Season of Gratitude

Thursday is Thanksgiving.  To me, it's the most wonderful time of the year.  Over the years I have grown to love this holiday and I am quite protective of it.  Football and parades, while fun, just simply don't cut it for this day anymore.  This should be a time of year that brings all Christians to their knees in grateful worship of their Provider. (I don't have a problem with football and parades.  But if that is all the holiday is to someone, why bother?  We can do that on any Saturday or Sunday of the year.)

I strive to bring to my children an understand of all that we have to be thankful each year.  We focus on the history mostly.  This is our history.  We are the only country in the world that can celebrate this day.  It's unique to America.  Without the Pilgrims we just simply wouldn't be here.  It was their heroic journey across the Atlantic that gave birth to this great nation.  While Jamestown was already in existence when the Pilgrims arrived in 1620, it was the Pilgrims rich religious life that contributed to our nation being founded on the Christian principles that our founding fathers used to shape our nation.  It's this day that we remember all that.

Sadly, we've lost much of it.  Christians have many great reasons to celebrate and give thanks to God.  Because of the abundance we enjoy, it's very easy to forget the reasons we must be thankful.  But I don't want to forget.  I don't want my children to forget.  This is why I write today.

I have much to be thankful this year.

1.  I have a new baby who is very precious.

2.  I have a new niece who is beautiful.

3.  I have a growing friendship with my niece's mom.

4.  God has given me seven wonderful kids.

5.  I have a husband who loves and leads me in Christ.

6.  I love my church family.

7.  The life of my brother.  God took him to the brink of death and then spared his life.  He will experience his first Christmas with his baby girl this year and, hopefully, many more.

There are little daily things for which we should be thanking God.  Food.  I get to eat today - THREE times.  Many people in the world can't say that.  I have an abundance of clothing filling my closet.  My children are well.  Many families cannot claim that this year.  They will be sitting in the hospital with their sick babies.  My family owns two cars - what percentage of people in the world can say that?  This country that we live in can claim the one of highest percentage of wealth in the world.  Sadly, even those who fall below the poverty line in our country can claim they have greater wealth that some people in other nations.  I am not making light of those who are in poverty in our country, just trying to shed light for those of us who don't.

Perspective!!  We all need perspective as we enter into the holiday season.  I would argue that it needs to be carried over into the Christmas season when materialism is rampant.  We are in need of nothing and for that, we should be praising God.

Enjoy the football games.  Enjoy the parades this year.  Enjoy the huge feast with your family.  Enjoy the long nap when you're finished.  But please, whatever you do, give more thanks and praise to God this year than just the family meal prayer.  He's provided much for you and your family this year.  Besides, His holiness demands more than the token prayer before everyone dives in.

What are some ways that you and your children can focus on the way God has provided for you this year?  My children and I have several traditions that we do each year that bring to light all our blessings.  I will be sharing those later, as time allows.  Please feel free to share with me.  I am always looking for fun ideas to enhance this time of year and our celebrations.  

14 Years

Fourteen years seems like such a long time.  Yet, these past years have flown by very quickly.  It was this very day, 14 years ago, that I walked down the aisle of a small chapel with my Daddy.  He proceeded to give my hand to the man I was to marry that.  This man was as young as I was at the time.  We were both 22 yod.  We graduated from college a month earlier.  Neither one of us had a job.  We didn't even have money for a honeymoon.  We gave each other a big smile and a giggle during the part of our vow where we said "for richer or poorer."  We married each other regardless and started a life together.

God gave us a life that we never expected we would have together.  Never in our wildest dreams would we have imagine that God would make of the proud parents of SEVEN children.  Sure, the first two maybe three children we have.  Perhaps the fourth baby.  But the last three babies.  Never in our wildest dreams.

Life has had it's ups and downs.  Sometimes I would say that by the world's standards we've had more downs:   hospital visits, car accidents, unemployment that contained one of those hospital visits with no insurance.  We have had seasons of life where it seemed like we just couldn't get along.  But God has been gracious to bring us through those times as well as grow us up.  Outside of parenting, marriage has been the number one sanctifying entity in my life.

I am well blessed by my husband.  He's been used by God to teach me so much.  I have learned more about theology that I have ever known.  I have learned how to have a good fight that doesn't include shouting and, at times, throwing things.  Although I couldn't repeat any of it, I have learned more about the sports world than I ever thought I could.  Ultimately, he's taught me to keep my eyes on the cross when all seems so discouraging.

As much as I enjoyed learning, I have also enjoyed watching him grow in the Lord.  He started as a man with no clue in how to lead a family to one who gives his children a strong foundation in the Lord.  He doesn't use books to teach his children.  He uses only the Word of God and his own lessons to teach them.  I can't do that.  It's makes me glad that I don't have to be the one leading.

One of my growing loves over my husband is his love for the church.  He didn't grow up in the best church situations.  Often, it was abusive.  Although he didn't really care for the church, he kept going.  Five years ago, God blessed us with an awesome church.  It was just what we needed for healing.  It so fun to watch him get excited on Sunday morning as we get ready to leave for church.  He loves to serve where he can.  For several years, he would stay after church (while the rest of us starved, LOL!!!) and help set up the cafeteria in the school where we were meeting.

His love and devotion to me is beyond imagine.  We didn't have the best of starts.  Mostly that was my fault.  I wasn't the easiest person to date and it got worse when we were first married.  I listen way too much to the wisdom of this world rather than God.  Books, TV, movies all presented an image of men and I ate up this marriage.  This included even listening too much to the Christian radio talk shows and reading books.  That was probably my greatest problem.  I would listen to these shows and think to myself "why doesn't my husband do that?"  Or I would read books by the same speakers on these shows and think the same thing.  Praise God for the day I finally realized that HE had to make my husband into a leader rather than me nagging him into leadership.  Since then he's been allowed to grow in God's grace as a leader.  I believe we are happier for it.  I finally shut my mouth began to follow quietly (most of the time) and I began to see something in my husband those talk shows never promised.

