That time of the year

With the onset of Christmas coming once again, I am always amazed at how our girls respond to it. They are more into the spirit of it than they are the gifting of it. Don't get me wrong, they love to get presents too. But they are just glowing with anticipation of the traditions we have.
This will be our fourth Christmas together and they have learned all the things that make the holidays what they should be. Like hearing the first Christmas songs, putting out the decorations, trimming the tree, putting the outside Christmas lights out and reading and hearing about the baby Jesus.
Our first year was interesting in that they had only been here about eight weeks and could speak little English. Where they came from if they got any presents it was a food item or tooth brushes. They got out of the country a couple of times and had a great time at the host families homes but much of what they brought back to the orphanage with them was lost, borrowed or stolen. Christmas did not have the warm feelings of family and friends. Only one of the girls ever received one of the Operation Christmas Blessings gift boxes. It turns out that they don't have enough of them to go around so they try to distribute them through out the country as best they can.
During our first Christmas together I decided that we would give each one of them enough money to buy each other gifts. Wife and I decided we would give them $50.00 to do it with. When we set them down and tried to explain it they got very agitated and couldn't say enough English for us to understand. We called a Friend who spoke fluent Ukrainian and told him what we wanted to do and would he explain it to them. After about 40 minutes of speaking to each of them he told us they didn't understand what they were to do, they were afraid the others would not like the presents they got them and they would only do it if they could go with at least one of the others. They went and found some things for each other and on Christmas morning we recorded them as they opened the gifts. This past summer we dug that video out and played for them. The older two could understand most of what was said but the two younger ones didn't understand any of it. They have forgotten their native language.
We are Blessed to have all the kids with us and be able to share with them the abundance that the Lord has provided us with. It is our hope that they will learn to trust in Jesus for all their needs and look for His coming.