Christmas Concert

Troy and I went to a Christmas concert at our church tonight. It was really good. My favorite song they sang was a John Denver song called Christmas for Cowboys. Except the guy who sang it sings better than John Denver, if you ask me. They also did a Trans-Siberian Orchestra song, which was really cool. We have some awesome musicians at our church. It's great that they share their talents with us! It was a fun night, and it's always nice to get out just me and Troy.

Trans-Siberian Orc...

Scripture for the day

Today, in preparation for Christmas, I was reading in John chapter 1. Verses 1-14 are among some of my favorites. Actually, the whole book of John is my favorite book of scripture.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.
There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.
He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

The reason I love these verses so much is they give us an awesome picture of Jesus Christ. He became flesh, and dwelt among us. I can't even put into words the magnitude of that, and how thankful I am! This scripture also says that if we receive him, and believe in his name we become children of God. Now, if that's not the coolest thing ever, I don't know what is. :) I just love all of this! These are the things that bring me joy!

My kids are elves

Mindy got me started on this, and the kids wanted me to make one of them, so here it is. Aren't they cute?
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1220154965

Ethan's first steps

Okay, so these aren't his very first steps, but close.

Tis the Season . . .

. . . to be busy. It seems like the closer it gets to the holidays, the busier things get. And not just things centering around Christmas, but just every day things. At least for me, this year, different things keep coming up. I have to take our van in to get the oil changed, and the automatic door fixed. I had to take Kaitlyn to get an immunization for school. And then there's various other things, and I know it's just going to get busier from here.

This is the time of year when I want just the opposite to happen. I would love for life to just slow down, so I can focus on the Savior and the true reason I'm celebrating Christmas. I wanted to have all this extra time to do meaningful things with the kids each day for Advent. None of that's happening, because everything is too busy. But then I think maybe it's because I'm not making those things a priority. Maybe if I focused on the Savior first, and worried about everything else after, my time would be better spent. So that's my new plan. Jesus first, other stuff second.

Mercy Me - Homesick (Live)

I wanted to dedicate this video to my cousin Leslie. I love you, and I will be praying for you that you'll feel the love of God surrounding you every day.

Safely Home

I've been reading Safely Home by Randy C. Alcorn, and it is excellent! I've only got about 50 pages left of the book, and I'd love to read more books like this when I'm done. It's about the persecuted Christian church in China, and to be honest, I didn't have any clue that kind of thing was going on. It's fictional, but the persecution is real--it's been happening for a long time, and is still going on today.

Reading this book has made me realize how thankful I am to live here in America. Although I've often thought there are those in this country who would love for the country to have freedom from religion, instead of freedom of religion, I still get to go to church every Sunday with no problems whatsoever. Nobody tries to stop me, and I certainly don't have to worry about going to jail for it. I can read my bible whenever I want to. I will probably never have to be a martyr for Christ in the way the people in many of the persecuted churches (in various countries) are. I'm so thankful for that, and I pray for those who are persecuted.

I would recommend this book to anyone. I promise you will get something out of it!