A Mother's Christmas Story

My family got a very special Christmas present this year...a brand new baby! My sister had her 2nd daughter this morning at 7:40 am and she is a beauty - don't you think!?!?

I taught the kids in our church about the Nativity Story this past week and it hit especially close to home with my sister being so close to delivering her own little bundle of joy! What an amazing sacrifice Mary made to bring Jesus to earth for all of us! I don't believe that Mary is one that we should worship - that should be reserved for our God and our Savior. I do, however, believe that she is most worthy of our great respect and appreciation. I mean - not only did she risk her reputation, but she risked her life to bring this little one into the world! Most women in her situation - pregnant and unmarried - were stoned to death in that time. In fact, Joseph deserves a great deal of our thanks and respect, as well, because all it would have taken would have been a word from him and the community would have quickly stoned Mary without a second thought!

In addition - Mary and Joseph made the trek to Bethlehem which would not have been an easy one in the most ideal circumstances - much less with a woman who was 9 months pregnant! I mean - she rode a donkey for heavens sake! I can remember riding in a car being a bit miserable at that point in pregnancy...a donkey had to be nearly unbearable. She slept on the hard ground in the elements throughout the trip. I had an awesome quilted mattress during both of my pregnancies, but comfort was not easy to find even so! And then forget any cravings...she ate what they could carry and cook on a campfire - no midnight milkshake runs for her! To top it all off, she went through the toughest thing a woman can do - labor and delivery in a CAVE! I know some women insist on a natural birth, but Mary was the realest of the real women!! :)

Anyway, I'm thrilled to be a new aunt and so happy for my sister. The whole experience here at Christmas time really gave me a new understanding and respect for Jesus' mother - pretty cool!!

Hope everyone had a very blessed Christmas - I know we did!! :)

A CHRISTmas Story!

http://www.citizenlink.org/Stoplight/A000006125.cfm

Check out this short video...totally in the spirit of Christ's birthday !:)

This makes me happy!! :) Merry Christmas!

I remember my first Christmas adventure with Grandma. I was just a kid. I remember tearing across town on my bike to visit her the day my big sister dropped the bomb: "There is no Santa Claus," she jeered. "Even dummies know that!"

My Grandma was not the gushy kind, never had been. I fled to her that day because I knew she would be straight with me. I knew Grandma always told the truth,and I knew that the truth always went down a whole lot easier when swallowed with one of her "world-famous" cinnamon buns. I knew they were world-famous, because Grandma said so. It had to be true.

Grandma was home, and the buns were still warm. Between bites, I told her everything. She was ready for me. "No Santa Claus?" She snorted..."Ridiculous! Don't believe it. That rumor has been going around for years, and it makes me mad, plain mad!! Now, put on your coat,and let's go."

"Go? Go where, Grandma?" I asked. I hadn't even finished my second world-famous cinnamon bun.

"Where" turned out to be Kerby's General Store,the one store in town that had a little bit of just about everything. As we walked through its doors, Grandma handed me ten dollars. That was a bundle in those days.

"Take this money," she said,"and buy something for someone who needs it. I'll wait for you in the car." Then she turned and walked out of Kerby's.

I was only eight years old. I'd often gone shopping with my mother, but never had I shopped for anything all by myself. The store seemed big and crowded, full of people scrambling to finish their Christmas shopping. For a few moments I just stood there, confused, clutching that ten-dollar bill, wondering what to buy, and who on earth to buy it for. I thought of everybody I knew: my family, my friends, my neighbors, the kids at school, and the people who went to my church.

I was just about thought out, when I suddenly thought of Bobby Decker. He was a kid with bad breath and messy hair, and he sat right behind me in Mrs. Pollock's grade-two class. Bobby Decker didn't have a coat. I knew that because he never went out to recess during the winter. His mother always wrote a note, telling the teacher that he had a cough, but all we kids knew that Bobby Decker didn't have a cough;
he didn't have a good coat.