I can't imagine life without him now.  We've been together as a couple for nearly 18 years but have been married for 14 of those years.  In those 14 years, I have watched God take him from a young foolish husband to a man that is bold in his faith and growing ever more bold.  He inspires me to constantly seek the Lord and be willing to give my life fully to Him.  Should God take him from me sooner than later, I would rejoice.  Not in  losing him, for my heart would break in that manner.  But I would rejoice that my husband is finally made whole.  He stands exactly where he longs to stand already.

One finally thought.  Underdog makes me laugh.  I tend to be a melancholy person.  He's grown to love the challenge and finding things that make me laugh.  He's had to up the ante a bit in the past few years.  I am on to him.  But he still makes me laugh.  His one liners are the best.  Even better is the smile that comes when he's succeeded at making me laugh.  This is my favorite part about him.

A perfect image of our marriage.  I am obviously the more serious one.  

Underdog, my love for you is stronger today than the day I realized that I was falling in love with my best friend.  I knew in my heart that God had made us for each other.  But I had no idea the blessing God intended for both of us.  I couldn't ask for anything better.

We had two songs played at our wedding.  At the time, it was popular to have the Steven Curtis Chapman song "I Will Be Here."  Still love that song and it has such meaning.  But I had another songs played that was a bit unconventional for a wedding.  It's called "Faithful Friend" by Twila Paris.  The original was duet between Twila and Chapman.  I felt like this song exemplified just exactly what our relationship was about.  The wedding was just the beginning.  I didn't want to spend alot of money on it.  What I wanted more than anything was a ceremony that would dedicate our marriage to Christ not just create an opportunity for a party.   I dedicate that song once again to Underdog.  You are my faithful friend and much more.  (This song still makes me cry as much as "I Will Be Here.")

And for your listening pleasure.  

Birthday Reflections!!!

Today is my 36th birthday (officially at 7:20pm I will be 36.) I don't look forward to birthdays too much anymore. Mostly because I don't like the attention they draw. I just assume that I remain anonymous in my quiet little home with my family. Even the attention my family gives me often leaves me feeling very uncomfortable. (But I am thankful for all the people that love me enough to recognize this day.)

Birthdays should be a time to give God utmost glory for the life that we've been given. The reality is that I deserve death not life. I, as a sinner, have a offended a Holy God just by being born. It's innate sin that puts me in the this position. But God has grace on me by allowing me life in the first place. Without Christ as my Savior there is nothing I can do to redeem myself. Thus in the end, I would get what I deserve. . .death, meaning eternal separation from the God of the universe. But it is His desire to see all man come back to Him thus He sent Christ to save them, to take their place. And it is that reality that informs my birthday reflections today.

My selfish sinful heart has kept me from being sanctified in so many ways, so many times. I believe that I should be further along in this process than I am. I look back over the past 2 decades of my life and realize how much time I have wasted seeking my own pleasure and my own desires. From fighting with my husband over leadership in the home (when I should have been submitting to him) to finding desperate ways to have the family I wanted (large) without being willing to give of myself, the time has been wasted. I cried out to God this morning as this reality sank into my heart.

But I didn't stay in that place. I know that I am forgiven for the wasted time. I also know that because He is Sovereign, He knew that is exactly the direction I would go with life. He's been faithful to wait for me as I took so long to come around to His ways, albeit reluctantly sometimes. But I am here now. I WANT His will for my life. I find that in His Word. I have not always loved His Word. In the past I simply thought it was boring. Shameful admission, that is. His Word is NOT boring. It's full of life giving words that grow me up into the woman He wants me to be. So I have begun praying that He will give me even more love for His Word that I simply can't wait to get there in the morning. I believe He is beginning to answer that. This morning I really wanted to sleep in for my birthday. But I remembered that I made a commitment (His grace in reminding me) and I joyful got up so that I could go downstairs to read in my Bible reading for the day. It's growing more exciting everyday. :)

This is my prayer for the coming year. First of all, I want to see my issues with anger resolved. I have things from my past that I am angry about and that still hurt me deeply. Personally, I am tired of carrying them around. But I have carried them and sadly justified them for so long that I don't know HOW to get rid of them. So I am crying out to the God to take them away. I am asking Him to teach me how to forgive as I am have been forgiven. This anger comes out at my children over simple things. I get easily offended by their sin. It is not "I" that should be offended though. Their sin offends a Holy God just as much as my sin does. So, I am asking for help to recognize when the anger is flaring and when I need to re-evaluating WHY I am feeling angry. The children simply do not deserve anger. God's wrath no longer burns at me because of Christ. That should be true of my children where I am concerned.

The second area that I am asking Him to work in me is regarding my home. I have shamefully not loved the home I have been given. I have many times coveted other homes (especially the beautiful turn of the century homes I drive by in downtown McKinney - that all have for sale signs.) I have a deep desire to learn to homestead and it's hard to do that within the limits of the city limits. There is discontentment that I don't have certain skills that I greatly desire to have. Simply put, I have spent alot of time pouting that I didn't learn how to keep a home the way my heart desires to do so.

One of my heroes of the faith is Sarah Edwards. She was an amazing godly woman whom I want to emulate. I want to be like her in the way that I serve my husband. He's building several areas of business right now in order to bring in finances for us to serve the Lord. I love my husband's heart for giving. I want to do everything I can to help him do that, even if it means that I have to run all aspects of this home in order to give him time to do what needs to be done. But alas, I have bad habits and selfish tendencies that keep from doing this wholeheartedly. My desire is to see them gone or at least diminished by my birthday next year. There are so many skills as a homemaker that I need to pull off such a feat and I am asking God to do that in me. I can't in my own right.

