Christmas

Charlotte woke up early this morning, so James put her in bed with us and we all went back to sleep.  My kids are early risers, usually waking up by 6:15 or 6:30, so I was really surprised when Hunter didn't come in to wake us all up until 7:15.  He asked if he could climb in bed with the 3 of us, and I thought he must've forgotten it was Christmas.  But then as he was climbing under the covers, he said, "I have to tell you something.  When we get out of bed and go in the living room, we'll get to see my big nerf gun."  So I said, "Well let's go see it!"  I wish I would've videoed their entrance instead of just taking still pictures, because he was jumping around screaming this long monologue of excitement that really didn't make any sense at all.  It was priceless...

You can kind of see him screaming here...

Charlotte hugging her Cinderella baby...

My dad got her an Ariel baby just like that last year, and she loves it.  It actually kind of creeped me out at first because they seem a little weird.  But when we were looking at the toys at Target recently, she kept going to all of the different princess baby dolls.  I was going to get her a "real" Cinderella doll instead of the baby one, but she loves babies so much, I had to go for the baby version...even with the creep factor.  That was definitely the right choice because Char loves her.  Now she walks around carrying Ariel in one hand and Cinderella in the other.

And drumroll.....the big nerf gun!

Both kids were thrilled with the candy in their stockings...

Char got Tangled and H got Finding Nemo...

Coloring book...

Bubble tape!

They've each had about 6 pieces of bubble tape today!

Char wanted to try her dress on...

Beautiful princess!

After church our family came over for lunch and we took several family pictures...

We missed you Courtney!

Our verses tonight were John 3:16-17 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."

The truth is I was wrestling with God for a while there.  I actually think I may have written about it on here early on.  Our God is complex, and there are so many things to learn and understand about Him...more than our human minds can possibly take in.  And I got to a point in my journey of learning about him where I had begun to think too much of myself and not enough of Him.  I didn't revere him the way he deserved.  I thought too highly of myself to see that he deserved my revereance if only because of his character and his history...what he's done for us. 

But here's the truth:  He is God and I am not.  He is God.  What god comes down off of his thrown to live the life of a servant?  Mine does.  And why would he do that?  Because he loves me.  Me, who thinks way too much of myself at times. 

God humbled me just when I needed it.  I'm so thankful for this Christmas season.  To be able to relish in the sacrifice of the true God of the universe, who had his redemptive plan set before time began.  A redemptive plan that started with a baby in a manger...a baby that changed everything.

Advent - Day 24

Happy Christmas Eve, y'all!  We spent the day at my sister's house, celebrating with my mom and dad and grandparents and us sisters and our families.  We had such a good time together!  After eating lunch, the first gifts were stockings from Nana...

My mom always does the best stockings.

Then we started in on the gift opening frenzy.  It was so chaotic...as always!  Hunter and Char opened clothes first...

Hunter pulled that hat and mitten set out, said "Clothes!" excitedly, and then moved on to the next gift.  He didn't even look at the tons of other clothes in there, but what do you expect from a 4 year old!

Then H opened his remote control Mater from Grandpa...

And Char opened her Belle dress...

 and Belle accessories from Nana...

Hunter is really into guns right now.  All he wants for Christmas is a "big nerf gun like Zack's".  He got 4 guns tonight, but still broke into tears when it was all over because he didn't get his "big nerf gun like Zack's".  I finally ended up basically telling him he'd be getting it from us tomorrow.  That seemed to soothe the pain a little, and he was able to enjoy his four other guns...

Charlotte loves to take her own diapers and put them on her baby dolls, so Kate made her these adorable hand-made diapers and wipes!  That is a wipe in my hand and the wipe holder in my lap...

I'll have to take pictures of the diapers later...they are precious!

Grandpa also got Hunter a light saber...

And he got Char a rocking bassinet for her babies...

After we were done opening gifts, Zack, Charlotte and Hunter went into Vanesa's room, turned out the lights and played with their light sabers (Zack's and Hunter's)...

I think Char's Cinderella shoes go great, don't y'all?  (She got a 4 pack of princess shoes...Cinderella, Belle, Ariel, and Tiana.)

Our verses tonight were Galatians 4:4-5 "But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship."

I have chills reading that.  What an amazing gift. 

