2021 Christmas Letter

 Merry Christmas from our house to yours,

2021 was a year marked with loss for our family. We lost 6 family members within the first 8 months of the year. The 6th death being my Auntie Helen. This one was the most difficult for me personally. Most of you will know my Auntie Helen played a major role in all aspects of our extended family life.  We viewed her as the matriarch of the BHAMM  Family. Her loss hit hard, especially as her passing came on the heels of so many other deaths. Our only consolation is that she passed surrounded by her loved ones. We stood around her bed, shared our favourite memories and listened to her favourite songs during her final moments. I’m thankful we could be there to send her off in this way, but also to support Mom, Jason, Christine and Uncle Kwai during this painful time.

 

Despite the heartache we all experienced the circle of life continues. Thanksgiving weekend our family celebrated a major event – the wedding of my cousin Jason to Sia Kuo. This wonderful event came at the perfect time and brought us so much joy. We are so excited to welcome Sia into our family along with her daughter Richelle. We’ve officially changed our clan name to K’BHAMM Fam to include our newest members.

 

Other updates from our lives from 2021.

 

·   Jubilee is in her second year of French Immersion and continues to blossom as an artist

·      I’ve lost a significant amount of weight this year and I am feeling amazing, the healthiest I’ve been maybe ever!

·      We enjoyed two family vacations this year – one week at Camp Kahquah and one week tent camping with the whole BHAMM Fam clan.

·      I am now a licensed pastor and had the privilege of officiating my very first wedding this year.

·      The final step of our immigration journey has begun. All citizenship applications have been filled out and mailed in - this time next year we should be a full house of Canadians.

·      Joshua, Olivier and Joseph all have jobs interviews this week (!!!)

·      Kenol has connected with a group of Haitian pastors in the area and started a collective ministry of Haitian churches.

·      I am starting a new and exciting job with The Dalton Foundation in January as the Haiti Country Coordinator – a remote position. I will miss the library but I am so excited for the future with The Dalton Foundation

·      Kenol is excited to be back to in-person church – his preaching is on FIRE lately too

·      Joshua and Olivier’s soccer team placed second in the Ontario Cup

·      Zander loves Paw Patrol, talking non-stop, playing “Power Rangers”, “hulk smashing” things, hanging out with his cousins and building forts with Jubilee in the living room. He also LOVES daycare when Covid allows him to go.

·      Lou (our dog) continues to be adorable but forever leaves giant wads of fur all over the house

·      At the time of writing this letter I have read 58 books so far this year by 32 authors. A vast improvement from my 2020 record of 37 books by only 3 authors. I hope to continue to diversify my reading in 2022. Send me your recommendations!

 

We wish you nothing but joy, laughter, fun, adventure, growth, happiness, and flavourful meals in 2022.


With love and kindness,


Rachel (39), Kenol (43), Joshua (17), Olivier (16), Joseph (14), Jubilee (7) , Zander (2) and Lou (4)

 





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Baby Sized Miracle

Image
Today I witnessed a beautiful miracle. I saw God's love poured out in a lovingly selfless act. Today I saw the hands and feet of Jesus at work. Today in Leveque something amazing happened. It started with something terribly sad. A newborn baby was dropped into a latrine and left to die. Something I cannot fathom and which shatters my heart. I cannot even begin to understand what went through this mother's mind as she let go of her baby and watched him fall into the dark pit. Thankfully God has a wonderful plan for this little life and his sweet cry was loud enough to be heard by a good samaritan passing by, who quickly called Pastor Williamson, the deaf pastor from Leveque. A group of people worked together to smash the cement cover off the latrine carefully so the baby would not be injured. Then they somehow used some metal bars and a net or basket of some sort to lift the baby out of the pit. Miraculously he only had a few scraps on him. The community came together to care
Read more

How to Be More Effective in Cross Cultural Ministry

There is a sad truth I would like to share with you. All too often people with great intentions do harm in Jesus' name in cross cultural ministry. In my ten years on the mission field I have seen a lot of amazing things happen but I've also seen a lot of hurt caused by well meaning ministry workers. I have compiled this short list of things I have learned, and that I think you should know to help you be more effective in cross cultural missions. 1. Always remember that YOU are the foreigner. This is not your country, you are a guest and should act like one. 2. The people you are serving know SO much more than you ever will about their country, culture and needs. 3. Your way isn't the only way, or necessarily the right way. 4. You better work your butt off to learn the language, and quickly. If you have been living or serving in a foreign land for a year and still can't communicate more than basic greetings to those you came to serve you need to make some chang
Read more

Gross, gross, gross!!

I can handle mice. I can handle rats. I can handle lizards. I can handle cockroaches. I can handle snakes. I can handle tarantulas. I can handle flying green leaf shaped bugs that smell funny. I can handle a lot more than your average woman, with two minor exceptions: Dead things and Haitian frogs. I can kill a mouse, a cockroach, a snake or a tarantula without fear, but once it's dead I'm not going near it! A lizard on my bedroom wall doesn't faze me, but a dead one in the closet makes me run for the door. Strange I know...but dead things just freak me out! Haitian frogs on the other hand have me running around screaming like a scared little girl. I specify Haitian frogs because Canadian frogs have never really bothered me, except that one time in grade 8 when Ben Lanteigne kicked a frog and it came flying right for my face! Haitian frogs are a whole other ball game. They are the kind of frogs you would see in the Toronto zoo. They always look wet and slimy and ha
Read more