Thankful Thursday Christmas Edition

I am beyond thankful for the manger, for Jesus coming to our world and being born to die for our sins! How truly amazing that we have a Savior who came in the form of a baby born in humble conditions, but yet, the most High King~ how I imagine Mary and Joseph kissing the face of our Savior... I love the song Joseph's lullaby, it's one of my favorite Christmas songs by Mercy Me.

Go to sleep my Son
This manger for your bed
You have a long road before You
Rest Your little head

Can You feel the weight of Your glory?
Do You understand the price?
Does the Father guard Your heart for now
So You can sleep tonight?

Go to sleep my Son
Go and chase Your dreams
This world can wait for one more moment
Go and sleep in peace

I believe the glory of Heaven
Is lying in my arms tonight
Lord, I ask that He for just this moment
Simply be my child

Go to sleep my Son
Baby, close Your eyes
Soon enough You'll save the day
But for now, dear Child of mine
Oh my Jesus, Sleep tight

As we are preparing our home and lives for Christmas with family and friends, I want to remind myself that this is all about Jesus, not the gifts, the clean house, or the good food, all of which are wonderful, but aren't the reasons for this wonderful time of year. May the eyes of my heart and music in my soul, worship Jesus and thank God for sending us His son to save the world! What a perfect gift! How excited I am to share this gift with the people in Italy, to share Jesus with everyone around us, to be His eyes and ears and words to those around us, no matter where we go! Praying for His peace this Christmas, it can be a hard time of year for people, and sharing Christ's love and taking time to really see beyond our own noses is so important.

I had the opportunity to ring bells for the Salvation Army with some 8th grade boys from Lincoln Christian School on Wednesday, and I had the wonderful privilege of meeting a man named Joe, he was ringing bells before and after our 2 hour shift. I was able to chat with him for a bit and hear about his journey and pain, sharing with him the hope we have in Jesus, he shared his apartment had burned down last Christmas and he was homeless for awhile and had nothing, literally the little he had owned burned up. Although he shared that he was living in another apartment, he was still struggling to make ends meet, he was currently out of work, and yet he felt like giving back and ringing bells for the Salvation Army. Listening to him talk about his hard times and hearing how he thought that all kids today were selfish, but he said after watching these 8th grade boys and hearing them talk about why they were there, he said he was so happy to hear that not all kids are as bad as he thought. Here was a 54 year old man who was changed his opinion about youth by seeing four 8th grade boys give time. How often we just aren't willing to give of our precious time.. I am praying for Joe this Christmas, praying that he feels the love of Jesus, and that others will come along side him and nurture the seed that was planted yesterday.

May this Christmas be wonderful for you and your family and may the Savior of the World Jesus be the gift you cherish most!

Christmas week...

Well, I've been a bit busy and sadly have not posted for a bit.. but I just wanted to say that I am very thankful for this busy season! I have enjoyed many Christmas Concerts and felt all together excited about Christmas festivities! I have a day of cleaning planned at home and at the kids' school where we clean once a week too... so this day will be filled with preparations and tidying up! I am thankfully feeling a bit better, I have been battling a sore throat the last couple days, but it seems to be on the mend! Praise God! Who has time to be sick? I will post more later, as of now I'm off to clean!

Monday motivation...

Well, it's Monday and I am not feeling very motivated, I must say.. I have things to do, I usually change sheets on all the beds on Monday, but I am lacking some motivation this morning. My thought process was that maybe I would find this missing motivation while typing out the to do's of the day... and slowly I am realizing that sitting here at the computer on my comfy couch is not really helping.. So, I must get off my duff and actually work at it! Motivation is found while working toward it... effort is needed!

Much about this fundraising process or deputation is work! It takes us working towards God's end goal of Italy to get us there. His motivation is found when I seek it.. I have to choose to move towards it.. and some days I will admit, it's not my top priority...but I am asking for God's motivation today, motivation to run the race set before me, taking those strides to see His goal achieved.. pray for me that I would not lose focus of the work before me, that I would not become lazy...

I am off to do some housework.. motivation within reach! :)

Thankful Thursday

Cookies were created and boxed with Oasis Youth Group and H2O to give to the community


I made the icicles out of village snow material and then hung little bells off some of the ends to dress up my cabinet


this is our master bedroom tree.. it's rustic inspired


Our front room tree love shiny bright ornaments and old family ornaments

Christmas brings out my creative side. It's been a fun few days of primping and fussing with decorations! I have scoured through magazines, blogs, old photos, and windowed shopped for ideas wherever possible. I am a research kind of girl. I love digging for information, gathering it, and visually making those ideas come to life. I am thankful for art! Art for me is inspiring! I feel inspired after looking at other people's creative fingerprint. I feel energized and accomplished when I finish a project. Hope you enjoyed seeing some of the little projects! :)

boom, pound, clunk

Today the roofers have started roofing! It started out to be somewhat of a startle, even though we knew they would eventually reach our complex.. the sound reminds me of Santa and his reindeer on the roof, just that they are very very loud... I am grateful for the new roof, grateful that we live in a complex that puts money back into a making our home well kept. I don't know if tomorrow I will find this noise as endearing as I do today, wondering just how long this will take them... all along hoping that they don't fall through our roof.... :)

I am reminded however, of one of our team members Grayson, who is a roofer by profession and I have been reminded to pray for him, it's cold outside today and I can't imagine actually getting on a roof and walking around, it seems dangerous.. and chilly for sure! Thankful for people who are willing to get up there and make the roof secure and keep the water out!

Thankful Thursday

Be Thankful
By Author Unknown
Be thankful that you don't already have everything you desire.
If you did, what would there be to look forward to?
Be thankful when you don't know something,
for it gives you the opportunity to learn.

Be thankful for the difficult times.
During those times you grow.
Be thankful for your limitations,
because they give you opportunities for improvement.
Be thankful for each new challenge,
because it will build your strength and character.

Be thankful for your mistakes. They will teach you valuable lessons.
Be thankful when you're tired and weary,
because it means you've made a difference.

It's easy to be thankful for the good things.
A life of rich fulfillment comes to those who
are also thankful for the setbacks.
Gratitude can turn a negative into a positive.
Find a way to be thankful for your troubles,
and they can become your blessings.

My mom always said I was a "wordy" person, it was probably a nice way of saying I liked to talk a lot! Which is true, I enjoy talking. I like cards that have a lot of words in them, I love reading, I am good about filling a void in conversation, chatter to me is never meaningless!

Last night at Oasis Doug preached on self-control; we are going through the fruits of the spirit this year with our high schoolers. This topic and fruit made for interesting conversation in my small group and more importantly Holy Spirit spoke to me about my words. My words need to reflect a grateful heart! I am incredibly grateful, however, it's easy to miss my gratefulness because my words probably don't sound all that grateful to my husband at the end of a long day of running errands or cleaning up the house. I tend to be an open book and share a lot about what's on my heart, but what is on my heart? Is my heart thankful? If it is, then my words should line up with that! I felt convicted.... I desire to show the world that God is Good, not only in the wonderful, easy, blessed times, but in the hard, ugly and stressful ones too! May the words on my lips this day, be marked with Thanksgiving!

Psalm 69:30 I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving.