The Twenty-Four Days of Christmas: Day One

When I was a little girl my brothers and sisters and I began our celebration of Advent the Sunday after Thanksgiving (usually), which is the first Sunday in Advent.  During the week before Thanksgiving, Mom would take us up to the mountains where we would gather pine branches that we would make into a wreath.  That would be set on a square piece of styrofoam.  Four candles would be set in the four corners, all of the same color, and one ~ usually red ~ would be set in the middle.  Each Sunday at dinner time we would light a candle until all four had been lit.  Then on Christmas day we would light the fifth.  Since there were five children in the family, we each were assigned one Sunday when we got to be the candle lighter.

From the Vermont Christmas Company

My siblings and I have tried to continue this tradition with our own families.  It is a little more challenging when you hit the "empty nest" years!  In my family we try to keep this celebration an important part of our preparation for Christmas.

The other important celebration that would begin on December 1st was opening our Advent Calendar.  In case you have never seen one, this is a large Christmas picture with doors numbered 1-24.  Behind the door would be a picture or a Scripture verse celebrating the season.  Each evening at bedtime we would have to find that day's door and open it.  When I was very little we had some that my Grandparents had sent from Switzerland.  Mother kept those and we re-used them from year to year.  It didn't matter that we had seen what was behind the door; we still enjoyed them.  I always pitied my oldest brother and sister when I was very little.  My calendar had pictures behind the doors and theirs just had words!  Here is a link to a site with some interesting history and pictures of early calendars.

What did you do today to celebrate Advent?

The Twenty-Four Days of Christmas: Introduction

Welcome to December!  

I am one of those people who gets VERY excited in December every year.  I grew up celebrating Advent.  We were taught as children that the word Advent means "coming", and that we are celebrating two important events that are coming.  First, we celebrate the anniversary of the birth of Jesus the Messiah.  I understand that we don't really know the date he was born and that this is simply an arbitrary date that was chosen.  I'm fine with that.  The important thing to me is that we honor the birth of my Lord and Saviour.  The second event that is coming is His return.  If Christmas itself is not enough to get excited about (and around here it is!), the thought of Jesus' return will surely get the anticipation goose-bumps going!

Knowing the background of what Advent means, how is it celebrated?  We do a number of different things in our house and there are other things that I grew up doing.  I hope to share some of those with you over the next twenty-four days.  I hope that you will leave a comment or two and let me know what some of the traditions are in your home as well. 

Responding to Crises

Are you wishing right now that you could travel to Japan/Haiti/Chile/ or Egypt/Yemen/Libya?  Perhaps yes to the first group, less likely to the second group.  Are you seeing the pictures of the devastation, the people weeping and wishing you could go over and gather them up in your arms, clean their physical wounds and fix their emotional and spiritual wounds?  Are you crying over the motherless children wandering in the streets?  Are you frightened for those at risk of radiation sickness and those dealing with the anger of a mob?

It is so difficult to know how to respond to these global crises.  Perhaps you know that international travel is out of the question for you personally.  Perhaps you have very young children who must have their Mama at home.  Perhaps your health will not permit travel, or you don't have the financial resources to go.  Perhaps you are wondering how you are to respond as a Christian; what would God have you to do this week?

I am blessed to be part of an amazing church family at The Church at Brook Hills.  Every week one of our pastors preaches the Bible.  We do not hear sermons about current issues, social, political, or otherwise.  We just hear from the Bible and what God is saying in His word.  Yesterday was a special service for us.  We have been studying the book of Acts this winter and yesterday came to the 20th chapter where Paul was sent from Ephesus back to Jerusalem.  We also had the privilege of commissioning a team who are going to the Seattle area to start a new church.  One thing that struck Mark and I both was the statement that we are called to work wherever God has placed us.  Perhaps we are thinking that God wants us to go to a particular mission field but we are either unsure which one or we are just not quite ready to go.  So we have to choose whether to spend all our time fretting over and wondering about the future, or to work to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ where we are right now.  Convicting, isn't it?!

