Song for Sunday: Heaven's Love Reaching Down

A letter from Santa

In case you missed it in yesterday's photos, Big Sister got her "Barbie I Can Be Pet Vet" from Santa. But there was a catch...

The last few days before Christmas, she started having a really hard time behaving. And reminders about Santa (and our Elf on the shelf, Buddy) were not effective in helping her turn that behavior around. She didn't seem to care that Santa hadn't yet delivered her gifts; as far as she was concerned, they were already in the bag.

After a big temper tantrum right before bed on Christmas Eve, we decided we had to do something. I struggled for a long time with what it would be, then finally I had an idea. I talked to Santa, and (along with gifts) he left this letter:

Dear [Big Sister],

I have heard very wonderful things about you from your Elf friend, Buddy. He says you are a kind and loving Big Sister and a very sweet little girl. I’ve been watching and have seen this to be true. I’ve also seen how well you listen and help at school. You are a very good friend.

Buddy and I, along with your Mom and Dad, have also seen a few not very wonderful things. You have had some trouble listening to your parents, and sometimes you even hurt them or other people in your family. We all know that you are too sweet to act like this, and we are counting on you to control your behavior.

I only deliver toys once a year, and I did not want you to miss out on the toy you really wanted this year, the Barbie Pet Vet. But you have not been working hard to earn it the last few days. You have to keep trying to be a kind and loving person, not just at Christmas but all year long. I am counting on you to work hard to try to earn a Barbie Pet Vet toy.

If you go and look behind your daddy’s chair, you will see a surprise. It isn’t yours to keep, not yet. I understand that you sometimes use charts to help your behavior, so I am leaving you a special one from my workshop. When it is filled in all the way, the Barbie Pet Vet will be yours to keep. If you chose not to try to earn it, you can take it to share with another child.

I am trusting your Mom & Dad to know when you can mark your chart, and also to know if it is time to take the Barbie Pet Vet to someone else. But I know you are a good girl, so I don’t think that will have to happen.

Thank you for the cookies and the celery for Rudolph. I know you had to hurry to bed, but your mom put them out because she knew you wanted to share them with us. You are always very thoughtful. It is one of the many things people love about you.

Enjoy your gifts and work hard to keep the special one. But don’t forget that Christmas is about much more than gifts! God gave us the most important gift when He sent Jesus. I just give people gifts hoping they’ll remember about God’s Christmas gift to the whole world- Baby Jesus.

Ho Ho Ho! Merry Christmas!
Love, Santa


When Big Sister came downstairs on Christmas morning, she looked everywhere for the one toy she had been expecting. We had to remind her that Christmas was not just about gifts and that we were going to be very thankful for what we received, no matter what it was. We only had to tell her once. She opened up her other gifts with real excitement and gratitude, even though I am sure she was terribly disappointed.

Then came time to read the letter.

She was SO excited. And she has been trying to work hard to be deserving of the gift.

We ALL received gifts on Christmas. And we've all been given the most important Gift of Christmas, too. Seeing Big Sis makes me wonder- do I work hard to live up to the Gift I could never really deserve?

Merry Christmas!

Have a day filled with family and friends as you celebrate the birth of the King!

Creator created

This is the last of the prayer experience stations I'll post. At this station, we made a Christmas tree ornament. I suppose the contemplation could take place during any creative process- perhaps even assembling Christmas gifts ( of which I am doing a lot this Christmas Eve.)

Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn't think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human.
It was an incredibly humbling process.
Philippians 2: 4-8 (The Message)

At this station, you'll find a pattern and pieces to make an ornament for your Christmas tree. As you use your hands to create something, think about Christ, through Whom the Bible says all things were made. (John 1).

Consider that the Mighty Creator of all things became one of His created.

Even more amazingly, think of the Most High taking the form of a tiny, pink & wrinkly, helpless newborn baby. Our Maker needed someone to change His diapers. The One who created the entire world needed someone to carry Him from place to place.

The God who holds us in the palm of His hand needed someone to hold him carefully and support His head.

As you, created in His image, create in His image, thank Him for what it means that Christ joined creation to change the world.

This is how we do it:

Have a "quiet" evening watching Christmas specials, that is.

I haven't seen this much kid-climbing since I took summer campers to the rock wall downtown.

Sipping hot chocolate and snuggling under blankets with the fire going?
Maybe next year.

The perfect gift...

This is another of the prayer experience stations from our gathering a few weeks ago. The other two I've posted so far can be found here & here.

