Christmas calling....

     "Hello, this is Superstore how can I help you?"
.....
     "Return department? I can help you with that. What do you need to know?"
.....
     "You want to return the frankincense and myrrh, but keep the gold? Do you have your purchase receipt?"
.....
     "Oh, they were gifts... You also want to return love and mercy, but keep the forgiveness..."
.....
     "I see. I am sorry ma'am if it was purchased from here it has a 'no return policy' and was literally bought with everything He has."
.....
     "I am sorry you have no use for them, but I pray you find one for the Giver's sake."




      People want the gold and forgiveness from God, but don't know how to do with everything else...

My Greatest Blessing!

This was my absolute favorite picture of my son until last night!

     From the moment I had my son I knew I had something special. The first time my Pastor held him she said that he was anointed. I will admit to praying for a little girl during my pregnancy. (The relationship I have with my father is one that I wanted for my husband so badly. I thought it would help heal his heart.) With every little thing though God once again proved that he knew better. The mother-son relationship has saved me more than I can count, and he's only four! My son was a straight miracle delivered into my hands by God, and I will never forget that!

 

 

     Following my call into ministry my husband was afraid that our son would have "religion" forced upon him growing up. That has never happened. My son loves God and church so much that it makes me feel inadequate sometimes. God uses my son in so many ways. During my pregnancy with Connor I was the healthiest I had ever been since being diagnosed as a Type 1 Diabetic. That should have been my first sign of the blessing I was about to receive. When I have had a bad day Connor will out of the blue start singing some of our favorite Christian songs! Below is his favorite song "My Savior My God," by Aaron Shust.

"My Savior loves, My Savior lives
My Savior's always there for me
My God: He was, my God; He is
My God is always gonna be"

 

 

     Connor's favorite place to be is in church. He loves Sunday mornings, and we actually pass our church on the way to work/daycare everyday so he is always asking to stop there on the way home just to visit it.

     Thanksgiving made two years for us in our home. I know a handful of people in our small town from when I was little and my school friends lived here. I have another handful that I have made in our two years here from being a "regular" and church attendee. Two weeks ago on our way home Connor was ooh'ing and ahh'ing over the Christmas lights that people in town had up. After the third night he said that he wanted to take his dinosaur cards and give them to everybody who put up lights. I loved the idea and that he is always thinking of appreciating others. So this momma, as of yesterday, has written 32 Christmas/thank you cards, and we have made four trips through town to pass out cards to every house with Christmas decorations! I could not be a prouder mom! Last night on our last trip I got this amazing photo of him and it has become my new absolute favorite!

 

 

I just can't thank God enough for the joy and blessings he brings into my life!

Mary, did you know?

 

      The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."

      Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with god. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob's descendants forever; his kingdom will never end."

      "How will this be, " Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"

      The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail."

      "I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May your word to me be fulfilled." Then the angel left her.

Luke 1:26-38

 

 

One of my favorite Christmas songs is "Mary, did you know?", and

my favorite version is by Pentatonix.

 



 

 Maybe it touches me differently now because I am a mother...

Either way, every time I listen to the lyrics I cannot help but wonder "Mary, did you know?"

 

 

Mary, did you know that "when you kiss your little Baby you kissed the face of God?"

That every mother holds their newborn and can only imagine how they will change the world.

 "The sleeping Child you're holding is the Great, I Am." 

 

 

"This Child that you delivered will soon deliver you."

"Did you know that your Baby Boy is heaven's perfect Lamb?"

Did she know that she would have to watch her son die?

 

Think on the verses from Luke that the angel said to Mary. 

"Son of the Most High," "God will give him the throne," and

"his kingdom will never end."

She knew.

 The pain, and in the end the absolute Glory of her child... she knew.

 

 

Mary, did you know that your child's birth would become about getting the best deals?

Listen to this miraculous song and start thinking about how we treat the Advent season...

 

These three photos say more about Christmas than anything else today.

Christmas is... celebrating the birth of our Savior and the sacrifice of the perfect Lamb!

 

    My sad moment happened when we came home from Ohio. While there with my husband's family I bought my son a Fisher Price Little People Nativity and when we got home I gave it to him to set up and play with. He didn't know what it was! Talk about fail-mom moment, but I got to turn it into a learning experience for the both of us!

 

Just never forget... Mary did know!

 

 



Thanksgiving

 'Tis the Season!

 

      I have never traveled for the holidays. My family is centrally located, so to say. My husband is originally from Ohio, and that is where all of his family is; except his parents. I got to do the best thing this year and planned Thanksgiving in Ohio. We took an off year from basically my family and we stayed the weekend with his Aunt, Uncle, cousins, so many second cousins, lol.
     Anyway, last weekend in Ohio reminded me what it is like to have all the family together for a giant dinner, and the hours of catching up. I missed it. I didn't realize this was something I needed as well. I loved the idea of packing up and visiting the family. I missed watching the Macy's Day Parade while fixing dinner, the family falling asleep on the couch after all the eating and talking, and taking Friday to go do something together to ring in Christmas!

   

     The thing I wasn't planning on was that it would mean so much to me. That almost sounds bad, but it's not. My parents divorced right before Thanksgiving five years ago. The holidays have been hard ever since. I was just married and we were trying to figure out how to balance both of our families for the holidays, and then my side just doubled. I was raised very close to my family and multiple holidays for everybody's side because they can't act like adults is very hard. Let alone my family outweighs my husbands, and now we have a feeling of somebody's is more important than the others.

If you are ever in Akron, Ohio you need to go see Stan Hywet Hall!!!

 

     After dinner Thursday my husbands' cousin, Angie, asked what we wanted to do. I am a pinterest-er and said that I found there was a castle around here and would love to go see it.  Angie said I have the perfect place and they should be decorated for Christmas.

     As you can see below they go all out for Christmas time! The place was beautiful and we had so much walking around looking at the lights and house. The house was built by F.A. Seiberling, the creator of Goodyear Tire & Rubber! There was a slow drizzle all night, but it didn't stop the fun of all the kids; even us big ones. Angie and I were like kids in a candy store. I truly had an amazing time with my family.