Christmas Tree is Up!!!

Finally, after more than 8 hours of work, the tree is fully lit, decorated, and looking beautiful.  I promised pictures, so here they are!

The infamous tree.  I'm a little partial to white, crystal, and silver.  I'm especially intrigued by icicle ornaments and I'm starting to get quite a collection.  I have at least 3 dozen glass and crystal icicles. 

Stocking holders and the wreath I made.






My attempts at artistic photography.  From a distance, you lose the beauty of the details and individual ornaments.

 

 

 

 

So pretty.  Decorating is so fun.  As an adult, I think I may enjoy decorating the tree as much as I did as a child.  Now if only I could find someone else to put the tree up, wrestle with the lights, take down the decorations, and put the tree away for me.

Holiday Preparations

I thought I'd be on top of things for once and put my Christmas tree up this past weekend since next weekend will be full of family activities for Thanksgiving.  I was very excited about this.  We didn't put a tree up last year because Glenna was right at that age where it would have been a month-long battle to keep her away from it.  Well she's a year older, we have a new house, and nothing was stopping me this year!

If you know me very well, you know that I am a very timid decorator.  Usually I rely on my mom (who has done interior decorating professionally) to help me with even the simplest decorating project.  The one area where I may have inherited a few of her genes is Christmas.  I've made my own wreath, come up with a theme for my tree, and have been buying ornaments for years.  I'm not going to tell you my theme- I'll show you when the tree is decorated... and it still isn't...

I logged four hours of work on the tree Saturday and another two Sunday with the result being a mostly lit tree Monday.  Normally dragging the three-part seven-foot-tall tree upstairs, assembling it, and "re-fluffing" the branches is a good two hours of scratchy work.  This year, however, there were sections all over the tree that wouldn't light up.  It's the kind of tree that is supposed to still light with lights burned out, so I decided to replace the fuses in the strands that were not lit.  Finding the plugs and replacing the fuses took a good hour filled with muttered cursing.  Finally, they were all replaced.  I plugged in the tree and presto!  Nothing changed.

I had three options left at this point.  1) String more lights on the sections of the tree that weren't lit.  That seemed a little silly, and wouldn't be a long-term solution.  2) Replace the tree.  This is a five hundred dollar tree I bought in an after-Christmas sale.  That wasn't happening.  3)Unwind the strands that weren't working and replace them carefully so that the tree would still be able to come apart in sections with the lights still attached.  This is the route I took.  So far I have replaced two of the six strands that aren't working.  I don't know what the Christmas tree company pays the person who wraps the branches with the lights, but it isn't enough.  That employee is going above and beyond, my friend.

I am bound and determined to conquer this project soon.  Hopefully pictures will be up shortly.  It can't sideline me for too long: I have a ton of cooking to do for Thursday when we celebrate Thanksgiving with Justin's family and Saturday when we celebrate with mine.  I also have a dirty house to clean before my brother Seth comes to stay with us for four days.  All of my family will be here this weekend.  I can't wait- two of my brothers and my sister-in-law haven't even met their new nephew.  (Who isn't so new anymore.  He started rolling over!)

And in case I forget to say it, my family is who I am thankful for this year.  This may sound like a given, but I'm not saying this lightly.  Dealing with my mother-in-law's leukemia and my dad's prostate cancer these past couple of years has made me acutely aware that life is short and time with family is precious.  I have been so blessed and I thank Him for every day I have with them.  Most of all, I am thankful for the honor of being blessed with my precious son and daughter.  God is good.

Glenna is 2!

It has been a while since I posted again.  Not because I had nothing to post about- because I had too much, and not enough time to sit and write.  Sunday was Glenna's second birthday.  We celebrated with the family on Saturday morning.  I always wish I could invite more people, but our house is so small and she has a November birthday, so an outdoor party is out.  Although, we could have had it outdoors this year: it was seventy degrees all weekend!  So beautiful.  I tried a new approach to opening gifts this time.  We all sat around the living room and held the gift we brought.  I had Glenna go around to every person one at a time and open their gift with them.  We gave her a little time to play with each toy before having her move on.  It was a nice approach.  She seemed to enjoy everything more and didn't get overwhelmed.  I think all the relatives liked opening a gift with her too.  She got some great learning toys, puzzles, videos, and clothes.

