One Week Away

We are officially one week away from our move. It is hard to believe it is finally here. It seems as though we have talked about it for so long and now it is here. Did I say already that it is hard to believe. Yeah, sorry. We are so excited to get up to St. Louis and dive into this stage of our lives, but also sad to leave what we have known here. So many mixed emotions. On one hand I am ready to be done with:
1. Orange carpet--enough said
2. Semi-warm showers--our water heater here is tempermental and I like me a good scolding hot shower and never know from day to day if it will be hot or barely warm or even kinda cold.
3. Cardboard Boxes--I have had boxes in my home for 7 months at least now, since we sold our house, we never fully unpacked here, so it will be nice to get everything out.
4. Cooking with only half of my kitchen things, I left many things packed up and can't wait to get it all out in St. Loius--it will be like Christmas morning when I get to open all of our boxes up there.
5. The long drive from our house to really just about anywhere. I drove nearly 40 minutes to work and 20 to the grocery store...We will live right across the street from the grocery store in St. Louis and 15 minutes to school for Michael and the house I will be nannying at.
On the other hand, I will miss many things incredibly, including:
1. Family--duh right? Michael and I love our families and will miss them, but look foward to having them come up and stay with us! Can't write too much on this, I know Grandparents are gonna cry throughout this week probably and I don't want to add to the tears, but We love you guys so much and will cherish moments we get to have together either in St. Louis or B'ham.
2. Our Church Family--man, I will start crying as I continue this post...What an impact this body of Christ has had on our family. I cherish the time that we got to spend with these amazing people and wish I could pack them up and take them with me....
3. Now, to things that won't necessarily make me cry (well, not as much at least): Sweet Tea, knowing my way around (I don't like driving around figuring out new roads), Maja's almond skillet bread, Briarwood Ballet, and just being in the South (Southern people are just so friendly).

We have been busy this week getting all the details worked out and finishing up on packing around here. We have had quite the time with medical insurance drama and all, but I think Michael has gotten everything squared away and we are go for take off :)
We are sad that so many people are sick right now and hope to get everyone better so we have time with people before leaving. Poor Nana found out today that she has the flu, so hopefully and prayerfully she can get better quickly so we can have time to hang out with them before next week. So many dear friends at our church too have been facing colds and flu and all, we hope everyone gets better quick!
Anyways, just thought I would update about my thoughts on being a week away. We are hoping to just enjoy our last week here and get all geared up for the big drive up next Friday :)

Happy Birthday, Mimi!

Just wanted to tell Mimi, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! We love you!

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas!!

Jesse Tree 22 & 23

We are definitely behind on the blog, but we have been enjoying this season with family and friends! Oh, and recovering from surgery :) I have been pretty sore, swallowing still isn't feeling so great, but overall, I think recovery has been ok and not as bad as I have heard it to be on adults. I am thankful that I felt pretty well yesterday to enjoy breakfast at Nana and Pop's and then lunch at Mimi's, then even went over to our neighbors for dinner. I hope the soreness goes away soon along with the earaches, but I am thankful to not be any worse :)

On to the Jesse Tree!

For Day 22, Sarah Kate did her story and ornament with Miss Crissy.

Scripture: Luke 1
We see here how John the Baptist prepares the way for Jesus' coming.
Ornament: a Dove
(Thanks Crissy for taking time to do this with SK!)

For Day 23, we looked at the Angel visit to Mary and Joseph in Luke 1:26-38 and Matthew 1:20-25. What a beautiful picture of faithful servants who listened to the Lord and obeyed. Yes, they were probably scared and unsure of what the Lord was doing or going to do through them, but they obeyed none the less.
Ornament: an Angel

Sorry, pictures are lacking from our Jesse Tree time, but another post is coming with our Chrismas day activities...