I fingered the ten-dollar bill with growing excitement. I would buy Bobby Decker a coat! I settled on a red corduroy one that had a hood to it. It looked real warm, and he would like that.

"Is this a Christmas present for someone?" the lady behind the counter asked kindly,
as I laid my ten dollars down.

"Yes, ma'am," I replied shyly. "It's for Bobby."

The nice lady smiled at me, as I told her about how Bobby really needed a good winter coat. I didn't get any change, but she put the coat in a bag, smiled again, and wished me a Merry Christmas.

That evening, Grandma helped me wrap the coat (a little tag fell out of the coat, and Grandma tucked it in her Bible) in Christmas paper and ribbons and wrote, "To Bobby, From Santa Claus" on it. Grandma said that Santa always insisted on secrecy. Then she drove me over to Bobby Decker's house, explaining as we went that I was now and forever officially, one of Santa's helpers.

Grandma parked down the street from Bobby's house, and she and I crept noiselessly and hid in the bushes by his front walk. Then Grandma gave me a nudge. "All right, Santa Claus," she whispered, "get going." I took a deep breath, dashed for his front
door, threw the present down on his step, pounded his door and flew back to the safety of the bushes and Grandma. Together we waited breathlessly in the darkness for the front door to open. Finally it did, and there stood Bobby.

Fifty years haven't dimmed the thrill of those moments spent shivering, beside my Grandma, in Bobby Decker's bushes. That night, I realized that those awful rumors about Santa Claus were just what Grandma said they were, ridiculous. Santa was alive and well, and we were his team. I still have the Bible, with the coat tag tucked inside: $19.95.

May you always have LOVE to share, HEALTH to spare and FRIENDS that care...And may you always believe in the magic of Santa Claus!

Atheists' Holiday...

Love this!! :)

In Florida , an atheist became incensed over the preparation of Easter and Passover holidays. He decided to contact his lawyer about the discrimination inflicted on atheists by the constant celebrations afforded to Christians and Jews with all their holidays while atheists had no holiday to celebrate.

The case was brought before a judge. After listening to the long passionate presentation by the lawyer, the Judge banged his gavel and declared, 'Case dismissed!'

The lawyer immediately stood and objected to the ruling and said, "Your honor, how can you possibly dismiss this case? The Christians have Christmas, Easter and many other observances. Jews have Passover, Yom Kippur and Hanukkah...yet my client and all other atheists have no such holiday!"

The judge leaned forward in his chair and simply said, "Obviously your client is too confused to even know about, much less celebrate his own atheists' holiday!"

The lawyer pompously said, "Your Honor, we are unaware of any such holiday for atheists. Just when might that holiday be, your Honor?"

The judge Said, "Well it comes every year on exactly the same date---April 1st! Since our calendar sets April 1st as 'April Fools Day,' consider that Psalm 14:1 states, 'The fool says in his heart, there is no God.' Thus, in my opinion, if your client says there is no God, then by scripture, he is a fool, and April 1st is his holiday! Now have a good day and get out of my courtroom!!"

Yeah God!

Okay - so it turns out that my whole struggle with my friends' move must have been a little discernment after all! I kept my mouth shut in the interest of not upsetting my friends, but it was tough! Well, guess what - they told us last night that they're not moving right away after all! Turns out the people who offered my friend a job didn't fully disclose his responsibilities up front and it was not something he wanted to do when he got all of the details. Now they're going to wait until summer to move and he's going to take his time finding the right job for he and his family. I suspect that he will find something great with additional income and closer to his home. I just think God had their backs on this one and got them out of it at the last minute before they did something that wasn't best for them. I'm so glad it worked out. They'll still move and I'll still be sad when they do, but my prayer is that I'll be comfortable with it because it will be the right move at the right time! :)

Relax already... Santa is not going to morally bankrupt our kids!!

