Looking Back to Look Ahead

It's fun to flip through photos of the past year and to see all the fullness we have experienced. Times we forget, goodness overlooked, a memory obscured. We seem to have short term memory loss quite easily! That's why it's fun and encouraging to take some time to look back and see the goodness and faithfulness of God in a year...looking through photos, reviewing a daily journal or even glancing back through the family calendar. I always seem to say "Oh yeah, I forgot about that! Wasn't that amazing?!" I have been reminded this afternoon of trips taken, camping fun, new directions in crafting, ways my children have changed and grown, beauty in the dailiness, and God's constant hand of grace holding onto mine.

It's been a good year because He is good.

Even in the surprises and disappointments or the unforeseen turns, He has quietly guided, answered, called, given, shown, and loved beyond what I know I deserve. Another year of quiet graces from a Father's hand that show me His unwavering and overflowing Love.

When the end of a year comes and I have taken time to remember His goodness, I then take time to pray about the coming year and what He has for me. The last few years my heart has been impressed by a simple word at the beginning of the year and that seems to be a guiding theme of what I learn that year. A few years ago the word was rest. And I learned about God's heart for me as His little lamb. In 2007 my word was joy. I focused on positive living and God's good character which lifted me out of self-pity and lifted my eyes towards Him and others. And in 2008 it has been nurture...I have sensed the Lord as a kind compassionate nurturer towards me and in turn and have been able to nurture and care for my children in greater ways. That word brings tears to my eyes!

As I have been reflecting today, the word awareness really keeps coming to mind. Being present in the moment. Aware of my children, their needs, and their hearts. Aware of the beauty God brings into my day every morning. Aware of nature and its offerings to breathe and be. Aware of community and my need for it and taking steps to build it. Aware of the needy and broken and helping...no matter how small the step. More alive, more in tune...eyes wide open. To really see and experience life fully.

May we all have eyes to see the good in our lives in 2008 and the ability to keep our eyes open to all the good that is heading our way in 2009!!

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever
Psalm 107:1

**okay, right after I wrote this I found out that others have been also picking out "one word" at the beginning of each year...isn't that so cool!?! Go see and please share with me your word in my comments :) **

Order and Inspiration

We have had a lovely Christmas week filled with thoughtful gifts, family game nights, movies, rest and relaxation....but yesterday my mother (who is visiting from Missouri) helped me get everything back into place and brought order again to my living areas. And now I can breathe again. The natural pressures that come with the holidays left me especially tired this year with so much nausea and pregnancy fatigue, but now with order and the familiar, I feel invigorated again.

I look forward to a January filled with re-ordering my closets, decluttering clothing, and making the routines of a family of six run more smoothly. Bring orderliness from chaos brings me such pleasure, and I have noticed that we all take a collective happy sigh when the home is organized. From order springs the ability for greater inspiration and creativity...I find that when my nest is in too much disarray, the creative processes seem stunted and thwarted (where is my ____?). Even since getting our common living spaces back to normal in the last 24 hours, my mind has begun spinning with ideas for knitting, sewing, decorating, and other domestic pleasures. Find order and you find greater creativity.


To find inspiration for greater creativity, I love reading good magazines and books. These books found their way under the tree for me, and I have spent most of today indulging myself in The Gentle Art of Domesticity. A few mornings ago I sipped hot tea in bed for an hour while also drinking in the simple beauty of the photos in A Year of Mornings which then led me to snap my own morning photos of my little life. An English muffin with strawberry jelly. Utensils in the sink. Favorite Christmas gifts received. The encouragement to really notice is what strikes me the most from this book...to have eyes to see the lines and colors and beauty in the everyday.

Here's to finding order and inspiration as we pack away the old and enjoy the newness that comes with a fresh year. A clean slate. A new start with our homes...to make them more useful and beautiful. A renewed inner place of inspired creativity and a greater appreciation for the domestic arts...the simple daily touches that we as women do that transform our houses into inviting homes, restful havens, and nurturing nests.

Party!

