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.