I felt that I needed to weigh in on this whole Santa issue - it frustrates me that it's such a big deal!! I respect those who choose not to play Santa, but I'm just not sure we always get the same respect in return. I have several friends whose families either don't celebrate Santa or whose kids have aged out of it. Three of their kids have told my oldest this year that Santa isn't real! Not because she asked them and they didn't want to lie - but because they just felt the need to tell her. I think it's about them knowing something that she doesn't and feeling the need to prove her wrong. GGGRRRR! I just don't know why this is such a big deal - if we want to celebrate with Santa - cool - if someone else doesn't - cool! It's a family decision and I'm not sure why anyone else gets to state their opinion about how my husband and I teach our children. They can surely have an opinion and they should make the appropriate decisions for their families, but let me have peace about the decisions I make for mine!

There's always an argument about something - Santa/no Santa, homeschool/public school, immunize/don't immunize, breastfeed/bottle feed...geez, I wish everyone would relax and just worry about raising their own happy, healthy children. Quit judging already!!

I gotta' tell you - we are a Santa family all the way! :) I just so loved the thrill of Santa growing up, that I couldn't not share that same fun with my girls. That's what it is to me - a great fun childhood fantasy that they'll someday treasure like I do mine! I just can't imagine that they won't see the joy and fun in what we're doing - I never resented my parents for it or even thought if it as them having lied to me! They just loved me and wanted to share that joy with me.

To us it's just the same as reading a book of fiction or watching a great movie about something impossible or even allowing them to pretend that they're something that they're not and never can be! :) I guess that's it - it's just a great big, fun game of pretend that we get to participate in with them.

I saw a response to a friend's blog that seemed to indicate that we can't possibly effectively teach our children about Jesus AND practice the Santa fantasy. Puhlease -just talk to my girls and you'll see immediately that they know the real reason for Christmas and that the gift receiving, Santa, Christmas lights, TV shows are all just to make the season a little more fun. Some people act as though Santa is almost satanic and that we are going to damage our children by doing it! I was raised with Santa and so was my husband, and I like to think we both turned out pretty good - with strong Christian and moral values. Heck, our church let's us teach and lead the teenagers - we must be fairly okay! I happen to know that even the pastor of our church and his family were Santa people, in fact, they took their kids to the "North Pole" (Boone, NC) every year to visit Santa when they were small. I tend to think they are pretty strong in their Christian walk and look to them as spiritual advisors, so I figure if it's okay for them, it's surely okay for me!

Mostly I just think we need to all chill out and enjoy the season with our families in whatever traditions we choose to create. I look back on my Christmas' with great joy and sentimentality and I hope that one day my girls will look back on theirs just the same and that my grandchildren will be visited by Santa! :)

Strugglin'...

So, I'm really struggling with some things and can't decide if I'm being selfish or my feelings are normal. Some very close friends of mine are about to move a long way away and I find myself feeling angry as the time grows close and that's not what I expected to feel. I mean - anger, why in the world would I feel mad at them for moving?!?!

I think part of it is that my daughter adores their daughter and is heartbroken at seeing her move so far away. This is the first time she's had to experience this type of loss and her sensitive little heart is just breaking. As a mom, I think my first reaction to my daughter having her heart broken is a need to "fix it" and this time I just can't do that. So now I find myself feeling mad that anyone would dare do something that hurts her - irrational, I know, but I actually feel mad! I find myself drawing away from my friends at a time when it seems logical that I should want to spend as much time with them as possible. It's not an intentional thing - I just feel myself breaking that bond - it's a weird feeling. I even feel a little uncomfortable in their presence - like there's a proverbial "elephant in the room". It almost seems like I yearn for their move date to come so that this part will be over and we can all begin to move on. You know - I think this is the first time I've ever had a really good friend to move so far away, come to think of it - I guess my not-so-sensitive heart is breaking a little, too and I'm not quite sure how to handle the emotions that I'm feeling.

