Saturday, December 29, 2012

all about HIM Christmas

is there ever a moment in your life where it shouldn't be all about JESUS... is HE not worthy of all of our focus - all of our attention - all of our everything - all of the time...

He is.

I love celebrating HIM! I love seeing the awe in my children when they grasp a glimpse of how amazing HE is! The joy He gives is something this world cannot offer and few have truly tasted. JOY to the WORLD because HE has come!

We must be the pointers for our children for our friends for our families for every tribe tongue and nation. Pointing to HIM ....constantly.... always.... why?..... HE is worthy.  

As i teach my kiddos about who HE is and HIS great love i become also amazing by Him in a new way!

Some people ask so here are 10 things we do to celebrate the miracle of CHRISTmas all in one post:

1. We make it a month long celebration of God's miraculous plan through Jesus. We just started a new tradition (God willing) where we volunteer at a christmas fundraiser to help orphans in poverty that is where we get our tree. It is the first weekend of  December. 100% of all the proceeds from the fundraiser go to the orphans and are given in the name of Jesus. It is fun to serve with families and others with a like passion too!!


2. The coolest Advent Calendar Ever!! We stuff our "Joy to the World" Advent Calendar with 24 verse ornaments (click here and go to the verses we used) that tell the story of God's plan through Jesus and Christmas. (click on the link above to get yourself one- all goes to a worthy cause)



We also stuff it with these handmade Nations Doll ornaments (they come with the calendar - 24 different nations): each doll comes with a card with a short story about the nation/people group the doll represents. And finally we stuff it with pieces to our nativity (we hide baby jesus away till christmas day) and candies YUMMY(which keep the little ones mouths silent and listening ears while we read God's word).




some of the verse ornaments... 


On Christmas eve after the kids go to bed i take all of the nations dolls off of the tree hook their hands together in a garland. In the morning when they notice all of the nations holding hands. I tell them this is what it will be like when Jesus comes again... Rev. 7:9-10 People from every tribe tongue and nation will be worshiping Him all together singing sweet praises to our KING! :) 



3. Night Time lighting of the candle: There are all kinds of ways people do this, but i think my favorite is the advent log (easy to make - cut log - drill 24 1/2 inch holes on one side - put candles in hole). We light one candle for each day by the time Christmas eve happens all of the candles are lite. After we light the candle one child (depending on whose turn it is) goes and gets all of the goodies out of the calendar pocket (we start at the bottom counting down the days till Christmas). Then we sit as a family read the Scriptures and the nations doll tag pray over the people group as a family and the kids hang the ornaments on the tree. Then they get to blow out the candles on the advent log.



4. Christmas Cookies: Yummy to eat and share with others aslo a great way to tell people the greatest love story of all time. :)


 

5. Movies and Books that tell the story. my favorite movies:








A few of my fav Christmas Books:
The Crippled Lamb by Mac Lucado

Voices of Christmas by Niki Grimms

The Tale of Three Trees by Angela Elwell Hunt

The Drummer Boy by Ezra Jack Keats

Room in the Stable by Crystal Bowman

The Nativity by Francesca Crespi (beautiful pop up book- p.s. has the other word for donkey in it...he he)

The Legend of the Candy Cane by Lori Walburg

 6. Nativity Party: We have done this 2 years now and what was a little get together has now become a party.  It was inspired by this little video.



We make Nativity scenes out of yummy things and then we let the kids dress up as parts to the Christmas play and improv act out scriptures and help narrate the play. (Luke 1-2)



This was this years play.... i apologize for the shaky video... not profession...but a fun memory indeed.


7. BIG PARTY: On Christmas Eve... after the kids go to bed we decorate festival style...It is JESUS's birth we are celebrating so we go BIG.


Left picture is of ballons that tumbled on the kids when they opened the door to their room Christmas morning. 

8. ALL of the gifts for Jesus: At the beginning of the month we talk about the things He wants from us. He want the simple and He wants all of us: He want our time, our love, our attention, our praise, our energy, all that He has given us can be a gift back to our creator.  Each of us prepares something to give Him on Christmas morning (the kids have made up - a song, drawn pictures, creating things with wood, whatever). God's word over and over tells us He wants us to care for the poor and needy so we have the kids each pick something out of the GPPD catalog that they can give to help people and show HIS love.



