Christmas is my favorite time of the year! I love the music. I love the presents. I love the squeals of delight that come from the mouth of kiddos (and grown-up kiddos!). I love the preparation. I love the food. I love the decorations. I love the shopping. I love the trees. I love the candy canes. I love the JOY. I love the games. I love family. I love friends. But even more than all of this, I love Jesus. He truly is the very best gift of all!! And CHRISTmas is all about celebrating His birth. In honor of His birthday, we like to get a birthday cake and sing Happy Birthday to Jesus. It is a pretty sweet celebration. Here are some pictures of the things I love about Christmas...
I love that Jesus came to this earth to save us. I love that He is coming again. I love that I can eagerly anticipate His return!! I love that He loves each and every person and that no matter where you have been, the blood that He shed on the cross is enough to cover it. I love the HOPE that the baby Jesus brought to the world. I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!
"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:6
God gave us the gift of everlasting life through faith in His Son Jesus.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life" John 3:16
"But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep have gone astray, each one of us has turned his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all." Isaiah 53:5-6
Thank you Jesus! Thank you for being my Savior!
Is He yours, my friend?
Merry, Merry Christmas!!
**Brent is BIG into making birthday banners. This morning he got up early and made one for Jesus...only he made a big mistake in spelling. Did you notice? And he did it twice.=) Oh my, did we ever have a GOOD laugh about this!!
Every year I let the kids open the Christmas presents that come in the mail a little early. And today they got to open the ones they received from grandma and grandpa! So this post is a glimpse of what it looked like for them to open these super FUN gifts!
I think the Transformers were a BIG HIT! Thank you mom and dad for the gifts! The kids LOVED them all!;-) We love you! Merry Christmas!
I will leave you with a picture of the girls in their new Minnie Mouse outfits...
This has been a hard week. Really hard. Our children have been disrespectful and defiant. We have been sick. Our schedule with school, work, and life has left us with little time for refreshment or quiet. We also have the added issue of financial challenges. All of these things put a strain on our marriage. And it seems as though in these times I am reminded of where Brent and I have been instead of where God is now taking us.
I have been tired. I have been crabby. I have been short with my man. I have felt overwhelmed. I have been sad. I have been mad. I have been confused. What do I do with all that?
This life of being a mom is the most heart wrenching, frustrating, beautiful, wonderful, crazy, overwhelming, confusing, stretching, humbling, shocking, awesome life, one I could have not possibly imagined before walking in these shoes. This week I have been broken. Totally broken. On the edge of feeling like giving up. And man can those feelings be overwhelming.
But God…
Tonight, as I went out to run with my boys, “Never Let Go” by David Crowder Band came on my IPod. In that moment, the Lord reminded me that today, December 11, one year ago, our sweet Abby Grace had her neurosurgery. How could I have forgotten today? That was a hard day and hard weeks leading up to that day. I was broken then too.
But God…
In that moment reminded me of His faithfulness. He reminded me that he has never let go and He is not going to let go now either. He is faithful and good. He didn’t let go 6 years ago either. On December 11, 2002 we brought our oldest son Drew home from St. Mary’s Hospital in Rochester, MN. after he had brain surgery. He was 19 months old at the time. In the midst of the fire, of the pain, of the hardships, of the trials, of the brokenness, of the feelings, He never lets go. He can handle it all.
And this causes me to lift my hands and my voice in worship and adoration for my King Jesus. You know why? Because I can’t. I can’t handle the pain of my past. I can't handle the mistakes of my past. I can’t handle brain surgery. I can’t handle babies having neurosurgery (and we’ve had 3 babies have neurosurgery). I can’t handle strong willed children (I think I may have 3 of those too…2 for sure). I can’t handle not knowing how everything is going to be taken care of or work out (There are too many of these for me to put a number on). I can’t change my self. I can’t change my kids. I can’t change my husband. I can’t.
But God…
CAN. And He tells me in His word that "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Philippians 4:13 For anyone who has ever thought or said, "Wow, she is just so strong"...please know that the strength to even breath in some of the situations we have faced came from knowing Jesus. It was His strength. He also tells us in His word that "When we are weak He is strong." 2 Corinthians 12:10
God specializes in making the impossible possible. He did the impossible in sending His son Jesus here to this fallen, broken world. Jesus, the One who knew no sin, died on the cross and God did the impossible by raising Him to life again by the power of the Holy Spirit. His death conquered sin. He is our remedy. The Only remedy.
One year has passed since Abby's surgery, 6 years since we brought Drew home from his. I was today broken hearted, same as I was one year ago...just a different kind of brokenness. “Life” is often painful...different kinds of pain. I can have joy (and I am not talking about a happy feeling all the time, I am talking about a joy that comes just from knowing Jesus) in the midst of pain, because I know the remedy. He offers life, everlasting life. Jesus Christ is the remedy for all of it. He is the one who can save us. He is the One who goes into the fire with you. He is the One has come and is coming again. He IS the Remedy. What hope and peace and JOY this brings to life my life.