These are my birthday reflections, that I will no longer waste my life pursuing myself but spend my life pursuing the God of the universe and living out His will for my life. Dying to self is how Jesus put it. This is the narrow path and I am turning down that path this day to follow my Savior into a life of death. What joy I find in the prospects of this year. The changes He will work in me as I run after Him. The practical skills He will teach me in my home. The anger that will subside and freedom it will bring to simply live in joy and not worry any longer over my past (or my future and hurts that come then.) This is, I believe, the freedom in Christ I should be living. It's not a freedom to do what I want, but to do what Christ would have me do through Him.

Silent Night

Silent night, holy night
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon Virgin Mother and Child
Holy Infant so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace
Sleep in heavenly peace

Silent night, holy night!
Shepherds quake at the sight
Glories stream from heaven afar
Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia!
Christ, the Saviour is born
Christ, the Saviour is born

Silent night, holy night
Son of God, love's pure light
Radiant beams from Thy holy face
With the dawn of redeeming grace
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth "

I have often heard people make the remark that this is such a silly song. What baby is silent? Babies cry alot when they are born, right? Well, having had the experience of birthing at home, I would just love to have a conversation with these critics (and I have one of them.) Babies definitely cry when they are born. But if it's done right, they don't cry for long (and sometimes not at all.) I have had 3 babies in the hospital and 3 at home, so far. My babies in the hospital cried more than those at home. Why? Well, it's cold out here!!! LOL!!! That's a simple answer but true. Not only that but they relish the security of mom's arms and her breasts. Babies don't cry when they are offered all these things first and wrapped up in the warmth of momma's arms. In fact, when my babies are born, I hold them skin to skin covered with a clean towel or blanket. Neither one of us is dressed. :) But they rarely cry. Mine study my face as I speak quietly to them. They will often search for the breast and then will try to nurse as best their new little mouths can muster. Mostly they just want to rest secure in my arms after the traumatic entrance into the world.

But there is something more that makes me love this song and the implications behind it. Babies crash about 2 hours after they are born and they sleep a long time. While in the womb, the adrenaline gets going. What happens once the adrenaline wears off? . .you sleep. Hospital births can't experience this because there are just so many tests, regulations, and such about where baby should be and when. I know when I was in the hospital, they were wisked away after some brief moments and then I didn't see them again for a few hours. They were sleeping by the time I got them and I had missed the wonderful waking hours they were having.

I treasure my home births. I have the baby, spend about an hour in the 3rd stage of labor and recovery. During this time I nurse the baby skin to skin and just study who they are. They leave baby with me. After I have been cleaned up and such, it's time to weigh baby and take more necessary vital signs. This is cold for baby but they've usually adjusted to the room temperature and aren't so in shock when unwrapped. After this, we both take a very warm healing herbal bath and then dad takes baby to bond and dress. It takes about two hours from the time of delivery to me getting out of the tub and dressed. When all this is finished, I sit contendly to nurse my baby. After that the baby sleep so soundly for the next 4-6 hours. It's truly a silent time. It's almost better with a night birth because then you just nestle down together and sleep. It's beautiful.

There is nothing far fetched about a silent night when Jesus was born. People sleep at night. Animal sleep at night. All is calm. But on this night, it is very possible that this new babe let out it's first cries to fill it's lungs, had a few more protesting cries telling everyone that it's cold in this world, and then nestled down into mom's arms secure and safe. By the time the shepherds got there, it's possible that Jesus had hit that long sleepy time for newborn babes. This could have been when Mary put him in the manger to sleep. The shepherds came to worship. . .he's still sleeping, it's still night, everyone else is still sleeping. . .it's still a silent night.

I have no proof to this, of course. This is just my own experience with my babies. Babies cry for various reasons. But if their needs are being met, they just simply don't cry that often or as loudly as everyone says and complains that they do. I have no illusions that babies never cry. Personally, I think babies are louder the older the get. LOL!!!! And they do cry when they are newborn but it's just not the frantic noisy cry that so many people say they should have.

Enjoy the season. Spend time with family. Serve where you can. Most importantly, remember the silent night when our savior rested peacefully in the manger only a while after his birth.

Celebrating the Incarnation, Part II

I love The Charlie Brown Christmas Special. It's about the only Christmas special we ever watch on TV (when we had a TV.) We have the video but again, there is no TV. Christmas will be different this year without a TV. Charlie Brown often reminds me myself. I always seem to have a poor me spirit, at least when I was growing up. I have outgrown that alot though. My favorite part of that special is when Linus gets up and quotes from Luke 2. I get the chills every time I see it.

Yesterday, I spoke especially to the Incarnation, the Reason for the Celebrating, Christ. Today I want to focus on how we keep our focus on the Incarnation and away from the worldly ideas of this holiday. Now I will preface this by saying that we can't completely escape it. My family loves this holiday and goes all out. We've all learned to compromise with them in many way and we enjoy the holiday. That said, I just wanted to make it clear that I do not necessarily frown upon the tradition ways that people celebrate Christmas. Underdog and I have just decided that we wanted something different for our family. And we've run after that.

I have always wanted to make sure that Christ was the center of my celebrations. I remember planning my own wedding with that thought in mind. So our holiday celebration are no different. Having grown up in one of the riches cities in the North Texas area, I saw alot extravagance. I did not want that for my children. I chaff at all the money in this area. What I wanted for my children was to know the meaning of the holiday, the Incarnation, and to learn to give more than receive. I wanted them to bring Him the glory, not to seek it for themselves. We don't withhold gifts from them but it's vastly scaled down. What we do do is spend the month of December getting ready for it. Our Christmas shopping is mostly done so we spend time in other pursuits.