We also share Jesus with people that may not know about HIS great love. This year we went downtown and gave out this video to people. We joined a group of friends at a nursing home. We visited all of our neighbors and gave out these cookies and spent time just chatting and praying with them. We made cookies for a local mission. Elijah made crosses for kids at Straight Street.

God wants us more than anything we can "do" for Him. He wants all of our heart, soul, strength, and mind.

Christmas day 2012... :)

9. Wiseman Game: While they are sleeping Christmas eve we hide all of the gifts for Jesus we add some of our own gifts for Jesus too. We put stars around the house to give them hints where they are (they are little guys). Then on Christmas morning the kids get their wise man outfits on and search for the gifts to bring to the KING OF KINGs. They have a blast. We open the gifts for Jesus and worship HIM together. I made a life size manger puzzle with my dad last year and they follow the stars and set up the manager outside in the front yard as part of the game.




10. Celebrate with others. Throughout the month we usually go to see a live nativity or 2, look at lights, go to a candle light service, have Christmas dinners at our house, and go to a parade with friends, neighbors, and/or family.


Christmas day we usually go to celebrate him with family and have people over. This year sadly we missed out on all of those plans because the flu was running through our little ones.

We always do a BIRTHDAY CAKE for Jesus with the cousins at maw maw's house, we talk about the meaning of the colors in the cake and sing happy birthday to the KING of KING...  Jesus days cannot be numbered, as you know, He was before time was..we celebrate his miraculous birth not a number.

As you can see i have made the symbolic cake in several different ways.. :)






Here are some other ideas i think i might do next year that i snagged from friends/other blogs :

*Christmas night camp out in the living room - that night talk about what each person must have thought the night Jesus was born... Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, the wise men...

*Chanukkah - Just started researching a little about Christ in Hanukkah. We went to a local party to start Hanukkah off this year. I think we would like to celebrate Him in this way to... i like all of the festivals of the Israelites/Jewish people because all of them point to HIM.

*Where are the Wisemen? My friend does this - seems like fun! Mommy puts the wise men in an obvious and peculiar spot in the house each day when kids aren't looking. Using pieces to your nativity... they are on there way to see Jesus.. they had to go along way so they travel throughout the house. The kid try to find them each day. The wise men find themselves going through all sorts of mischief before they make it to see Jesus on Christmas day.



There are a million great ideas out there... and all of it can be fun... but even in celebrating HIM it is easy to get caught up in traditions and miss the powerful simplicity of HIS love.

we do these things to remind our children and ourselves of what He did and each story, play, cookie we give out, symbol we talk about leaves me with tears in my eyes in awe of how worthy HE is of how great HIS love is. I know i am only get a small glimpse of our MIGHTY GOD's love with this human minut mind of mine but even in that little glimpse i am overwhelmed by.....

Sunday, December 23, 2012

gold, frankincense, and myrrh

i just finished watching some movies about Jesus with my boys and i find myself wondering again like i do every year.... how do you throw a party for Jesus... the King of the Universe...

He is worthy of so much more ....i want to give Him all my attention, all my praise, all my self, all my worship, but even my all doesn't seem like enough. I know that is what He wants but it seems so small for He who is holy creator of the universe.... to give Him something He made.

Then i think of the wise men and how they brought their earthly best... Jesus had no need for their gifts but they brought their best to Him who is worthy.

i feel like the little drummer boy story... all i have is my drum...

feeling overwhelmed by how AWESOME God is to come here to this fallen and dark world to rescue us... a fallen a dark people. He is the light of the world.

i will give my best. Among other things ...Elijah is giving Jesus the below on Christmas morning... it is his best creation so far. He wrapped it and put it under the tree tonight.

giddy about celebrating our worthy KING!!




Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Holly's Hope

Praise be to God the ALMIGHTY!
the Worker of Miracles!
the Giver of Life!
He is sovereign and always good!
HE is always worthy of our praise!