"What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd I would bring a lamb
If I were a wise man I would do my part,
Yet what I can I give Him,
Give my heart."
~Christina Rossetti

Priscilla Shirer tells a story of her two young boys sitting around the tree one Christmas morning, surrounded by all of their new toys and gifts. Her husband, trying to have a spiritual moment, asked the boys why we celebrated Christmas.

Her older son answered, "Because it is Jesus' birthday."

Her youngest looked at the gifts all around him and replied, "Am I Jesus?!"

We know we are not Jesus. But perhaps we have fooled ourselves into thinking this season is about us, about what we will be getting or giving, about how we will decorate, or about the juggling of all of our social obligations. At the very least, our attention is divided as we run busily from one Christmas event to the next, and spend time and effort trying to find the perfect gift for everyone on our list.

Spend some time in silence, pondering the Gift of Christmas. Ask God to reveal to you something you can give Him for Christmas. Perhaps you will be giving up something. Or perhaps you will be committing to do something for Him or one of His children. Maybe you just need to carve out the gift of time. Perhaps there is something He has been asking you to give for a while now.

What better time to give yourself to Christ than on His birthday, the day He became the most important, perfect Gift we will ever receive?

"Helping..."

This...

... is why it took me so long to get my Christmas decorations up.

And also why it didn't really matter how particular I was in their placement.

Before a certain fabulous aunt of mine adds to her running list of reasons to call Child Protective Services (she's kidding- I think) let me just say that 1) I was with Little Sister the entire time she was undoing all of my hard work checking out the tree and 2) in retrospect, I should have nipped this in the bud instead of encouraging her with my picture snapping, because I had to be especially vigilant every day afterward to be sure she didn't sneak off to strangle herself with beads, and because my tree will never look the same.

Song for Sunday: "And the world didn't know"

I heard this song on the radio while finishing some Christmas shopping.
It's one of my new favorites.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

We've been busily preparing for the holidays around here!

Last weekend, my parents came for a visit. Nana helped us make delicious Christmas cookies. Big Sister helped decorate them.

She especially liked the sprinkles. And creating a freaky interesting face on her gingerbread man. (By the way, it was sugar cookie dough. Do you still call it a gingerbread man?!)

We also worked on adorable little ornaments for our family & friends. I really want to upload a picture, but I also want to let them be a surprise for Christmas. Maybe after...

On Sunday, Big sister had her first ever solo in a children's choir program. The lighting in the sanctuary was a little dim so our pictures didn't turn out, but she did a wonderful job. The entire evening was magical- the children's & youth choirs, the handbells, the congregation singing carols. I teared up more than once.

Afterward, we tried to take pictures of the girls in their Christmas dresses, to put in our Christmas cards. A frustrating time was had by all.

The best picture we got was this one below. I wasn't sure about it, so I vowed to see how our pictures with Santa went before deciding on a card photo.

I didn't have to wait long. Monday was unseasonably warm, so we thought we would take advantage of it and head up to Rock City. We've gone there to see the lights and Santa every year since Big Sister was born. This year they actually changed a few things.

Including Santa.

Have I ever told you that I am not all that big on change?

I'm not. The old Santa scene was in a tent, with lovely trees and a sweet little bench. I especially liked it because it wasn't your typical old man living room, complete with ugly armchair, like most studios and department stores I remember growing up. Even last year, when they put Santa in a comfy (yet old man-esque) armchair, they still had trees and snow. It was more "Cozy North Pole" than "Stuffy Papaw's House."

Guess where the NEW Santa sits?

And it didn't help my opinion of him that new Santa did not do much to set our toddler at ease. Instead of trying to describe it, I'll let the picture speak for itself:

Yep. That's the official photo. We bought another one, too, with Little Sis looking a little less terrified. But if you want to see the true experience, you can't beat that little gem right there. By the way, props to Big Sister. She tried to hold her baby sister's hand and reassure her. She was so overwhelmed with the experience she barely got to tell Santa about the cursed Barbie I Can Be Pet Vet...

When we were finished, Little Sister actually seemed a little less afraid. But (and maybe I just felt this way because I admittedly didn't give new Santa much of a chance after seeing my daughter scream in his arms in his sparsely decorated living room...) we were rushed through and she didn't get to go back and try again.

The rest of our time at Rock City was great. Big Sister was old enough this year to remember some parts from last year and to really enjoy herself.

Little Sister was really into the outdoor element of it all. She kept saying "outside" or "tree" or "water" or "touch it." Also, she did NOT, under any circumstances want to be carried. If oen of us picked her up, we had to wrestle to hold on to her, which is not ideal in damp, narrow, rocky places.
Once, Daddy put her on his shoulders (a placement that lasted all of thirty seconds) and a few minutes later we looked down to see Little Sister WALKING along the path with one shoe completely gone. The girls and I had to stop and hang out with an elf named Peppermint while Daddy backtracked to locate the shoe. When we got home, I had to throw Little Sis's tights away!

