This is our first Christmas in our home together and it was
SO exciting to receive Christmas cards this year! Last year, we were still
getting into the swing of things; I remember the holidays came so fast after
our summer wedding!We figured people
might have been sick of getting mail from us since we just had our wedding,
showers before that, thank you cards…you get the idea. So, this is the first
year that we’ve sent Christmas cards out as a married couple (and Tiger, too!)
and this is the first year that we’ve received them at our home! Even though it
seems that paper mail is becoming more and more extinct in this technologically
advanced day and age, there is still something so special about receiving a
card in the mail. You really feel thought of and loved when you know someone
took the time to send you something! At least that’s how I feel!
As the cards started rolling in, I was thinking “hmm..what
do I do with them now?” I wanted to look at them and have my guests be able to
see the beautiful Christmas artwork or the adorable most recent pictures of
family and friends.
So, as you have heard me say before, the first place I go is
Pinterest for some inspiration! I found a couple of ideas that I thought might
work for us, but ultimately decided on this.
I took some ribbon, tape, and paper clips(I picked out the
red, green, and white ones to be festive) and got started. I cut the ribbon,
attached the ribbon to my cabinets on the inside.
Then took my Christmas cards
and fastened them to the ribbon on the outside of my cabinets. I love the way
it turned out and I think it will be something I do every Christmas, so keep
the cards coming! I love them! It is an inexpensive way to incorporate
Christmas décor in your kitchen and it adds a flair of personalization in
seeing all of your family and friends cards every year!
Merry Christmas to everyone!
***Stay tuned to read about the wonderful Christmas
activities we will do with the family tomorrow to center our thoughts on the
real reason for Christmas- Jesus! ***
Last Sunday, we’re sitting in the church (me in the
congregation and Bryan up in the light booth) and we were inspired by the
message we heard. Like most churches, the messages of this month revolve around
the Christmas story. Ours was no different, except it addressed a point of view
that I had never really thought about in any great length. Joy is for the
choosing; God uses sorrow; Amidst the sorrow comes joy.
When I think about Christmas (as many of you have already
read) I think of so many joyful things that accompany the season. However, so
many people don’t necessarily feel that way and while we really try to focus on
the joy of the season, inevitably evil occurs and people are filled with great
sorrow. What I fail to remember many times about the story of Jesus' birth is that it
wasn’t necessarily all “picture perfect” either. So many forget that it
includes an angel, Gabriel, coming to Mary, a woman who was devoted to God, and
informing her that she would bear a son and name him Jesus.(Luke1) What must
have Joseph thought and felt in that time? How must have Mary been ostracized
and doubted, to be a young virgin and yet pregnant with God’s son? Surely
people thought she was crazy. Nevertheless, she remained steadfast. Joseph,
though it must have been a huge challenge, remained by her side after an angel
appeared to him too. (Matthew 1) Mary and Joseph trusted in God’s plan and were
obedient to His calling on their life.
Hindsight is always 20/20, now we can
look back and say, “Wow! How blessed were Mary and Joseph!” Think about that a
second. Yes, absolutely Mary was blessed by God; however, that included bearing
a child as a young girl when she had not been married. It meant having to have
Joseph not believe her at first and nearly break off their engagement. It meant
that they had to hide their child for a little while, because an evil King
Herod had set out to murder Jesus because he felt his kingdom was being threatened (Matthew 2). It meant having to watch the son she gave birth to be crucified
and shed his blood on the cross. Her blessing was certainly a blessing, but I
have to imagine that it didn’t mean that she wasn’t occasionally feeling great
sorrow.
Holiday seasons bring about a multitude of expressions. Two that I see
most often is joy and sorrow.People
feel these emotions for a multitude of reasons and I’m sure any one of us could
go on and on explaining how justified someone is about feeling this or that.
What I was reminded of recently during this great sermon is that God USES
sorrow! Think about it. If we didn’t experience sorrow, would we truly
understand and feel joy? Our entire world and the way we understand it is often
based on dichotomies: good/bad, heaven/hell, God/Satan, black/white, up/down,
excited/calm, joy/sorrow.Couldn’t it be
possible that sorrow is a part of God’s plan? Perhaps there is something to be
learned through it or something to be appreciated more, or an experience that
spurs growth. Either way, God REFINES through trials, tribulations, and
sorrows. I know, I know…that sounds all nice and good…but the reality is,
nobody wants to endure this forever. There is good news! JOY COMES IN THE MORNING!God works for the good of those who love him,
who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28) We are His
children! He made the ultimate sacrifice in His son, to give us the ultimate
gift! (John3:16) He is our Almighty Father!
