And the angels filled the sky
All of heaven wondered why
Why their King would choose to be
Be a baby born to die...."
("Born to Die", Bebo Norman)
The temperatures are dropping (with an exception of the bizarre 65 degree weather on Monday), stores are crowded, and everyone is scurrying to put up all of their decorations. No one has anytime to sit down let alone really ponder the beauty of wintertime or the blessings that we receive each day from our heavenly Father. My life is so busy, and often I don't take the time to really sit back and think about Christ. Sure, I spend time in the Word and prayer, but I want to really ABIDE in Him, dwell on Him, live in Him as a branch does in the Vine throughout every moment of my day. I have so much to be thankful for, and even if every good thing in this life was ripped away, I would still have every reason to rejoice in the eternal salvation purchased for me on the cross of Calvary.
Yesterday, I was holding a baby. As I looked into his big brown eyes and at his little cheeks, I was reminded that our God became so helpless. I know, we always hear about this, to the point that it really doesn't shake us up to much anymore. But take a moment and just stop. Think about the fact that God became flesh and dwelt among us. When our car breaks down and we don't have any money to fix it, when we are struggling and laboring through a very hard trial, when we face opposition from others for the sake of Christ, when we are weary of struggling with sin and selfishness....the fact that God became flesh brings everything into perspective. This year, I have been trying to think not only of his first coming--full humanity and full deity, wrapped in a tiny, crying, needy package--but also his awaited return--fully King and Lord, "Who is called Faithful and True....dressed in a robe dipped with blood...(whose name) is the Word of God." (Revelation 19:11,13) Hallelujah!!! If you are truly His child, then THAT is something worth looking forward to!
Today, I would have been 11 weeks pregnant with our first baby. God in His sovereignty called this little one home, and I trust Him. He became flesh and dwelt among us, He bore our sin and carried our sorrows, it is truly finished because Jesus paid the price. No struggle in this world can take away our joy.
Rejoice and bow with me, for the King Reigns. Worthy is the Lamb.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Every Man Needs a Good Scar....
Okay, so I am a few days late on my promised blog, but hopefully this story will be worth the wait. As many of you know, Daniel is a deer hunter and has been very succesful the past two years of hunting. This year, he started off on a bad foot, going out into the woods 7 or 8 times, only spotting deer 2 or 3 of those times, and coming home empty handed every time. Although the thought of grinding up deer meat for hours in the kitchen was less than appealing, I was still feeling his frustration each time when he would go out and come home with no sucess story.
This past Friday morning, Daniel went out again at 5:45am. Mind you, this is after getting home from work at nearly 1:00 am. So, on not quite 5 hours of sleep, he gets up and drives 20 minutes to the property, hikes 10 minutes into the woods, and spends another 5 or 10 minutes climbing into a tree.
I, on the other hand, was dreaming about climbing crumbling ladders and searching all over for D (I know, I have weird dreams) when my phone rings at 7:15am. It was Daniel's ringtone, so I knew he had succeeded in his quest! He confirmed; he had indeed gotten a deer, but also something else that he hadn't quite bargained for.
"Um, well the gun kicked back and have a head wound and it's bleeding pretty badly......but I feel fine, really. I feel fine. Honest."
I was less than sure of his "fineness" and was out of bed before you could say....well, I don't know what, but I got up pretty quickly. After a quick hunt for warm clothing and suitable head bandages, I was out the door. He called me back to reassure me that the freezing temperatures had stopped his bleeding....and that he still felt fine. Great.
About 45 minutes later I show up to the place where he hunts and start running down the trail. That didn't last for too long, but I continued to walk (speedily, nonetheless) to him....I find him, still in his tree stand, beckoning for me to be quiet. He was trying to get a shot at ANOTHER BUCK.
Let's recap here. Daniel is bleeding from the head and has already shot one deer. My honey is indeed a manly man.
