happy new year!

welcome, 2013!

i've been having a bit of an issue with uploading photos to the blog, so i haven't been posting much, because it's just not as fun. i do think it's time for an update, though. 

december passed by rather quickly. we enjoyed the season of advent as much as possible. originally, i was going to do a special activity every day. i ended up doing it a bit differently. a friend told me about truth in the tinsel, a daily advent devotional for kids, so i decided to do that with love. it's an ebook and each day has a scripture reading, devotion, and instructions for making an ornament. i modified some of the crafts for love's abilities and to use materials that we had on hand. we certainly didn't do all 24 days, and we did more at the beginning of the month than the end, but it was a great way to observe advent, and something that we can do in future years as well. 

instead of scheduling an activity for every day, i made a list of things we wanted to do together and we went through the list for what worked on whatever day. we didn't get to everything on the list, and i'm okay with that. here is what we did get to:

- visit the train display at our local mall
- make homemade "gingerbread" play dough
- make salt dough ornaments
- drive around and look at christmas lights
- watch a christmas movie and eat homemade pizza (we watched the polar express)
- send christmas mail to grandparents
- visit the local botanical gardens
- read new christmas book ("room for a little one" from my sister)
- get christmas books from the library
- color in christmas coloring book

we also enjoyed observing advent by lighting our way of light wreath each day and moving the wooden mary a little closer to bethlehem each day. love learned "away in a manger" with motions as we sang it each day after devotions.

the four of us were home together for christmas, and then we traveled to visit family last weekend.

unfortunately, the flu struck our home just before christmas. jobot came down with it the friday before christmas, it hit love on saturday, and jeremy and i got it on sunday. christmas eve found me crawling into bed with a fever and chills, huddled under piles of blankets and snuggling close to jeremy to get warm. it was a bummer. thankfully, we all felt pretty good on christmas morning. we opened our stockings, had a nice little gift exchange, ate some cinnamon rolls, and headed to church. some friends came over in the afternoon and we had christmas dinner and played games. it was a good day.

we went light on the gifts this year, which was the usual for us. jeremy and i decided to get a few things that we needed. they weren't surprises, but i wrapped them up anyway. we got ourselves a nice pair of scissors, a food scale, and i got a pair of tennis shoes and jeremy got some new slippers. we gave jobot a pair of booties for his cold little toes, and we gave both kids a set of wooden blocks. love was given a water bottle and...the big gift which several family members went in on together...a wooden dollhouse, doll family, and furniture! i really think this has been as much fun for me as it has been for her. jeremy did well with my stocking...vanilla almond tea, which i have really been enjoying, a beautiful new mug, and a bar of lavender soap. all things that add a little luxury to life. the best gift was that jobot finally started sleeping through the night, starting on christmas night. it is amazing to sleep all the way through the night again!

of course, more than enjoying the gifts and the family time, we basked in the reality that God is with us. we recently came across a prayer by max lucado, which we have found very fitting for this time. here is an exerpt from the prayer:

"Jesus, the world sure seems dark. i have a good eye for silver linings, but they seem dimmer lately.
your world seems a bit darker this Christmas. 
but, you were born in the dark, right? you came at night. the shepherds were nightshift workers. the wise men followed a star. your first cries were heard in the shadows. to see your face, mary and joseph needed a candle flame. it was dark.
dark with herod's jealousy. dark with roman oppression. dark with poverty. dark with violence.
oh, Lord Jesus, you entered the dark world of your day. won't you enter ours? we are weary of bloodshed. we, like the wise men, are looking for a star. we, like the shepherds, are kneeling at a manger.  
this christmas, we ask you, heal us, help us, be born anew in us."


and to continue the prayer as we enter this new year...may the light of the world shine brightly even through the darkness of our lives. may the hope of Jesus be born in us as we walk on this earth, and may Jesus be invited and faithfully enter into our lives.

happy new year!