merry christmas



This was our first Christmas at home since we moved to Texas.

The children gave me a tripod for Christmas....so we had quite a bit of fun with it.  Megan loved being allowed to take pictures with the camera on the tripod.

 

Ready to go to church Christmas night

Keith is working on training HIS dog.

secret santa revealed

Our 12 days of Christmas wrapped up on Christmas Eve.  We found out then, much to our surprise, that our Secret Santa was a couple from our small group.  We already thought these two were precious.  Now they are all the more dear to us.

For pipers piping...

and last, but not least, twelve drummers drumming

Thank you for making our Christmas more merry!

more days of Christmas

We've had several more little presents left on our doorstep this week.

These were for the swans a-swimming

There was a maid a-milking.

Then one night there was nothing.  We were very sad. 
But the night after that there was a note.  When we saw it, we laughed so hard.


























With the note, were some ladies dancing.

And something for those lords a-leaping.

Thank you, Secret Santa.  We love this!

what I have is what I need

I've been thinking about Christmas presents lately.  I guess that is pretty typical when it is just days before Christmas.  There are a thousand things I'd love to get.  I was really thinking about all those things and I realized something.  There's only one thing I truly need, and I have that already.  Christ.  I'm thankful that I have the one thing I need.

12 days of Christmas

We have a secret santa.  Really.  Since Tuesday, someone has been leaving little presents at our front door every night.  The first night we really didn't get it.  In fact, we really didn't get it.  We just found the pear today.  But on night two, we DID get it.  A package of Turtles was left and then we got it....the twelve days of Christmas.  We don't know who you are, but we are really having fun with this.  And thank you!  We wish you a very Merry Christmas too!

Every night there's a little gift left on a plate like this.

On night one we found this.  Unfortunately we just found the pear today.  It wasn't so pretty any more.

On night two, turtle-doves.

On night three, french hens

On night four, calling birds

Night five, golden rings

Night six, six geese-a-laying

proverbs 15:1

While we were at my parents' house last week, I noticed something.  On their refrigerator amongst the photos of my children, magnetic notepads and other things, there was this Bible verse.

A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.  Proverbs 15:1

This was significant because recently I had noticed how my children were speaking to eachother.  The were getting more and more exasperated in their speech.  They were certainly very quick to get angry with eachother.  That's when I realized where they were getting this from...me.

Often I have struggled with impatience and being quick to anger.  I decided that we need to work on learning this verse during our Christmas break from AWANAs.  So we started this morning. 

The more we said this verse, the more I really thought about what it said. 
A soft answer turns away WRATH.  A harsh word stirs up anger.
From Merriam-Webster.com
Wrath:  strong vengeful anger or indignation.


If you think about that.  A soft answer does more than a harsh word.  It's more powerful.  It turns away strong vengeful anger. 

I asked the children what kind of home we wanted. Do we want an angry home or a gentle and soft home? They were all agreed about it. We want a soft and gentle home.  We want our home to turn away strong vengeful anger at the door.  To not even let it in.

So that's what we all are working this Christmas.  We are memorizing this verse to equip ourselves for those moments when we begin to stir up anger in eachother.  By doing this, I hope we can stop wrath from even entering in.

billy graham library

Yesterday we visited the Billy Graham Library.  Going into I thought that this was going to be a place we Billy Graham was kind of idolized.  I think there's a fine line there (maybe it's not so fine), probably in all ministry where you can cross over from glorifying God and glorifying man.  I don't think this was the case here, though.  Keith agreed with me.  There was alot of memoribilia from his life.  There were some really neat things!  But everytime we watch a video there of Billy Graham speaking he was pointing us to what Christ has done for us on the cross.  All the children enjoyed it, especially because they provided a scavenger hunt/quiz for the children to fill out.  In the end they showed it to the gift shop desk and received a little gift. 
My favorite part of the tour was the part that focused on his wife, Ruth Bell Graham.  She grew up as a MK in China and thought she would go on to be a missionary in Tibet.  However, God had a different plan for her.  Thanks to the scavenger hunt, we found out that Ruth made her own wedding dress and later cut up her veil to use the lace for a bassinet.  When asked who was the strongest Christian he knew, Billy Graham always answered, "Ruth".  And the very best part for me was learning about a quote that Ruth had hung in her house that said, "Divine service will be conducted here daily".  What a fantastic reminder! 
So, if you are ever in the Charlotte, North Carolina, area, take a few hours out of your day for the Billy Graham Library. 

not very christmas-y

We took pictures for what I thought would be our Christmas card, but I don't think they are very Christmas-y.   So sorry, I don't think these will be going on any cards.    This one is Keith's fave.  My favorite is the last one.  Hope you enjoy them!

sweet, silly boy

Seth thinks this pose is so funny.

Seth is pretending to fish with a stick he found on the bank.