Hunter was telling me on the drive home that he hates Christmas. (He's really into making extreme statements like that lately...I hate Christmas...I don't want to go to heaven...I don't like God.  My BFF, Laura, assures me that he's just learned the power of his own words and he has to work it out, but it still distresses me.)  So I was explaining to him that Heaven is the most amazing, fun, beautiful place...better than we could ever imagine!  And Jesus chose to leave that wonderful place to come here to a painful, hurting world and die a painful, horrific death all so that we could go be with him in heaven one day.  (Of course he responded to this by telling me that heaven was boring and you do boring things there, so he really doesn't think he wants to go...I'm holding out hope that he'll turn that around sooner rather than later.) 

As for me, I am so humbled by the thought of Christ's act of love for us.  My words are not eloquent enough to explain the depth of my feelings about this holiday.  But that's no surprise, really.  Who are we, compared to the soverign, holy Lord that we serve?  We are nothing. 

God amazes me continually.  And as an example of that, when we got home and opened the Christmas cards we'd received today, there was one from this sweet elderly couple at our church, and her final sentence in her hand-written note said this, "We also pray for your sweet children as they grow in the knowledge of the Lord and His Word and that their hearts will be open to receiving Christ as Savior (in His timing)."  After I read that, and now, I felt the lump rise in my throat.  God knew my worry over Hunter's comments, and he reassured me.  I hear your prayers, Carole.  Keep praying to me.  Cast your cares on me.  I hold your children in the palm of my hand, and I work everything out for good in my timing.

Looking forward to the joyous celebration of our Lord's birth tomorrow...

Advent - Day 23

The plan for today was to visit the Arboretum, and because - like Sally Albright from one of my top 5 movies - I'm completely rigid and structured, there was no way we were swaying from that plan even with the 20 degree drop in temperature from yesterday.  Apparently, we were the only ones crazy enough to venture out when it was 39 degrees...

Seriously, it was that empty.  The kids thought it was so fun that we were the only guests there.  We made a game out of seeing who could spot the other visitors the fastest (on the rare occasion that we saw one).

Since we basically had the entire Arboretum to ourselves, we were able to explore all of the fairy tale houses without having to share our space:)

First we found Aladdin's house... 

And then The Little Mermaid...

And a couple of others until we got to my favorite part...

Cinderella's Carriage!

Cinderella had left a sign that said to limit rides to 3 minutes, but we lingered a little longer since there was no one else waiting.  The kids had so much fun goofing off in the carriage...

Then Hunter took a picture of James and I (I was making our photo album from 2011 and realized we never take pictures with just the 2 of us anymore!).  I think H did a pretty good job...

I love this one...

See...

 Totally empty.

And again...

It's shocking...

The cold wind started to get to the kids, and Hunter asked if we could go home, so we took one more picture and headed to the car...

Our verse for tonight was Matthew 2:12, "And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route."

So the Magi didn't go back to that sneaky King Herod because God is in control, and His redemptive plan was just beginning.  I'm so excited for Christmas, and even more excited that we get to go to church to worship together on that very morning.  It's getting close!

Advent - Day 22

Tonight we went to dinner with Grandee and Poppy and exchanged presents!  The kids were giddy with excitement!

The kids dove in first.  Char got her very first doll house and Hunter's first gift was a Toy Story Mania video game...

Then Hunter opened his Cars 2 race track...

And Char opened several presents that were furniture for different rooms in her house...

Grandee and Poppy got both kids these cool remote control cars that light up and rotate...

Here's the car in action...

Hunter LOVED it!  He was screaming with delight:)

Char's last gift as a new baby and stroller.  The baby says "mama" and "dada" and snores, cries, slurps her bottle and even burps...

The first time I made the baby cry, Charlotte had the most concerned look on her face.  She's such a good mommy...

After Grandee and Poppy left, we put the race track together and the kids had several races...

But a girl can only take so much of that, so Char escaped to her room for some quiet doll play...

We are so blessed by such loving, giving parents and grandparents.  I am so thankful for them, and I know the kids are too!

Our verse today was Matthew 2:11, which finally told the part of the story that the wise men are known for..."On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh."

Kind of appropriate for the day that our gift giving started...I truly am grateful for all the Lord has provided for us and our children, but as I try to remind them, even without that, we have already been given the best gift we could ever receive in Jesus himself.