Breakfast in the dining room with two German doctors.  The table was set with our Christmas dishes.  Very festive.  It was a relaxing, enjoyable meal.  Catching up on all that is going on in the hospital up north where they volunteer. Listened to fascinating stories of their work among the poor.

Had a late morning meeting with Francis.  Read list of non-perishable food items  as he packed market bags one by one with those items. Bags were placed in back of the Christmas tree.  Frozen chicken will be added at the last minute.  Each family will go home from our annual Christmas party with enough food to put on a Christmas dinner at their place for their friends and family.  Finalized  shopping list for last minute purchases for the meal.  Perishable things  that could not be bought ahead of time.  

Francis and Doris carried side-board out to front hallway.  Guests will file past and serve themselves.  Brought library table down to dining room and experimented with various seating arrangements.  How to fit 25 people around three tables, taking into consideration the needs of families with small children?  Fourteen adults.  Five teens.  Five little children six and under.  One baby.   Eventually figured it out.  Think it's going to work.  Tables are in a "U" shape, giving that feeling of all being together.

Doris ironed  all our best tablecloths.  It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, everywhere you look.  Our party will be held on Saturday, 23 December, at 1 p.m.  Preparations have been going on for several weeks.  Now we are executing those plans.  All work is done in and around the edges of our guests.  Shiloh does not come to a grinding halt when we have large parties.

Papa Jim and Mama Alice spent time with a pastor who is spending this week at Shiloh.  He had lots of questions and concerns regarding how to minister to singles in his church community.  We shared from many years of experience.  We reminded him that at the end of the day, their unique needs and issues are spiritual.  Is our God big enough to meet my every need?  And what if God does not give me everything that I know I need?  Can I still trust Him.  Will I still trust Him?  Will I resolved every day and in every way to follow Him, no matter what life dishes out?   The basic issues are the same, no matter what category a person fits into:  singles, marrieds without children, families, widows and widowers. 

Rounded the day off with a weekly Bible study with our relief night guard. I always marvel at his intellect.  Had he been born in the Land of Plenty, he would have gone far.  Having been born into extreme poverty, and never having gotten any "brakes", he struggles for his daily existence.  But it's not all bad.  In the midst of his difficulties he has found the Lord.  And it is my joy to watch him grow in grace week by week.  Our Bible survey brought us to the book of I Samuel.  As always his questions are deep and probing.  I am totally inadequate for the task at hand.  But I put my confidence in the Great I Am and move forward in His strength.  Ever humbled that He would choose to use me in this man's life.

And thus ends another "typical day" at Shiloh.