First of all, we try to spend the month of December focused on the birth of Christ in school. Along with the typical subjects (math, writing, etc.) we turn our focus to studying the Christmas Story. I have always wanted to do a lapbook with them in this area but it's just never worked out. There was one I really wanted to do this year but I decided not to spend the money and put one together myself. Click on the picture below to get to the link for the lapbook I really wanted to do this year.

(You may have to click "Holiday Lapbooks" down
the left side to get to this lapbook)

I have also done the Amanda Bennett Christmas unit study. This is by far my favorite. Last year we didn't get to do it. It's a long story but because of the co-op we were in we had to focus on doing that work. We were done with our school for the time being but we still had history and science to work through. Having a new baby also put a damper on things.

This year we are focusing on Christmas in a completely different way. It's called a Jesse Tree. We are using "The Glorious Coming - A Jesse Tree Advent Celebration" You can learn a bit more about the Jesse Tree at this website. What I love most about the Jesse Tree is that we follow Christ through the Old Testament. That has become a true fascination for me. In that spirit, I am working to make our Jesse Tree ornaments for our tree this year. We are also going to make a mini lapbook that will contact these ornaments that the kids will make as we discuss the meaning behind each ornament. The Jesse Tree will become our devotionals every morning for school and every evening as well as part of advent countdown with Dad.

Our Christmas tree has changed through the years. I know some would argue that the Christmas Tree is pagan. Somehow I just can't seem to reconcile myself to that idea. Especially the way I use it. Perhaps that is just something that God hasn't choosen to deal with me on yet. I enjoy the lights on the tree and the break in the monotony of my boring house decorating. :)

In the past I used to call my tree a scrapbook tree. It would have just a plethera of memories dangling on it. Each ornament had a story. We started a tradition with JB to purchase an ornament each year for our children so they had ornament to start their Christmas tree off with. I didn't have that luxury as my mom wouldn't give me any of my ornaments. My mother in law did and we used some of those for a while. But one year I was reading a magnificent book by Noel Piper called "Treasuring God in Our Traditions." She challenge me with something that I also want to share with you.

"Do Others See Why We Celebrate -
How will our home look if our celebration is a picture of
anticipation and waiting for God's plan to be completed,
a picture of our joy in the salvation he has begun for us?
What visible things will fill our house as we
celebrate what God has done through Jesus?" (pg. 80)

She goes one to talk about Santa and why they've chosen not to include Santa in the holiday. She discusses the Nativity Scenes and other decorations that reflect the reasons they celebrate. This got me to thinking about my own home. What did my Christmas decorations say about what was important to us? If anything, they stated that the typical holiday madness was important. I still kept a few Santas around (mstly made by my grandmother with plastic canvas. :) Gingerbreads. Cnady Canes. Charlie Brown Christmas was my theme. Nothing about the Incarnation or Christ. So I started on a mission to change our focus in our decorating. I began to only buy ornaments that reflected the Savior. I got rid of my homemade Christmas wreaths and made one with mixed and matched nativity pieces. This hangs on my door so that people know immediately what we're about this holiday. I got rid of my Charlie Brown Christmas decorations and began collecting Nativity creches. I have my eye on one but it's really expensive right now. I think I may just start collecting a few pieces at a time. This year, our tree will completely reflect the Light of the World. We're moving to white lights. I will only hang the ornaments that are reflective of Christ. And through the month we'll be adding our Jesse Tree Ornaments.

Last year, my kids got up and made a "Happy Birthday, jesus" sign for our wall. I do this for every birthday we have in our family. It's actually something my mom started with me. So they felt it was necessary to include Jesus in that tradition as well. I never thought to do that. Even this shift in our focus has trickled down to the kids. If they see an ornament or decoration they like, I will ask them if they think it reflects Jesus. If they can't tell me positively "yes" then we pass it by and discuss along the way WHY is doesn't. They are learning to make Him center in all this and recognize when the world doesn't.

Our gift giving is also something where we reflect Christ. We only give 3 gifts representing literally the gold, frankinscence and myrrh given to Jesus. Our gold gift is the one that is very special or that they might really want. This year it will be given to them by a sibling as they are going to help with Christmas this year. We put a price range on it as well. The next gift is the frankinscence gift and that is usually a book that will help bring them closer to Jesus in that year. For the new reader, that is the year they get their Bible and cover. Even our little ones are given books that teach about Jesus. The myrrh gift reflect ways to take care of their temple. To help our budget and stay with family tradition, their myrrh gift this year will be their traditional Christmas PJs. Everyone gets new PJs on Christmas eve. We also do stockings but I am trying to move away from stockings into something else that Noel Piper talked about. . .Shepherd's Bags. I haven't figured out how to make them work for our family and make them tie into the Incarnation. She has ideas in her book but again, I am not sure how to make them work for our family. So the stocking still stay around. They stay around as a place for me to give them items that they can focus on while they wait for breakfast in the morning. It usually includes a toothbrush, hair supplies for the girls, cars for the boys, and coloring what-nots. Nothing big. I have been tempted to put oranges in there but I think they might find me to be crazy.

We always read the Christmas story first thing in the morning. Our focus for the day is Jesus. We don't want the presents to get in the way. Then we move to breakfast and stockings. I planned a big breakfast last Christmas and I don't think they liked it. This year we're going with a egg casserole of some kind. Then we move to opening gifts. After that we kind of sit and just enjoy coffee together while the kids play. Finally it's time to move to getting our feast ready. The Christmas feast is similar to the Thanksgiving feast with maybe a few side variations. I have a whole plan just not before me right now. And we afterward we do our traditional nap, walk, and then a small meal to fill empty tummies (although it's hard to imagine them truly empty.)