Jesse Tree Day 20 &21

Since I had surgery this week, we had to get some substitutes for our Jesse Tree time with SK. Good thing we have some awesome subs :) We left the scripture for Day 20 with Nana and headed off to the hospital. After SK got up that morning, Nana and her spent time reading or paraphrasing the scripture and then coloring their ornament.
Day 20 key scripture: Isaiah 9:6-7
Here we see Isaiah's prophecy of Christ. It is so incredible to see how hundreds of years before the Messiah came, God revealed this promise through people like Isaiah. As we dig into scripture we see how the Lord reveals his plan a little at a time. I remember Michael describing it like a flower bud. You see the seed as it is planted in the ground, not knowing what it is going to look like in the end, but waiting and watering it. Then you see the sprout start to come out of the ground, then as the flower forms you can start to see the petals open and see more of what type of flower it will be, what color, and size, ect. Just like the plan of redemption, God's people knew that the Lord was promising to save his people, and through scripture we see more revealed of how it will look. We see through Isaiah's prophecy that the promised Messiah will be born of a virgin and will be a King of a Kingdom that will never end.
Ornament: SK colored the name of Jesus.

Day 21: SK had a slumber party with Mimi that night, so mommy could rest at home and have Daddy's full attention to baby her. She had an extra special treat to get to have that slumber party with her cousin Haven. The girls had a blast it sounds like baking cookies and playing together. In the morning, they got up and got to do the Jesse Tree story together.
Scripture: Jeremiah 31:33, Reading/paraphrasing all of chapter 31.
We see through Jeremiah, that the Lord will establish a new covenant with his people through Christ. God will write the new law on their hearts. If we look to the Last Supper Christ has with his disciples, Jesus shares how his blood will be the new covenant.
Ornament: A Heart

We are thankful that the Grandmama's spent this time with SK teaching her through scripture about our Lord. Just an update of me and the surgery if you are interested: The surgery went well, I guess, I slept through it :) The doctor did tell Michael that the tonsils definitely looked like they needed to come out. I have stayed on pain meds, just to keep from feeling any pain that might be going on. I have been able to eat some solids, not too much, but I did have cheese toast with soup yesterday, so that is good I think. Icecream is definitely my friend right now too. I am thankful to have an appetite, since we were warned that I might not have one after surgery. My jaw is feeling a bit sore (the Doc did say that I have a small throat making it hard to work around the tube they put in my throat during the surgery--mean my jaw would possibly be sore afterward) and swallowing hurts, but overall I think recovery is going ok. I am resting and drinking lots, so hopefully recovery will be quick, esp. since we move in 2 weeks! Thanks for your prayers, I really appreciate all I can get right now :)
Hope everyone is having a great Christmas week!

A look back at our weekend

Well, here's a quick look at the fun we have been having around here lately!

Mimi took SK on a carousel ride for being such a good sport at the Galleria, which she had a blast on!

We got to meet Nana and Pop (fyi--sk alternates between calling Michael's dad Pop and Papa--we are sure which one is going to stick yet) for dinner at Niki's West and then went to the Alabama Theater for our annual White Christmas. SK was such a sport even though she really didn't appreciate Bing as much as the rest of us.

Sunday, Michael and I took SK and Gracie to see the Alabama Ballet's performance of the Nutcracker. It was so much fun to take SK to her first ballet! We ended up with front row seats, which made it hard for SK to see, but she loved watching the ballerinas and told us that next time she was going to dance on the stage :)

Looking at the stage with her buddy, Gracie!

Today has been a big pack day since surgery is scheduled for tomorrow. Pray for me. I am trying to relax, but I have already gone through the getting worked up part a week and a half ago and now I have to go through it again. Add to that the stress of packing for our big move only 2 weeks away and...well, it will all be fine I know...I just don't like not knowing how my recovery will go and I want to enjoy these last couple of weeks here in Alabama too.

Jesse Tree Day 16 & 17

The subject for day 16 was Ruth. The book of Ruth is right between Judges and Samuel and has some incredibly redemptive aspects to it especially considering that it occured during the time of the Judges. If you look at the theme of Judges we see national sin being committed by God's people over and over again. In the midst of this period we are given a story of grace and redemption in Ruth. Ruth is a Moabite woman who was widowed by an Israelite man. She desired to go with Naomi (her husbands mother) back to Israel and Worship her God. Being a widow she had no one to care for her. She was allowed to gleen in Boaz's field as he was family. Boaz was the grandson of Rahab who was the harlot woman that helped the spies sent by Joshua. Israel was given a law that if a woman's husband died, the next closest would marry her as the kindsman redeemer. Boaz ended up doing this very thing for Ruth. There is great grace in this story. Moab was a people group that were enemies of God's people. Not only was Ruth brought into the people of Israel, she became a part of the lineage of David and ulitmately Christ. In a very similar way we as believers are shown incredible grace as we were once enemies of God, but are grafted into the family of God through Christ.