We've had other special Christmas moments this past week as well- the little kinds like sitting together and watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas or watching Big Sis hang out with her classmates at her school party or singing Jingle Bells in the car. As we enter into this last week before Christmas, I'm hoping to make time for lots more.

AND, I'm wishing you & your loved ones lots of Christmas moments- big or small- too!

This little light of mine...

Here is a second prayer experience station. Confused? See previous post.

"The people walking in darkness have seen a great light;on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned."
Isaiah 9:2

"The Word gave life to everything that was created,and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can ever extinguish it."
John 1:4-5 (New Living Translation)

Candles.

We light them on the advent wreath each Sunday. We place them all over our homes to give off a warm holiday glow and make the room smell like pine trees and holly or a delicious Christmas dessert. We give them as gifts.

Tonight, think about light. Lighting a single candle immediately dispels darkness. It shines on everything around it, making invisible things visible. Darkness, on the other hand, can do nothing to extinguish the light
from even the tiniest tea-light.

John called Jesus the Light. But Jesus passed that label on to us- the light of the world. As you light a candle tonight and think about the depths of that comparison, ask the Light to reveal the hidden things in your heart. Ponder new ways to reflect His light in the darkness around you.

Every time you hear a bell ring...

A few weeks ago, Hope & I put together a prayer experience for our monthly Mom's gathering at church. We wanted it to be a time to be quiet and contemplative amidst the Advent craziness. I wrote some devotional thoughts and activities for prayer stations based on some common things we see (and take for granted) this time of year. Since I've had a hard time slowing down myself, I don't have a new blog post, so I thought I'd share some of the thoughts from that night. The first is about Christmas bells.


"Ding dong merrily on high,
in heav'n the bells are ringing”


“Hark how the bells, sweet silver bells,
all seem to say throw cares away.”



“I praise the true God, I call the people, I assemble the clergy;
I bewail the dead, I dispense storm clouds, I do honour to feasts.”
Common inscription on medieval church bells

Bells play a big role in Christmas celebrations: many carols mention them, Salvation Army volunteers ring them, Clarence says every time we hear one, and angel gets his wings, and Santa & his reindeer are supposed to have them on the sleigh. But what does any of that really have to do with Jesus?

In church history, bells are traditionally rung when someone dies, and it is said that they ring out on Christmas day to celebrate the birth of our Savior and the impending death of Satan and sin.

Bells have also been used for centuries to announce the beginning of worship services in churches all over the world. Some say this began to call sleeping monks to prayer. At Christmas time, perhaps the bells ring to break the slumber of those long-awaiting the coming of the Messiah.

There is only one real reference to bells in scripture. God told Moses to include bells along the hem of the robe worn by the high priest Aaron: “Aaron must wear it when he ministers. The sound of the bells will be heard when he enters the Holy Place before the LORD and when he comes out, so that he will not die.” Exodus 28:35

Hebrews 7 tells us that Jesus is now our High Priest, and that His sacrifice made all others unnecessary. How appropriate that we ring bells to celebrate the time when our High Priest stepped out of Heaven to join us on earth and offer the ultimate sacrifice!

Ask God to help you hear reminders of His gift of victory over sin
every time you hear a bell ring.

Photo by Karen Barefoot, from stock.xchng

Ni Hao and God bless...

This morning, Little Sister and I were watching an episode of The Wonder Pets we had saved on our DVR. We were doing this because Big Sister was eating the last piece of Nana's yummy coffee cake. Whenever Little Sis sees anything yummy, she becomes determined to eat it. She'll say, first sweetly, "Cake! Nummy nummy!" but if there is any sort of delay her voice gets gruff. "CAKE!" she will half-bellow, half-growl. Offering anything else as an alternative is futile- it will be thrown from the high chair until she gets her "nummy nummy."

SO, since there was only one piece of CAKE! left, and since Little Sister has already eaten her weight in it this weekend, we let Big Sis have it. In secret. While Little Sister and I watched tv in the other room.

After Wonder Pets was over, Moose A. Moose led us through a matching game, and there was a short clip about Max & Ruby celebrating Thanksgiving. (This was when I realized that Daddy had selected an episode from the DVR, since surely Noggin would not be this behind in their programming).

After that came a "Say it two ways" segment with Kai Lan. We looked at a yellow hat and she told us that in English we say "hat" and that in Chinese it is called a "Mao Zi."

And then, clear as a bell, Little Sister said, "Bless you."

Song for Sunday: everything

I sang this tonight at our evening service of Christmas music.

A Baby Changes Everything
written by Wiseman, Wiseman & Nichols
performed by Faith Hill

Teenage girl, much too young
Unprepared for what's to come
A baby changes everything
Not a ring on her hand
All her dreams, and all her plans
A baby changes everything
A baby changes everything

The man she loves she's never touched
How can she keep his trust?
A baby changes everything
A baby changes everything
And she cries, oh she cries

She has to leave, go far away
Heaven knows, she can't stay
A baby changes everything
She can feel its coming soon
But there's no place; there's no room
A baby changes everything
A baby changes everything
And she cries, oh she cries

Shepherds all gather round
Up above, a star shines down
A baby changes everything
Choir of angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King"
A baby changes everything
A baby changes everything

Everything, everything, everything
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Hallelujah!Hallelujah!

My whole life has turned around
I was lost, but now I'm found
A baby changes everything
A baby changes everything

WINNER!

Before I announce the winner, here is how she/he was selected...

I numbered your comments on the giveaway post 1-7 (throwing out my comments in between). Next the comments on the "pitiful" post made up numbers 8-14. Then I went to random.org and put in 1 and 14 for the min & max. The first random number generated was...

...2...

...which means the winner is...

Hope!

Congratulations! Your prize (two fun little items from Coyote Cove, an Envirosax shopping bag, and yummy chocolate from World Next Door) will be delivered soon (probably by me since I will most likely see you in the next few days, but I promise this is a legitimate random winner).

I hope you enjoy it!

Oops!! Giveaway Reminder!

I was supposed have already picked a winner for my giveaway.

But I hate to end it without one last little reminder...

SO- I will be assigning numbers to all of the comments and heading over to random.org TONIGHT at 11:00 PM EST.

Be sure to head over to this post and leave your comment.

Even if the gifts don't sound like things you'll use (although, really, who would pass up chocolate?!) they make great, socially responsible, stocking stuffers.

I'll post a winner sometime tomorrow morning.

For better or worse...

Sorry I haven't blogged in a few days! I'm still working on the results of my giveaway, about which I'll be posting soon. But in the meantime, Monday was a special day in our house...



It has been seven years since my hubby & I said, "I do."

I've always heard things about the seventh year of marriage- how hard it is, how it is often a time when people break their vows with infidelity or divorce.

If the year before one's first anniversary is the first year of marriage, then I suppose this has been our seventh year. I don't know if that's how they* count it, but it makes sense to me.

And you know what? This has probably been one of the roughest years for us. Call it self-fulfilling prophecy, or coincidence, but the social sciences student in me says that sometimes the evidence speaks for itself. The seventh year, for people like us (and I am guessing there are many) is hard. Just look:

We have two kids now, neither one in school full-time. We're living on one (and a quarter) income. We are not close (in proximity) to our family for support. We have lived in our home just long enough for things to stop working and cost us time and money to fix, but not long enough to have finished the minor renovations we've been working on since we moved in. We have the stupidest (though dearest) pets on earth. We have very little time without responsibilities to our job, children, home, church, etc. and when we do, we have too much media all around us demanding our attention away from what actually matters.

Aaand... We both turned 30 this year. I think this one is one of the biggest factors. We've started to evaluate our lives differently- asking things like "what am I doing that is meaningful and will make a lasting impact? How does this thing I am doing/buying/watching/whatever(!) actually matter?"

And then you realize that as a thirty-year-old with jobs and a mortgage and two kids and pets and car payments that you (and by you I mean me) are a little, well, settled in. And on a really bad day, some might even say stuck.

For many, the reaction to all of this is wanting out. They think that their dissatisfaction is about who they married or what that person has become. They think of the things they could have done and resent the direction their life has actually taken. They look for someone else to blame. And then they look for something new.

I know that sounds harsh- not exactly the kind of thing they put on wedding invitations or anniversary cards. But I think that people need to know this sort of thing happens more than we'd like to admit- especially in the church. Otherwise, people use movies and fairytales as a comparison. And then they think they are the only ones in the world to ever wake up one day and feel like all the sparkly-sappy-love-magic has rubbed right off, or that it is a "sign" that something else is out there, because surely there is truth to that whole "happily ever after" thing...

And there is... but it's a lot more about the "ever after" part than we make it. And it's more about frame of mind than magic sparks or good things happening.