About a year ago unbeknownst to us, but not HIM, cancer began to attack my sister's - Holly's -body.

It was agressive.

Holly is a loving homeschooling moma of 4 kiddos (from 2 years old to 12) among many other great things.

In March Holly went to the emergency room with an allergic reaction to Claritin... while there they noticed something strange on her lungs. After a week in the hospital they diagnosed her with:
Stage 4 Lung Cancer - Adenocarcinoma. It was in her lymphnods, lungs, spine, and also brain.

After her treatments surprising to the doctors there was only 25% of the cancer left in her body. Even the part in her brian shrunk which was "unexplainable" by the doctors (the treatment didn't reach that area). Amazingly Holly qualified for a daily chemo pill that not many people can take. So after the initial treatments they put her on that.

Most of you know this part of the story, hundreds of you have been faithfully praying... THANK YOU!!! and PLEASE CONTINUE to!!

After a recent scan of Holly's body the Doctor's Reported:

The cancer is stabilized.  Which means that there is no new tumors, no new growth and the cancer is disappearing.

Did you hear that?

a teary smile here bursting into dancing and praising God

Technically they can't say that she doesn't have cancer ever because she would have to be that way for 5 years before they said something like that, but this is really exactly what we want to hear....stabilized... disappearing....NO new growth.

Please keep praying that every cancer cell be defeated and gone and for the swelling and another minor thing she has to be healed. I beg you to continue to pray! Please...
Holly and Mom Christmas Last Year 
Holly's hope is not in tomorrow, not in the healing of her body, not in the gifts of God - but in her Maker. She trusts Him. I trust Him too. We know He is always good no matter what trials this world gives us... He remains the same, steady, loving, and good. 

Monday, December 17, 2012

my favorite Christmas movie

i think i like it because it gives us a picture of a humble obedient heart. A heart full of simple sturdy faith.  it gives us a picture of what Mary and Joseph both might have endured...

i want that humble YES GOD response... that simple faith. i want to look toward His second coming in that same way. i want to look at HIM and pleasing HIM only like she did.

every year we watch it... i cry... and i ponder the simple, meek mother: Mary and faithful humble earthly caretaker: Joseph  God chose for Jesus.

wow.... HIS way is certainly not our way.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

staycation

rest is a command from God... to rest in HIM... and sadly i am not so obedient in this command. It has been a crazy season.... which would seem less crazy if i rested in Him like i know i should.

So this week was staycation.... snuggling with hubby at night.... early mornings with Jesus.... morning story time and snuggles with my boys.... sweet times of rocking and nursing with my girl... ...making Christmas Cookies... helping Elijah with Christmas Projects... Christmas family movies.... warm drinks.... we shared God's love with others as family too...

... We  burned this on a CD and gave them out downtown. The boys loved this and everyone love them! Plus it is the best thing we could share with anyone!! :)
.... Elijah made crosses for straight street kids
.... We sang and gave cards to people at a local nursing home with other fabulous mommies.
.... we made special Celebrate Jesus cookies and cards and visited all are neighbors.
fun fun.... and we even got to play with Tony Kumar, our Indian friend, who stayed with us this week.

and finally... cleaning my house.... only uncle Charles knows the chaos this house was in... sigh..... this may not seem like resting but i think it is therapeutic.... ridding yourself of junk that is.

I love being a wife and a mommy and most of all a Daughter of the ALMIGHTY King...wow.... how i am sooooooo not worthy to be called that.... THANK YOU, JESUS....the reason you came to restore me to HIM!

I LOVE CELEBRATING HIM ALWAYS!

here are some pics and video of "famawy" time as my little Jeriah says it....


 






Sunday, December 9, 2012

i hate santa

 ....... i hate anything that would attempt to take the attention and glory from whom it is due: JESUS!

Jesus is enough.    (did you see the period?)     ... a real miracle... the real miracle of Christmas...

Santa is the GRINCH that stole Christmas.... stole the focus off of the KING of KINGS (JESUS) and onto himself and/or material possessions.

