The Friendly Beasts

Naomi's preschool put on a great Christmas program on Wednesday, their last day of school. The little folks wore adorable animal hats to represent the animals in the stable, and Naomi's classmates were the camels.

After the program it was time for some birthday cake for Jesus. Happy birthday, Jesus!

Gingerbread Houses

Here are the gingerbread houses we decorated with buddies Ellie and Margaret.


Ellie shows of her serious craftmanship while Margaret tests the flavor of the decorations.

They are yummy! Save some for your house, Naomi!

Johnathan thinks this is a great project!

The finished houses...

And after all that work, the girls treated themselves to some homemade pretend pedicures!

What I learned from my pastor... 12-13

This morning's sermon involved a life jacket, "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon," and Kevin's true story about the time he asked Tiffani-Amber Thiessen (one of the stars of Beverly Hills 90210) to prom. Curious about the topic? It was about how Jesus was Born to Save. Sorry we don't have a website that allows you to download sermons - it would take me too long to explain all those references he included! You'll just have to ask him. Or stifle your curiosity.

Anyway, Kevin taught us from Matthew 1:18-21 that the name Jesus was a common one of that time, derived from the name Joshua, meaning deliverer. From the beginning, God always had a rescue plan in place to reconcile us to Him. At Christmas, we celebrate that Jesus chose to be born and enter our hopeless situation. And at Easter, we celebrate that the gospel of Jesus Christ has guaranteed victory over sin. Jesus is the only life jacket that can save us from eternal drowning. Kevin encouraged us to put on the life jacket, depending on Jesus for our salvation. And if we've already put on the life jacket, we can stop thrashing around, trying to swim to work our way into God's favor and rest in Christ for our salvation and strength.

Ornaments on our Tree

Most of the ornaments on our tree have a special memory attached to them - a vacation, a significant event, or a milestone. I thought it might be fun to share a few here and there with the stories behind them... So here are a few.

We'll start back at the beginning of our marriage. Kevin and I went to Cape Cod for our honeymoon. I hunted for just the right ornament to remind us of our trip, and found this one:

Isn't it pretty? Delicate and shiny and it has reminders of all the fun things we did - visiting lighthouses, driving the shore, whale watching. But when I went to pay for it, we got a bonus gift... of this ornament:

This angel has moss hair. And to this day Kevin always exclaims how this is his favorite when he unwraps it to put it on the tree. Why is it his favorite? Because it was free. A fascinating insight into my new husband's thought process for a young bride!


This next one is Santa playing the part of doctor. We got this one to commemorate two years in a row of hospital visits at Christmastime. First, Naomi was hospitalized for rotavirus the day after Christmas 2005. The next year, Rachel had an emergency appendectomy two days before Christmas 2006. Merry Christmas and ho ho hold the IV!

I just noticed that this picture also contains Kevin's elk, which we added last year to remember his first successful hunting trip and all the elk meat we ate last winter!


This one we added this year. We got it in Galveston after our first trip as a family to the beach. We rode the ferry and saw dozens of dolphins playing around the boat!


Hope you're enjoying all your holiday decorating!

Santa and his Deere*

Welcome to Christmas at the local John Deere dealership, where Santa rides in on a...



... tractor, of course!

We went to the John Deere Christmas open house because Mr. Johnathan loves tractors.


Hey, look! We're wearing coats! It's actually been pretty chilly lately (although I won't use the term cold, out of respect to my Casper, WY friends who are enduring below-zero temps right now).




Naomi rode the JD trike...

And they both loved the train ride to see all the different kinds of tractors.

I've been thinking all afternoon to come up with some sort of holiday-related catchphrase that could incorporate John Deere, but it's just not coming to me. Anyone else have an idea? I'll edit my post and give you credit!

*Thanks, Nolan! If anyone could come up with a farm equipment-related title, it would be you!!

What I learned from my pastor... 12-6

In the weeks leading up to Christmas, Kevin is preaching about some of the reasons Jesus was born. This morning's sermon examined how Jesus was born to die. Jesus knew as he taught, healed, prayed and lived that his earthly ministry would culminate in the most brutal of ends, on a cross. But that would not be the ultimate end - his death and resurrection purchased our salvation. Kevin encouraged us to remember what Jesus went through and accomplished on the cross and in his resurrection. He also encouraged us to reflect on our own life's purpose - on the moments God has given and will give us to make a difference for His kingdom.

I have reflected a lot on the past year - maybe because I just finished our family's Christmas letter. What a year this has been! Major life changes, a diagnosis, and a new life being knit together in me as I sit here and type. It has been heart-wrenching, exhilarating, faith-building. I can't say that I've synthesized and settled the meaning of it all yet, if I ever will fully. One step at a time.

I was encouraged this week by a letter from Desiring God executive director Jon Bloom, who wrote:

The Holy Family's first few years were not tranquil. They were filled with grueling travel during the hardest part of pregnancy, a birth in worse than a barn, no steady income, an assassination attempt, two desert crossings on foot with an infant, living in a foreign country, waiting on God for guidance and provisions just in the nick of time. It was difficult, expensive, time-consuming, career-delaying and full of uncertainty.

And it was God's will.

The unplanned, inefficient detours of our lives are planned by God. They are common for disciples, and they commonly don't make sense in the moment. But God's ways are not our ways because our lives are about him, not about us. He is orchestrating far more than we know in every unexpected event and delay.

So when you find yourself suddenly moving in a direction you had not planned, take heart, hold tight, and trust God's navigation.

May you take heart, hold tight, and trust this Christmas season.

O Christmas Tree

Our first Christmas tradition of every season is to decorate the Christmas tree together. In the midst of unpacking, morning sickness that lasts all day (for Rachel) and a BUSY week back, we finally got to do it on Tuesday.

The kids really got into it this year - Naomi is quite skilled at spreading the ornaments out, and Johnathan was thrilled to "put the toys on the twee!"

The finished product:


The final step is the turning off of all the lights and snuggling on the sofa while gazing at the tree. In the past this step is also accompanied by peppermint ice cream, but we've learned our lesson about ice cream so close to bedtime! Maybe in a few years!