Galations 2:20-21

I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly." Galations 2:20-21

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Merry {Belated} Christmas!

Okay, so I realize I'm a little late on this one.

Hope you all had a blessed Christmas. We started off our celebration of Christ's birth by gathering at our church for a reflective Christmas Eve service. The baby was so well behaved. We didn't even have to leave the sanctuary. It was nice to be able to focus on the sermon and reflect on the true meaning of this season. We spend the rest of the evening at my parent's house with good food and good company of about 50 family members and church friends. Christmas day we spent a nice day at my husband's grandparent's house and his side of the family. All in all I think Gideon had a good first Christmas. And probably too many gifts for a 10 week old.

Here is a video and few pictures...Happy New Year to all!

Gideon playing & talking w/ his aunts on Christmas Eve


Opening up presents on Christmas Eve
Gideon's First Christmas Morning
Christmas Day: Uncle Brad, Byron, Gideon
(picture courtesy of Aunt Leanne)

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

I Celebrate the Day

I really love this Christmas song by Relient K. It always seems to bring a tear to my eye. Listen. Reflect on these words. Enjoy.

You can download this song for FREE off of Amazon.com as part of their 25 days of free Christmas songs. Click here!


Monday, December 21, 2009

Pets or People?


My husband and I considered getting a dog a couple years ago. That lasted about an hour before we decided we just couldn't justify it financially (among other reasons). Especially when there are so many people in need in the world. There are several people in our own lives that could use the money and time it would take to care for a dog. When you take into account the cost for the dog itself, vet appointments and all the other "stuff" a dog needs. Then there are the people who get stuff for their dogs that they don't need, like those cute little outfits you see at the stores. Yeah, and those are the same people whose neighbor has been out of work for the past year.

I came across an article by Chuck Colson called Save the Pet? Or Save the Stranger? This article talks about people who put pets on a par with humans and how this is affecting worship at church. Here are a couple excerpts:

"Whether it's "pet-ernity leave" for employees with young puppies, or people demanding human rights for pregnant pigs, there's something dramatically wrong when people place animals on a par with humans.The most recent example of this comes from the Rev. Tom Eggebeen, pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles. He has begun a church service where congregants are invited to bring their pets to church with them. Not only are the pets allowed in the church, but the pets receive special blessings while the owners enjoy pet-centric services."

"I recently received a note from a high school teacher. Each year he poses an ethical question to his students. This year his question was simple: What if your house were on fire and you could save either your household pet or an electrician who was trapped inside? In past years, the teacher's students have been divided pretty evenly on this question. This year, to his astonishment—and mine—90 percent of the students said they would save the pet."

I encourage you to read it.

Don't get me wrong. I think dogs and other pets can be great companions for some people, especially the elderly and people who have disabilities. They bring much joy in peoples lives and are a part of God's creation to enjoy. I'm sure others can make the same argument about other things in our lives. This is one area that my husband and I feel very convicted about. I do think there is a problem when we start putting pets over people and especially over God.

Friday, December 11, 2009

2 Months (and things are getting better)



Our little boy turned 2 months old on Monday. He really is growing up so fast. He had his first church experience on Sunday. We were finally ready to take him. He did suprising well and only fussed a tiny bit when he got a little hungry. I hope no one was offended, but we just aren't ready to have people hold him yet with the flu season and all. He's not his fragile newborn self anymore. He has very strong neck control already. He spends good chunks of time playing with daddy and me-smiling and baby talking. He follows me or dad with his eyes and moves his head to see us if we're moving around or picking things up in the room. If he's in his swing he will be looking at us doing whatever it is we are doing. Although I feel bad sometimes about this, he does prefer us over other people. It's a great feeling to know your baby loves you. He is a lot less fussy than he used to be. If you can call it a schedule, he's been going to bed between 10-11pm and gives me chunks of sleep ranging from 3-5 hours a night (wide range, but so much better than the average 45 minute intervals he was giving me before). I really think the chiropractor is helping. He's such a happier and a more content baby. At 8 weeks he's already 14.5 pounds. He's growing out of all his newborn clothes and fitting into 6-9 month clothing. Crazy.










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Speaking of clothes...
Byron and I have been using a envelope/cash method of purchasing things since May. We are still working on using strictly cash for all of our everyday purchases, but we do make the exception here and there. Our Discover card gives us coupons every now and then. We received a few this week and among them was a Kohl's coupon for $10 off of a purchase of $10 or more if you use your Discover card. While we were Christmas shopping we found this cute outfit on sale (the only one of it's kind and in G's size). It was originally $26.00, but on sale for $10.40. With our coupon it cost us $0.43. Sweet dealio if you ask me. We had to use our credit card, but I really don't think we are going to have a problem paying off the 43 cents at the end of the month. Of course, Discover was hoping that we would use the coupon on a purchase much more than that, keep a balance on our credit card, rack up interest on the purchase and in the end make money on us, right? Do you think Discover will stop sending us these coupons?