So here's the deal.  Perhaps you can go to Japan/Haiti/Chile this week to help with earthquake recovery.  Perhaps you can go to the Middle East to help those suffering through the turmoil over there.  Then again, perhaps you can not.  If you can not, what are you going to do where you are?  How are you going to minister to the people God will place in your life this week?  How will you minister to the checker at WalMart today?  How will you be Jesus for that person from the billing department who has messed up your account?  How will you help that person in line with you at Starbucks?  Folks, the needs around us are huge.  Take a moment and look at the eyes of the people you are around in your office.  How many of those co-workers are completely lost and suffering deep hurts?  What is it worth to you to obey Christ and show His grace, His mercy and His love to them right now?  What are you willing to risk to be obedient?  What you choose to do today will not have a direct, obvious impact toward helping those suffering devastation in Japan.  But the suffering is not limited to Japan; it is right beside you.  Pray for those around you.  Ask God to give you discernment to know to whom you are to speak.  Ask Him to give you the boldness to obey His directions.  Ask Him to give you the words to say.  Ask Him to give you the grace of an obedient heart.  And after you ask, obey! 

Continue to pray for the people around the world who are suffering great tragedies.  Remember that your prayer can and does have a powerful impact. I believe that Exodus 17:8-13 is not only a great story about the history of Israel, I believe that it is also a picture of God's people praying for one another.  Lift up the weary arms of your brothers and sisters in other parts of the world today.  Look forward embracing them one day in Heaven and talking about how your prayers for them this week blessed each of you.

Updated prayer request

I am so happy I am wearing the happy hat and doing the happy dance.  See?

OK, OK I confess; this is an old picture and not the best quality, but you get the idea.
Last Wednesday Catherine, who is 4 1/2 months old, had major heart surgery to close a rather large Ventricular Septal Defect.  The surgery was wonderfully successful and Catherine was able to GO HOME yesterday morning!!  So for those of you who saw the post asking for your prayers, THANK YOU!!  Catherine has some challenges ahead of her.  She has Down's Syndrome and her family need a little extra grace in the days and years ahead.  She is a beautiful blessing and we are all praising God for her.

In the past few weeks I have found some wonderful folks who have offered their care and support for Catherine's family.  One of those wonderful folks is Tiffany Tachenko Underwood, whom I met through a mutual friend.  Tiffany announced today on her blog, Just a Little Bit Downsy (don't you love that title?!) that the old book, Angel Unawares, is back in print.  This is the book that was written by Dale Evans Rogers (yes, that Dale Evans Rogers) about her little daughter Robin.  It is a wonderful resource not only for families who are dealing with Down's Syndrome but any other special needs child.  So hop on over to the link and see what you think and you can register to win a copy too!

The Return of Homestead TV

Since we have moved to Alabama we have been surprised at how often it snows.  Of course, the snows we have and get all excited about make our northern friends laugh, but it is a big deal to us.  And yes, we do close schools for less than an inch in the grass and none on the roadways.  I don't know why, we just do, that's all.
Last week we had what I hope is our last snow of the year.  It was pretty coming down and I spent most of my time hopping up and down from my chair to gaze out the front window and watch it coming down.  At one point the cats got a little excited.  I figured they were being southern cats and excited about the snow.  I went to the front window to look again only to see an animal scurrying off the front porch!  I grabbed a flashlight and shone it out the window.  First I thought it was a possum.  I yelled for Mr. Marvelous because I was afraid the possum would go after the chickens.  I kept watching the animal rooting around in the snow by the front walk.  Then I wondered if it might be a raccoon; it was really hard to tell in the dark with the snow falling.  Mark grabbed his shoes and the big spotlight, I wrapped my warm blanket around me and stuffed my feet into my boots and we quietly went out the front door.
We were shocked to realize that the animal was neither a possum nor a coon.  It was an armadillo!  I tried to get a picture of him but the dark night, the falling snow, the beam of the spotlight and the very bashful armadillo all conspired against me.  Oh well; maybe next time!

Prayer Request

Please pray this week for Catherine, a 4 1/2 month old baby who will be having major heart surgery on Wednesday.  Pray for her healing, for peace for her parents and big sisters, and that God's glory will be obvious to everyone.

Back Up and Running!

