Christmastime is Here

Since Christmas was almost upon us we mixed up some gingerbread dough, rolled it out and created gingerbread men. It's been a Christmas tradition since before I can remember and every year people (mostly Sarah) get more and more creative with their cookie designs.

Here's a shot of Andrew intensely rolling out his dough.

Damarise did a great job decorating her cookies. I think this heart of hers was one of my favourite cookies.

Christmas Eve came with a little bit of whiteness. Andrew ran out to enjoy it.

We celebrated Christmas as a family on Christmas Eve. Sarah got me one of my favourite Dr. Seuss books for Christmas and it came with a stuffed Dr. Seuss character. I love it!

Ian and Andrew got matching muscle shirts.

Christmas Day came and all of Dad's side of the family came to Grandma's to celebrate. Sarah and I were excited (regardless of Sarah's face).

Anna and I got to pass out all the Christmas gifts to everyone. We were just a wee bit excited about our job.

Dad, Mom and Dad's younger sister, Aunt Janiece. :)

Grandma and two of her grandsons.

Monday morning we woke to a white covered ground. It was lovely!

My Aunt Cynthia tried to teach us how to knit. One of my "dreams" has been to knit when I'm an elderly lady. And as I began to learn how to knit that dream sort of diminished. Knitting is a lot harder than it looks. But, my old RA, Stacey, visited last night and showed me a different way to knit that is a lot easier, so maybe knitting will become my new hobby... who knows.

Dad's siblings and mom.

They're such a great bunch!

Dad has three sisters and there are three girls in our family, so we got a sister(Aunts) with sisters (Nieces) picture.

The two brothers with the two brothers.

There were a ton of cameras snapping pictures. It was like standing in front of paparazzi.

All the cousins with our amazing Grandma.

On Wednesday we got to go up to the farm. It was a drizzly, foggy day, but we had a good time together as a family despite the weather.

There we have it. An update of what has been happening over Christmas break. Hopefully this will not be the last. Because there is more fun to come.

"I'll be home for Christmas"

As I sat in the Atlanta airport on a rainy Thursday morning waiting for my connecting flight, "I'll be Home for Christmas" played throughout the terminal. Ah, the words rang true for me right then. On my way home for Christmas. What a wonderful feeling.

Fall semester 2010 is over. I am now half way through my sophomore year, which is a little hard to believe sometimes. Looking back through this semester I'm just filled with thanks. It started off a little rough with me trying to adjust to changes in the atmosphere and a fuller class schedule. But, through it all God was and still is faithful. Oh, how wonderful it is to be able trust God knowing that He is an unchanging God who always keeps His promises.

Right now I am home (wherever home may be). The semester is behind me and I'm here with the family. It is wonderful. This period of rest will be much appreciated. I got all my grades back today and am thanking God once more for helping me maintain all my scholarships. With those grades in hand I can now really rest and enjoy my break knowing that that semester is done and gone. Ah.

In other news, these verses have been read the past two Sundays in different churches and I just think they are amazing.

Matthew 2:9-11,"After hearing the king, they went their way; and the star, which they had seen in the east, went on before them until it came and stood over the place where the Child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. After coming into the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell to the ground and worshiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh."

I love the last part of verse 10, "they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy." Wow! Talk about super rejoicing. It's like Matthew just couldn't describe the wise men's reaction any other way. They saw just the star that marked where the King was and they rejoiced. Not just a simple, "Yeah. After all this traveling we're finally here." No, they were almost overly excited. They knew that this King was greater than any other King, or person for that matter. And so they rejoiced exceedingly (greatly) with great joy! They rejoiced that much just for seeing the star! Imagine how they reacted when they saw Jesus, the King! Verse 11 says, they fell to the ground and worshipped Him. These kings, or wise men, who came far from the east, fell to the ground to worship the King of kings! They gave Him extravagant gifts and worshipped Him with probably even more joy than when they had simply seen the star.

Reading those few verses is a good reminder of how awesome it is that Jesus Christ came to earth. How awesome it is that the King of all kings came to earth to be born as a baby and then to suffer and die to cleanse us from our sin and to bring us back into a right relationship with God. Oh! The wise men were right to rejoice exceedingly with great joy! And I pray that during this Christmas season, and even throughout every day, that I too would follow the wise men in rejoicing in what God has done, and not a simple rejoicing, but rejoicing exceedingly with great joy.

Well, this post ended up longer than I thought it would, so I should close until next time, which shouldn't be too long seeing as no finals will be getting in the way. (Yea!)

Christmas Eve and Other Things..

Once again I have slacked off on my blog. I feel like I need a really good excuse for not writing on here as often. Hmmm... well, how about it's because I write so many papers and whatnot in college that when I finally think about writing on my blog I have no desire to write. Yah, I'll keep thinking of a better excuse :) Until then, I'm here once again, blogging about random things going on in my life.

Damarise and I are back home for Christmas Break. It is SO nice to be back with the family. Having Skype and Facebook definitely keeps us connected more than anything, but it's nice to be face to face with them all again :) I love my family! To get back home, Damarise and I flew! :D I love flying, I've probably said that several times on this blog, but it is SO true! Flying is just so exciting and fun :) One thing I had never done though was fly during the Christmas season. Damarise and I flew out on the 17th and the airport was all christmasy in the decor and the music wasn't annoying airport music (which I really do not like) but Christmas carols. My favourite was sitting in the airport waiting for our flight and hearing, "I'll be home for Christmas" playing in the airport. Aw, for the first time it was true :) It was so cool :)

This is an old family pic from hmmm I think nine christmases ago...

We decided to mimic our own picture :) Yah, I LOVE my family!

The day after we arrived home I was whisked off to the orthodontist and since that day my mouth has never felt the same. I first got rubber spacers in between my teeth and then yesterday I got braces, and expander and metal spacers in between my teeth. I know in the end it'll be worth it, but right now my mouth is screaming at me. :P And all my words are slurred which is driving me insane. Oh well, Sarah told me my mouth would reshape itself and soon I'd be talking normal again. I hope so! :)

Now Sarah and I match :D

Today is Christmas Eve and it's cold and should be white soon :) Oh, what a change from Mozambique where right now I would be sweating my eyeballs out. (Not literally). Tonight's the night before we celebrate Jesus Christ's birth. I've been listening to this song by Selah recently and I thought I'd post the lyrics on here. They're a good reminder of just how great Jesus' coming to earth as a baby truly was and how hard it is to comprehend that.

Mystery

Selah

A child was born on Christmas Day

Born to save the world

But long before the world began

He knew His death was sure

The pain and strife secured

Mystery, how He came

To be a man

But greater still

How His death was in His plan

God predestined that His Son would die

And He still created man

Oh, what love is this

That His death was in His hands

The Christmas trees

They glow so bright

With presents all around

But Christmas brought

A tree of life

With blood that sacrificed

The greatest gift in life

Mystery, how He came
To be a man
But greater still
How His death was in His plan
God predestined that His Son would die
And He still created man
Oh, what love is this
That His death was in His hands

I am just a man and

Can't begin to comprehend

When You look into this traitor's eyes

What do You see that justifies the Lamb

God predestined that His

Son would die

And He still created man

Oh, what love is this

That His death was in His plan

Mystery, mystery.