And it just so happened He has a birthday coming up. Won’t you join the celebration?
I hope to leave you with the song “Remedy” by David Crowder Band. The video itself isn't why I posted this...just listen to the words. (You'll have to turn the music off on the side first.) Friends, Jesus truly is the remedy for whatever it is that you might be facing. I believe that with all my heart. My prayer is that you will too.
Thank you Jesus for being my Remedy. Thank you that you love us and care for us and never leave us. Thank you for coming, for dying, for being raised from the dead, for for conquering death and sin, and for promising to come again. I love you. Thank you for Abby Grace. Thank you for Drew. Thank you for Sam. Thank you for Lizzy. Thank you for Brent. They are all miracles.
Last weekend we had a great time celebrating Lizzy's 3rd Birthday! It is hard to believe she is 3 already!! Her day started with the presents by the door, singing, balloons...
What she REALLY wanted for her birthday was "Hello Kitty Music from Costco". So that is what we got for her. It is a little Hello Kitty CD player. We shop at Costco a couple of times a month and for the last few weeks she would say as we passed this..."This is what a want for my Hello Kitty party. I want Hello Kitty Music for my Hello Kitty Party. Okay mom? Do you think that would be okay?" When she opened it on her birthday morning she exclaimed..."It's the Hello Kitty Music from COSTCO!" =) Here is a picture of it...
Later in the afternoon, she followed in her brothers footsteps and took her family out to dinner at Chuck E Cheese's with her birthday money. It was the 29th, the Saturday after Thanksgiving, a VERY BUSY, VERY POPULATED day of the year for eating establishments and shoppers, but Lizzy really wanted to go so we braved the crowd and had a fun evening with the Big mouse, pizza and games once again. Here we are singing to her...
Thank you Lizzy for the birthday treat for us all!
And then came Sunday, her Hello Kitty Birthday Party. Wow, did we ever talk about this A LOT leading up the the big event. Right before the party we gave her another little gift, a Hello Kitty outfit! Now she was ready to go! We were all set...we had Hello Kitty Balloons, our dear friend Barbie made her an adorable Hello Kitty cake, we had a Hello Kitty pin the flower on the stem game, we had hello kitty party favors and last but not least we had the Hello Kitty Music from Costco! On the menu was Cheese pizza, olives and gummy worms at Lizzy's request...I did throw in some extras for the rest of us!=) It was a fun night and we feel so blessed to have had so many great people join us to help celebrate Lizzy's life! THANK YOU!
I hope to make a little video recap of the party...so some more pictures will hopefully be coming soon! My man has the computer most all of the time these days...he has quite the load of papers he is working on, so be a little while before I get it done! =)
Lizzy, you are a dear, sweet, spirited, caring, loving, passionate little girl. And I love you A LOT!
Thank you Lord for the gift of children and getting to enjoy life through their eyes.
Today Lizzy is 3! What a fun, spirited, lively, sweet young girl she is! Here is a little video I made of her last year of life...it is to her current and long standing favorite song "O Praise Him" by David Crowder Band. You may want to pause the music on the side before you watch the video. I will share more about our celebration later!=)
Well, I am happy to say that Sammy's party was a BLAST! He was so encouraged and had a great time with friends from the Swiss Tower. Here is a video clip highlighting the night...
Today we celebrated my man's 36th birthday! It's truly amazing to see how God has changed our hearts and our lives. Thank you Brent for being a loving, kind, hard working servant of the Lord. We love and appreciate ALL that you do for us! Happy, Happy birthday my dear, sweet, man! I hope we celebrate many more together!=)
On Wednesday night, Sam took us all out for a fun birthday dinner at Chuck E Cheese's! He used some of his birthday money and treated us all to pizza and games! We had a fun time together as a family. One of my favorite memories of the night was Sam playing Skiball...be on the look out if you are around this little guy...I'll let you see for yourself... Oh did this make me laugh! And I did have to have Brent keep Abby FAR away!=) We also have a little video clip of singing Happy Birthday...we are saving his BIG cake for his pirate party on Sunday... And here are some photos from the night... What a fun time we had! Thanks for taking us out to Chuck E Cheese's Sam...We LOVE you MUCH!
WOW! Sam is SIX today! What a wonderful, caring, loving, forgiving, and handsome boy the Lord has blessed us with. Here is a little picture video we put together of some of the highlights of his last year of life. The song "Made to Love You" by TobyMac is his current favorite...so you may want to turn off the music so you can hear it!