The nativity story is such a great
example that joy comes amidst the sorrow! Mary and Joseph surely felt these two
extremes, such sorrow for the confusion that they were enduring, then joy once
the angels came to explain, joy to have a son, sorrow to know he was being
hunted and already persecuted, joy to have Jesus in their lives, joy for his
coming, sorrow for his persecution and crucifixion and again joy for when he
rose again and God’s promises were fulfilled. In the moment, I wonder if Mary
and Joseph understood the bigger picture that was being painted, because while
there must have been great sorrow for the evil that they endured and witnessed,
the eternal and inevitable joy not only for their Son but that their heavenly
Father sent HIS son to die for their (and all of mankind’s) sins so that they
may have eternal life. God uses sorrow! Joy is always just around the corner
even though it’s hard to see sometimes.
Some of you might be hearing all of
this and remembering a song; a song that has continued to be such an
inspiration to me: “Your love never fails” by Jesus Culture. I talked about it
in a blog post awhile back. Once again, it resurfaces. I haven’t heard the song
in a while, but while I was learning this new perspective from last Sunday’s
sermon…this song came ringing back to me as true as ever. It is in these moments when God’s Word strikes me in my core and I begin to reflect. For us, our
sorrow derives from our desire to have children and grow our family. No, we
have not conceived yet. Yes, it appears that we are still struggling to get
pregnant. No, it is not easy. Yes, we are sad sometimes. Yes, we believe in
God’s promises. Yes, we know we will be parents someday. Yes, we feel called by
God to be parents. We don’t talk about it all the time, because quite frankly
we think people may be sick of us talking about it or it is sometimes just too
painful to talk about. It’s a reminder of how much we want this, how many
prayers that have been said, how many people that are praying for us, how many
times we’ve asked God “Why not yet? What do we need to do? How can we prepare?
When will our time come?” Unfortunately, we don’t know when His plan will
happen; however, His plans will unfold. (Jeremiah 29:11) What I do know…is we
will continue to remain faithful, because while we may feel great sorrow right
now (sorrow for the baby we miscarried in March, sorrow for the difficulties we
have faced in getting pregnant since), we know that this too shall pass. We give it all to God. JOY
COMES IN THE MORNING.
The same is true for anyone who is feeling great sorrow
for whatever reason. God works for the good of those who love him, who have
been called according to his purpose.
Joy is for the choosing; God uses sorrow;
Joy comes amidst the sorrow.
JOY COMES IN THE MORNING!
If you’d like to hear the sermon that I heard that made such
an impact, check out this link to see a video:
Oh my Christmas craziness! So remember how I’ve been posting
and constantly talking about how much I love Christmas? Well, I still love
Christmas because it’s a beautiful time of year. A time of year where people
all over the world are reminded of the amazing gift of love that God gave us in
His son, Jesus. We’re reminded of the beautiful story of faithfulness that Mary
& Joseph had in God and what a blessing it was for God to choose them to
bear His son, who would grow up one day to save the world from the sin &
suffering we inevitably incur. I love that this opportunity is such a wonderful
reminder to give back to others. To take care of the orphans and the widows,
the less fortunate, the hungry, the sick, and the poor. So many of us are so
blessed. It’s also a time of friends & family coming together and sharing
their Christmas joy, the joy that Christ instills in the hearts of all of his
children. How could you not love Christmas, right? Well, I certainly do…but
amidst all of my optimism I have also been reminded what a QUICK & BUSY
season it is! Holy moly, are there enough hours in the day during this one
month to accomplish the decorating, baking, cooking, gift buying, visiting,
spending quality time, watching Christmas movies, listening to Christmas music,
and Christmas parties?! (Taking a deep breath!) Don’t get me wrong I love
it, but I think you have to stay seriously organized and focused on the true
meaning of Christmas to not let the hustle and bustle of the season get to you!
