The Christmas Spirit

This year, I wanted to start a family tradition of giving not only our money and physical gifts, but also our gift of time and labor to help others. I looked for a community service opportunity that Princess and I could participate in together. With a little help from my sister who works in the non-profit world, I found a great organization called Kids Meals. It is a non-profit that provides free lunches to children who are too young to go to school. For many kids, this is their only square meal each day. I was excited to learn that they welcome children volunteers. Princess was excited to spend a morning having one-on-one time with me.

We showed up around 9AM and we were immediately put to work packing lunches. We were a group of 5 adults and 2 children and we packed 800 sack lunches in less than 3 hours.

Sitting on one of the bags that we packed full of sack lunches.

This bag has 80 lunches in it.

The other adults were part of a group from Starbucks, who were very involved in the community. I learned that Starbucks employees participate in a community service event about once a month. I am impressed! Anyway, they made it alot of fun. They were very competitive and a little sarcastic and did alot of trash talking, all in the name of giving back to the community. Princess also had a great time decorating the lunch sacks, sorting through oranges, transporting bags and juices and sandwiches, and doing whatever the other little girl was doing. She really enjoyed it. We both did. We will definitly continue this tradition at Christmas time and even other times of the year. I would love for community service to become just a regular part of what our family does, any time of year. This was a good start.

Merry Christmas!

A few weeks ago, we talked my dad into taking some family pictures of us, in hopes that we might get a good one for our Christmas card. The clouds rolled in and took away our lighting right before we set out for our photo session, so the pictures are a little dark, but we came out with a few good ones. Here they are:

Christmas Crafts

I love homemade gifts. I love to make them, and I love to receive them. There's just something extra special about a gift that was made with the recipient in mind, don't you think?

The last two years, Princess has enjoyed making homemade gifts for her friends as well. This year, we also made gifts for the teachers. All of our ideas came from Family Fun and Parenting magazines. There are so many great ideas in there! The gifts turned out so cute that I just had to share them!

This is a set of felt and cork coasters. We used bright colors and funky patterns. They turned out super cute. We stuck a Starbucks giftcard in there as well, and Princess's teacher loved them!

Pumpkin's teacher is going to receive this bookmark, along with a giftcard to a local bookstore. I thought it was such a great way to say "Thank you for being a great teacher" in a gift-sort-of-way.

These are the rings and hair pins that Princess made for her friends. They turned out really cute! We used a penny for the base and glued a piece of paper the same size as the penny on top of it. Then she put a letter on each one for her friends' monograms and then we used ModPodge Dimensional Glaze to make it shiny. All her friends really loved these. I think I'd like one for myself, too!

Finishing Up

Well, it's the end of the semester and that means the end of this round of extracurricular activities. This fall, Princess was in cheerleading at our local YMCA. She started out being not too excited about it, but after the first few practices, she decided she was having fun and would stick with it. I think overall, she did enjoy the Monday night practices. However, cheering at the football and basketball games was like torture, for her and for us. She hated it, which make it not very much fun to watch. After every cheer, she would say, "Can I leave now?" I don't know who is happier that the cheerleading is over, Princess or her parents.

Cousins

For Pumpkin, it was a different story with ballet and tap. She loved it from the beginning. There were a few classes towards the end when she wasn't as excited about it, but she was really excited the day of her recital. She was so cute!!! And she did a great job. One of her dances used a teddy bear as a prop and she got so excited that she just threw her bear up in the air in the middle of the song! It was great!

Pumpkin is on the far right

I'm not sure what's next for us. Princess is talking about tennis and swimming and Pumpkin is talking about gymnastics. We'll see... One thing I know for sure: we won't be doing cheerleading with Princess again for a long long time!!

The God of History

Yesterday I began reading Walter Wangerin Jr.'s Preparing for Jesus (a book of meditations for the Advent season) as I have every year for the past six or seven years. But, today's meditation struck me in a way that it never has before. Today was about Zechariah and Elizabeth, God's promise to them that they would have a child even in their old age. Wangerin points out that every present moment is rooted in the past. As God makes this promise to Zechariah, it is linked to God's promise to Abraham and Sarah.

"In all of Scripture, these are the only couples both childless and too old to bear children; and in only these two cases does God announce the improbable birth not to the mother, but to the father. Therefore, Abraham and Sarah once introduced a fresh covenant between God and the earth, so Zechariah and Elizabeth now introduce the final covenant of grace, and the lines between them run unbroken--for no other reason than that the love of God did not break against human sin!"

How awesome! Then Wangerin brings it home, explaining that even this very moment (that very moment of me sitting and reading the meditation book) is weaved together with the past. God is the God of history and He has worked everything together to bring you here at this particular time. "You have been nurtured in love through all the ages unto this instant, this breath you are now drawing, this present beating of your heart, this thought, this faith, this prayer..."

As I pondered this truth this morning, I realized how apparent it was in my life. God is the God of history and he has used things in my past to bring me here at this very moment. If not for Ron (my pastor) suggesting that we read 5 Psalms each day of November, I would not have gotten back into the routine of having a daily quiet, meditation time in the morning. If not for my involvement in Young Life, I would not have received this book of meditations. (I received it as a gift at a Young Life banquet.) If not for my severe crush on Drummer Boy in 9th grade, I would not have gotten involved in Young Life. If not for my decision to join the high school band, I would not have met Drummer Boy. If I had any singing talent whatsoever, I would not have joined the band, but would have taken choir and art instead. If I had not auditioned for choir in 5th grade and had not been told by the music teacher (with much feeling), "You need help!", I would not have been aware and embarrassed by my lack of singing talent. And it goes on and on! Pretty cool!

I am amazed to realize that my utter despair and embarrassment at my 5th grade choir audition would bring me here to this instant. The God of history, working all things together for the good of those who love Him.

The One Thing

Last weekend in Colorado, my friend gave me an important question to ponder: What is the one thing you want your kids to take from their upbringing? I have thought about it for several days. What is the one truth that I want them to know and keep hidden in their hearts for their lives? What is the one impression I want to leave them with as they grow up and go out in this world on their own? If I know what that one thing is, it can almost become like my mission statement as a parent as I teach, converse with, listen to, create with, encourage, discipline, and support my girls.

Here it is: Self confidence. Not pride, not confidence in their appearance or their abilities, but confidence that comes from knowing that God created them and He makes no mistakes. To know that they are valued and special because God says so. I want them to be confident enough to reach for their dreams, to know they can do whatever they set their mind to. Confident enough to stand for what they believe in. I want them to be comfortable in their own skin, comfortable with who they are, the women they will become. I want to make sure that my actions and words as a mother work to instill this truth in their hearts.

Refreshed

I have returned refreshed. It's amazing what a few days with no agenda and no one to take care of but yourself will do for you! And it's amazing how your spirit is lifted by the welcoming smiles and hugs of children who missed you while you are gone. (Oh, I mean me, that's me I'm talking about.)

Colorado was a perfect retreat. We hiked, we talked, we laughed, we prayed, we shopped, we ate well, we drank Airborne, we took pictures, we poked, we drove (in circles sometimes), we slept (and then we didn't sleep), we shared, we encouraged, we listened, and we grew.

After spending a day and a half in Boulder, we headed back to the Denver area and visited Red Rock Park. Aimee was excited to not have to leave the mountains just yet. We hiked around the park for about an hour, loving the beautiful views.

Then we went back into downtown Denver and poked around the downtown library and admired some of the interesting art sculptures. This one of a horse on a chair was particularly intriguing. What does it say? How much money was spent on this piece? Hmmmmm..... When I showed the picture to Princess, she said, "that's beautiful". :)

We finished out the trip spending a couple of hours at a great little coffee shop/cafe that we found in downtown Denver called the Market. It felt just like old times in Nashville, just a little chillier. I told Aimee that she inspires me to be a better person. And she really does. She challenges me to think differently. She points me to the Lord. She causes me to consider who or what I am portraying in the things that I do and say. She challenges me to be purposeful. It has been awhile since we have had time together that wasn't distracted by the chaos of family and interrupted by time contraints. It was really nice to just be, and to just be with her.

A Really Great Day

Yesterday, I flew to Denver, CO to meet up with my friend Aimee and spend a long weekend together. Aimee had never seen the Rocky Mountains before and she was WAY excited to see them today.

We spent yesterday afternoon in downtown Denver and found some really great places. We found a little coffee shop and cafe that was right up our ally. It reminded me of Fido, our favorite coffee shop in Nashville. After dinner and dessert, we got in the car and drove in the dark to Boulder. We had a feeling there were mountains around us, but we couldn't see them.

This morning we woke up and looked out the window, and right there out our window was a great big snow-covered mountain. Aimee almost knocked me over trying to get out on the porch to see it! We spent our morning walking along Boulder Creek Path and shopping in some great little stores on Pearl Street. Then we refueled and warmed up with some delicious cheese fondue for lunch. Boulder is such a great little town. I love it!! If only it weren't so darn liberal.

We spent the rest of our day driving up to Rocky Mountain National Park and hiking in the 33 degree weather. It was definitely worth the drive and the frozen finger tips. It was gorgeous!! I kept looking out for some wild Colorado buffs, and although I didn't see any of those, we did happen upon a herd of elk grazing in a grassy area right next to the road! It was awesome. They were huge and so close to us!

On the drive back to Boulder, we passed through the Roosevelt National Forest, which looked like a winter wonderland. All the evergreen trees were laiden with snow. It was so beautiful and peaceful. I am so thankful for Drummer Boy to let me have this weekend to spend with Aimee and experience God's beauty and creativity!

Princess's New Favorite Holiday

Halloween was such a blast this year!! Our neighborhood (AKA the best neighborhood ever) had a pre-trick-or-treating block party and the costumes were fantastic! Princess wanted to be a witch this year and her costume turned out pretty cute. I was able to talk Pumpkin into being Snow White, which was convenient since her friends gave her a Snow White dress for her birthday. I wasn't planning on dressing up, but a quick trip to my friend Katy's costume trunk changed that idea. Drummer Boy decided to go dressed up as the guy with the hot witch wife. Ha ha ha!!!

We left the party to go trick-or-treating. Princess and her friends literally sprinted from house to house. The mom's were running down the street to keep up with them. When things finally slowed down, Princess said to me, "Mom, this is my favorite holiday." We all had so much fun, I completely understand why.

Amelia Bedelia

Last week, the elementary school had a "dress like a book character" day. When I got the notice about the assignment, I was a little frustrated because I had just finished putting together her Halloween costume and now I had another costume to put together. Thankfully, she picked a character that wasn't too much work: Amelia Bedelia. I think we did a pretty good job, and she was super cute! All the kids at the bus stop looked great dressed up!