The other reason I feel this anger and frustration is that in my spirit I don't feel that this is the right thing for them to do. So what - you say, it's not your life, what right do you have to say one way or other? I don't feel like I can discuss this with them, because, again, who am I to determine what they should do with their life? On the other hand, I feel like I'm not doing the right thing as their friend to sit back and watch them make what I feel is a mistake. I guess it's similar to watching a friend marry someone that you know is wrong for them - I did that once and my friend went through a tough divorce years later. Do I dare to think that I know what's right for everyone else? Of course not, I really don't, but I'm struggling with keeping my mouth shut when my spirit is SCREAMING "wrong move - stop - turn back!"

I would welcome any sage advice or thoughts... Bottom line - I love this family a lot and don't want to see them move away - so do you think that's why my spirit is screaming "stop" or is it possible that I'm discerning something real?

Frisco Christmas Lights - Wizards in Winter

Wow - does someone have a lot of time and money on their hands?!?! I must say, however, it does rock! :)

This explains a lot...

Your Mind is 64% Cluttered

Your mind is quite cluttered. And like most clutter, it's a bunch of crap you don't need. Try writing down your worst problems and fears. And then put them out of your mind for a while.

How Cluttered is Your Mind?

Christmas With a Capital C!!

Everyone should take a minute to watch this video and LISTEN to the words! This is one of my major pet peeves! I don't have a problem saying Happy Holidays now and again - I want everyone's holiday to be happy - but it IS Christmas! It seems to be okay to say Happy Hanukkah, Joyous Kwanzaa - whatever - but why do they make it taboo to say Merry Christmas?!? - that's WHAT IT IS!! I've been on this bandwagon for years now and I'm just thrilled that a cool band put my thoughts (okay - it was probably their thoughts, too!) to music!! Enjoy!

Koodos to the Jim Man!

Just wanted to put it in writing - MY HUSBAND ROCKS! As you know, the last couple of days have been a bit rough - did I say that already!?!?! : ) Anyway, at 3:00 this morning I needed to talk and my honey was so there for me even though he had a Bible Study with a bunch of teens at 6:30 am! He is my rock and I don't know what I would do without him. I just felt the need to let you all know how cool he is and how much I love him!


This is what my life is about...

CHRISTIAN WAYS TO REDUCE STRESS ...

I happened to open an e-mail from a friend this morning - she sent it several days ago, but I just now had time to read it. Wow - God knows what He's doing - had I opened it a few days ago I might have browsed it and trashed it. Today, I NEEDED it and I'm going to do my best to try and take some of this advice. I've broken almost all of these "rules" lately - no wonder my stress level is through the roof! Good stuff - hope it helps you, too! :)

An Angel says, "Never borrow from the future. If you worry about what may happen tomorrow and it doesn't happen, you have worried in vain. Even if it does happen, you have to worry twice."
1. Pray
2. Go to bed on time.
3. Get up on time so you can start the day unrushed.
4. Say No to projects that won't fit into your time schedule or that will compromise your mental health.
5. Delegate tasks to capable others.
6. Simplify and unclutter your life.
7. Less is more. (Although one is often not enough, two are often too many.)
8. Allow extra time to do things and to get to places.
9. Pace yourself. Spread out big changes and difficult projects over time; don't lump the hard things all together.
10. Take one day at a time.
11. Separate worries from concerns . If a situation is a concern, find out what God would have you do and let go of the anxiety . If you can't do anything about a situation, forget it.
12. Live within your budget; don't use credit cards for ordinary purchases.
13. Have backups; an extra car key in your wallet, an extra house key buried in the garden, extra stamps, etc.
14. K.M.S. (Keep Mouth Shut). This single piece of advice can prevent an enormous amount of trouble.
15. Do something for the Kid in You everyday.
16. Carry a Bible with you to read while waiting in line.
17. Get enough rest.
18. Eat right.
19 Get organized so everything has its place.
20. Listen to a tape while driving that can help improve your quality of life.
21. Write down thoughts and inspirations (hmm, keep a blog, maybe?!?!) :)
22. Every day, find time to be alone.
23. Having problems? Talk to God on the spot. Try to nip small problems in the bud. Don't wait until it's time to go to bed to try and pray.
24. Make friends with Godly people. (This one I got!!) :)
25. Keep a folder of favorite scriptures on hand.
26. Remember that the shortest bridge between despair and hope is often a good "Thank you Jesus."
27. Laugh. (Need more of this one...we need a girls night out!!) :)
28. Laugh some more!
29. Take your work seriously, but not yourself at all.
30. Develop a forgiving attitude (most people are doing the best they can).
31. Be kind to unkind people (they probably need it the most).
32. Sit on your ego.
33. Talk less; listen more.
34. Slow down.
35. Remind yourself that you are not the general manager of the universe. (Talking to me!!)
36. Every night before bed, think of one thing you're grateful for that you've never been grateful for before.

