Happy New Year

Snapshots from Christmas

Merry Christmas

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

Isaiah 9:6

Merry Christmas from our family to you, may this day bring you a renewed understanding our Creator and his love for us in giving us His one and only son!

What is a friend?

A friend is a person of great understanding
Who shares all our hopes and our schemes,
A companion who listens with infinite patience
To all of our plans and dreams.
A true friend can make all our cares melt away
With the touch of a hand or a smile,
And with calm reassurance make everything brighter,
And life always seem more worthwhile.
A friend shares so many bright moments of laughter
At even the tiniest thing -
What memorable hours of light-hearted gladness
And pleasure this sharing can bring!
A friend is a cherished and precious possession
Who knows all our hopes and fears,
And someone to treasure deep down in our hearts
With a closeness that grows through the years.
by: Katherine Davis

We are blessed by these friends!

Christmas crafts

Each year the girls do crafts for their Grandparents and Aunts & Uncles. This year I struggled with ideas for Syrah as I don't want to duplicate anything Sadie has done in the past. So, I came up with a great idea that turned into a huge flop! I had all ready purchased many of the items needed and since we are on a budget I didn't want them to go to waste. I finally thought of a way to use most of what we had purchased and found a craft that also taught a lesson.

Here you can see the front idea of the craft. The Christmas tree is stitched on a piece of card stock paper and then glued to either a backing or to a card (we only made one card). You can find the Christmas tree template at the site Skip to My Lou (one of my favorite crafting sites)!

The idea is to make them into cards - similar to what Syrah did for Valentine's Day. However, I had purchased all these charms and beads and intended to use them in the first craft, so we attached them to strings and glued them between the two card stocks to make an ornament.

On the back we placed this card which explains the meaning behind each charm, bead and the evergreen tree.

Syrah did a great job working on these (99.9% all her own work) and it was fun to go from something that didn't work to finding a solution that did!

challenging questions

I found some questions earlier this week that are intended for a small group setting that I thought were very challenging and hopefully helpful to evaluate heart issues. I thought I would share them as I go over them and find myself at the Mercy of the Lord!

1) Am I consciously or unconsciously creating the impression that I am better than I am? In other words, am I a hypocrite?
2) Am I honest in all my acts and words, or do I exaggerate?
3) Do I confidentially pass onto another what was told me in confidence?
4) Am I a slave to dress, friends, work or habits?
5) Am I self-conscious, self-pitying, or self-justifying?
6) Did the Bible live in me today?
7) Do I give it time to speak to me every day?
8) Am I enjoying prayer?
9) When did I last speak to someone about my faith?
10) Do I pray about the money I spend?
11) Do I get to bed on time and get up on time?
12) Do I disobey God in anything?
13) Do I insist upon doing something about which my conscience is uneasy?
14) Am I defeated in any part of my life?
15) Am I jealous, impure, critical, irritable, touchy or distrustful?
16) How do I spend my spare time?
17) Am I proud?
18) Do I thank God that I am not as other people, especially as the Pharisee who despised the publican?
19) Is there anyone whom I fear, dislike, disown, criticize, hold resentment toward or disregard? If so, what am I going to do about it?
20) Do I grumble and complain constantly?
21) Is Christ real to me?

References: Village Church – “The Path” sermon 2 in series. Village used from John Wesley’s Class Meeting: a Model for Making Disciples, by D. Michael Henderson, Evangel Publishing House, 1997, pp. 118-9

Prayer for our pastor (part 2)

I hardly have words for how heavy my heart is over the health of Pastor Matt. I ask that you read this update and continue to lift him in prayer, his health, spirit, his wife, his kids, the church, his friends and his family.

On Tuesday, Dr. Barnett informed Matt and Lauren that the findings of the pathology report revealed a malignant brain tumor that was not encapsulated. The surgery to remove the tumor, the doctor said, was an extremely positive first step; however, because of the nature of the tumor, he was not able to remove all of it.

Today (Thursday the 17th) Pastor Matt is meeting with several doctors for several options. Please pray for wisdom and for clarity on the path in which they are lead to take for future treatment.

Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. ~Psalm 139:16