Day 17, we looked at the annointing of David. We see how the promised Messiah will come through the line of David, and we see the promise of an eternal Kingdom that will come through the promised Savior. One awesome part of the story of the annointing we looked at in this passage was how David was selected by God not because of his outward strength or looks, but by his heart. God saw David's heart, seeing through the fact that he was the youngest of his brothers (the son's of Jesse) and the weakest. We had fun glueing jewels on a crown for our ornament and then coloring it purple (the color that seems to be Sk's favorite color).

Jesse Tree Day 14 & 15

Day 14: We looked back in Joshua, we get to where Joshua leads the Israelites to the promised land, which they must conquer before they are able to call it their own. Joshua then sends 2 men in to check out the situation and then report back to Joshua. These 2 men find refuge with a woman named Rahab, a prostitute and Gentile, who we see through her testimony has heard of God and put her faith in Him, and risks her own life to help hide these men. The men give Rahab a way in which to show the Israelites not to harm her or her family when they come into the city, by hanging a scarlet rope out of her window.

What faith that is! Risking her own life for a God she hardly knew, but completely trusted. We flip over to Matthew 1 and see how she ends up being a part of the geneology of Christ, she being 1 out of only 5 women found in the geneology. So many cool things we can see through that.

Day 15: We turn to Judges 7 and learn about the story of Gideon. We see how the M. and A. armies had been oppressing the Israelites for 7 years, which was allowed by God for the idolatry from the Israelites. God spoke to Gideon, who put an end to the idolatry and formed an army to take over the M. and A. armies. Gideon had an army of 32,000 and God told him to make his army smaller so they would not be able to boast in themselves and their own power, for their boasting was to be in the Lord and His power. God then took the army down to only 300 men, much less than the other armies. Then God revealed to Gideon in a dream the battle plans. Each man was to take a jar, a torch, and a trumpet and divide into 3 groups. With Gideon's signal the men were to break their jars, waive their torches, and blow their trumpets. The M. and A. armies then proceeded to flee in fear.
What an awesome story to show us that God will use us even though we are weak and it might look like we are outnumbered and outpowered. God does the same thing today, that He did way back then. He shows us that with His strength we can do ALL things. Not our own strength or our own power, but only His!

Well--just to keep everyone, or at least whoever might be reading our blog, I went to the doctor (Hematologist--blood doc) and had more labs drawn and another b-12 shot. From what they can tell thus far, it might be that the only way my body is accepting b-12 is through shots, which would mean I would be on b-12 shots regularly (Have I meantioned that I really don't like needles and shots...and I have had lots the last week or so...). We are waiting on one more lab result and then also waiting to see if the b-12 shots begin to make my blood levels go up. Our prayer is that it is that simple and it is nothing else (I did go over other possibilities out there, but most likely are not the case with me). Given all of this, my blood doc then called my ent doc and told him that I would be fine for surgery in his opinion. Both doctors feel that I will be fine with surgery and so we have set things up for Tues being the big day (once again...)! I will go back to the blood doc on monday for another shot and labs, and maybe at that point my levels will be heading up in the right direction, then he said he might be prescribing me shots that I can just do at home and I will have to find a hematologist when we get to St. Louis to continue checking my levels and all. Crazy!! Oh, and did I mention surgery will be 2 days before our insurance changes...Whew! I will say that I am so thankful to the Lord for us finding this out before the insurance change and before our move. God is so good and is working this all out for His purposes and Glory!!