I finally get to him and watch him make his descent. He is talking to me very seriously and intensely, but its hard not to laugh at the massive vulcan like sign made from dried blood in the middle of his eyebrows. Yet, the puddle of his blood on the leaves was not so funny. We get him cleaned up....or enough to prevent him from continuing to bleed while he takes care of his deer....and get him and our future dinners out of the woods.
When we finally get home and get all of the dried blood off, it's easier to see the wound. He has a crescent shaped gouge from the scope of his gun whacking him in the forehead--a combination of extreme cold, excitement, lack of sleep, and his being in the tree stand for a total of 10 minutes before the deer showed up. His dad, the good Dr. Spencer, told us to try butterfly bandages instead of stitches....hopefully it won't scar too badly!
We learned our lesson....well actually, he told me later that day that he was "Glad that it happened....that he'd have a cool scar now," so maybe not :)
Oh, how I love him. The excitement never ends around here!
Hope you guys had equally exciting, yet less traumatic weekends! At least he didn't have to get stiches, and we have 40 pounds of meat in the freezer to show for it all!
This past Friday morning, Daniel went out again at 5:45am. Mind you, this is after getting home from work at nearly 1:00 am. So, on not quite 5 hours of sleep, he gets up and drives 20 minutes to the property, hikes 10 minutes into the woods, and spends another 5 or 10 minutes climbing into a tree.
I, on the other hand, was dreaming about climbing crumbling ladders and searching all over for D (I know, I have weird dreams) when my phone rings at 7:15am. It was Daniel's ringtone, so I knew he had succeeded in his quest! He confirmed; he had indeed gotten a deer, but also something else that he hadn't quite bargained for.
"Um, well the gun kicked back and have a head wound and it's bleeding pretty badly......but I feel fine, really. I feel fine. Honest."
I was less than sure of his "fineness" and was out of bed before you could say....well, I don't know what, but I got up pretty quickly. After a quick hunt for warm clothing and suitable head bandages, I was out the door. He called me back to reassure me that the freezing temperatures had stopped his bleeding....and that he still felt fine. Great.
About 45 minutes later I show up to the place where he hunts and start running down the trail. That didn't last for too long, but I continued to walk (speedily, nonetheless) to him....I find him, still in his tree stand, beckoning for me to be quiet. He was trying to get a shot at ANOTHER BUCK.
Let's recap here. Daniel is bleeding from the head and has already shot one deer. My honey is indeed a manly man.
I finally get to him and watch him make his descent. He is talking to me very seriously and intensely, but its hard not to laugh at the massive vulcan like sign made from dried blood in the middle of his eyebrows. Yet, the puddle of his blood on the leaves was not so funny. We get him cleaned up....or enough to prevent him from continuing to bleed while he takes care of his deer....and get him and our future dinners out of the woods.
When we finally get home and get all of the dried blood off, it's easier to see the wound. He has a crescent shaped gouge from the scope of his gun whacking him in the forehead--a combination of extreme cold, excitement, lack of sleep, and his being in the tree stand for a total of 10 minutes before the deer showed up. His dad, the good Dr. Spencer, told us to try butterfly bandages instead of stitches....hopefully it won't scar too badly!
We learned our lesson....well actually, he told me later that day that he was "Glad that it happened....that he'd have a cool scar now," so maybe not :)
Oh, how I love him. The excitement never ends around here!
Hope you guys had equally exciting, yet less traumatic weekends! At least he didn't have to get stiches, and we have 40 pounds of meat in the freezer to show for it all!
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Our Happy Little Tree
....more pictures to come! Oh, and QUITE the story from yesterday....tune in next time! For now I will keep you in suspense ;)
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Holiday Time and serving HIM in all things
Well, here we are in December. Sorry (to those of you who are actually reading my blog!) for the long delay between posts. I think that it was a combination of busyness, forgetfulness, and not much to blog about. Sometimes I'll think during my day, "Wow, this would make a good blog!" (nerdy, I know) and then by the time it comes to blogging, I have forgotten what it was. Ho hum. Well, I will try to do better.
