Lorraine writes- well, cant believe we are into 2010 already!! what an amazing year....our Christmas celebrations were wonderful, we have a lot of fun, laughter and as many yummy trimmings as I could muster up. We had a fresh turkey which I cooked and we had to transport him, ALIVE, in the back of the jeep from the collection point, a farm in Gjakova, back to our village......boy that was a challenge for me!!!!! we had one of our staff, sort him out ready for me to cook him. I wish I hadn't seen its little face before he went off for the chop!!! We are animal lovers but I guess having a turkey for Christmas day outweighs it all. It was strange celebrating Christmas when all around you people were gearing up for the New Year. Christmas has no meaning, for the every day Kosovar/Muslim here.....Some of the believing Kosovars got together and had a celebration which was wonderful. They did a powerful drama and many young people were there!!! New Year was truly amazing for us both. We climbed a hill in Gjakova with friends and saw the best firework display I have ever seen in my life. In England you would of paid maybe £5 to see a 10 minute display. This was aleast a 40 minute or so display covering the whole of the town. I had trouble trying to keep up with my right and left as bangs and sparks were going off in all directions!!!! Thank you Paul and Ang for suggesting to go up there and see this New Year in!!! What will 2010 hold for us.......only God knows. We are praying for our future here in Kosova and know that it will play a big role still, but for us doing what, we don't know right now. We have big prayers and open ears to hear what God says. We miss our family and dear friends but we know this is where we are meant to be......God can provide and comfort us, more than we know. I need to let Him do that much more than I let Him!!!! Happy New Year to you all xx lots of love xx

Lorraine writes- hearing sad news any time of the year of about friends and loved ones is hard, but it always seems harder when it around Christmas time!! Our thoughts and prayers go out to Craig & Karena MacKay and family at this time. We received word and have read Craig's blog regarding his beloved wife, Karena. She is in the last stages of cancer and we want to extend our love and prayers to them........Karena is an inspirational women of God, and has impacted many people, me being one of them. All our love to you Karena xx

Lorraine writes- the children in the day care are getting so excited about Christmas...WHY.... because Humedica give them every year a wonderful shoebox full of gifts!! As soon as the staff put the tree, decorations and lights up they all started singin 'Happy New Year'. This beautiful picture is of one of our children comforting her sister who is too young to attend day care, but often trys to creep in and join us!! The children love being in the day care and get so much out of attending....its a joy to see their happy smiles!!

Chris on location in one of the mountain villages whilst holding a medical clinic for Humedica. A doctor from Germany came to run the clinics for two weeks at the beginning of November. Nine villages where visited and over 400 patients were seen.

Chris writes: well we are now in December, Advent and thoughts naturally go to Christmas and friends and family. For us of course it is a little different so I guess only natural that feelings of homesickness creep in. How I would just love to be able to walk along the coast by the sea, or go bike riding or worship and listen in church in the English langauge...but those are some of the things we have given up by our choice to live in Kosova. We have now been here over a year and so maybe the romance and glitz...if there ever was any of being a missionary....is starting to wear off and I am starting to miss some of those simple things I used to take for granted! Today was difficult in our Albanian speaking church with little translation - Lorraine was away and I was not expecting translation just for me the only English speaker there! It really feels like we are at a crossroads - will we decide to carry on with our adventure here in Kosova or return to UK?? It feels that there is much for us to do here and our long-term future could be here but at what cost? Some days the cost seems minimal and other days it seems very high. Please do pray that we will make the right decision and stay in God's will. Thanks for reading and praying for us and standing with us in our adventure. Zoti Bekoft!!

Chris writes: well life is at last starting to settle down as winter sets in, the last of the doctors have gone home and all has been packed and stored away ready for next year. Things are going well with the jobs which had been piling up for me while I was out with the doctor and my to-do list is now quite a bit shorter than my arm!! Our second power cut (and third long one!) due to non payment by our neighbours last week did not help life here but fortunately only for 48 hours this time but thankfully the power and our sanity was restored as abruptly as it was cut off! The regular cold and dank mist in the morning and glorious sunny afternoon is becoming a pattern for the weather as we watch with concern the flooding back home in the UK. Life seems a little slower now and less frantic but that may not last long as we have the arrival of the Christmas packages just around the corner and then our second Christmas as missionaries serving in Kosova to look forward to. We are now starting to come to grips with some aspects of life here and starting to know what to expect which is good. Our learning of the language is growing but never as fast as we would like. As a couple we are trying to work together better and understand each other better..but still somedays are harder than others. The support, love and prayers from our friends and family is being felt by us both. We are also thinking and talking a lot about our future and hope to share this with you at sometime. Well lunch is calling so I'd best sign off and say thank you so much for reading and following our adventure here in Kosova. Much love

Chris writes: well it is hard to believe that we have been here in Kosova for a whole year tomorrow!! Our first birthday! At the moment life is sooo.....busy as we are in the middle of our doctor visit and my job is driving him out into the villages. In addition my job in the clinic has changed...i am not just registering the patients....but now i am sorting out the drugs - giving out the medicines as prescribed by the doctor!! It does mean i am much more involved in the clinics and much busier and all round better experience which i am enjoying. Naturally while i am doing the clinics all my jobs back in Krushe are piling up but that is ok and just means i will be busy for a few weeks to come! We are doing ok as a couple and our future here seems to be getting clearer but we were rocked by the news that two good friends of ours working out here could be returning home at anytime...this made me feel quite homesick and a reminder of the frailty of our existence out here. Please do pray for us especially during this busy time that we will be able to keep healthy and strong and we will not be affected by the attacks of the enemy. Zoti Bekoft and thanks for reading....we love you guys :)