Ultimately, this holiday is about the Savior and we keep our eyes there. We don't bring anything into this holiday that might cloud the message. And we're constantly reevaluating whether there is anything that might take the message away from Christ. He is the Savior of the world. He has come. HOPE has come. That is a reason to celebrate. But does the world really know why we celebrate? Can they tell in our own celebration why there is joy in our hearts? Or does our holiday reflect the same materialism and comsumerism that the worlds reflects? I challenge you to consider you own holiday celebration. Is it about the Incarnation more than anything else? None of what I have talked about has taken the celebraton out of it. I just replaced something good with something better, as I discussed in my Halloween post. My challenge to you would be evaluate what you do and discuss with your spouse what your holiday reflects.

Celebrating the Incarnation

This picture is from the movie The Nativity Story. I am always a bit reluctant to promote movies like this. I won't let my children watch it right now because I want the imagines they gain from reading the story to be their own, NOT something they gained from watching someone else's interpretation. Nonetheless, I enjoyed this movie and this picture was one of my favorite scenes. A bit clean for me though. The Incarnation was not clean. Period. Mary gave BIRTH in a barn. Have any of you given birth? I've given birth at home so I have seen how truly messy it can be. Hospital births are covered by the paper blanket. You can't see the mess most of the time. But birth is messy. My favorite song about the nativity was written by Andrew Peterson from his album, Behold the Lamb.






If you want to listen to the whole album of Andrew Peterson, you can find Behold The Lamb at this site. It will be a wonderful addition to your holiday music. We love this album so much that it's only holiday music that gets played all the year through. If you have a chance to see the concert in person, it's even better in person.

Why start a blog post about the Nativity? That is Christmas. Christmas is not giving gifts. It's about the Gift given to us. Christmas is not about hanging decorations and Christmas lights. It's about the Light of the World. There would be no Christmas as we know it without the Incarnation. The coming of Jesus gives us freedom from sin. When we accept Him as Savior and Lord of our lives. When we accept His sacrifice for us on the Cross. When He calls us to Him, then there is reason to celebrate the Incarnation, and not just one day a year. If we had no Christmas gifts, no decoration, no holiday music, no movies, no parties, no vast Christmas dinners and feast, no Christmas trees, or the whole of what the American Christmas has become. . .we'd still have the Incarnation.

Tomorrow I am going to focus on our holidays and how we focus on the Incarnation. We do still celebrate with gift giving on December 25th. To be honest, we haven't figured out a way to get away from what we've known all our lives. But it is vastly scaled down, especially for what I grew up knowing. Jesus is our Reason for celebrating. Our children know that. We celebrate the Incarnation through the month so that when we get to December 25th, we just enjoy the day. It's almost like another Thanksgiving celebration with some gift giving mixed in. I hope you will enjoy these posts. I hope you will consider some changes in your own celebrations.

Celebrations of Thanks

This is, by far, my favorite month of the year. I love October, as expressed in my previous post, but this is the month that contains my favorite holiday. So why do I love this holiday so much? I have many reasons that I hope to express by telling you about our celebrations for this month. Please join me as I describe what a typical November looks like for our family.

Not too long into November we have another family celebration. This time we celebrate the much awaited arrival of Pinky Poo. Her arrival brought an end to bedrest and family upheaval last year. She's been an absolute joy for our family. Joy is her middle name so she's lived up to that. Everyone loves and adores having another little girl in our midst. Little boys are special, to be sure. But there something about the happy smiles of a giggly little girl that brings great joy to your heart. She's beginning to stand on her own now and will soon be walking. I think we're all ready. I don't worry too much about having new walkers now. I have many other "walkers" to help chase her. :) We don't do big birthday parties except for certain birthdays. Sometimes we do a big family party for the 1st birthday and other times we'll have a small party with a few close friends. I am not sure what we'll do this year. We have some time to plan for it. I have got to get through our first birthday of the cycle.

This month brings the delivery of the Operation Christmas Child boxes. This is one of my favorite things to do. Honestly, if we ever hit a Christmas were we decided to do away with gift giving to ourselves and simply give away to others, I would be giddy. hehehe!!! There is nothing I love more than going to Toys R Us and buying gift that we're going to give to Santa's Helpers or some other organization. OCC allows me to get started early though. I have broken our gift boxes into certain categories and we start shopping all the way back in July to fill our boxes. Right now we can only afford to do two. I am hoping to increase that in the future. My kids love putting these together and picking out gifts. I wish they could see the gifts given to the children. I wish they could see the abject poverty these children live in so they will appreciate what they do have and get. But we just have to pray that God helps them see the need to give despite not being able to see right now. Once of these days I hope they will be able to put it in context.

The biggest celebration of the month is one that is unique only to our country. I think there are other countries that celebrate a Thanksgiving, but it's unique to America that we celebrate in November. Sadly, the true origins of this holiday get lost in the revisionist history that is taught in our schools. The Pilgrims came to America seeking religious freedom. They were very devote Christians with a strong faith in a Holy God. As mentioned in my previous post, it was the Reformation that led to the Pilgrims to come to America seeking religious freedom. We have an opportunity to remember their sacrifices and bravery when they came to an unknown world. Many people lost their lives in the process. But many of them persevered. In the end they gave thanks to a Holy God who brought them through. It is in that Spirit that we also give thanks for the many blessings that God has bestowed upon us.

I have a few things I that I try to do every year with my family. First of all, we attempt every year to take a week or two off from regular school and focus on the History of Thanksgiving. This year my older children will be working their way through a unit study while my little ones, non-readers, and early readers work on a lapbook about the holiday itself. I have collected many good books through the years on this holiday so we spend out time reading those and discussing what we've learned.