Yes, this is back up and running.  In the last month I have learned how to find statistics for who is accessing the blog how often.  I stumbled across that while getting Mark's blog up and running.  I clicked on the statistics link for this blog last week and was rather startled to find out that this blog has had over 200 hits in the past month.  What was even more shocking was the number of international viewers I have had; Holland, Germany, Moldova, Latvia, Russian, Chile (thanks, Emilee!), Russia, Poland, Romania and Canada.  Wow! 

We have had 2 new additions to the extended family.  Our nephew and niece who had been living in the southwestern part of Alabama had their fourth baby, another precious little girl.  Another nephew and his wife had their first, a son, a few weeks later.  That got me started on embroidered baby blankets.  The great-niece got one with verses from Psalms and Proverbs.  The great-nephew is getting one with a Noah's Ark theme.  The Noah blankie is not finished yet.....sigh!  Hopefully it will be done within the next few weeks.  But here are a couple of pictures of the one with Psalms and Proverbs.

I backed it with a soft flannel so that the back of the stitching would not show and irritate

Here is a distance view of the front

 

And a view folded over so you can see how the back looks

Unfortunately, these are all the pictures I took and since the blankie is now with my babies in Utah, that is the best I can do!  Yes, my babies all moved to Utah and even worse, they took their parents with them!  I am happy they are there; they are helping to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ and plant new churches for Christians out there.  I surely do miss them, though!

Now I have a request.  If you are reading my blog, would you please add a comment?  Just let me know where you are and how you found me.  I am curious!  Also, if there is something I may be praying about for you, please feel free to ask.  It would be my privilege to pray for you!  Just so you know, my prayers are offered to the Almighty God, the creator of the Universe, through the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ the Messiah. 

His peace to your home.

Stewardship

Where have I been since August 16th? Getting my guys back to work, a trip, company, canning, another trip, more company, more canning, an interesting weekend, more company (I am one blessed Auntie 'Ginia!), another trip and a LOT of rest!!

This morning I woke up to hear someone on the radio talking about tithing. They were talking about tithing money and about the blessings God promises when we do. I had two problems with what was said and I wonder what you think about this.

First, they were restricting their definition of the tithe to money. My understanding of the Old Testament culture is that tithing was everything you had. It was the produce from your land and your flocks. You were expected to use your artistic talents for the benefit of the temple. You were expected to expend time and energy to keep the temple and the city maintained. So how much time are we spending working to maintain our church? How much of our energy goes into training a class of 13 year-olds during the week? How much time do we spend using our talents, whether that be artistic or scientific, to improve our church building? Writing a check for these things is not that difficult, even when our finances are not in great shape. Being the one to take the initiative and teach a single mother how to grocery shop economically, or change her oil and rotate her tires for her when it needs to be done (not necessarily on our twice a year schedule if we even have such a program) is another matter entirely.

The other problem I had with what was said was the assumption that the blessing God states He will pour out on us when we are faithful with our finances is more money. More money? Better financial stability? If that is the blessing, what do we say to the vibrant, committed Christians living in China, Sudan, and Indonesia who have nothing? These people who take money they could use to improve their family's diet and instead give it to another Christian who is suffering? Or the Christians who have no church to give their money to? Shortly after a man I know lost his home to hurricane Katrina, he was traveling in a third-world country to preach and teach and help pastors in that country. When one of those groups found out about his loss, they took up a collection to help him. These were people who in one year will make less than most of us will make in a week. This was a man who had resources like insurance, extended family, and governmental programs to help he and his wife recover. He was taken aback by this desire to help but the translator insisted that he could not refuse because it would remove a blessing from those wanting to give. The people who helped are not in much better financial shape now than they were then. However the joy and the grace that they received from this act is immeasurable. The blessings that God promises are so much more than money and "financial peace". To interpret them to mean that is limiting God and denying ourselves an opportunity to experience what He means by the word "blessing". It is time we moved beyond this limited thinking and started growing in our understanding a bit more. God's blessings of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control are far more valuable than having a healthy checking account, a big home, an extra car and several months worth of food in our freezers and pantries!

Recently Mark and I have been thinking and talking a LOT about stewardship in our home. I'll leave you with a verse that keeps coming to mind as we think and talk about this...this is the verse that is on our dry-erase board in our kitchen.

"Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself (poured Himself out), taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men." Phil. 2:5-7

Pour yourself out for the glory of God today!