Jesse Tree Day 12 & 13

For Day 12 we looked at God giving Israel His ten comandments. We think of the law and the ten comandments as being cold and unforgiving, which it is. God requires perfect righteousness. We do not often consider or do not want to consider the holiness of God, the fact that He is just and punishes injustice. So how can this holy and perfectly just God also be gracious and merciful? I would contend that even the giving of the law is gracious. God did not have to reveal Himself at all. He did however, and by giving the law He shows His people whom He has already brought out of bondage in Egypt how to now live in light of what He has done. The law also points us toward our greatest need, which is the Messiah. The law condemns those who try to achive their righteousness by it, but it is life to those who look to the only one who lived to law perfectly for us. Grace is two fold for us here because not only did Christ achive the law perfectly for us, He died the death that was due us for our failure to achive the law. Grace abounds throughout God's holy word and it is centered on His Son Jesus Christ.

Moving forward (as we play a little catch-up) to day 13 where we talked about the fall of Jericho. We see now how God is bringing His people into the land which He has promised them. Jericho was no push-over. It was a heavily fortified city with walls all the way around it. How was Israel to take this city down? Well it was not by swords or arrows. A very strange thing happens where the walls fall down after Israel marches around the city for 7 days. I have to wonder what was going through not only the minds of the Israelites but also the people of Jericho. Jericho was no doubt watching Israel thinking these folks have lost their minds! In a very similar way we as followers of Christ sometimes look like we have lost our minds as we do follow Christ. As we look back in Joshua, we see the Captain of the Lords host (who is a pre-incarnate appreance of the Son of God) appear to Joshua. We also see that He is leading His army and accomplishing His purposes. It is Christ Himself who brings down the walls of Jericho!

Pictures are lacking on this post, but for Day 12 we did a picture of the ten commandments and for day 13 we had a picture of a trumpet.

Also, a quick update on Michelle--We found out her b-12 is low, iron and folic acid are normal (Praise!). She had a b-12 shot on Monday and will get another one tomorrow and hopefully find out at that point when and if we can have the surgury.

Jesse Tree 10 & 11

Well, we are not doing so hot at keeping up on the blog, but here is our catchup!

Day 10

Exodus 3--We see the story of Moses and the burning bush. We see how Abraham's family grew really large, which we call the nation of Israel. We see how God's people ended up in Egypt and under the rule of a mean king, Pharoh. They called out to God to save them from this horrible king, which is where we see God speak to Moses through the burning bush and tell him to go save His people from Pharoh. It is such an incredible story, that shows us how when we are hurting or scared, we can cry out to our Lord and He will take care of us.

Our ornament was created by daddy, the artist. He made a burning bush and sk filled it in with the markers.

Day 11

Exodus 12

Today we look further into the story of Moses and how he goes to Pharoh to set God's people free, but Pharoh refuses. God puts plagues upon the land, and even through all of that, Pharoh still does not allow the people to go free. Then, we get to the passover. We see how God preserves and protects His people by using the blood of a lamb to show they were a part of God's family. It is neat to see the connection of how we are a part of that same family and the lamb was provided for us through Christ our Lord. Through His atoning blood we are saved from the death we deserve from our sins.

Our ornament: We decided to make a lamb with cottonballs. Sk loved using the glue to stick the cottonballs to the ornament and then draw the legs and put the eye on.

We got to go Sat. to the Moody Christmas Parade with friends and had so much fun! Sarah Kate hung out a lot in Kara's arms. First pic is waiting for the parade to start, she heard it coming and was so curious, then the next picture is of Caleb covering SK's ears since she really didn't like the sirens and loud trucks. SK, Maddie, and Witt really got into the catching candy and things that were thrown off of the floats. SK had a blast with her first parade!

So for those of you who haven't heard our story of our day Friday, here is a quick recap. I got all prepped for surgery, IV and all to find out that I am anemic and it was not safe to take me to surgery. I, instead, went to a hemotologist to get more blood work (which caused me to pass out since I tend to do that and hadn't eaten since the night before). I will go back to the hemotologist to get results and determine if it is more of a b-12 deficiency and folic acid, or if my body is not absorbing it well, or what else it could be (We had it all explained to us, but we don't completely understand it all). So all that to say, our prayer is that we can get this all worked out and my levels back up so I can have surgery before our insurance changes (which will happen the last day of Michael's work, Dec. 23rd). There are 2 surgery dates left before that date: this friday and tues of Christmas week. Pray with us that all will get worked out with my levels and we can have the surgery before our insurance changes. We are thankful that God allowed us to catch this before going to St. Louis. He is in the midst of this, we know and are so thankful.