It could be just me, but it seems as if a lot of people on blogs and in real life seem so somber about Christmas this year. Maybe it's all the flux in the economy, the recent election, or the everyday stressors that can seek to steal our joy. Maybe it's the realization that our priorities during the holidays have been a bit off-base in the past and we are seeking to reform. Advent has almost seemed too serious as if we are contemplating the crucifixion instead of a beautiful birth of Light and Life.

Birthdays are cause for celebration!! I love a great birthday party...when the house is decorated for that special someone, great food is prepared, friends gather, gifts are given, and singing and merriment abound...I am so glad you are born! Sometimes birthday gatherings are simple and heartfelt and meaningful and sometimes you just love the red carpet rolled out with seemingly no expense spared on the food and festivities! Invite a few or invite many, but celebrate well.

So it is with Christmas. There is no right or wrong way to celebrate the Birth of God Incarnate. It can be simple and heartfelt, but keep in mind that there is also nothing wrong with celebrating big either! I am not talking about commercialism and consumerism...sometimes in our attempts to steer clear of those we seem to become stoic in our simplicity. But beautiful decorating and incredible food and lavish gifts can be a glorious celebration of His life and love!

As His birthday approaches, have fun! Worship, give, offer, serve, decorate, and cook with joy and laughter and praise...for unto us a Child is born and to us a Son is given! Find your own rhythm of decorating and gift-giving and celebration...He looks at the heart not the outer appearance! If you give and celebrate simply...do it with joy and unto Him. If you give and celebrate lavishly...do it with joy and unto Him.

No external rules or expectations...just a personal relationship with Him and a birthday celebration from the heart.

Happy Happy Birthday Jesus!!



photo by sudergal

Simple Solstice

since the Winter Solstice is in only 3 more days, I thought I would re-post some ideas that I had from last year

I have been visiting many different blogs the past few weeks and my curiosity peaked when I kept noticing that many were reading books about the solstice or planning celebrations. I had never heard of this before and decided to do a little bit of research on it...and my heart was drawn anew to sweet Jesus coming to us in the darkness as the Light of the world.

In Him was Life, and the Life was the Light of men. And the Light shines on in the darkness, for the darkness has never overpowered it. There it was--the True Light coming into the world (the genuine, perfect, steadfast Light) that illumines every person. And to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the authority (power, privilege, right) to become children of God, that is, to those who believe in His name. John 1:4-5,9,12

For thousands of years, different cultures have held celebrations and festivals during the winter solstice. The winter solstice is the "shortest day of the year"...meaning the fewest hours of daylight and the longest night. If you are within 200 miles of the North Pole, it is complete darkness the whole time! These peoples had been afraid that the sun was leaving and may never return...meaning that all plants, all food, all life would perish. They began to realize that this time of solstice wasn't actually the end...it was actually the beginning of the days getting longer again. The sun from this day forward would blaze in its life-giving glory for longer and longer as the days went by. This was cause for celebration for even in the times of seeming darkness, light will come.

Christians adopted December 25th as their time for celebrating Jesus' birth because Romans had a huge celebration for solstice at this time. These believers realized that to celebrate Christmas at this time of year is so appropriate because solstice is a picture of our lives being in spiritual darkness and being without hope in this world. Jesus is the Light Who enters our lives bringing Life, health, newness, and hope. What cause to celebrate!

This year the winter solstice is December 21st and I think it would be a wonderful tradition to begin with our children acknowledging Jesus as our Light and Hope in a dark world. It's a time of quiet and peace where we can be together and create visual images to our children of the Lord and what gifts He gave us when He came. Here are a few ideas to celebrate solstice simply with your children:

• Have a candlelight dinner. Turn off all the lights in your home tomorrow evening and eat dinner in the dark with a few candles flickering. Talk about Jesus being the Light. Read some Scriptures. Sing some quiet carols or listen to soft music.
• Light your driveway with luminaries. I think this would be beautiful and even had the thought that it would be nice to write the name of missionaries on each bag as they are lights in dark places of the world. Take time to pray for each of them by name.
  
