Let's get away this Christmas dear...

Let's get away from sleigh bells
Let's get away from snow
Let's make or break some Christmas dear
I know the place to go
How'd you like to spend Christmas on Christmas island?
How'd you like to spend the holiday away across the sea?
How'd you like to spend Christmas on Christmas island?
How'd you like to hang a stocking on a great big coconut tree?

- Christmas Island, Jimmy Buffett

We head today to our own little Christmas Island where great-grandma, the grandparents and island friends will join us in our very nontraditional, tradition of an island Christmas.  Before we head out and disconnect from cell phones and reliable Internet service, I wanted to wish you a very merry Christmas. 

May the joy of the Lord be present in your homes, may the wonder of the miracle, Emmanuel , fill your hearts and may you find the time in the coming days to slow down a bit and love on the children in your life. 

Merry Christmas!

Celebrating that even this can be beautiful

Last night I had the privilege to speak to the amazing MOPS groups at Antioch Church of Erwin.  The women were warm and welcoming, and I was so blessed to meet them.  I spoke about seasons in our life (from Ecc 3) through the stories of Mary and Elizabeth.  The final segment of my talk was on Ecc 3:11 "He makes everything beautiful in its time."  God promises us here and in Romans 8:28, that He will turn even the ugliest seasons of our life beautiful. 

I was finalizing my speech this weekend.  THIS weekend, with images of lost beautiful first graders and the teachers and staff who loved them.  I have images of two of the parents burnt in my brain.  Oh Lord, help, how can your scriptures tell us that everything will be beautiful, everything is being worked for our good?  There is so much hurt, and evil, and brokenness, some days it is inconceivable to swallow these promises.  But that's just it.  They are promises from a God who does not fail. 

Mary and Elizabeth's lives held much hardship and sorrow. Individually they faced barrenness, poverty, isolation from family, being a refugee, and both having their precious sons murdered.  Yet through their lives we see redemption and times of celebration;   a long desired child given, financial provision through foreign wise men, and finally - triumphantly - death overcome through Jesus.  The goodness of God is so evident and it is encouraging.  It gives us hope.

Our lives are so similar to Mary and Elizabeth's lives.  Our struggles are different, our blessings are different, but the faithfulness of God through the good and difficult seasons is the same.  Just as the celebrations of their lives are remembered and honored, I believe God wants us to boldly celebrate the goodness He has worked in our lives as well.  Sometimes people feel like it is callous to celebrate one's happiness when people around us are suffering, but celebrations of the faithful are not about us, they are about giving glory to God for His goodness and giving much needed hope to one another. 

I challenged the women last night to share how God has made past seasons of their life beautiful.   The conversation that followed for the next hour was amazing.  There were stories of greatly painful seasons that God had so graciously made beautiful.  The stories were hard.  Our tears were many.  This life is not an easy one.  Yet each story was like a candle being lighted, casting more and more light into that room.  Each story shouted, "Have hope!"  "Do not despair!" "God is good!"  As I sat listening, I thought, "This is Christmas."  To celebrate the close of a year with the retelling of stories to bring each other hope.  To remember the birth of our Savior, with recounting the ways He has saved us.  It was an amazing celebration. 

With just 5 days now before Christmas, I encourage you to make time to share as a family the goodness God has worked in your lives.  May your shared stories brighten your Christmas celebration with the radiant love of Jesus Christ. 

Merry Christmas friends!

An Advent for everyone

This Christmas my heart goes out to my high school friend Leila and her baby girls who have just lost their husband and father. I wanted to share this posting from 2008, if you have a friend or family member mourning this holiday season, will you pass it on to them please.  Blessings to each of you my friends. 

  An Advent for everyone - originally posted 12/2008 As I have been writing my chippy little posts this week about fun ways to celebrate Advent, I have been plagued by the faces of my friends and family who are entering this holiday season with nothing less than dread. In the past few weeks I have cried with friends who have lost their jobs, marriages, pregnancies and parents. Friends whose children have cancer and parents have Alzheimer's. In my immediate circle, it has been a sad time. This season all the festivities seems just downright offensive for these friends. The twinkling lights, the carols, and the memories of past Christmases are all seemingly aimed at crushing the resolve of the broken hearted.
I know it is tempting to stick one's head under the sand and wish for January. The concept of honoring Advent, counting down to the very holiday one dreads, is inconceivable. But did you know Advent is dual purposed? Most people recognize it as a time to prepare our hearts to honor the birth of Christ. The second purpose often gets lost in the happy shiny messages of Christmas. Advent is also a time to prepare ourselves for the future coming of Christ.  He is coming my friends!  Christ will reign over our very broken world. He will reign over death, hunger, fear, hate, cancer, depression, ______________ (go ahead, fill in the blank) For me, that is the beauty of Advent. That's the Advent that is for everyone. Each week as we add the light of one more candle on the Advent wreath, we can be reminded that His reign is coming closer and closer.  The Light of the World will dispel the dark, broken world we live in today.

