Dec 31st Watch Night Service !

We did not get to the School on time for the service. The Emirates National School in Sharjah had given space for our Church to conduct the watch night service. As per schedule, we were to be there by 9:00 PM. And the traffic in Dubai was horrendous, we were held in the traffic for hours...it took almost more than half an hour to reach to the end of Garhoud Bridge...and Benoie took many diversions to see if the alternate roads were any better.

At one signal, there were a lot of cars trying to sneak in to that last lane and as always benoie was also behind them, and we saw a cop right in front of us, so he was forced to take another exit back to Dubai, god we were picking on him. It was his night...n Abel was like Momma where are we going. It took almost 5 hours for us to reach the place...We were saying that even a flight to India would not take that long !!!

Abel was irritate with the late night thingy, he goes to bed by 9:30 everyday and wanted Dinner. So we stepped in, Abel sees his friends on the keyboard and is happy that it is song time...
He was cranky but from time to time was cheered with the songs. And before the sermon, they asked families to share their testimony for the year, and said we could cut back time by allowing one person from a home to say, so I let Benoie do the saying. He was showing gestures to see if he could put that on me, as one of the new year message was by him. so, when the pastor called out we both stood up and this lilo would not budge, he wanted Appam and Pappadam(of all the things!!) I tried to give him the snack I had with me...but he didn't want it. Poor thing wanted to sleep.

Nijo's li'l baby Efraim was my life saver for the night, Abel was distracted with the 2 month old and wanted to uncurl his fingers. He kept telling me that "mumma, tis baby is not opening his hand !!"

Then it was the kids turn to do to the stage and say a verse or testimony, and Abel loves the attention and the authority he gets; to hold the mic! He jumped out of the mat and went running. One by one they recited the verses, and when it was Abel's turn this fellow hits his finger twice on the mic, like a pro, and looks at me....I thought if I prompt a bit he would say the rest...he could not hear what I said, so this guy almost took three steps in the front and said "eh, what mumma|.." i could hear laughs ..lol my hero !!

So I said "Blessed are the pure in heart...." hoping he would complete.
Abel looked confident as I said these words...He said "pure in heart ...god"
No one could make anything out of it, but he had us...

During "tithes and offerings" time, he opened my wallet and found a 50 Dh note and said "mumma I want this...." LoL this is the same child who makes sure that we stop by every donation boxes in the malls and drop in something !!

When it was Benoie;s time to give the message, Abel went to the stage (of ocourse no one called him!!!) and started singing with benoie...It was fun to watch, two different guy, one knowing the importance and the relevance of standing in front of a crowd, and the other thinking it is just another one of the times where he gets to sing along daddy !! We could hear abels "yae yae yae" more louder than Benoie's.

I loved the message, it was encouraging and fitted with the present situation around !!

By 2 am we finished the service, took promise verses for the year, and then moved on. Abel's nanny forgot to cut the cake that we made at home. We'd baked 2 cakes for the night..it was a blessing in disguise, we asked the leaders to cut the cake and start the year. We had an early morning dinner ...lol, and Abel had nothing but the samosas, chocholates and chicken, and some cake. Benoie's mom had made "appam" (te sweet version).

When it was time for everyone to leave, abel was like "appacha and ammachi go to sharjah, we will come there tomorrow". He intended to say that "we are going to abu dhabi, u guys please go to sharjah, i will come tomorrow". He didnt kno that our plans were to stay over with them.