• Begin to use this day each year as a day of service. This is a wonderful day to teach your children what it means to be a light in their communities. As the anticipation of gifts is mounting in their minds, this would be a way for them to focus on giving to others and really experiencing why Jesus came...to preach good tidings to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and to open the eyes of the blind.
• Encourage a depressed or struggling friend. Many of us have had seasons of our lives when we feel without hope and that our personal darkness will never end. Bless a friend with the Truth that Jesus enters the darkest situations and brings new life and hope. He is not afraid to enter into our times of darkness...that is why He came!
• Enjoy His creation. Watch the sunrise and sunset. Do some star-gazing. Take a walk.

This can be a special family day of honoring Jesus in a new way and of teaching our children why Christmas is celebrated this time of year. It's interesting to think about how God has ordained the seasons and how reflective it all is of His character, His story and of how He made us.

Enjoy celebrating the Light!

Advent?

Isn't it crazy when our plans that we think are sure and right crumble down around us? I pictured our December evenings full of Scripture readings, candles, Christmas carols, and pointing my children to Jesus. An idyllic daily family worship time. Simplicity and quiet and beauty.

Instead, we spend our evenings with Pat Sajak and Alex Trebek.

Yep, the morning sickness that is really evening sickness for me has completely over-run my plan. I am on the couch feeling miserable and almost paralyzed and the only thing that distracts me is Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy. Honestly, it's one of the highlights of the day.

Every evening the whole family gathers together on our two couches under blankets and cuddling close to call out "L! S! T!" or "What is Peru?" We are laughing and learning and chilling out for that hour. What started out as reflective readings and a Jesse Tree book and prayer is now solving word puzzles and testing our trivia knowledge.

It always seems that when I make a seemingly wonderful religious plan, God shows up and says no. I even look back to November and realize that I was subconsciously thinking "God will be more honored and pleased with me if we really do Advent this year". I need to prove to Him that it's about Him and not about stuff. I need to worship well so that there are no holiday regrets. I must, I need, I will show....it's all about me. Was it ever about Him? Who knows...there seems to be mixed motives in everything.

A dear friend said to me this morning "God knew you would be pregnant in December 2008". This was His plan for me. Instead of having my spiritual game on, I am sick, broken, needy, irritable, and probably irritating. I can't be perfect this Christmas season. I can't perform well. I don't show up to worship. I need grace.

So my Christmas season is loud and unpredictable and full of TV specials. No cookies have been baked and we are eating frozen meals from Super Suppers. But oddly, I sense His love and grace and freedom to be where I am. That all His goodness and love and presence can't be erased or earned...it's His permanent Christmas gift to me.

I feel I have nothing to offer Him this year, yet He has given it all. His Life. His Love. His Sufficiency. His Grace. His Goodness. His Mercy. His Righteousness.

To me and to you.

Joy to the World!

The Least of These

In light of the Advent Conspiracy and seeking to be more intentional in our giving this year, Mike and I have talked, prayed and begun the journey of seeking to give to the least of these.

Mike has always looked to the verse in James 1:27 to look after widows and orphans as a guiding principle of where to give. When I first met Mike I was so moved that he had built a relationship with a German widow who was a neighbor of his parents. He would sit and chat with her for hours (mainly just listening), mow her lawn, send her mail, pray for and with her. I asked him why he did this and he said that God had shown him the verse in James and he knew that's what he was called to do. We continued that wonderful relationship with Hedi for years until she passed away.

With many years of young children and many moves, we have gotten away from the simplicity of serving the least of these. Life gets hard and busy and self-focused and it's easy to just focus on our own problems and not look to the needs of those outside the home. For seasons of time this is certainly healthy...making sure that you as a family are healthy and whole... but then you just know when the Spirit is whispering that it's time to look outside. It's time to find Jesus in unexpected places and to live as He did among the poor and lonely.

This Christmas season has beckoned to us to think intentionally about giving. Not just theoretically or just talking about it because it sounds good. But actually doing something. So to begin our giving adventure to the least of these, we hopped onto Compassion International's website two days ago and chose a child to sponsor. A precious 9 year old girl from Bangladesh named Keya. This has been something we have always wanted to do but had no extra money to spare. Now we do and now we will love on Keya.