I have been feeling the itch to decorate for Christmas this year more than I ever have before. I think that it's probably because it's the first year that I have my own "home" (outside of college dorms/houses) and a husband who enjoys when I decorate. I have been on the hunt for inexpensive ways to make the house look cheery and have "scored" on various levels:
1.) Daniel's sweet Momma let me "borrow" some things of hers that she doesn't really use much anymore now that her kids are all out of the house. So I got some lights, some ornaments, and a few little Christmasy thingamabobs.
2.) Making ornaments out of old pictures and cardstock/cardboard
3.) Searching google for do-it-yourself ornaments....I made a spiral snowman, but I'm not sure how long he'll last (one of his arms has already fallen off...)
4.) Family Dollar/Dollar Tree ornaments, ribbons, and such. Can't go wrong with $1-$2 a pop!
5.) Walmart $1 stockings and $7.50 tree stand. YES!
6.) Tomorrow we will go and get our jolly little Douglas Fir tree from Home Depot for $16.97
A holly jolly AND frugal Christmas :)
P.S...Does anyone know where I could buy a nice creche/nativity set?
In other news, Daniel and I have been talking about what kinds of traditions we want to establish in our family on holidays. We've come up with an exciting plan for Thanksgiving! We want to do a sort of "advent", starting about 7 days before Thanksgiving day. Each day, we will talk about a characteristic of Christ that we are thankful for (for example, we are thankful for Christ's power, we are thankful for Christ's grace, we are thankful for Christ's sufferings, etc.). We were also thinking of making some kind of board (like a science-fair stand up board) and decorating it more each year. We would have it up on Thanksgiving day to remind us of our Lord and Savior, the One that we are most thankful for. What do you guys think?
Thanks for reading :) I pray that Christ will draw you more to Himself today by the love and grace of His Spirit and that you may be able to grasp how wide and high and deep is His love....(read Ephesians 3!!!)
xxoo
I have been feeling the itch to decorate for Christmas this year more than I ever have before. I think that it's probably because it's the first year that I have my own "home" (outside of college dorms/houses) and a husband who enjoys when I decorate. I have been on the hunt for inexpensive ways to make the house look cheery and have "scored" on various levels:
1.) Daniel's sweet Momma let me "borrow" some things of hers that she doesn't really use much anymore now that her kids are all out of the house. So I got some lights, some ornaments, and a few little Christmasy thingamabobs.
2.) Making ornaments out of old pictures and cardstock/cardboard
3.) Searching google for do-it-yourself ornaments....I made a spiral snowman, but I'm not sure how long he'll last (one of his arms has already fallen off...)
4.) Family Dollar/Dollar Tree ornaments, ribbons, and such. Can't go wrong with $1-$2 a pop!
5.) Walmart $1 stockings and $7.50 tree stand. YES!
6.) Tomorrow we will go and get our jolly little Douglas Fir tree from Home Depot for $16.97
A holly jolly AND frugal Christmas :)
P.S...Does anyone know where I could buy a nice creche/nativity set?
In other news, Daniel and I have been talking about what kinds of traditions we want to establish in our family on holidays. We've come up with an exciting plan for Thanksgiving! We want to do a sort of "advent", starting about 7 days before Thanksgiving day. Each day, we will talk about a characteristic of Christ that we are thankful for (for example, we are thankful for Christ's power, we are thankful for Christ's grace, we are thankful for Christ's sufferings, etc.). We were also thinking of making some kind of board (like a science-fair stand up board) and decorating it more each year. We would have it up on Thanksgiving day to remind us of our Lord and Savior, the One that we are most thankful for. What do you guys think?
Thanks for reading :) I pray that Christ will draw you more to Himself today by the love and grace of His Spirit and that you may be able to grasp how wide and high and deep is His love....(read Ephesians 3!!!)
xxoo
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