Christmas Part 1

We had a wonderful Christmas.  Last year I was fighting tears all day because I wanted so badly to be sharing our day with children or at least have on one the way and this year I was running around like a crazy person trying to get two babies out of the house and to our NINE (you read that right but they weren't all on Sunday) Christmases on time.  It was great.  Here are some pics from all the fun.

 My hunny and I at my in-law's house on Thursday night.

Here we all are except for Chris' grandparents who were there.  Sweet Mamaw is taking all the pics.

Chris' brother, Michael and his wife, Ashley recently moved to New Orleans so Michael could begin his MDiv at NOTBS.  We are so thrilled for all of the things that the Lord is doing in their lives but we sure do miss them.  It stinks quite frankly.  Here they are.

We miss them so much and so do the twinsies.  I think that the feeling is mutual.

The next day we headed over to my dad's to celebrate.  We had a blast.

Pappy loves his Emmy.  I can't write too much about my dad because it gets me all weepy but he's just the best.  Yep.  I'm already tearing up.

This is my little sister, Abbi.  Isn't she adorable?!  I love her so much and we have a great relationship.  She is such a natural with kids and the babies love her.

My little brother, Nic.  He's hilarious and has a heart of gold.  We got him some fun mustaches and a harmonica.  Sorry to my parents. :)

My sweet little man playing with all the paper.

They got them a wagon as one of their gifts and the babies LOVE it.  It was the perfect gift.  And there's Gigi (or my step-mom, Sandy).  She is the best gift giver ever.  She's one of those awesome people who listen to you all year just to hear you say what you would like to have and then comes Christmas and you open it up!  She makes all holidays so special.  She always has.  I'm very thankful for her and man does she love those babies.

Please don't ask me what my husband's shirt is about.  Yes, it involves wrestling and that's all I'm going to say.  He's a nut.

We had a couple of other places in between but here is Emma with my mom on Christmas eve at my grandmother and grandfather's house.  My mom is so great with the babies.  They love their Mama D and she's pretty smitten herself.  She is one of the most selfless people that I know.  I wish that I was just half as generous as she is.  She's a wonderful mother and I hope to be like her in so many ways.

This is my cousin Angela and her sweet boy-friend, Bobby.  Even though technically I am the oldest child, Angela has always been more like an older sister to me.  We were together a lot as children and I just adore her.  I know that I used to drive her crazy because I copied everything she did but she was always very patient with me as I developed my own interests. :)

This is my sister Katie and her new husband, David.  They are the cutest.  I am so thankful that the Lord sent her such a godly man who loves her so much.  They are great and I love it when I get to spend time with them.

Me and Em.

I love this picture so much.  This is my Paw and Chance.  My grandfather had a really bad stroke years ago and hasn't been able to really move the left side of his body since.  It's been hard on him and my grandmother but they are the picture of understanding that this world is not our home.  He has so much hope and loves Jesus with all of his being.  He always has the sweetest attitude and would give the shirt off his back to someone in need.  I cherish my time with him.

Sunday morning we headed to my mom's house to do Christmas with her.  Chris is on staff at our church so he had to be there Christmas eve and Christmas morning.  I got to my mom's around 10:45 and he joined us around noon.  Here is Chance getting to the goods.

Bless their hearts.  They didn't get anything for Christmas.

And here we are at Chris' grandparent's house.  They go all out with prime rib and shrimp for lunch so we always look forward to the company and good food.

Here are the girls.  Chris' mom's parents had three kids, two girls and one boy.  They all got married and they all had sons.  There are no grand-daughters or nieces.  So, when Chris and I got married and they all got a girl it was a big deal.  Now three of the grandsons are married, we just added Emma and Andrea (on the far right) is having a little girl in April!  So we are finally filing the house up with some girls.  We are kind of a big deal over there. :)

And here they are, all the boys.  I think they are all so cute.  Seven grandsons and now Chance.

This is Chris' mom, Lana.  Isn't she pretty?  She is one sweet and happy Granna.

It's not too clear but there are Mamaw and Pawpaw on the right.  They are true examples of leaving a legacy of love.

And then we had a wee little photo shoot but I'll spare you...this time.

We finished the day with Chris' dad, Ronnie, step-mom, Tracy, and Michael and Ashley coming over to our house.

Here are the guys playing with the babies.  Pops is a great grandfather.  He's so sweet with them.

This picture will break me out in hives if I stare at it too long.  No worries...it looks much different today.  We now have an organized mess. :)

Here's Ronnie and Tracy.  Notice Ronnie's stain...Emma got him right off the bat.

So, all in all it was a great few days.  We were (and are) slap worn out but I wouldn't have it any other way.  The babies were so good everywhere we went.  I know it wasn't always fun to be in and out of their car seats so much but they were troopers.  I loved our time with family, whether we see them every week or twice a year, it was a great visit.

I will be posting part II this week sometime.  Don't worry, no more pics just some thoughts that were running wild though my mind and heart over the last few days.

I hope that you guys had a great Christmas, too.  I'm thankful that Jesus tolerates us celebrating His birthday on a day that most likely isn't even His birthday.  He's a good God.

What I really want.

I should be taking advantage of the fact that both babies are asleep by cleaning something (anything) but I'd rather be here.

I was folding laundry last night and was looking out over our living room.  It was a sweet scene so I snapped at picture.  As soon as I looked back at the pic on my phone, I started thinking about how different our Christmas looked just one year before.

Just a few months ago I wondered how long it would be before our home would be filled with toys, drool, baby laughs, etc.  And now look at us.

What a difference (not to mention the quality of camera phone) from one year to the next.  I would have never believed that our Christmas of 2011 would look anything like this.