I have also decided to begin to serve with Meals on Wheels for one day a week. It only takes 1-1/2 hours a week to drive a route to deliver meals to elderly ones at home. And what a wonderful way to model to my children serving as a lifestyle instead of only a once-a-year service project. I hope to build relationships with these older ones and to remind them that Jesus is with them and loves them. And I can only imagine the wonderful lessons about life and love that they could teach me.

So as you put the finishing touches on your gift-giving, add someone else...someone who is lonely or forgotten or overlooked or without. Seek to make practical application to loving the least of these. Because according to Matthew 25:40, to give to the least of these is to give to Jesus.

And I can think of no better birthday present for Jesus than that! :)


photo by maxkalehoff

Holiday Booklets

Here are links to two free booklets that give great ideas for simplifying the holidays and keeping the focus off of commercialism:

• Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood

• New American Dream

photo by mayalu

Green Wrappings

Last year I wrote about Simple Wrappings, so I will try not to be redundant. Much of what I wrote there is still my philosophy on packaging up gifts. This year though I have really strayed away from most paper wrappings, because WOW that's a lot of waste I am looking at on Christmas morning. The garbage bags are stuffed full of wrap and bent bows and boxes. And if everyone else is throwing away as much (if not more!), that's a lot of unnecessary stuff heading to the landfill. Changing the way we wrap is one simple choice towards helping the environment and our pocketbooks too.

Here are my eco-friendly gift wrapping tips:

• Make cloth bags. Buy some cute Christmas fabric (it's on sale all over the place right now). Cut 2 fat rectangles according to the size of the gift. Put right sides together. Sew a 1/2" seam around the 2 long sides and one of the short sides. Take pinking shears and trim the seam. Fold over the top unfinished edge 1/2" and press down with an iron. Then fold down again another 1/2" and press. Stitch around that hem close to the edge. Turn right-side-out...put gift in the bag...and tie a pretty ribbon around the top. Easy, cute, and re-usable!

• Make gift tags from old Christmas cards. My friend Mary told me this great tip. She saves past received cards and then uses Christmas cookie cutters to trace around parts of the cards that are cute...cut out, hole-punch, and tie on a piece of twine!
  

• Use wrapping paper scraps as the gift tag. This is a great idea...use pieces of paper to cut into letters to spell the receiver's name...glue to the package and CUTE! Or use cardstock scraps to put together your own simple gift tags...mindfulness to use what we already have on hand.
  

• Wrap gifts in reusable shopping bags and tie up with raffia.

• Instead of tissue paper, send already used papers and scraps through the paper shredder and use the "confetti" in your gift bags.

• Use cloth ribbon instead of paper ribbons or bows. Most people will save it and can reuse it for giving or for other projects they have.

• Re-use brown paper shopping bags and comics. Brown shopping bags can be cut up and then stamped all over with fun Christmas stamps and kids always enjoy gifts wrapped up in the funnies!

Here's to walking lightly when it comes to Christmas wrappings...being resourceful and conscientious yet adding plenty of beauty and creativity...that's good holiday living.


photo by talkingsun

List of Links

my felt advent garland...a work in progress!

I have much on my mind that I would love to blog about, but my brain turns to sludge rather quickly these days! Hormones everywhere!

So I have come across some wonderful links recently that I thought I would share with you:

**Tonia's thoughts on Advent which actually makes it do-able!

**Kelli's awesome family alphabet gratitude journal...hey there are 26 letters in the alphabet so begin quickly and it can see us through the Advent season! What better way to push back against holiday greed and consumerism than practicing daily gratitude as a family this season?

**Check out this advent calendar made from recycled items you already have in the house! It's not too late to begin this today or even this week...there's no rules to when we begin, right?

**For easy-to-whip-up gifts for young creative ones, make some of these felt crayon rolls (I made a few yesterday!) or modify it to hold a drawing pad as well (turned out very cute...email me for felt measurements if you wish!)

**And as the crafting-Christmas-decor-with-your-kids begins, we are planning to try our hands at making these felt candy canes. (Can you tell I am into felt these days?) I found some wool roving by Clover at JoAnn Fabric...not too cheap so use a coupon!


Here's to having meaningful celebrations of Advent with our families...which is just fancy words for "let's look to Jesus together" :)