Saint Nick would be heart broken at our american Christmas... he loved GOD...he wanted God's name to be famous .... he had God's heart for the poor and in the name of JESUS he gave to the desperatly poor... he didn't just give a little extra that Christmas to the poor.... he gave ALL of his inheritance.... he was eternatlly minded... that is why his story got passed down and he got sainted by the church of the time... because he was RADICAL... HE RADICALLY showed God's love. Then people, with our natural selfishness and greed... started to make it about us. We can't stand that the focus just be on JESUS.

Think about this if the wise men were to visit your home on Christmas morning... what do you think they would think?  People sitting around giving each other things to add to our abundance of other things .... Or adults lying to their kids about some fake story when they know the real story. The wise men came with GIFTS for the KING not for each other... they gave their best to HIM. They traveled miles.... they were radical.

Imagine Jesus showing up at your door anytime during this month, or Christmas eve, or Christmas morning? What would he say? psstt.... He is there....

Do you think HE wants to share your attention with the stuff you are giving each other.... or a made up fairy tale? Do you think he deserves that?

I hate that we "Christians" are "okay" with celebrating anyone or anything but JESUS!

I didn't always hate santa... but the more i wash my heart and mind in God's word i am seeing that GOD wants ALL of our celebration, adoration, worship, .... all of us! And He plans for the wealth He gives us advanced HIS kingdom not ours.

HE is worthy of it all. AND there is a joy that comes from doing what we were created to do.... WORSHIPING HIM.  Jesus is enough. Jesus is my everything!

Don't stress on what you are going to get your already way spoiled children this year (don't worry i know mine are too) but think about how you can turn the focus off the gifts, off the man in the red, and onto to whom ALL GLORY IS DUE!!!!

Wonderful, Counselor, King of Kings

SO THE POINT IS: He ONLY is worthy of ALL of our attention and NOTHING/NO ONE (made up or real) deserves glory..

The Bible says to love GOD so much that even the love you have for your family would look like hate compared to the love you have for GOD.  So no one should be surprised that i hate santa.

We are having fun celebrating JESUS this season.... i am in awe of His love and the miracle that GOD did for us... coming as a human in such a humble form... as a baby... wow.... WOW..... overwhelmed....

HE IS AMAZING AND WORTHY of ALL OF OUR ATTENTION.


Friday, December 7, 2012

what a mighty God

What a mighty God HE is! Every effort on our own is meaningless. Only by His voice do mountains tremble, do trees dance.

He could pour manna from the sky for these orphans but how loving He is to let us be a part of HIS marvelous plan.

This past weekend people from all over this city said YES lord to what He was prompting their hearts to do and they joined Him. As one body with one purpose we servered together our KING.

And He rescued the orphans.... at the Saint Nick's Christmas Fair around $13,000 was raised to buy clothes, shoes, toiletries, school supplies, candy and a toy for hundreds of orphans, to help build a home for impoverished widows and orphans, and to help needy women start a business that will help them provide for their family for a life time.

I am overwhelmed by HIS provision!

Also today we got a call that we can use the empty Kroger on 460 for Proceeds for Poverty. WOW!

HE is amazing... i feel so overwhelmed and humbled to be a witness to HIS loving hand.

My God is able. - Have faith.... put your TRUST in HIM!

Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God. 
Psalm 20:7












(my peeps- gifts from GOD) 

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

CELEBRATE CHRIST MAS!

Okay i am getting giddy about this month long Christmas celebration...

....it could be the brightly colored lights my boy insisted we hang on our house for Jesus' party....that make me both cringe and laugh with joy when i see them.

...it could be that i know that possibly 60 other families will be praying with us for 25 people groups from around the world that need to know GOD's great love.


...it could be this Christmas Fair coming up this weekend where we are hoping that thousands of dollars get raised to take care of the basic needs of over 250 orphans! Come on out 100% goes to help the orphans!


...it could be the overwhelming realization of who and what we are celebrating this season.....i feel overwhelmed.... do we really get it....the kind of love it took for the HOLY ALMIGHTY GOD to come as a baby in a human body...
overwhelmed to tears....

God, may i take your word literally and may this season put all of us in AWE of YOU!!!!!