Obviously, our life has changed a lot since October.  As you parents know, priorities change, opinions change, schedules change, sleep changes, etc. when babies come along.  Perspectives change.  Everything is different.  But the changes of my daily life doesn't compare at all to the heart change that has taken place inside of me.

There's already so much that I want for my kids.  I don't want them to suffer, I want them to marry someone who adores them, I want them to have a life-long friend, I want them to do what they love...there is just so much.  But while I was changing Emma into her sweet little pajamas last night, I was praying for her and telling the Lord that all I really want was for her to love Him.  There is nothing more important in life nor is there any other purpose but to know Jesus.  But here is the tension, am I going to set my mind and goals for her (and Chance) on the worldly desires that I have for her or am I going to be an example for the fact that loving God and knowing Him is what life is about.

It's very easy to say that what we want most is for our children to live their lives for Jesus but to live it out is a totally different ball game.  How do we spend our time as parents?  What do our kids do that makes us the most proud?  What do you think your kids would say if you asked them the question, "What do you think is most important to me concerning your life?"

Because here's the thing, them really loving Jesus may look a little different than we hope for.  It may mean that they make decisions that aren't "logical".  It may mean that they might not always live in the same state as you do.  It may mean that they suffer.  It may mean that they can't always give you the answer that you want them to.  It may even mean that you don't have them on this Earth as long as you want.

Over the years, I've become a little uncomfortable with this whole praying for protection thing.  What if we are always so busy "protecting" our kids and ourselves that we miss what God was trying to expose us to all along?  I'm not saying that you should throw your kids in a dark ally but I do think that we should all be a little more open to what God would have us see or experience.

I was just very challenged by the Lord last night when I was praying that all I wanted was for Emma and Chance to love Jesus.  That's true.  I do.  But I need to keep an open heart that not only do I need to model that by not becoming obsessed over my own Earthy performance along with theirs but I also need to understand that it may mean that their lives look different than I may dream up for them.  I want them to store up treasures in heaven that will last for eternity rather than treasures on Earth that will not last and will not benefit.

So, in saying all of that, I know that I still just have babies and that the rubber will meet the road before I know it.  But one day, if someone is ever to ask my children what their mom wanted most for them my hope is that they are able to say that I just wanted them to know Jesus.  The One who is worthy of all praise.

Jesus dreams

Earlier this week I had one of those dreams that stick with you for longer than just a few minutes after you wake up.  Every time I thought of it for the next few days, my stomach turned.  I even felt a little weird when I was around the person that the dream was about.  I'm not going to go into details but it was just really disturbing.

The day after my bad dream (I don't know why I'm not calling this a nightmare...it just doesn't feel quite right), I found myself really dwelling on all the details of what went down.  I replayed it over and over in my mind.  I even took it past the dream.  I actually started thinking about what I would say to one of the people in the dream if I ever ran into them.  I planned out my next course of action in response to what took place.  I rehearsed my speech to the main person in the dream.  I silently reprimanded them for what they did.

I mean ARE YOU SERIOUS???  I think that I officially entered into Crazy Town.  It was A DREAM.  Once I snapped back to reality, what amazed me the most was the power of my thoughts and assumptions and psychoness (not a word).  It had actually put me in a defensive and prideful mood.  Boy did I sure tell those people off about something that never even happened.  It was insane.

Anyway, I was washing bottles when the sweet Holy Spirit gently convicted my soul of what I was willing participating in.  And man am I thankful.  I don't like driving through Crazy Town.  I really had to #1 Stop and get a hold of myself   #2 Repent   #3 Begin again to decide to take every thought captive #4  Finish washing the bottles.

Second Corinthians 10:4-5 says,

"For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.  We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ..."


I had to read that a few times.  The weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh.  Boy if that isn't the truth.  This is powerful, people.  Our minds, our thoughts have the power to destroy strongholds.  Now I'm not in ANY way downing medicine, counseling, therapy, you name it...I majored in counseling...but what I am saying is that our battles begin and end in our minds.  As soon as I decided to give my dream to the Lord, the battle was over.  I didn't feel icky anymore.  I didn't have imaginary conversations anymore.  In fact, I began to pray for one of the people that I dreamed about because they are having some struggles in *real* life and it was actually the same person that I had just been going off on five minutes earlier.

"We destroy arguments (even if they are arguments with ourselves about things that never happened) and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God..."  And all of this happens in our minds.

So, the next time that you have a crazy dream, or you actually run into someone that you don't like, or someone hurts your feelings, or one of the million other things that happen to us on a daily basis that causes us to have warfare of the mind, remember to take your thoughts captive.  Don't let them win.  End it.  That's where sin begins and ends.

Stay out of Crazy Town.

number one

This is just one of the many, many attempts to be a blogger.  I love to read blogs.  I have about 10 that I check on a pretty regular basis and when I don't, I feel like I miss them.  Maybe that's weird but when people let you into their home and lives, you begin to feel slightly a part of their comings and goings.  Those are my favorite blogs.  The ones that are the real deal.  If I feel like a blogger is trying to portray a picture perfect scene, I become less and less interested because I know that's just not life.

I am going to do my very best to be a real blogger.  I read a list of blogging tips one time and one of them was not to blog to try to get readers.  I would be lying if I didn't admit that I would love to have a following of blog readers, but that's really not the reason that I'm finally kicking this off.  The main reason is that we have had some pretty big life changes here lately and I want to remember even the smallest things that I would normally forget.

I will get more into the story later but we recently (actually two months ago today) welcomed twins into our home!  And they are pretty fantastic.

Edible, right?!