a gift for Jesus

Each year we place a simple brown box tied with raffia in our manger scene as a reminder for us to give Jesus a gift that He would really like in honor of his birth.


This year, our gift is kindness to one another.


Our children greatly love and greatly fight one another.
They are so excited about having Natalija and Vilnis back in our home for Christmas.


Our prayer is that we will treat one another in ways that bring a smile to the heart of God.


Good deeds are occasionally celebrated with a piece of straw to create a soft (?) bed for the Christ child.


As the mound grows bigger during the Advent season, may our hearts for one another and for you, God, grow as well.

All things directed by Him

The Year of Seven Stockings

 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!

Who can understand his decisions or explain what he does?


"Who has known the mind of the Lord,
       or who has been able to give him advice?" 
       — (Isaiah 40:13)
 
"Has anyone ever given anything to God,
      so that God has to pay him back?" 
      —(Job 41:11) 

  All things come from him. 

   All things are directed by him.
   All things are for his good. 

 To him be glory forever. Amen.

Romans 11:33-36

One of my children recently asked me, "Why didn't anyone else select Natalija and Vilnis to host them for Christmas?" Although I cannot really know, I believe that God's hand "saved" them in the selection process so that we would be permitted to host them again. I cannot fully understand your ways, God, but I wait quietly in expectation to see you move in their lives, and on their behalf over this Christmas. Thank you for loving these children so much more than I ever could. My love is weak, but yours is strong.

May they be filled with wonder and awe at how much YOU love them.

Pause

My five year old melted into tears..."but you said we could!"


I glanced at the clock...twenty minutes until 8:00.


Quick calculations told me that we could not brush teeth, wash hair, moisturize, find clean jammies, read a story AND have a mother-daughter makeover before kindergarten bedtime.


The practical thing would have been to say no. It's a school night. You are terribly grumpy when you don't get enough rest.


The responsible thing would have been to postpone makeover fun for another day, with some parental nugget of wisdom about using our lifeskill of flexibility when time won't allow us to do all the things we wish we could do.


The selfish thing would be to hold to my guns, since I really didn't want to have to wash an enormous amount of make-up off my face in the first place.


Yet, incredibly, the wailing drew my compassion, and I sat in the floor compliantly while my five year old transformed me into Cinderella (with some really bright cheeks).


Father, help me not to always push through to what is responsible and scheduled. Help me to PAUSE and make moments that are significant to my daughter, even when I'm not in the mood to play.


Help me to PAUSE throughout the day and respond to you...even if your plan seems to be different from what I have in mind.


Help me to have more YES moments. Really, what harm was done?


I love you, and thank you for helping me on this parenting journey.


T

Be still in the Presence

Be still in the presence of the Lord,
and wait patiently for Him to act.
Don't worry about ______________
or fret about _____________.


Psalm 37:7 NLT

I am thankful for a sense of peace. There are 12 days until Natalija and Vilnis come to live with us again. This time around I am so aware of how out of control I am over their well-being. Strangely enough, this has not caused more anxiety, but greater trust. I cannot know what the future will hold for us or for them. I cannot heal their hurts. I can ask God to help me love them for the month that I tuck them into bed and remind them to put their dirty clothes in the laundry chute. I can raise my eyes and heart in expectation to the one who loves them more than I ever could...and I can wait patiently for His best plan to unfold.

Advent- ears to hear

I love Christmas. Each year in October I start pulling out a large notebook of past ideas, recipes, decoration notes, shopping lists, addresses for cards and throw myself into the work of making the holiday season magical. If I am not careful, by Thanksgiving weekend, I have already peaked in terms of my energy and enthusiasm and am somewhat unenthused about finishing all of the tasks I have begun.


This feeling of being pooped out always brings me back to Jesus, who helps me remember who all this hoopla is for in the first place, and I settle into quiet moments with my Savior.


I love the tradition of Advent. I love lighting a candle at the table at mealtime and counting down the days until the awaited celebration. I love the season of finding a way to celebrate each day. I love sitting by the tree full of white lights and listening to the songs I have hand-selected on Pandora. I love having coffee in the morning while I read through Luke (24 chapters...roughly one for each day of the season...to focus on the life of Christ and not just the birth.) I love having cocoa or cider with my children sometime in the evening or afternoon when they desperately need some quietness too.


I have been asking Jesus for some new ideas on how to better devote myself to Him during this season of much joy and much activity.


Here are a few of the things I intend to try:


Listen and watch for opportunities.


This week I sat down with my girls and half-way watched two new holiday specials. I was not too impressed initially, since the content was completely secular. However, as I pulled clippings from holiday magazines and folded laundry alongside my t.v. watching kids, I heard messages that could honor Christ if properly noted.


In Hoops and YoYo, there is the theme of "giving up your dream so that another's dream could be realized." In Elf on the Shelf, is a song about how "Christmas is a great time for forgiveness". After we turned off the television, I took a few moments and asked my girls why they thought Christmas was a good time for forgiveness, and they were able to connect the babe in the manger with the offer of forgiveness given by God through His son. We talked about what sacrifice could mean in our lives.


I could have finished folding the laundry and missed the little opportunities hidden within a secular moment, but God is speaking all around us, even through cartoons, if we have ears to hear.


Do you hear what I hear?

Stop and Consider

Stop and consider God's wonders.


Job 37:14

O Lord, my God
When I in awesome wonder
Consider all
the worlds thy hands hath made.


I see the stars
I hear the rolling thunder
Thy power throughout 
the universe displayed.


Then sings my soul,
My Saviour God to Thee


How Great Thou Art!

Faithful love

Do not think that love, in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary.


What we need is to love without getting tired.


-Mother Teresa

Again and again, the Lord keeps bringing me back to "Don't worry about doing something great, or being someone extraordinary. What I'm interested in is faithful love."


May I be acutely aware of the thousand small opportunities in front of me.


Yesterday I walked my children to their classroom. This was a  rare occurrance. They are always more than happy to jump out of the mini-van door in the carpool line and hit the pavement running ahead of me. But yesterday, I walked with them, trailing their dust. And on the way back down the hallway, I saw a small girl with breakfast crumbs encrusted around her mouth, sticky substances flowing from her nose, wailing at the top of her lungs. I saw a slightly larger boy fussing at her and leaving her behind as he went on to class. As I stopped to ask her what was wrong, I realized that she was lost, grumpy, and that her brother had no patience left for her tears. I asked her if she was in kindergarten, and she managed to nod her head. Turns out that she is classmate of my youngest daughter. We walked hand-in-hand to the kindergarten hall and I felt such a sense of God saying, "This is it. Notice the people who are in front of you." At least one hundred kids passed her by, and at that moment in time, no adults were to be found in that section of the hallway. It wasn't hard at all to stop, and that was the small assignment God had for me that brought great joy. I am sure that she went about her day and forgot all about our encounter, but God etched those moments in my memory. Stop. Notice. Care. Don't think about sanitizing your hands as you hold hers. Offer my faithful love.


May I not miss the small assignments that God has for me today.