I can’t say I’m perfect at this, but I want to be and I’m working toward it. I
also want to remember and soak in all of the amazing memories, so I can look
back warmheartedly about the “remember when’s…” As I sat down to write today, I
was feeling a little overwhelmed. I told my girls in book club the other day
that I’m feeling like a whirlwind lately with the craziness of the Holiday’s.
So, I hope you don’t mind my therapeutic moment of reminding myself to slow
down, take a deep breath, organize my thoughts & plans, enjoy & soak in
this special time of year and most importantly, remember what this time of year
is all about…Jesus is the Reason for the Season.
Well this is my final 30 days of thanks blogs, but 30 things
does not even come close to summing up everything that I’m thankful for in my
life. My family and friends are amazing and more importantly, God continually
never ceases to bless our lives every day in a multitude of ways. At the end of
the day, everything we are thankful for can all be rooted back to God. All that
is good is from Him!
Now on to my last item. Wouldn’t you know on my last day of
thankfulness, I’m driving to work and listening to the radio (95.5 The Fish)
announce that Third Day tickets are going on sale today for their March Miracle
tour. With the big announcement they were going to have a contest to see who could
sing a Christmas carol the most like the lead singer of Third Day. The prize:
tickets to TWO concerts! Josh Wilson’s Noel Tour and Third Day’s Miracle Tour
in March. Bryan and I LOVE music and we really enjoy going to Christian
concerts, so I was thinking “what the heck, I’ll try.” So I called the radio
station and to my surprise I got through. My heart was pounding; I had an
immediate urge to hang up, but I didn’t. This was going to be NO easy task!
Have you ever heard Third Day?! Here’s a sample of what he sounds like to give
you an idea of what I had to attempt to do.
First I had to sing a line from “Twelve days of Christmas”
in my best impression of Third Day. Then 2 other contestants did the same.
Brooke Taylor and Len Howser, the morning show hosts, decided it was a tie
between me and another gentleman. The tie breaker song was “Feliz Navidad”. I’m
thinking “psshh..I have this in the bag!” After we both did our best impression
they decided that even though my impression was really good, my Spanish was TOO
good (the other guy fumbled through it) and they thought that the lead singer
of Third Day wouldn’t know Spanish. Whaaaaat?! I was definitely the better
impersonator! In that moment, the radio hosts decided to award us both with
tickets to both shows!!! What a blessing! I NEVER win ANYTHING!!! I laughed at
myself hysterically, because I could feel how dorky I must have sounded, lol.
Either way, it was well worth a little embarrassment!
The Josh Wilson concert was tonight and Bryan
had to work, so I went with one of my best friends, Ashley. We had a great
time!! Josh Wilson put on an amazing show and played 24 instruments throughout
his show! It’s amazing to go to Christian concerts, because it is essentially a
concert of worship. A huge group of people from all over, coming together to
worship Christ together. It’s moving; it’s beautiful; it’s a blessing. Here’s
some pics from the concert!
Wes Pickering opened the show and assisted Josh Wilson during his set
I don’t know about you, but we’ve been watching Christmas
movies and listening to Christmas music since before Thanksgiving! There are so
many songs I love, but my all-time favorite would be "Oh Holy Night" hands down. The
inspiring lyrics depicting Jesus’ birth combined with the powerful ballad never
fails to make me well up with tears in the same spot every time…..”Fall on your
knees…Oh hear the angel’s voices…Oh night, divine…” So powerful. I also still
can’t help but belt out Mariah Carey’s “All I want for Christmas”. It’s a
classic!
We own a great deal of our Christmas movie favorites (Christmas Vacation, Elf, Christmas with the Kranks), but we
decided to check out what Netflix had. To our delight, they had so many
classics! All of the old Christmas cartoons are on there AND I was even able to
find the Radio City Rockettes Christmas Spectacular! Here’s a video of the toy
soldier scene.
Bryan was not so enthusiastic for this one; however, when I
was growing up I dreamed of becoming a Rockette after my parents took me to see
them in Las Vegas in the late ‘90s. Then a few years later we went and saw them
in Cleveland for this exact same show, their Christmas Spectacular! Not only is
their singing and dancing beautiful, but this show tells and illustrates the
Christmas story of Jesus’ birth in a beautiful way! If you haven’t seen it, and
you have Netflix, I highly recommend it!
Bryan was able to find his one of his childhood favorite on
Netflix and on youtube! Here it is. It’s too cute!