Sunday, November 25, 2012

overwhelmed

today i left church overwhelmed... overwelmed by my sin... my lack in everything... my effort leads to nothingness....i am limited... i am a failure...but HE is not...

and all day today... running through my head was my minuteness....

and tonight after folding a house full of laundry and listening to the below powerful lesson about the reality of GOD's goodness and mercy.... i am left overwhelmed .. but this time not over my GREAT lack... but of HIS great sacrifice for this great failure (me).

Paul Washer says:  "Where did all of the stars go this afternoon? ......there are still there you just can't see them because of the GREAT LIGHT of the sun..... only against the pitch of darkness can you see them.....You can only see the diamonds of God's grace against the pitch black darkness of our filth. It is then you see the grace of God shining..."

Listen and be overwhelmed with truth....




It is so easy to lose sight of the reality of the TRUTH he speaks of here.... often that clip from that Matrix movie comes in my mind (yes.... i know...lame to compare matters of truth with an action movie... but it is the closest thing i can think of right now to describe what God has been revealing to me) ...





It is like i am still living in a lie - most people seem satisfied to live in this lie - ....wrapped up in so many things - ..... even though i say i believe the truth the reality of WHO Jesus is and what He did in my life.... i really don't or i would be living differently.... right??!?!

..... Yes.... i do believe...  and I know it is not a pill i need to take.... but it is HIS SPIRIT revealing truth to my heart even now.

THANK YOU HOLY SPIRIT! HELP ME TO WALK OUT what i say i believe... He me to be your follower... wherever... all of the time....


AND thank YOU for unmerited GRACE....THANK YOU....those words seem so meaningless... they don't hold where my heart is in this very moment.... overwhelmed by YOUR love, GOD.


Saturday, November 24, 2012

what do you want for Christmas?

shouldn't the question be what does HE want for Christmas? After all it is HIM and His birth we are celebrating.

Isn't He enough anyway... who needs made up magic when you can have real miracles from God who is truly amazing?!

and not only that but what in the world do we need or want besides HIM... isn't HE enough. (Yes, Jesus, is).....the Lord is my shepherd i shall not want.... right?!

So sweet little lady at the grocery store... don't ask my kids what they want for Christmas... if you do expect and answer from me that they want to celebrate the KING for Christmas.

And so if the question is WHAT DOES HE WANT FOR CHRISTMAS? what is the answer?...

That is exactly what my kiddos and i have been studying over the past year. He wants our praise, our lives, our worship, our focus, our love.... He said when you give to the least of these you give to Him...He said if you have His love in your heart you will show His love to others.. He wants us to show love to the poor and the needy.

Every year we have lots of Christmas Traditions (see here for a few) that don't include the focus on us but on HIM. And no we don't do gifts for each other at Christmas.... never have since the kids have been born and never will...

WHY? 
Life is all about HIM, we don't need or want except for HIM.

"So sad for Children"? ....no....according to Jesus (our Creator)...  very blessed children. And celebrating Him is what we are created to do and FUN!


We do give to the poor the destitute, the needy, because that is what pleases HIM. Check out the GPPD catalog for opportunities to give to HIM this Christmas...

May sound crazy to you... but not to HIM....it is completely biblical... our God is worthy of all our adoration all of the time and this Christmas. We praise HIM for the miracle of coming as a humble man to earth to show us a powerful love that is like nothing this world offers.



Thursday, November 22, 2012

Global Dolls bring help and hope

GPPD has just come out with Nations Dolls...

Each beautiful handmade 18" doll represents a people group somewhere in the world. They are made by women in poverty that went through our Sewing Micro Business Training. They each come with a card that tells the story of a real little girl in that people group and details on how to pray for the people they represent. They also come with a link to a interactive website from the Doll!

All of the money goes to help these impoverished women start their businesses and provide for the basic needs for their family AND build a home for orphans and destitute widows in India.

So make a donation, change the world, and get a beautiful doll! 


Meet Bujjamma who made the Bedawi doll. The money she earns will help her go to nursing school. Bujjama was 7 years old when her parent died and she lived in the GPPD children's home since she was 8 years old.