Christmas Break!

It's Christmas Break!!!!!

The kids woke up and started building with Legos this morning.  

I spent a good chunk of the day hiding in my bedroom wrapping gifts.

I love this gift Annah is so excited to give Sylvia...

Looking forward to Christmas Sunday tomorrow, 

and celebrating the birth of our Savior with our church family!

Christmas Shoe Tree musical

Poor Sylvie was sick, sick today!  She's been having trouble with her asthma, but today was all stuffy-nosed, and nebulizer treatments weren't helping get the cough under control.  She also has had a headache for a few days, and a fever today too.  I kept her home from school and took her to the doctor.  He put her on an oral steroid in addition to writing new prescriptions for inhalers and albuterol nebulizer treatments, and she'll go back on Singulair after the oral steroid is done.  Poor girl! On top of all that, she got sick to her tummy too!  I think it must be the real, honest-to-goodness actual flu.  She is not feeling well at all.

Annah and I went to the Saybrook Christian Church this evening to watch their Christmas musical. We went to support our dear Addie, but enjoyed seeing many folks we know and love performing.  It was a wonderful musical, and such a huge blessing to see kids from age 3 to age 16 having an absolute blast praising the Lord and proclaiming the love of Jesus!  Awesome!!

Merry, Merry, Joy, Joy

The elementary school K-3 winter concert was this evening, and we almost missed it.  I had put it on my Google calendar when the note about it came home, but I put it in at 6:45 (the time Caeden was supposed to be in his classroom) instead of 5:45!

At about 5:55, I was helping Caeden get his dress clothes on and asked him a question.  He said, "I just have to be in my classroom by 5:45."  I said, "You mean 6:45."  And he said, "No, 5:45." And I could tell he knew what he was talking about.

I went into panic mode, and we all flew out of the house without coats, cameras, or care!  (Jeremy says I was hilarious, but I didn't find it one bit funny!)  We left on every light in the house, including both Christmas trees.

Jeremy was inclined to believe that I had the time right and that we were going to arrive way early for the concert, so he didn't speed.  When we arrived, though, all parking lots were full, and I dragged Caeden into the school as quickly as I could.

Children were filing into the gym, and Caeden's grade was already in place on the risers.  I sent him down the edge of the gym, and he made his way up the risers, about a minute before 1st grade started their first song.  (We completely missed the kindergarten performance.)

Of course, the gym was packed, so we watched the whole concert from the doorway.  Goodness.  And, my stomach remained in my chest for the rest of the night from being in such a panic.  I would hate for my kid to miss a performance!  Fortunately, we live 10 minutes from the school and it turned out fine.


(You can see Caeden bobbing his head along and singing his heart out in his light green shirt and navy tie 2nd from the left in the top row.)  He definitely loves to sing, and does it with joy!

These 2nd graders are quite talented, I must say!  They sang this adorable song in 2-part harmony!

The photos are from the local newspaper's Facebook page.  I didn't have time to grab a camera!

This is the song I've been having Caeden sing to me over and over.  So sweet.

The Celtic twist on this song was super fun.

Students also introduced each song and told a little about them, which made the concert even more adorable.  Also, at the end of the concert, while the kids filed out, everyone sang Silent Night together--including the second verse being sung as a solo by a wonderful 2nd grader.  I loved that she just sang right out, "CHRIST THE SAVIOR IS BORN!"

Holiday Foods

I made peppermint Christmas popcorn for my music students today.  I like to try a new holiday recipe each year, and this was such a simple and yummy one.  

Once the kids are on Christmas break and we have a little time, 

I'd love to try these recipes this year too:

- Chocolate Covered Coconut Macaroons

- Chocolate-Dipped Shortbread Cookies

You're Sovereign Still

Like everyone else, I'm not sure how to process my thoughts and emotions about the evil and devastating thing that happened Friday in Newtown, Connecticut.  Based on what I have heard on the radio and read on the Internet, I can only imagine what it might be like for that community and those families, but I'm sure my imagining doesn't come close to their reality.