Sam, it truly is a JOY to have you as a part of our family. We love you and look forward to celebrating the rest of today and on Sunday with your friends! Happy, happy birthday my dear, sweet Sam!
Last week my mom and dad were able to come and spend 6 days with us! We had a fun time playing and spending time together. Here are some of the "highlights"...
These are just a small sampling of the time we had together. We went to the Arboretum, the Science Museum, and the Rainforest Cafe to celebrate the November Birthdays. We played baseball, Doodle Dice, pool, and lots of Yahtzee. We also shared a cake for the 4 birthdays we celebrate in November! We had a very nice time and look forward to when they will come back again!
Thank you dad and mom for your love, kindness and generousity. We LOVE you much!
Friday is Family Pizza Night at the Jackson home! In the summer months this usually involves Swimming, but it the fall and winter months it becomes our game night. Tonight the game was Yahtzee and Abby was the life of the party around here. She just LOVED rolling the dice and she had all of us "rolling" laughing watching her! Here is a little video clip of it...
We had fun making funny faces too...
Wow did we laugh tonight and did that ever feel good. I so ENJOY my children. They are seriously too much fun. And it was fun watching them ENJOY each other tonight as well. We definitely need this in our life! Thank you beautiful family for the great fun we had together tonight! I LOVE YOU!
And thanks to those of you who wished me a Happy Birthday! Maybe tomorrow I will get a chance to post some of the pictures from Wednesday!=)
The following is a video that I made about a year and a half ago. It went along with a testimony that Brent and I gave at Faith Evangelical Free Church for a Valentine Banquet.
WOW! Has the last year and a half brought even more change, trials and joys to our journey in life together. We moved from our home in Grand Forks, sold about 85% of what we owned, had our 4th baby Abby Grace, moved across the country, faced our 4th neurosurgery, have had huge financial challenges and are trying to balance life and seminary! And God has continued to carry and sustain us every step of the way. It is only by His grace that we are celebrating our 12th Anniversary today.
I truly want anyone who reads this to understand that without the Lord Jesus Christ changing our hearts and our lives we would not have much to celebrate today. We stand in awe of our King who has transformed our lives and is currently in the process of turning a marriage that was once filled with pain, deceit, idols and addictions into something truly beautiful. We have great HOPE for the future...because God is not finished with either of us yet. As I said we stand in awe of our King. And what Paul said in 1 Timothy 1:15-16 is certainly true of Brent and I...
"Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners--of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus, might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe one him and receive eternal life."
And we are SO very thankful. Thankful that God intervened in our lives 6 years ago, forever changing our hearts and the legacy that we will leave to our children. Thankful for our dear friends at Faith Evangelical Free Church that reached out in love, that taught us the truth, and that supported our family in the medical trials we have faced. And thankful for all of our family and friends that have prayed for us, loved us, encouraged and supported us over these last 12 years. We are so very grateful!
And now 1 Timothy 1:17 goes on to say... "Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be the honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen."
Amen indeed. And I also want to tell any of you who may read this that think your marriage is hopeless...I have been there. And I have seen God work a miracle in my marriage. He can do the same for yours. I am by no means saying that it won't be painful, it has been hard work talking and walking through the things in our past. It often still is. But I believe it will be worth it and I have seen that our marriage is stronger now than I ever would have though possible. Pray, pray, pray and trust God and watch Him work a miracle in your own life...in His perfect way and His perfect time. I hope this gives you HOPE. Jesus is our Rock...He can be yours too!
Happy Anniversary my dear, sweet, man! Thank you for the beautiful and delicious breakfast you made for me this morning. Thank you for arranging childcare and for borrowing the beautiful linens. I love you. I look forward to the rest of the years the Lord gives us together. I am looking forward to our dinner together tonight too! Thank you for making it a special day.
"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be the glory..." Ephesians 3:20
There they are...our pitcher (for Boston of course), our pirate (Captain Jack Sparrow Himself), our princess and our little Piglet!
Halloween is one of our favorite times of year...I mean who doesn't love to dress up and get loads of candy!!;-) We started our day with painting and carving our pumpkins... We then joined the other kiddos of the Swiss Tower for the annual costume parade around campus...
A little later in the evening we trick-or-treated around the building...
And our last event of the day was the Fall Fun Fest at our church, which I am bummed as I look...we just weren't taking pictures there I guess. We had two busy girls to chase after. We played on slides, in bounce houses, had tons of games and yummy "fair" type fried food...and the only pictures I have of any of it is Lizzy enjoying and dancing with her cupcake from the "Cat walk cupcake game" and Abby standing in the middle...
All in all it was a great day. I was super tired, so I didn't have my usual energy...but I think that all of the kids still had a great time...and I am probably the only one who noticed (well maybe Brent;)).
I hope that you had a Happy Halloween as well!! Until next year...