I really can't believe my little girl is 2.  Every time she climbs up on my lap and wants to snuggle, I wonder how much longer I have of the "cuddle years."  There are times that she wakes up crying in the night and I happily rock her to sleep regardless of how tired I am.  A year ago, I would have made her cry it out.  Now I wonder which night will be the last time.  I'm going to really be in trouble when my last child is this age if I'm this sentimental with my firstborn.  She is such an amazing gift from God.  I always wanted a daughter- that mother-daughter relationship is so special.  Don't get me wrong: I always wanted a son too, but for different reasons.  I am so thankful for my girl.

After the birthday party we went to Justin's cousin's wedding.  Glenna went home with my parents to spend the night.  Reuben went along too- he's like a moth to a flame where Glenna is concerned.  They played together all afternoon and evening.  He is such an amazing uncle.  I love seeing this side of him.  The photo shelves in his apartment are a little shrine to Glenna. 

The next morning at church (Glenna's actual birthday), I gave Glenna a hug, told her "Happy Birthday", and said "I love you."  Then she gave me the best birthday gift in the world.  She said "I love you" to me for the first time!  I cried.  She did it again that night when Justin was putting her to bed.  I tear up every time she says it.  I've been so looking forward to her doing that.

Well, this has been an exceptionally mushy post.  Now I have to start getting in gear for Christmas.  It's less than six weeks away, and I'm broke!  Yikes!

Think they look alike?

I've been accused of cloning. I think I see some family resemblance.

Book Review: Deadline (part 1)

I bought this book at the recommendation of a friend recently and I'm only a few chapters in, but I feel compelled to start the review now, as it is turning out to be a very thought-provoking book. Since this is my first review on this blog, I'll tell you that I read a lot. My tastes run to Christian fiction, with the occasional non-fiction. I always love a well-written Christian romance, but tire of the predictable ones. Some of my all-time favorites are not "Full House" endings. I guess I just like to be kept on my toes a little. I also like books that make me think about some aspect of Christianity in a different light, even if they are fictional. Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker have become favorite authors for this reason. Deadline is turning out to be that kind of book, and like any fictional account of something the Bible leaves in partial mystery, I'm not sure I completely agree with the author's interpretation.

The story line so far is this: Three friends who have been inseparable since childhood are in a car accident. Two die; one a Christian and one an atheist. Jake, the friend left behind, is not a believer, but is torn between admiration for the way the Christian lived his life and an affinity for the beliefs the atheist held. In the process of mourning his friends and trying to get on with life, he is faced with evidence that the accident may have been intentional. Now immersed in assisting the homicide investigation, he is unaware of someone following him and watching his every move. (All in all, the start of your typical "whodunit.") The characters have been developed by flashbacks to memories from their decades of friendship and experiences serving in the Vietnam war.

The part that is the most thought provoking so far is the ongoing account of Finney (the believer.) His death experience and introduction to life in heaven are written in great detail, and it's probably not depicted the way most people would imagine (even Christians.) Taking a center role in all of it is Finney's guardian angel, present from the moment of birth (or before), beside him through all his earthly experiences, escorting him through the portal of death, and now his own personal tour guide in heaven. While a reunion with his loved ones is described, Finney seems to be spending all his time with this angel, asking him questions, seeing his life events through different eyes, and peeking in on what's still occurring on earth (on Jake's unfolding drama in particular.) This idea of heavenly experience including meeting our guardian angel and developing an ever-deepening relationship between celestial being and human produces a lot of questions on my part.

First of all, do we have any evidence that we will have much interaction with the angels in heaven? I guess I never gave the question much thought before now. The Biblical descriptions of heaven involve angels of course, and they are usually depicted as worshiping God without ceasing. I know this is the specific role of the seraphim, but what about the others? I guess I thought we'd have interaction with them- like getting Gabriel's point of view on the nativity or something like that. I just never thought of us as spending our time getting to know our guardian angel from our time on earth and learning from them. John's visits to heaven included him asking angels like Michael and Gabriel questions and learning from them, so I guess it's possible. I always thought relationships with angels, while fascinating, would take a backseat to our relationships with our fellow humans (and of course the most important of all: Christ.) The fact that we will likely have some interaction with angels in heaven (although I don't necessarily think to the degree depicted in this book) brings up another question.