If your heart is broken this Christmas season, I pray that Advent will be a comfort to you. May you be comforted in calling out to God and knowing that this world is just a blink of an eye. 
I really read the words to this popular Christmas carol the other day.  It is a  wonderful anthem for Advent. Rejoice my friends, Emmanuel SHALL come to thee. 

O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan's tyranny
From depths of Hell Thy people save
And give them victory o'er the grave
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night
And death's dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

Mama needs some friends

When people ask how I am adjusting  to Raleigh they expect me to begin to weep or talking about my great loneliness, but the truth is, I am great.  A big part of this is that for the first time in several years I have an amazing group of new friends and time to hang out with them.  For the past three years I was homeschooling, and as rewarding as that was, it was also lonely.  When you homeschool in the manner I chose to, there is little to no time to get together with other women.  It was not good for me.  This Mama needed some friends. 

Today I was so blessed by new friends, it made me realize what I had been missing, and also what I need to be proactive about protecting.  This morning as I was getting ready to head out to drop off the girls, I had a text from my friend Michelle to see if I had some time to grab a coffee. Yes, please. Off we went.  One hour with one friend and one cup off coffee is worth a whole lot more than those individual parts.  She had work, but she took the time to prioritize our friendship and the initiative to invite me.  I was so grateful. 

This afternoon Marci had invited myself and Amy to her house for lunch.  Marci and I just met last month.  She is new to Raleigh as well.  I loved that even though she just met Amy and I, she was bold enough to invite us into our home.  Marci has some mad hospitality skills.  MAD!  Having lunch at her house was like have lunch in a Pinterest board. But as amazing as our pretty table and yummy food was, the time together was even better. Two hours, with two new friends, and I tell you my cup runneth over. 

Whether it is at a coffee shop or Martha Stewart-worthy lunch, the two things my day had in common was that Michelle and Marci were both willing to make the sacrifice of time and risk extending an invitation.  Maybe you are feeling like I did a year ago.  Are you thinking, "This Mama needs some friends?"   Use the holidays as a reason to reach out and extend an invitation to a new friend or two.  While we can all use the excuse that it's a busy season, I pray your investment of time will have you too soon saying,  "My cup runneth over." 

Six Ways to Put Christ in your Christmas - Take Two!

Alright my friends, let's try this again.  Sorry for the earlier post which had just a jumbo graphic with a comical error in it.  (If you didn't see it, I'm not telling!)

Christmas may seem to have been hijacked by commercialism, but each of us as parents get to choose what Christmas will look like in our homes.  I know I struck a nerve last week picking on the Elf on Shelf.  I'm really not saying throw all the whimsy of Christmas out the window, but let's make sure we do keep Christ in the holiday.  Here are my six easy ideas:

 1. Cut back on gifts and spending:  The more you shop and make Christmas about a giant haul of gifts, the less you make it possible to focus on Christ.  Most families are like ours and don't have what we use to have to spend on gifts - embrace that and take the opportunity to take the focus off spending.
2. Help the Less Fortunate:  More than ever people everywhere need basic help.  This is a great time of year to learn that it is more blessed to give than to receive.
3. Read Scripture Daily:  Be in the Word as a family daily.  Check here for Advent Reading suggestions.
4. Invite others to share in your celebration:  Each year my mom and grandmother have included widows, divorcees, or elderly couples without nearby children to share our Christmas dinner.  There are people on your street, at work, or at church who will be alone this Christmas, set an extra seat at your table. What a beautiful example for your children.
5. Say no to non-essential invitations:  Keep the craziness to a minimum.  You can not be intentional about #2, #3, or #4 if you say yes to every invitation that arrives. 
6. Turn off the TV and spend time together:  I love the pictures we find in literature of families like the March or Ingalls families.  At Christmas time they sang carols, popped popcorn, read stories by the fire, and played the fiddle.  You just can't make those memories with the TV on.