Thoughts on Christmas

As I grow older, have babies of my own and grow in my knowledge and love of God's word, my thoughts on Christmas have changed. Some of this is influenced also by books I read and songs I hear. One song, Labor of Love by Andrew Peterson, moves me to tears every time I hear it. As a child, being innocent, as all children should be, I, of course, did not have a clue what Mary was going through. I just looked at nativity scenes that showed a woman who looked to be in her 30's kneeling and praying to a fat baby in a very clean manger with a halo around his head and thought that must have been what it looked like, right? Not even close. She was a teenage who had been through a traumatic 9 months, traveled a long journey with her new husband, given birth to her first child in a barn on some smelly hay with an audience of livestock. She was probably in terrible pain, bloody, cold, filthy, scared out of her mind and no clue what to do. Then she has this baby who is the son of God but he looks just like any other baby. There was no earthquake, no royalty, no purple robe to wrap him in, just an occasional moo and neigh. What must she have been thinking? The promised child. The one she and her people had been waiting for for hundreds of years to save them and here they are in a barn, in the dark, in a small town. And who should show up to see the baby but some smelly shepherds saying some angels had told them to come. Shepherds, the riff-raff of society. THAT is who God sent his choir of angels to to proclaim that the Messiah had come. Not to a palace, not to a large city to tell hundreds of people. No, to some shepherds on a hillside in the middle of the night. Think about it. The whole thing is preposterous. BUT this was the grand plan of God put in place before the stars that gave them light that night had even been created. What a picture the whole thing makes because I can see myself so clearly in it. I am the smelly stable, the scared girl, the riff - raff shepherds. I am the one He came to redeem. And He wasn't just any baby, He was "the maker of the moon, the Author of the faith that could make the mountains move." He was the Son of God who grew into a man who hung on the cross in terrible pain, bloody, cold and filthy. But unlike his mother He knew exactly what he was doing. All praise to God with His crazy plan to save riff-raff like me.

Let it Snow, let it snow, let it snow

We woke up to about 3 inches of beautiful snow yesterday. The wind was NOT blowing so it lay peacefully. So much more enjoyable than last time. I don't have pictures of the kids in it because they never went out to play. Like I said before, life goes on even when it snows and we had too much going on. You can't really see it in this picture but my favorite thing to see is the snow in the trees. I love how it lines each limb white on brown or how it lays in the pines like a "flocked" Christmas tree. I would start singing "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas", but we are heading to B'ham where it has been in the 70's for the past week. Oh well, maybe another year.

Paint or not to paint.....

Looks like a dang Christmas card if you ask me. But that is not why I am posting this. We have now been in our house for almost 7 months and I have been prego almost the whole time which means I have done little to make this house mine. I re-did a bathroom and painted the downstairs bedroom and playroom and had carpet put in but have done almost nothing upstairs. I desperately need to paint the den and plan on doing that (I mean, have Matt do it) before the baby comes. I will probably do it a light khaki. This is a dark room with just 1 sliding glass door and no windows. At one end of the room is the fireplace and bookshelves. The big question is do I paint them a lighter color? Some kind of paint treatment, not just plain white. The floors are hardwood laminate and did I mention it is dark in here. So what do y'all think? And no I won't be doing it until after the baby is born.

Our First Wichita Snow

Right after we got up Tuesday morning it began to snow. The kids loved watching it come down. It continued to snow most of the day. The wind was also blowing hard so it was almost impossible to be out in it for more than a few minutes. Knox looks happy hear but he wasn't a big fan. Right after this picture he picked up some snow and said "it's cold, it's cold" and burst into tears. And through his sobs he was saying over and over "go inside, go inside".

When you live outside of the South and it snows, life still goes on. We went to MOPS (a get together for Mothers of Preschoolers) that morning and everyone was there. But I chickened out of driving EC to school. Matt went to work but came home early to enjoy a few minutes of snow and a lot of time in front of the fire.

EC warming up with a cup of hot chocolate. I can't believe my baby is drinking hot chocolate.

Christmas Around the World

Last week Emma Caroline had her school Christmas program. It truly was the best kindergarten program I have seen. They sang a few songs and did hand motions. Everyone sang and everyone did the motions. It was great. The theme was Christmas around the world and they showed video of missionary kids around the world and what Christmas was like for them. Great program. This is EC with her wonderful sweet teacher.