Will we know our guardian angel in heaven? For that matter, do we each have a "guardian angel"? One angel whose sole assignment is to be by our side our entire life, following the commands of the Father in watching over us? I don't really know that we do. I'm intrigued enough to start looking for verses that would support the idea, because my first response would be that I don't think we each have a specific guardian angel. I know the Bible talks about God giving the angels charge to watch over us, but I don't recall anything saying we each have our own angel. What we each do have is the Holy Spirit indwelling us, guiding us, and communicating to the Father on our behalf.

One point I adamantly disagree with in this book is the angel calling Finney "master." Whoah. Angels do not serve us! They serve God. Even if we do have a guardian angel, they are not our personal genie in a bottle waiting to do our bidding. Another idea in the book is one that opens up pandora's box on the subject of predestination and free will. In this book only believers have guardian angels, and while Finney became a Christian later in life, his guardian angel was there all along. So do people who are going to become children of God have guardian angels beside them their whole lives while unbelievers do not? Or do unbelievers have guardian angels too? This line of thinking leads to many more questions than I'm willing to go into.

The emphasis this book places on guardian angels bothers me because there is a danger here of Christians becoming preoccupied with angels to an unhealthy extent. Many human-angel interactions recorded in scripture include the human falling down in awe upon seeing the angel, and the angel being very emphatic that we are not to worship them. They do not want attention to be focused on them, but on the One they serve.

It will be interesting to see how the book unfolds. I don't have to agree with an author to enjoy his work, especially if it makes me think. I haven't read any account of what Doc is experiencing yet (the atheist), but my friend tells me it's in there. I'm sure there will be more thought-provoking material ahead. In the meantime, I'm going to be reading passages from the Bible about angels as well.

Nice weekend

It turned out to be a relaxing weekend at the in-law's. Despite the endless piles of things we had to stuff in the car in order to be away from home for just one night. Despite the crazy shenanigans, wrestling, and general mayhem between Grandpa, Glenna, and Cousin Lizzy when the sugar highs kicked in. Despite the chaotic consignment sale hunting through mountains of used baby clothes while Levi screamed. Despite sleeping in a strange bed and waking up at 5 a.m. because nobody informed Levi about daylight savings time. Why would I call such a weekend relaxing? (Cindi looked at me like I had lost my mind when I did.) Because I had tons of help with the kids. There were plenty of others to take care of Glenna's hissy fits and overflowing energy and plenty of people to try to soothe the fussy baby, and for once, I let them. Every mom eventually reaches the point when she doesn't care anymore if it's done her way as long as it gets done. That was my state of mind this weekend, and it helped me to finally relax a little.

The best part of the weekend by far was our anniversary lunch date without the kids. We racked our brains while we were eating and realized that our last date was for one of our birthdays- so in January or February. This was looong overdue. Justin wanted to eat at a burger joint or BBQ, but I stuck to my guns and got Italian. My argument was that he goes out to eat almost weekly with his coworkers, and it's usually burgers or BBQ. I go out to eat... never. (The fact that he goes out to eat so often without me is a sore point for me... but that's another story.) The minute we walked into the restaurant and I smelled the fresh bread, pasta, and spices, my muscles literally relaxed. It's amazing how the happy scent of carbs can affect me! Dinner was amazing. Fried motzerella, lobster ravioli, blackberry cream Italian soda, and some caramel, cinnamon, and ice cream covered bread pudding that I can't pronounce...wow. I think I just drooled a little typing that. We will definitely be doing that again as soon as I can arrange it.

Glenna had a sleepover at my brother and sister-in-law's house Saturday night with her cousin (who is 10.) She did pretty good, and Lizzy is already campaigning to do it again. I'm glad she enjoys her cousin. I was worried that my kids wouldn't really have close cousin relationships, since Lizzy is 8 years older than Glenna, and none of my brothers are anywhere close to starting families.

On Sunday we visited our old church. It was fun to see old friends, but hard at the same time. It gets more packed every time we go back, and we recognize fewer and fewer faces. We still love the music, the sermons, and the people we knew, but it's reassuring that we have found our home at Ottawa Bible.

I'm still not back into the swing of things around the house. Glenna's birthday party is at our house Saturday morning, meaning that about the time I have everything cleaned up, it'll get trashed again. Oh well. That's life, right?