Sometime during that week we have a family ritual of sitting down at the table to make placemats. We've honestly used these placemats maybe once or twice over the years. But in these we get to chronicle their handwriting, their ability to glue things sucessfully, and especially get to focus on the things they are thankful for that year. First of all, I cut out a placemat from poster board about 14 by 21 (I think those are the dimensions. I finally just started copying the previous years placemat so they are the same size. No more measuring.) Then I cut out a turkey body and feathers from construction paper. They glue them (some of them with feather floating or hanging off the placemat. LOL!!!!) When all the gluing is done they either copy a scripture verse about thankfulness or I write it for them. Then we talk about what we're thankful for and write it on the place mat. I always write their names, ages, and year of holiday on the back so I can keep up with who did what and when. I didn't think this was such an important thing until my older children protested getting rid of it a few years ago. It's kept going ever since. (I'll will try to dig one of these out and include a picture of them.)

I am working to put together a scrapbook for our family. I am not a scrapbook person but this one really have me focused on getting it done and keeping it up. It's been in the making for sevearl years. I only add to it once a year. I even have the material that I need to cover it and make it holiday ready. I cut a tree out of fun scrapbook paper (thanksgiving themed, of course) and then cut out 4 or 5 leaves per person. On Thanksgiving, we try to talk again about what we're thankful for and add that to the tree. On the page adjacent to our tree we add that years family picture. We have an annual picture made every year at the beginning of November. I am behind by about 4 yeas but I have every collected and ready to go in the book. We also missed last year because we were still sitting around admiring the newest addition to the family. But I am planning ahead this year and hope to have it ready to add to when we get to the Thanksgiving Week.

The best part of Thanksgiving everyone would agree is the food. Now, until last year, Underdog did all the holiday cooking. He's tackled the turkey while I made some of the tradition sides: green bean casserole, mashed russet potatoes, green salad, deviled eggs (yummy), and homemade cranberry sauce. All I can say now is "boring!!!!!!" While I was laid up on bedrest and then recovery after giving birth I discovered Rachael Ray's 60 minute Thanksgiving. Hot dog!!! I could do that. And I did. I made only a turkey breast and slathered it with an herbal mixture just like she described in her show. I made the very yummy Apple and Onion Stuffin' Muffins and they were a hit. Now this is a family that only ate the bag kind of stuffing because mom nor dad like grandma's cornbread stuffing (it's just something about it we never cared for - even as a kid) so we just bought the store bought in a box type. These Stuffin' Muffins were awesome. JB helped me make the potatoes au gratin. I decided to make the tradition green bean casserole because I like it BUT this year I am doing something different. We have always made our own cranberry sauce. If you're interested in the recipe, I'll post it later. We also make our own pumpkin pie using our own pumpkin puree. That is really alot easier than it sounds and it's healthier. This year I going with the same idea but modifying the recipes to suit our diet and health needs. I am making a whole turkey to take advantage of the carcass for turkey broth and then having extra meat for meals during the week. I am armed with recipes for what to do with left over turkey. Of course, there is nothing better than piling all the turkey fixin's on two pieces of bread and making a sandwich. Yummy!!! Watching Rachael Ray last year helped me see that I can cook in the kitchen. Underdog even used my Christmas last year to get me some new pots and pans and some great knives. I need to add one more thing here. Each one of my children got to help me make a part of the meal last year. That is how I have started to make memories with my family. It's not just mom cooking, it's everyone involved.

You know, I have left out one of the best parts of the day. . .breakfast. Well, at least that is according to my children. I was planning this big eggs and sausage breakfast. I found out in the process of discussing my plans and then seeing long faces that I missed something big time. They finally asked me "What about the cinnamon rolls?" I have made homemade cinnamon rolls for years now. I didn't think they liked it (and perhaps I had fallen prey a bit to the extravagant breakfast set ups that you do find on Food Network.) So cinnamon rolls it is. I can also include this in the recipes if anyone is interested. Perhaps I will do a post on these recipes and I how I fit them to suit our family and our alternative health needs.

After our big afternoon meal, we take a nap or rest for the afternoon. Everyone is involved in kitchen clean up (as well as cleaning as we go.) After the rest we go for a LONG walk. We don't normally eat alot for dinner (although the kids usually want a little bit of something.) Depending on whether I am nursing or early pregnant, I also end up eating another meal but later in the evening after they've gone to bed. Underdog and I enjoy playing a game together and reflecting on the holiday. I try to take notes and save them on my computer for next year. Then we go to bed exhausted but thankful that we got to share all this with our little big family. It is my hope in the future to guard this holiday for our family. This will free our children and inlaws to enjoy Christmas together if they want to. If they will give me Thanksgiving, I can give them Christmas. :)

The Friday after Thanksgiving is over we always try to find a way to leave the city. We never shop that day. In fact, if we can pull it off, we try to be done with Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving. We prefer to have our December to focus on the Incarnation rather than the gift.
This year, Underdog is going to run a 5K the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I was supposed to walk with the kids in the 1 mile BUT after my bedrest, I just don't know what will happen. The kids were looking forward to it so I need to try and find a way. We have enough family to sign up as a team. LOL!!! We still haven't decided what we're going to do on Friday. We may just stay home, clean house, and put up some of our new Christmas decoration. Now I can't wait to get to our December celebrations. Things are a changin' in our home around this holiday and I as very excited about it. Check back in tomorrow and I'll give you the scoop.

Halloween?

While I was a teenager, I began to grow very uncomfortable with Halloween. I have an extreme sensitive Spirit. I would watch horror movies with my friends (because I wanted to fit in. . .conformity) but they would often haunt me for weeks after that. Some of the Christian friends knew this and would tease me about it. There was no love from these friends or a sense of needing to protect a weaker sister. They took advantage of me. As I grew deeper in my faith, I would notice the grotesques parts of Halloween more than the cute costume that once lined my dress up box. Halloween suddenly wasn't so innocent anymore. It got me to thinking about why I would want to expose my children to things like this. If I begin now exposing them to Halloween as an innocent time simply to take candy from strange (um, doesn't even that sound a bit off?) how would I explain to them as they got older that we would no longer participate in it because it was really centered on evil ideas? Watch changed? Nothing really changed. They would have just been guarded from the evil before hand. I wanted my children to celebrate LIFE. That means celebrating Christ. It's hard to find Christ in a holiday that's very nature is to celebrate evil. Christian can't skirt around that idea. The very nature of Halloween itself it to promote evil in this world. Those people that would do anything to destroy the message of our risen Savior and glory the father of this world, know the realities of this holiday. Jesus is called the Light of the World. Why do we, then, celebrate the darkness?

