Bartholomew Update Letter December 2017 Merry Christmas We are in the season of Advent . The church, during Advent, looks back upon Christ’s coming in celebration while at the same time looking forward in eager anticipation to the coming of Christ’s kingdom when he returns for his people. In this light, the Advent hymn “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” is appropriate. Christians prepare for celebrating the birth of Jesus by remembering the longing of the Jews for a Messiah. In Advent, we’re reminded of how much we ourselves also need a Savior, and we look forward to our Savior’s second coming even as we prepare to celebrate his first coming at Christmas. Advent is an invitation into hope; it is a journey from obligation to opportunity. We await the day our King returns, and so we invest in Kingdom work in the meantime. We long for the day when life in the Spirit will be completely realized, and so we learn to walk more closely with Him each day. We anticipate the day our Father will make all things new, and so we impart life where we can. The hope of Advent is not rose-colored optimism; it is confidence that God will appear just as He did that first Advent. Sometime in the early twelfth century the Cistercian monk Bernard of Clairvaux (d. 1153) preached a sermon for the First Sunday of Advent. In this sermon, delivered to his confreres in the monastery, Bernard says that there are six aspects of Advent but it is the first one that stands out. Advent gives opportunity for Christian believers to ponder how great “the One” is who is coming for he is not only the Son of the Most High but he is Also Most High. It is a chance to take note of the “loftiest counsels” of the Trinity. In this way, Advent is not just about Jesus, though it is certainly that, but it is also about the work of the Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. How, after humankind’s decision to rebel against the commands of God, the Trinity conspired to send the Son to set us free. The painting, The Census at Bethlehem (also known as The Numbering at Bethlehem) is by the Flemish Renaissance artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder. The painting shows a Flemish village in winter at sundown. A group of people gathers at a building on the left while in the center foreground of the painting, a man is leading a donkey on which sits a woman who is draped in a blanket. They are moving towards the tax collectors, and are meant to represent Mary and Joseph. There appear to be soldiers nearby, perhaps ensuring order in the village while the taxes are collected. People are going about their daily business and children are playing with toys. By placing Mary and Joseph in this scene of ordinary “contemporary” life, the humility and reality of Jesus’ coming into the world are emphasized. The Census at Bethlehem (The Numbering at Bethlehem), 1566 Pieter Bruegel the Elder Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels, Belgium Our family has been in a season of waiting and looking forward in eager anticipation. The word “Advent” comes from the Latin word adventus, which means “coming” or “visit.” We have been finally ‘visited’ by a new little one from China, Emma Ngoc YeFei Bartholomew. We had been looking with anticipation and longing for 21 months and her coming has been fulfilled August 28th, 2017. While Alex, our first adopted daughter, seemed to be the ideal little girl, we somehow felt we had ‘used up’ all of God’s blessings on us in our yearning and desire for a second little one, equally as sweet. While this is of course nonsense, we did choose, again, special needs children from China. To make a long story short, while we were getting checked out by the Chinese doctors in their health department, the same ENT who evaluated Alex 5 years ago, grabbed Emma’s arm while looking at her and said in very broken English with one raised eyebrow, “This girl special need? What is the need?” To date, we see no needs either physically or emotionally. She is perfect looking and perfectly affectionate (but a tad more spunky than Alex was.) A season of waiting has also been upon our family in the form of governmental paperwork and passports for Emma. While adopting Alex 5 years ago, we were home for a year, so the paperwork wait didn’t matter. But we had been hoping to get back to Honduras very soon after finishing the long process of adopting Emma. This was not the case. Arriving home Sept 10 with Emma, we left December 12 for Honduras. Social security cards, passports, naturalization papers, US birth certificates, as well as just this past week post-election unrest and protests in Honduras has caused us much delay. Delay that in hindsight has probably served to facilitate our close bonding with Emma, which all adoption workers advise to not rush, and to develop patience and trust that we would be able to return to Honduras at some point. Waiting for a time to return to Vietnam for Huyen’s family has also finally come. Huyen’s father, John Tranberg, went home to Jesus almost 4 years ago. He wished to be buried in Vietnam where he grew up and lived the first half of his life. As a family, we will go with Huyen’s sisters and mom and niece to where her parents lived many many years ago to do this. While there, Huyen’s uncle who is in his 70’s is getting married for the first time! Our time of mourning will be balanced a bit with a celebration. Our work at the Honduras hospital, has of course just started up again with Huyen taking OB calls. Tim will begin seeing patients a week after returning (see below pictures). It is quite hard to get pictures of Huyen’s patients as well as her at work being that she does OB. We live now near the ocean such that everything rapidly deteriorates from salt air or rots from the humidity. Oh for a little Sahara Desert climate! Merry Christmas to you all. Let’s make this next year a time to show Christ’s love to others in ways that makes us quite a bit uncomfortable. Thank you to all our supporters. Tim, Huyen, Alex and Emma [email protected] https://shop.storypeople.com/products/regular-life- prints?variant=42986658704. Brian Andreas Art &The Studio Story People Some patients we’ve seen and are awaiting surgery. Two basal cell cancers and one boy with a microtic (too small) ear .