I can only speak for myself, but after lots of heart to hearts with my husband on this matter, I'm pretty sure he feels the same. We've come to realize that in many of the moments when we are angriest with each other (and there have been many) we are really angry with ourselves. We are both the most wonderful and terrible of idealists. This means we have big dreams, and sometimes even bigger disappointments.

It has taken us seven years, and it will probably take us 70 more, but slowly we are finding ways to furiously pursue some dreams and to wait contentedly while others drift just out of reach. We are praying for patience with each other and with this stage of our lives. We are praying for courage and wisdom to obey God and have right priorities. We are trying to break bad habits. We are trying to write a meaningful story (or better, yet, to allow the Author & Perfector of our Faith to write one for us.)

It isn't about wanting out. It has become about looking in.

See, changing partners when things get tough isn't the answer. It's not even close to being the answer. It's like changing socks when your feet stink. It might feel better, or fresher, at first. But pretty soon, the stench is coming back. Because it wasn't the socks that were the problem. At least not all on their own.

And sometimes, in the seventh year of marriage, life stinks. We went from celebrating our anniversary in New York two years ago to celebrating in Olive Garden with our kids. And we chose that because it had been more than a week since we were all together in the evening.

Life can be stressful and exhausting. And if I expect my husband to be the antidote to a crummy life, he surely will fail. And then our marriage will follow suit.

But if I expect him just to be my companion, or -even better- my chance to sacrificially love & serve someone like Christ does me (like in Sacred Marriage), we just might make it after all.

So...

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, honey.

I love you more today than ever before. Not just the cute-and -nauseating-magic- ooey-gooey kind of love, but the deeper-more-powerful-weathered-the-storms-strong kind of love. Thanks for putting up with me on those days I forget everything I've articulated above. You're all I could ever hope for in a husband and more.








*I don't really care because I don't even know who they are...

Daddy the DJ and Big Sister's Stage Debut

This past weekend, Daddy & Big Sister performed in our church production of Uncle Phil's "No Room at the Diner." It was a cute interactive dinner theater set in the 1950's.


Hubby played P.J. the dj. He did a great job with a huge part, and looked cute in his white t-shirt and black leather jacket. I did have big crushes on Danny & Kenickie (okay, and maybe the Fonz a little, too) when I was a little younger.


Big Sister helped out in the "improvised" Nativity towards the end. She was dressed as an angel and sang the first line of "Away in a Manger" until the rest of the group joined in. She was darling.

She loved being a part of the production. After her part last night (the third performance) I waved at her and held my arms out to hug her and invite her into my lap. She waved at me, then proceeded to walk right past me, to the spotlight platform. Apparently, at every other performance, she sat with Mr. Tony. I think that was about as much a part of performing for her as actually being on stage. Mommy would have to wait until afterward, with the rest of the fans.

She became such a part of the cast that I started (lovingly) referring to her as the mascot. People in the play that I didn't even know she knew were coming up to her, patting her on the head, teasing her and asking her if she wanted to go with them to play. She ate it up.

She even got some of them to help her collect all of the fake snow- a challenge I gave her to help pass the time while she waited on Daddy while he helped strike the set.

Daddy & Big Sis ought to be very proud of themselves. They also ought to be exhausted. In fact, Big Sister is napping away as I type this.

Maybe she'll take a few more naps this week... hmm...maybe we should sign her up for a few more productions!

For all of you relatives wondering, the "official" video camera ran out of batteries (I know, right?!) but there were a few other families taping the show. We'll try to round up a copy to bring to Ohio for Christmas.

Song for Sunday: "Wherever you find love"

It Feels Like Christmas
From The Muppet Christmas Carol

It's in the singing of a street corner choir
It's going home and getting warm by the fire
It's true wherever you find love
It feels like Christmas

A cup of kindness that we share with another
A sweet reunion with a friend or a brother
In all the places you find love
It feels like Christmas

It is the season of the heart
A special time of caring
The ways of love made clear

It is the season of the spirit
The message if we hear it
Is make it last all year

It's in the giving of a gift to another
A pair of mittens that were made by your mother
It's all the ways that we show love
That feel like Christmas

A part of childhood we'll always remember
It is the summer of the soul in December
Yes, when you do your best for love
It feels like Christmas

It is the season of the heart
A special time of caring
The ways of love made clear

It is the season of the spirit
The message if we hear it
Is make it last all year

It's in the singing of a street corner choir
It's going home and getting warm by the fire
It's true, wherever you find love
It feels like Christmas

It's true, wherever you find love
It feels like Christmas

This video isn't the best quality, but it's such a cute song...

White...Wet... Wonderful