GOD HAS A WAY OF TURNING THINGS AROUND FOR YOU.
"If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31)

LOVE!!

Okay - so I think there are only 2 of you who regularly read my blog and one of you wrote the blog I'm about to recommend, but in case there are more of you out there - check out my friend Nat's blog on LOVE! It made me decide that maybe my last 2 days wouldn't have been so crummy if I had a better attitude of outward love and less worry about my circumstances and day-to-day frustrations! Check it out...

Worse day...

Okay - so I only THOUGHT yesterday was a terrible day - today was worse! I hope this isn't a trend! I must say, however, that opening night tonight for the Wizard of Oz did a great job of raising my spirits! Something about seeing a bunch of young kids putting their talents to use in such an amazing way...cool! :)

Crummy Day...but ended well!

Oh my...if it could go wrong it pretty much did today. I told Jimmy that I kept looking up because I knew something was going to fall on me out of the sky! :) These kind of days are tough and really hard to be the nice, cheerful, Christian girl I'm supposed to be. I mean I yelled at my kids, I yelled at my dog, I probably yelled at my husband at some point (I only saw him for like 10 minutes today, so he might have gotten off easy!). I had to apologize to my girls and explain to them, yet again, how Mommy is so amazingly human and that while she knows she shouldn't yell at them or freak them out with her insanity, she sometimes just can't help herself! I hate when I do that - not the apologizing part, but the nasty part - I don't like that look it puts on my girls' faces or the tears it sometimes puts in their eyes. Breaks my heart just writing about it! So why oh why do I do it? Human, fallible, sinner, all that stuff God said we would be after Eden. Good thing we had Jesus on our side because without Him I would SOOOO be doomed! :)

Here are a few pics that did make me smile today...she's just so cute (and so are her friends!)! This play is going to ROCK - the costumes and sets are so bright and fun and the cast is brilliant! Fun stuff!

Because, because, because, because, BECAUSE...

Here are some shots of the cutest ballerina Munchkin EVER - and a couple of her Munchkin buddies! My oldest is participating in the local youth theatre production of the Wizard of Oz this weekend. She is one of the Lullabye League - the cute little Munchkins who welcome Dorothy to Munchkinland with their sweet little voices and tippy toes! She is such a creative little girl - loves anything to do with dance, singing, art, writing and acting. Notice that she has a wireless mic on in that close-up of her - this is her first time wearing a mic and she is THRILLED!