Thanks for your prayers!

Jesse Tree Day 8 & 9

So it has been a busy last 2 days, therefore the keeping up with the blog has been put on the backburner. We have taken time each morning for our Jesse Tree, just not posting. Sarah Kate has gotten so into doing this each day, she comes in our room each morning and crawls in our bed and looks at us and says it is time for Daddy to read the story and make our ornament. It is so sweet. So to quickly recap the last couple of days:

Day 8--We looked at Joseph, covering Genesis 39-50. Needless to say, we paraphrased much of it. We talked about all of His brothers and his coat that his father gave him and how his brothers really didn't like him and sold him into slavery, yet through it all the Lord took care of Joseph. The Lord was in control the whole time and used Joseph to accomplish His purposes.

Our Ornament was a picture of the coat of many colors with Sarah Kate enjoyed attempting to use "lots of colors!!"

Day 9--We meet Jacob in Genesis 49. Jacob shares with his sons about their futures and we see the promise of a "King", the Lion of Judah.

Our ornament was created by Daddy this morning since we didn't have a printout. Daddy drew a sceptor and a Crown, then Sarah Kate colored the jewels on the crown and the sceptor.

Well, on another note, surgury is tomorrow. I will be heading up to the hospital and scheduled to have surgury at 10:45 a.m. Say a prayer for me if you read this before then. I am nervous, but am so thankful for friends and family that are here to help. Pray that the recovery goes as easily as possible. I have heard some rough stories of the recovery being hard, but I am ready for some rest time and will sit back and take the help that the Lord is blessing us with. Thanks for your prayers.

Jesse Tree Day 7

Today we looked at Jacob, Abraham's grandson in Genesis 28. We specifically looked at an interested dream he had where there was a ladder. God spoke to Jacob and confirmed once again the promise He had made to Jacob's grandfather that all nations will be blessed through their family. We flipped over to John and learned there how Christ is the "ladder" that was in Jacob's dream. It is so cool to see how even though Christ hadn't made His appearance, He is seen so much through the old testament. Through the redemptive work Christ did on the Cross we have full access to heaven and to our amazing Father. What a beautiful picture. Do we really celebrate in that daily. I know I don't. What awesomeness that God would send His one and only son to make a way for us to have a relationship with Him once again. Thank you Father for such an incredible gift. I can't even fathom...makes my gift giving look pretty sad. What true love that really is. Wow.

Our ornament was the picture of a ladder, which you can barely see in the picture below due to Sarah Kate happily coloring away with her brown till you could no longer see anything but a brown blob :)

Sarah Kate was all better this morning, so she spent the day at MDO, while Mommy recruited the lovely Crissy Sharp to come over and help pack/purge. Man she is a good purger...and good company too :) We got the front living room, which had become overrun with stuff, including sewing projects, boxes, overstock pantry stuff, ect., ect.... Now, you can see most of the floor and everything is boxed, except for the big pile in my kitchen waiting to be taken to the thrift store. Now all that is left before the big day (aka surgury day) is to clean up a bit around here. Which, I will now quit piddling on the computer and get back to work :)

Jesse Tree Day 6

Today we looked foward to the promise made to Abraham of his son Isaac (which continues the line) and then the test of Abraham's faith by God asking him to sacrifice his son, but then providing the ram and therefore preserving the son (the line). We had a picture this morning of a cradle, symbolizing the promise made to Sarah and Abraham, that even though they were past child-bearing years, the Lord blessed them with a child, Isaac. I so relate to Sarah, when she laughs. How many times have I done that in my life. Plenty, but have been shown that the Lord is faithful and still decides to bless me, even in my unbelief.

Notice Sarah Kate's eye in the pic? She woke up this morning with a swollen, sealed shut eye...poor baby girl. She is now on eye drops and feeling better, but she was pitiful when she woke up this morning and couldn't open up her eye. We are washing up lots around here, trying to prevent the spread of germs, especially with my surgury approaching on Friday. Pray for us that no one else gets it, we need to be healthy around here. I need daddy healthy so that he can take care of me after surgury and I definitely don't need to get it. We appreciate any prayers we can get, esp. on Friday as I go to surgury and recover the following days. I know it will be a simple surgury and I should go home that day, but I am a bit nervous. I know I will be in good hands though and am thankful that we are doing this here while we have so much help.

