in the pipeline. He did training in the states a few months back, and since has taught in the UK and Cape Town (Oct). He was in Zambia in Nov, and heads off to the Philippines in Dec/Jan. Feb he will be in CT again and March, Zimbabwe. Most of these trips are teaching 'Cat And Dog Theology' - more about that in another Blog post.

Daniel did quite well at school this year, and now is enjoying the long break and long hours playing PS2. He is handling his Diabetes very well, injecting himself and monitoring his blood sugar levels like a pro. He has made friends with some really on-fire guys at church, and hangs around with them a lot. This makes mother very happy.

Stacy didn't have her best year ever academically speaking, but being twelve and dealing with pre-pubescence is enough to distract anyone. She has just begun a course of orthodontic treatments, which is literally and figuritively a bit of a pain. The first step is an expansion device fitted across the mouth beween the top teeth. the aim of this is to widen the top jaw, which is currently narrower than the bottom. This prevents her from eating any hard food, so we are making lots of soups and smoothies etc. The chef (me) is finding it quite a challenge to keep track of the childrens' dietery requirements.

Fortunately Michelle eats almost anything. Her favourites are fruit and veg, so that makes it easy. She also lives pasta and chips. This little blessing will be 2 in Feb, and getting cuter by the day. Her favourite place to be is in the pool - she is like a little fish with her arm-bands on. Confidence is not lacking when it comes to the water; she has been attending swimming lessons since 7 months. We are so enjoying watching her learn to imitate everything the 'big' people around her do - now if only we could get her to sleep through the night! She is very good friends with another littke girl at church who is 3 months older than her. They are quite an energetic force when they get together. Hopefully they will leave the church building standing when they get bigger- no, seriously, they are so cute together. Two little imps they are!

All in all, I have my hands rather full. Besides taking care of three kids and a husband in full time ministry ( or more than full-time, if that's possible), I run a care group for the at-home moms, generally help out with the ministry and am involved up to my neck at school. Never a dull moment for me. Actually, it would be nice to have one every now and then. I still struggle with a durth of organizational skills, so it's rather a challenge to keep it all together sometimes. a good sense of humour is all that keeps us going some days. Erma Bombeck would have a field day with all the material we could provide for her.

So to wrap up: this is the crazy Barnard family wishing you all a God-glorifying, joy-lit, love-filled Christmas. We wish we could see you all, but that's just not possible.

We love you all
Alison, Andy, Daniel, Stacy and Michelle.

Watching 19 month old Michelle growing up and discover the world around her prompts me to marvel again at the privilege of parenthood. How wonderful it is to wach this little personality unfolding.
She finds such immense joy in the smallest of things, and dispenses love so unconditionally, it's a challenge to us to be 'as a little child'.
We are so honoured to have this little ray of sunshine in our home; and to us falls the responsibilty to help her discover her destiny in God. The trick, of course, is to try to get her there without losing too much of the spontanaity and generosity of her sweet spirit. Thankfully, with two parents and two older siblings, there is no shortage of love and attention for her, and she is an extremely happy baby.
We are so aware of the fact that, besides all the love we give her, she needs to find her own walk with God. Thus there needs to be much discipling and prayer by us as parents, as well as walking the talk to set an example for her. We need to bring her to the point where she not only sees God at work in and through us, but sees and knows God's works in her own life. This means we have to ensure that our relationship with God is what it should be, so that He is seen to be at work - this is our most important challenge, but a privilege too.

At supper last night, Andy thanked God, not only for the food, but for tastebuds to help us enjoy the food.

Ever wonder why He gave us this enjoyment?

Not just for ourselves; so that each time we eat or drink, we will give Him the glory. He is a jealous God, and will not share His glory with another - not even the cook! ( no matter how good we think we are)



Don't you think He did a good job with this gorgeous baby girl? Of course I'm not biased at all!??
Michelle is now nearly 19 months, but this picture from 13 months is so sweet, I just couldn't resist showing it off.

Venturing out

I thought that since I live in a house with 2 techno-freaks, it was about time that I did some venturing out into the great unknown (largely, by me) world of Blogging. It was actually you, Karyn, who inspired me to do this. I enjoy your blogspot immensely (especially being able to see how grey John has become!), so thanks a lot.

All is well here in JHB. Andy is as busy as ever running things at Highway AOG, as well as typically having a couple of fingers in a few other pies. He never seems to stop, this man of mine.
Daniel is coping admirably with his newly diagnosed Type 1 Diabetes. Michelle is an eighteen month old bundle of fun and energy; and Stacy is negotiating the path of The Middle Child (and looming adolescence) with no small number of emotional hics.

I am presently a so-called stay-at-home Mom, but as I seldom seem to be at home, I wonder if I shouldn't be called a run-around-from-pillar-to-post Mom. Let me hasten to add that I wouldn't want to be doing anything else - I love being able to watch my kids play sport, doing homework with them etc. It's a privilege and an honour.

And now I need to drag myself away to make supper. Looking forward to learning how to improve and utilise this blogspot well.

Peace to all
Alison