She told me last night that she has changed her mind about her future - she wants to be an ACTRESS!! Aaagghhh! I'm good with the actress thing, but it's I kind of hope it's the theatre kind and not the big movie kind. Even theatre is scary, but to imagine my sweet little girl dealing with the realities of Hollywood is more than I can fathom! The choices she would have to make and pressures to work outside of her moral code are just too scary to think about! It's so sad that this world has come to a place where someone with amazing talent (not just speaking of Cassie, though I do think her talent is amazing!) has to choose between their belief system and their love of acting (or singing or dancing, etc. , etc.)! I mean think about it - what was the last movie you saw that you would be okay with your daughter participating in?!?! It's hard isn't it? Even the "good" movies have stuff that just don't meet our Christian ideals. How have we come to this? I've thought about it often from the perspective of a viewer of movies, but only last night did I consider it from the perspective of a parent of an actor! Wow - I don't want to discourage her and I won't - besides we have a LONG way to go before she heads west - but it's something to think about because I believe she's got talent and if it's what she wants, she can do it! Scary!!

You know - I do have a really close friend whose son wants to go into missions using his movie making skills....maybe he'll need a great actress for his films. They probably won't get too rich or too famous going that route, but I'm betting they would change some lives and besides my little one didn't say she wanted to be famous - just an that she wants to be an actress (thank goodness!). :)

Letter from Hell...

Okay - this video is really intense, but I guarantee it will give you chills and make you think...

Halloween Rocks!!

Aren't they precious...one mermaid princess and one rockin' little witch. I don't understand why you would miss this fun - Jesus has to be smiling at the joy on those faces! :)

It's OKAY to be a PARENT!!

I decided to start my blog life with an article that I wrote for the newsletter I publish for the teen ministry at my church. While it specifically refers to parenting teens, I think it applies just the same to parenting kids of all ages!

I recently watched an interview with Bill Cosby about his philosophy on parenting and it was sadly enlightening! Our society has come so far in the wrong direction when it comes to parenting our children. Often parents are so concerned with being their children’s friends and being “liked” by their kids, that they forget one of God’s primary instructions to parents:

“A refusal to correct is a refusal to love; love your children by disciplining them.” Proverbs 13:24 (Message)

In the NIV version, Proverbs 13:24 says, ”He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him.” You know the old adage… spare the rod, spoil the child! A lot of people fear that verse because it seems as though God is saying to beat your children. That’s why I love the Message version – it simply says “a refusal to correct”. That’s exactly what I think God means by sparing the rod – He means failing to correct your children when they are wrong; failing to hold them accountable to your rules; failing to check in behind them and KNOW what they are involved in; failing to know their friends and approving of those friends; failing to say NO when that’s what is required. A quote from Cosby’s new book, “Come on People! On the Path from Victims to Victors”, really says it all: “I'm talking about these people who cry when their son is standing there in an orange suit. Where were you when he was two? Where were you when he was twelve? Where were you when he was eighteen, and how come you don't know he had a pistol?"

As parents, we MUST discipline our children and we have to know everything that is happening in their lives. It’s okay to look at their MySpace pages or view the internet history on their computers. It’s okay to require them to introduce you to all of their friends before they are allowed to leave the house with them. It’s okay to support the teacher in punishing your child when your child is the one making the mistake. It’s okay to believe that your child might tell a lie to cover their hiney, because you know what….sometimes kids lie! It’s okay to go into their rooms without their permission, to look under their mattresses, under their beds, in their drawers. Cosby referred to it as a “shake down” referring to the prison term for clearing out an inmate’s cell and looking for contraband! An inmate is living in someone else’s place, under someone else’s authority, and so are your kids – they have no right to privacy in YOUR house! I’m not saying treat your kids like prisoners, but I am saying treat them like your children.

I haven’t parented a teenager yet, but I have loved a lot of them through my work as a church youth leader and I have been a teenager. I worry about the kids in today’s generation because so many don’t have parents like mine - parents who will love them, adore them, and, as such, will be tough on them as necessary. I hope that as you read this, you can look at yourself and say – I’m okay with being my teen’s parent even if it means they won’t want to be my friend for a few years! If you’re not that parent, then I hope you’ll consider what I have said here and think about changing things in your house. Your teenager may not like you for it, but your adult child will love you for it because they’ll make it to adulthood with a good, strong moral foundation!