Y'all have a good monday!

Jesse Tree Day 5

For our Jesse Tree today, we move forward in history from looking at God's dealings with Noah to God's calling of Abraham. We see a further expanding of God's Covenant of redemption being revealed. We see from the geneology in Genesis that Abraham is a desendent of Shem (one of Noah's sons). The passage that we looked at specifically was Genesis 12:1-7 where we see God calling Abram to leave is family and land to follow God's purposes for Him, and what an incredible thing that is promised to Abraham. He would be the father of a nation that would bless all nations. Of coarse Abraham would not have known exactly what that was going to look like, however he trusted God for what He was going to do to redeem His people. Looking back we now know that this blessing that God speaks of in the covenant He makes with Abraham is ultimately and eternally accomplished in Jesus. Now as those who look to Jesus as Lord, we are looking to the very same source for our salvation as did Abraham. We are sinners who have been graciously adopted as children of God. Christ is not ashamed to call His people brothers and sisters. That would then make us desendants of Abraham through the redemptive work of Christ. Praise God! He has loved and died for sinners like us that we may be adopted into His family!

Jesse Tree Day 4

We waited to do our Jesse tree story time and ornament till after naptime this afternoon. Today we talked about Noah and we see through Scripture the promise continue of a coming Savior. We read in chapter 9, verses 8-11: "Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, "Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood and naver again shell there be a flood to destroy the earth."" We see later in this chapter the line of the promised "seed" will come through Shem (Israel) and that Japheth and his descendants (Gentiles) will be blessed through Shem. This will ultimately be accomplished through Christ as we continue with our story :)

We read/paraphrased Genesis 7-9 with Sarah Kate, then our ornament was a rainbow over Noah's ark.

After having our story and ornament time, we headed out to go see Grandma! We needed to go hug her neck and wish her a Happy Birthday (It was actually yesterday). Grandma whipped up some dinner and then played ball with Sarah Kate :) We made a pit stop by Nana and Pop's to play for a little and watch Gigi, then it was time to head home for bed! It was a fun day around here and we are ready for worship in the morning with the body of Christ!

Goodnight, y'all!

Jesse Tree Day 3

Today's Scripture: Genesis 2:15-17, and all of chapter 3

We see God give all of Eden to Adam and Eve, but commanded that they not eat of one the trees. We see the promise of the Savior in verse 15:

"And I will put enmity between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel."

God was so amazing to even then promise a "seed" for us.

So Sarah Kate is really getting into story time in the morning, which is so fun. She got up this morning and went to get Daddy up and said "Daddy!!! Get up!! Time to read a story!!" So cute :)

Our craft this morning was the picture of the tree with apples. I will now take a moment to brag like a good mama on my baby girl. She did so good coloring, and it is so cool to see her skills sharpen as she colors. She first chose the red and colored each apple, staying pretty stinkin close to inside the lines. The she chose the green for the tree and knew where that color went, then you can see blue for the sky and green for the grass and brown for the tree trunk. You might not be saying wow, but it was just one of the moments for a mama, that my baby girl is growing up and starting to really color more than just scribbling on the page whatever color wherever she chooses.

Ok, mama brag moment over.

Hope everyone has a lovely Friday! We are excited to have a playdate this morning with friends and make some yarn wreaths!

Jesse Tree Day 2

Day 2:

Genesis chapters 1 and 2

We read verse 1 and 2 from chapter 1 and then paraphrased the next 2 chapters, since our 2 year old only has so long of an attention span. She does know 2 things though. God made everything! and we asked her why did God make everything? She responded, "for His own glory!!". Thank you Miss Wendy and Miss Becky for teaching my child! It is so fun to watch the seeds get planted and begin to grow as she learns and gains a deeper and deeper understanding of the gospel, even at this age. She knows that God made her and it was for His glory that He did. I love to see her childlike faith. What a beautiful thing.

So today after reading and talking about our story, we cut out our ornament and we used markers (big treat!) to draw the earth. We are having fun with this and I love that this is how we are starting each day.