That said, it would reason to ask, then what do you do? Is it wise to tell kids they can't do something but not replace it with other ideas? I don't believe so. So, we celebrate LIFE. In reality we celebrate life going to sleep. That is what fall is about. The harvest is coming in. The trees are changing color so they may sleep and rest for another season in the spring when it once again come alive to give us the beautiful colors of spring. As a gift from our Father, He gives us the beautiful, deep, rich colors of fall. I love these colors. I decorate my home in the rich colors of fall. Reds, yellows, oranges, and brown grace the halls of my home. It would stand to reason that fall is my favorite season. So we celebrate and give thanks for the time of year when we do glean a rich harvest (even is that rich harvest comes from the grocery store sometimes.)

October Celebration

I believe that when most people think of celebrations for fall they automatically think Halloween.
What with all the candy, costumes, and hideous decorations around, it's hard not to. But there is so much more to October than simply waiting for the goodies that come with trick or treating at the very end of the month.

Before I get into our family celebrations, let me first state that I don't want to make judgments against those who participate in Halloween or Fall festivals of some kind. I would encourage those reading to do a search of the history and origins of All Hallows Eve. Here is a link that contains some good places to start: Annie's Halloween Page. I would also gently point out the fact that we live in a world where so many Christian have chosen to compromise certain aspect of their Christian walk in order to still be part of this world. We are called to be a holy nation, a people chosen for His possesson. When we try to be like the world in anyway, are we really being a holy nation? I would just simply encourage people to consider it. (Let me also say on the side, I know families that use Halloween as an opportunity to spread the gospel. The best of these are called Hallo-weenies. LOL!!! They serve hot dogs and hot cocoa to those trick or treating. I think this is wonderful way to celebrate this day. October 31 is not totally lost to this world. I'll spend more time on that later.)

The first part of the our celebration is simply rejoicing in cooler temperatures. We do this is several ways. First of all, I implemented a new day (particularly for my preschoolers) simply called "Fall Celebration." We just took the day to focus on the different aspects of fall. This was new this year. There were a few things that cut it short for us, nonetheless, we did what we could with what we had. On that day, I made a special oatmeal for breakfast: pecan maple oatmeal. It just happened to be an overcast and rainy day so that set he mood. Following breakfast, I set to cleaning the kitchen and put my older children on a job to get a craft ready. While the children worked on their fall trees (I cut a tree trunk and they used torn construction paper to glue on a make leaves) I did some pan fried apples and spiced tea for them.

These were really, really good. You can find the recipe for these are The Nourishing Gourmet. After we had the pan fried apples, we moved to our comfy couch and read a bit. They kids had been waiting for me to read our favorite version (because of the art work) of The Velveteen Rabbit. So I did. Then it was time for lunch. I made the kids sweet potatoes pancakes. I adapted a recipe for vegetable pancakes that I saw Paula Dean do on The Food Network website. These were really good and were enhanced with just a bit of agave nectar or honey. That was it for our day. It centered around alot of food but it was all foods you'd find in the autumn. By the way, I got the idea for the Fall celebration from the blog of The Learning Parent. I will have more time to plan for next year. I will be using a free unit study that I downloaded called Autumn Treasures from Amanda Bennett. She has wonderful unit studies. You can find that study by clicking on the picture below.

Our second form of celebration centers around our family. Seven years ago today, I was sitting on my couch miserably scratching. I was 38 weeks pregnant with my 3rd child. I had, once again, developed the Cholestatis of Pregnancy. This time I was using a midwife so I didn't have access to the drugs that (sometimes) help the itching. We were doing everything we could to flush my liver and thus relieve the itching. I spent the next week scratching until finally my midwife said we could just start labor early. My Miss Schmootzy Poo was born during my favorite month. So we use this time of year to simply celebrate that life that was given to us in our little girl. She's a precious addition to our family. She's my little pumpkin.

The biggest family tradition we have (and it actually ties into the tradition of celebrating Schmoo's birthday this year) is that we go to the pumpkin patch every year. This tradition started about 9 years ago when I took JB with her playgroup to the pumpkin patch. At that time it was a far drive and I was extremely nervous to be in a car (after having rammed a large SUV that pulled in front of me.) But we made the trek and had a blast. I have taken my kids back to the patch every year since then. Even my older kids love it. It's not longer far away. We moved about 10 minutes from this pumpkin patch. We all get a pumpkin with admission. We bring them home to either decorate the house, porch, or to supply us our yearly dose of roasted pumpkin seeds. YUMMY!!!!!! This year we are going on Schmoo's birthday. We don't normally do that because I want it to be a family ordeal and not centered on her birthday. But this year it's been rainy and I have been down. The distraction at this time of the month will be fun.

Pumpkin Patch 2008 (Pinky Poo is the 2nd Pumpkin on my tummy!!)

The final Fall celebration that is in the works for our family is centered around Octboer 31. But it's not Halloween, as I have stated above. It's centered around the Reformation. On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther tacked the 95 Theses on the door the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. They say the rest is history. If you worship in a Protestant church of some kind today, then you have every reason to be celebrating the Reformation. Wandering what in the world to replace Halloween with? Here you have it. Churches should be celebrating the Reformation rather than some kind of Harvest party or Fall Festival. As a church, we are not only missing some of the foundations of a faith but we're missing massive pieces of our history. This world (through government education) isn't going to give us the history of our church. If they do, then it's going to be in a revisionist form that doesn't match up with the fact. The Reformation is a piece of His Story that has been woven into the different parts of a tapestry. It's OUR history. We must remember so that we can celebrate in thankfulness the fact that their were men and women willing to stand up against a church that claimed deny people access to the very Word of God. People died in this movement and it's something that should be remembered. The lives of the reformers should inspire us to live our lives in holiness before the Lord. No compromise at all. None of them compromised. Many of them went willingly to be burned a the stake. They knew their future. They knew their King. And they gladly gave their lives for Him and for those of us in the coming millinia that would benefit from their fight to free people to worship and serve their King as His Holy Word called them to do. It was the events of the Reformation that will eventually to our national holiday. . .Thanksgiving. The Pilgrims and Puritans BOTH came to this country to gain religious freedom. That is worth celebrating.

We do not have specific celebrations right now. This is only something that I have recently come under conviction to really make a part of our lives in October. I do plan to do some reading this year of different biographies of reformers. There are places on the web I have found that have links to different cites to help celebrate the Reformation. Doorposts has a book designed to guide churches in how to put together a Reformation Celebration called A Night of Reformation. It my hope one day for my family to be able to host a Reformation Celebration complete with period costume and food. In the mean time, I use October 31 to emphasize our church history and give my children a gift that will last them a life time.

This is our October. We celebrate this creation that our Creator gave us. His provision in the season changes is evident in the different seasonal fruits and vegetables. It's evident in the ways His world prepares to go to sleep. From squirrels gather nuts to trees changing so they may go to sleep. It's truly a time of celebrating.

Holiday Series

I thought it would be fun to do a series on the holidays. My care group was supposed to meet on Tuesday to discuss our holiday tradition and such but we had to cancel. I was really disappointed because this is one of my favorite times of year. Since I am confined to the couch and working on my holiday plans anyway, I thought I would put some of my thoughts and plans into a series of blog post. Tomorrow I will begin posting ideas from our holiday celebrations. I will, as well, including a commentary on Halloween. Please feel free to share your ideas, traditions, memories, school plans, and more around this holiday season.

One Decade Old!!!!

My Little Lady turns 10 today. I can't believe how quickly time has gone by. It truly seems like it was only yesterday that she was placed in my arms as 7.14 lb baby. So much has happened in that amount of time that it would be easy to forget. I don't think anyone ever forgets the birth of their first child though. The most amazing thing to me has been watching this little person grow into quite a young lady. I used to worry that all the choices I made when she was a baby were seriously going to harm her. The most prominent of those worries being that she was formula fed. Everyone seemed to talk so much about how unhealthy formula fed babies were. Well, God has shown tremendous grace toward Jenny despite my choices. She's a very health young girl. Then there was all the worry I had when I first started homeschooling her. It seemed at the time that all her friends were starting school so much earlier than I was starting with her. They weren't so much doing better just ahead. The funny thing about that is that she learned to read about the same time the rest of them did. From what I can tell, she also reads so much more. She loves reading (sometimes more than she needs to, HA!)

I don't think I worry as much about her these days. I have learned in my "long" years as a mom that God is Sovereign. All the things that I worried so much about when she was younger have proven to be wasted time. He has my Little Lady in His hands. He's guiding her every step. Nothing that will happen to her is out of hands. I have finally learned to trust Him with her. It is my hope and prayer that over the next several years as she grows in her girlhood that she will learn the same lesson. If she does, she will be leagues above me in her walk with the Savior.

I am intensely proud of my daughter. Happy Birthday, Precious!!!!

A Celebration

Today is a special day in our family. Not only is it Super Bowl Sunday but we use this day to celebrate three great boys. You can see those three boys to the left. Aren't they handsome? (The big one in the middle isn't so bad either.) These three boys all have birthdays within 26 days of each other. Considering that we all enjoy a good football game we decided that we will celebrate in a big way on the weekend of the Super Bowl. Tonight we are having Chicken Tortilla Soup, 7 Layer Dip, fresh veggies (you must have healthy stuff with all this), and a yummy homemade lemon cake. Ginny and Grandpa (or Paga as he is known to the little guy) will be coming to join us for our party. The girls are excited to serve their brother and make this a great time to celebrate their lives.

BroncoBoy is the oldest. He's probably the biggest football fan we have and runs the show right now. He was the inspiration behind the lemon cake.

LBSK (Linebacker Starter Kit) is the middle guy and is just now starting to pay a little bit of attention to football. I suspect that next year he will really be into it as that is when BroncoBoy started. (BTW, LBSK, will be getting a new blog name as he is no longer the rough a tumble little toddler he used to be. He's outgrowing that name.)

K-Head, who is really more like the LBSK used to be, is the little guy on dad's lap. He has absolutely no clue what football is or even what a birthday is. But he's enjoying all this nonetheless. I plan to blow up a few balloons for him in a while to make the day complete.

I can't write much more. I needed a mental break so I came upstairs to play with my blog. As you can see, it's unconstruction and very incomplete. I am really excited about today so I need to prep more.

Go Cardinals!!!!!

A birthday!!!!

Today we are celebrating the 2nd birthday of my 5th baby. K-head, as he is affectionately called on this blog right now, is a great kid. He is full of life and already has his share of struggles. He was born at home in a birthing tub. He was 10.3lbs and 21 inches long. That mammoth baby never outgrew being mammoth for now he's 26 lbs but he feels 50 lbs. His favorite word is NO and it's usually not being used when he's being defiant. He has his moments for being defiant and rebellious. He is one of mom's joys in life and I thoroughly love this baby. Happy Birthday, K-head.