Hindsight is 20/20

I am convinced that this is the motto for the year of 2008.  This year especially has been filled with so many ups and downs and twists and turns that I don't know if I can cope with it all. At times I wish that I had hindsight before the event happened, but now looking back I don't know if I could have held on for the ride.  I am not going to go into detail of our yearly activity. I am, however, going to ask  you a question... looking back throughout the past 12 months how does your year rate overall? Was it too exciting for you?(is there such a thing), Was it fun? Did you learn a lot? Tell me what your year was like and what you got out of it the most. 

I wonder if the company of LL Bean would have answered my question this way: "We wish we had waited one week to do our outdoor sports festival this year; we would have saved so much money by not needing to produce our own snow." You may know what I am talking about if you went to Beans before Christmas. They had a huge pile of man made snow out in front of their store, and looking back I cannot help but wonder why they didn't wait just one week for the snow to come to Maine.  For as you all know, this year was a beautiful white Christmas with inches of wonderful fluffy snow.  White Christmas or not this festival got my family out to Beans to see their man made snow and try out their sleds. Here are some pics of what we did at the famous store: 

The boys loved the bubble inside the fish tank at LL Bean.

Elijah sitting in snow that had to be contained with hay. Does anyone else find it odd that we feel that we have to rush winter while living in Maine? Could you imagine living in Florida and rushing in summer? 

Tyler and Josiah sliding down the snow covered ramp. That ice chunky snow on a slope can really speed you along on a sled. 

I would like to close with simply this: Don't get too worked up over what you didn't know was going to happen this year. Instead learn to lean on the Lord in the good and bad times and know that you will be carried through this next year with Him by your side.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!

Preparing for Christmas is a very important task for me. It isn't because I want everything to be just right on Christmas, or that we host a lot of people (we don't). Rather it is because for me I love to know that it is Christmas. Really know. If, however, I don't try to prepare for the day then I find that Christmas just sort of shoots on by just like every other day and then I feel as though I have missed it. So every year I try to prepare for Christmas and continue to tell myself that it is Christmas so that when the day comes I am fully prepared to seize the moment and relish in the holiday. My mother made Christmas a huge deal, and I want to make a big deal too. After all it isn't everyday that we can take aside and muse over all that God has done for us by sending us Jesus. If nothing else, I want my children to understand why Christmas is so important to me. As a result, we talk and walk Christmas for almost a month so that when Christmas Eve comes and we can start our celebration we all know why.

Here are some of the things that we did to prepare this year:

Elijah, Josiah and Andrew were in their very first Christmas Pageant. Directed by the beautiful and talented Alison Gervais this production shared the birth story of our Lord from the point of view of the donkey whom the writer affectionately named Clopper. Elijah played an adorable Clopper, while Josiah and Andrew were the cutest little wandering sheep you have ever seen.

Alas, this is the first year that I wasn't able to drag Tyler to Portland to walk the mall and watch all of the crazy shoppers go nuts over some stupid toy. We did, however, manage to get to Freeport for the Winter Sports Festival with the boys. LL Bean had setup a sliding slope and had made snow with a machine so that you could test out the snowshoes. The boys had a great time seeing the lights, people, and "fake" snow. 

Pageants, and shopping aside, we of course decorated our house for the holiday. Our decorations are what some would consider scarce, but I prefer to call it classy. Our home is not packed full of those cheap blow up santas and blasphemous air filled nativity scenes. Rather we have a few select decorations handed to us from my mother, aunt, and grandmother. Making our home festive and perfectly garnished for the Christmas season. This year we went all out and even decorated Caleb. 

I pray that your Christmas season is a wonderful time worshiping Jesus with family and friends. God bless you all and Merry Christmas!