Still, my heart grieves along with them and the rest of the world who share a piece of the hurt and sadness.  Like almost every other parent with children in school that I've talked to over the past few days, I had that feeling of wanting to immediately drive to my children's school Friday and take them home with me.  I did hug each of them extra long when they got off the bus and inside the house Friday.  They saw my tears, and I explained what had happened.  We prayed about it multiple times over the weekend, and will continue to pray.

Saturday we spent all day at home as a family, treasuring the time we had together.  Caeden and I snuggled in the recliner and played on the iPad.  The kids made pancakes together. They picked up their rooms, and as I vacuumed in the girls' closet, I noticed the elaborate set-up they have for their Barbies--not just the big house, but a series of shoeboxes, blankets, and containers making up a mall, a barn, and other places their dolls can go.  I mentioned it to them, and they excitedly told me how much fun they have playing with it.  I'm glad they are enjoying their childhood play--especially Annah at 12 years old--and that they are able to play with innocence and joy.

The girls and Jeremy mixed up 4 batches of dough Saturday and made dozens of peppermint cookies yesterday--one of their favorite Christmastime traditions with their daddy.  Caeden and Jeremy played quite a bit of Madden together on the Wii over the weekend.  Saturday night, while Jeremy was setting up for church, the kids and I had popcorn and oranges and played 4 rounds of Pounce.  The girls played their violin duet of What Child of This for me yesterday, and tears just streamed down my face as I watched and listened to them.  

I am so incredibly grateful for these precious moments, and I praise the Lord for allowing us to live this life--filled with his peace and joy.

Saturday, as I looked over the songs the worship team was going to do during Sunday's service, I saw that one of the songs I was to lead was None but Jesus (Hillsong).  As I read and prayed through the lyrics, my heart broke at these lyrics in the second verse:

In the chaos

In confusion I know

You're sovereign still

I immediately thought of the chaos and confusion that those in Sandy Hook Elementary School found themselves in the midst of on Friday, and the chaos and confusion that is now left in their community--and rippling out across the world in sympathy for them and fear that it could happen again in our own places.  I have made these lyrics my prayer all weekend.  

-------

Today, at PoC we talked about anger.  In PoC Kidz, they made "Happy Birds" characters, instead of "Angry Birds."  And they did a beautiful exercise where they wrote down something they were angry about, then the teacher wrote the things on the board so it be anonymous.  They learned about forgiveness being a choice, and had the opportunity to take the eraser and go forward and forgive/erase their anger.  (Caeden said that in this picture he was forgiving Annah.)

We had a send-off reception for our dear friend Staci, who will be leaving in 3 weeks to serve in Papua New Guinea for a year as a nurse/nursing teacher.  I can't even put into words how much we will miss her, and even more how much God is going to use her there!  She is an inspiration, a blessing, and a beautiful soul.

"Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,  for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. 
 Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation. Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain." 

- Philippians 2:12-16

Pillow Note

Sylvia left this in the middle of Jeremy's and my pillows this evening.

What a sweet blessing to see when we went to sleep for the night.  She is such a thoughtful girl.

The Great Gift Exchange

Our church is in the midst of a sermon series called The Great Gift Exchange, and tonight we had a Christmas party by the same name.  It was such an awesome evening!!

Lorrie and Kim made the sanctuary look so warm and festive.

We had a good turnout, and lots of yummy food too.

Lorrie and one of her pretty Christmas gift trees...

Some of our wonderful PoC friends...

Pastor Todd hosted the evening from the stage, 

and the other 3 pastors and I each hosted one of the 4 table gatherings. 

Last Sunday, each person in attendance at morning worship received $5 and a challenge.  The challenge was to ignore the impulses of our hearts and listen instead to what the Lord would have us do to bless others in our community with the money. 

Tonight, when we arrived at the party, we each received a tag to write down what God led us to do with the $5.  While we visited and snacked, Pastor Todd read us the stories on the tags, and then they were pinned on the gift trees.  

Here are some of the awesome things God led everyone to do in our community this week with the money...

At each of our tables we had questions/scenarios to discuss...

First, we were to pretend we had $10,000 we could use to bless others.  After discussing and brain-storming, the group voted that they liked Annah's idea to buy or rent a store space and run a "store" where people could come to get things they need for free when they don't have money to buy them.

For the second question, our table was to pretend we were blessed with an overabundance of self-control, and we were to plan what ministry we would create based on that gift.  We discussed and decided we would start a ministry for people who struggle with addictions, maybe something like a Celebrate Recovery ministry.

Our third challenge was to assume the people sitting at our table were actually our small group, and decide based on the collective missional impulses of the group, what would our group's mission be.  We happened to have 6 people at our table who work in the area of finance right now, so we decided our group would offer financial advising services to people in need--like classes on various things like how to plan for buying groceries and budgeting, will-writing, etcetera.

It was so exciting to see the missional impulses just pop up and people get excited in just a few minutes of brainstorming and discussing!  In February, we will actually start having small groups based on missional impulses!  Can't wait!!!

We also had a crazy white elephant gift exchange with a speed round!  It was a bit nutty, but fun!

Caeden ended up with a cool car that was painted bright colors and had 4 buttons that made lights flash and cool sounds.  But, a littler guy at our table was too small to really understand why everyone was trading presents and why he ended up without a gift he really liked.  He was pretty upset, so Caeden gave him the cool car.  We struggle to get the idea of selflessness through to Caeden often, so it was heartening to see him give up his gift without a second thought to bless another.

What a wonderful evening; thank you, Lord!!

String Project Winter Concert

We so enjoyed the girls' performances in the String Project Winter Concert today!!

There are four ensembles of varying levels, and Sylvia is in the Vivace ensemble.

Sylvia says this was her favorite of the 3 pieces Vivace played today.

Sylvia is 4th from the front in the row all the way to the left.  It wouldn't appear this way, but they were the 1st violins.

When the music for the semester was first given to the kids and their homework was to listen to a recording of this piece, it was nearly the most excited I've seen Sylvia.  She really enjoyed playing it too.

Annah is in the Sinfonia ensemble.  We were told this Sinfonia group performed the most difficult music the instructors have ever been able to assign.

Annah is on the left.  She loves playing in this group!

This makes me think about buying diamonds every time I hear it.  

It was really cool to see the progression of what the students learn through the String Project.  The beginning group stood and played short little songs by plucking the strings, and this most advanced group played such impressive pieces.  

We're so grateful for the girls' involvement in String Project!  They've grown so much musically in these past months!

We are also grateful to Sylvia's classroom teacher, Mrs. Meyer (who Annah also had for 4th grade) and our school music teacher for attending the concert too!  It meant a lot to the kids, and Jeremy and I were completely floored that they would spend their Saturday coming to support our kids!!  

Music enriches our lives so much--through learning, practicing, improving, performing, moving us emotionally, creating friendships and connections, and we are so thankful!

Christmas Around Our House

We have a beautiful Fraser fir tree again this year, and it smells so lovely too!  I turn the lights on as soon as I come downstairs in the morning and leave them on every moment we're home and awake.  We all enjoy the glow and glitter of the tree in our living room.

In my college days, I used to collect angels.  The other day I opened a box and found all of these.  I decided to put them out for Christmas.  Even though the one playing the violin (back left corner) is holding the violin and bow wrong and it drives the girls crazy, Sylvia calls this little group our angel choir and loves that they're together in our music room.

Sylvia received two snowman candles from the church white elephant gift exchange, and we put them with our Santa mugs.

I received a box of ornaments in the gift exchange, and put them in a crystal bowl on our kitchen table.

_____________________

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, 

coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, 

who does not change like shifting shadows."

- James 1:17

Give Thanks

I finally got a few moments to put together some video snippets I captured on my phone during our time in Indiana with our families over Thanksgiving.  I love our families so much.  My cup overflows...