Hope yall have a lovely Thursday!!

Jesse Tree

In the midst of our chaos, we decided that it would be best this year to not drag out the Christmas tree and ornaments. Kinda sad, but we don't really think it makes much sense to unpack a box while in the midst of packing and then have one more thing to pack up after Christmas since we are moving so soon after. We are good with it and know next year we will decorate since we will be settled in and have our home set up. Life is just too crazy right now. So in leiu of our Christmas tree, we decided to change it up a bit this year and replace the normal "Christmas tree" with our version (well, I didn't come up with this, I stole it from others--blogs are great things for getting ideas). We are doing the Jesse Tree this year, which I am sure many of you have heard of or might do yourselves. It is a great way in which to remind ourselves and show our children this celebration is about Christ and we celebrate how God had the redemptive plan from the beginning of time for His people. Each day we will have story time with Sarah Kate and then make an ornament with her to follow along with the story. Michael went out this morning and found our "tree", which equals going outside, in the freezing cold, and getting a good couple of branches. Tree=check! We will be doing our story and ornament in the mornings since that is when Michael is home, but it would be a good thing to do after dinner too, either way. Here is a link that I found helpful which has each days scripture and ornament to go along with it. I would love to be all crafty with this, but most of my stuff is packed away or I just can't find it right now in the mess of our house, so this year, we will have very simple ornaments, but I like that.

So on to day 1:

We read Isaiah 11:1-10

We see through this scripture that the promised Messiah will come from the line of Jesse, hence the name "Jesse tree". Jesse was the father of David, which Joseph was a descendant of.

I am looking foward to Christmas this year and having a simple, worhsipful time as a family to celebrate Christ. Michael and I feel very strongly about teaching our children that Christmas is not about the presents we get or about Santa or even about the fun times we will have baking cookies, it is about Christ. We plan to do plenty of fun things and will even have presents to give and receive, but that is not why we celebrate Christmas.

Back to the tree. So the ornament for today, I cut out a circle, kinda shaped like an ornament. Michael brought in some extra branches, which we cut small and glued in the shape of a tree on the ornament, to symbolize the tree. Sarah Kate really enjoyed this and I think it will be a great way to start each day this month.

After having our craft time, we headed off to get our friend Haynes, go visit our friend at the nursing home and head home for play time. Sarah Kate decided that Haynes needed decorating too, which Haynes thought was hilarious till she started using the necklaces as a leash.... oh my!

The promise of eternity in Christ

Well, we said goodbye to the Donahoo's yesterday. They are England bound as we speak. (In case you do not know the Donahoo's, they are a family from our church who is leaving to work with MTW and Grace Fellowship Church in Culcheth, England) I praise God for His faithfulness. Just as He called them to go He has provided. The Lord has used them in mighty ways among our church family at Community PCA here in Moody, AL. Our pastor put it very well last night when he said that just as the church in Anitoch did with Paul and Barnabas, we are sending out our own family for the work that the Lord has commissioned them to do. They will be missed greatly, and as we are preparing to move away as well, we think of everyone that we will miss. The great and sure hope that we have as those who are united in Christ is that we are promised eternity praising our Lord together in His very presence! That will truly be a glorious day! In light of that we must seek what the Lord is calling us to do now, while He has left us here in the world. In light of the fact that we were once enemies of God, yet so loved by Him that He sent His very Son who knew no sin, to become sin on our behalf and bear the wrath of God for us...WOW...we should be zealous for the building up of His Kingdom!

Thanksgiving Day

We will let the pictures tell our day's recap from Thanksgiving!

We started out our day finding Sarah Kate sleeping sideways in her big girl bed.

Then we got up, got our wings on, and enjoyed some chocolate chip muffins for breakfast!

After filling our belllies, we all pitched in to help make some white chocolate bread pudding.

After filling up with an incredible lunch, we played some football outside.

Sarah Kate found it fun to fill her sack up with rocks from Nana and Pop's garden.

Time for some family pics :)

Cookie break with Memaw!

After nap, we headed off for more fun at Mimi's with everyone!

The girls were so busy all night running around playing, this is the how most all of the pictures turned out....blurry :) They had some good fun though!

Hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving!