Skip to main content

Christmas is Near!

I can not believe that it is almost Christmas! It's pretty crazy to me that the year is coming to an end! It has been a crazy, exciting, and busy year! One thing that Kyle and I are planning to do is to sit down and make a list of all the big things that have happened this year. I hope we get around to do it so that we can reflect on all those memories! Perhaps we will share our list on our blog so you can get a glimpse of our lives this year!
One thing that our family has committed to doing this Christmas season is to sit down as a family each night and do our Advent Family Devotion. This is a special time each night where we get together and light candles in our "Advent Wreath," (which is just a plate with five votive candles on it, next year we will do something more extravagant!), anyway, we get together, light a candle, and read scripture, a devotion, pray, and then sing a Christmas hymn. We have been faithful to complete our devotion each night, and I believe that Ava likes it quite a bit as well! It's a struggle to keep her still for 10 or 15 minutes, but she normally loves when we sing. She "sings" along with a pretty serious expression on her face and it is so sweet.


Our goal for this special time of year is to keep our focus on Christ and the true meaning of Christmas! This Advent study has really helped, and the Lord is moving in our home. I can not wait til Ava gets a little older and we can have actual conversations about Jesus and how he saved us from death! It has also really made me have more specific and meaningful prayers. It is a constant prayer of mine that Ava will ask Jesus to be Lord of her life, and I can not wait until that day! A man at church got to baptize his daughter this week and it was so beautiful to see! I pray that we can have that experience with Ava one day! I think that is the ultimate gift as a parent! I am so thankful for our church family and all the people who are shepherding her and teaching her about Jesus. (Even though she absolutely can not stand going to Sunday School right now :), I know this will change as she realizes how fun it is! ) I praise the Lord for this precious gift and I love her with every inch of my being.

It's crazy to think that God loves his children even more than that! What an awesome God we have! And to think that he sent his only son, to die for me....how unfathomable! I've always known this, but really got a better understanding of how great a sacrifice this was for our Lord once I had a child of my own. So amazing!

If you're reading this, I challenge you to keep in mind the TRUE reason for this season. It has nothing to do with gifts and Santa, or parties and delicious food.....the reason is to celebrate our King's birthday! I pray that you will prepare your hearts for this wonderful day!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ultrasound #2

Yesterday Kyle and I went for our second ultrasound. Our doctor was not 100% sure of Ava's position so she ordered us another one. We were both excited and anxious to see Ava again. Boy, is it different from 19 weeks to 37. She looks so smooshed in there! We got a picture of her beautiful profile and another that ensured us she is still a girl! We got to see her spine, her brain, her heart beating rapidly, and even her full little bladder. (Mine was about to pop since I had to wait 2 hours without using the bathroom. That was no fun at all!) The ultrasound showed us three main things. 1. Ava's definitely in the heads down position, 2. it looks like I am 37 1/2 weeks pregnant instead of just 37, and 3. She looks like she weighs about 7 lbs 9 oz. as of right now. The ultrasound tech kept telling us that her weight is an approximate. He said sometimes they are so close it's scary or so far off it's embarrassing ! Anyway, she sounds like she's at a heal...
1 comment
Read more

Thriftiness Fun

Those of you who know me, or have spent at least 5 mintutes around me...know that I am one of the most frugal people on the planet. Why am I such a tightwad? Well...I think I gotta give the credit to my dad on that one. He taught me from an early age the importance of being smart with money. I saved up my birthday and Christmas money when I was very young just so that I could start my first savings account. I started babysitting at age 11 (which I cannot believe), and every bit of that went into my account. I did lots of odd jobs when I was a kid to earn and save a buck here and there, including collecting chestnuts from the giant trees in our backyard to sell at a local grocery store. (Have you ever seen where chestnuts come from?? A baseball sized ball of needles, basically.)  It was a tough job, but I was excited to be earning and saving. So that's the story of my thrifty beginnings, and it has continued to follow me into my adulthood. At this point in my life, saving money ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Adley's Birth Story

I have been a little overloaded in life and let our blog go to the back burner!  But, I must write about sweet Adley's birth story just like I did with Ava and Anniston :) On June 8, after a sleepless night, Kyle and I got up and got ready to head to the hospital to meet our third precious girl.  To say I was nervous would be the biggest understatement ever.  Even though I had gone through 2 csections before, it didn't mean I wasn't scared and nervous....it's a big, scary surgery!  Mostly I was just afraid of the needle.... We arrived at the hospital, checked in, and started getting prepped for surgery.  First came the beautiful gown (I was so happy it wasn't the paper/plastic gown like I had with Anniston...I sweat to death in that gown), then came blood work and the IV, which I was not excited about....I hate needles.  And then the VERY worst part started.  Waiting.  Waiting for the magical hour of 7:30 am.  It took forever.  I was...
Post a Comment
Read more