"Let It Snow, Baby. Let It Reindeer"

Jenn has been doing most of the blogging lately, but I've got to get this one off my chest.

It's amazing how things hit you sometimes. All Christmas (sorry Holiday) Season, we've been so busy with a hundred different things that it really hasn't felt like Christmas. Sure, we got the tree up and the lights on the house, but that feeling in your gut that accompanies this time of year just wasn't really there.

This morning, I was driving home from running some errands and a song came on the radio by a christian group named "Relient K". Now, when you hear most of their music it wouldn't strike you as something that carries a heavy message, but I've always had a special place in my heart for the lyrics written by Relient K. In their Christmas album, titled "Let It Snow, Baby. Let It Reindeer" they have a song called "I Celebrate The Day". HERE is a link to the song and the lyrics are written below.

And with this Christmas wish is missed

The point I could convey

If only I could find the words to say to let You know how much You've touched my life

Because here is where You're finding me, in the exact same place as New Year's eve

And from a lack of my persistency

We're less than half as close as I want to be

And the first time

That You opened Your eyes did You realize that You would be my Savior

And the first breath that left Your lips

Did You know that it would change this world forever

And so this Christmas I'll compare the things I felt in prior years

To what this midnight made so clear

That You have come to meet me here

To look back and think that

This baby would one day save me

In the hope that what You did

That you were born so I might live

To look back and think that

This baby would one day save me

And I, I celebrate the day

That You were born to die

So I could one day pray for You to save my life

This has been a really hard year for our family. My job has been somewhat unstable, I haven't worked a 40 hour week in months. To say we've been tight financially is a gross understatement. It is so easy to get bogged down and bitter about everything we've been going through. Yet, hearing this song made me remember my little girl. She's a little more than a year old now and I was thinking back to last Christmas when I felt like we were very special, getting to have this little baby around the time that we celebrate Mary giving birth to The Savior of The World, like we were in some special club or something. Even though things have been hard, our health has been fine. We haven't lost anything or anyone, we just have had to get a little tighter.

Madalyn is sick today and we are taking her to the doctor later this afternoon and then will be heading out for our annual Christmas traveling. And I realized, this is really the first time she's ever been really sick. Like fever, can't sleep kind of sick. First time ever. I can't even begin to tell you how fortunate that makes me feel.

I love that little girl more than anything I've ever done or seen or been in my entire life. Which makes me love our God even that much more. I'm very sorry to all of you, but if I had to let my daughter die in your place, you'd all be screwed. Because I don't have that kind of love for you. But God does. He loved you so much that He allowed his ONLY SON to come down and be ridiculed, beaten, abandoned, and killed - all for people who at the very least are indifferent towards Him. Think about your own children - would you give them up to save someone like that?

In this Christmas Season, you've been told it's about Santa, it's about presents, it's about Baby Jesus. But, this year, what if it was about you? What if Christmas wasn't a season to celebrate the Jesus that we only talk to on Sundays and the occasional Wednesday? Like the song says, "From the lack of my persistency, we're less than half as close as I want to be". This Christmas, think of the sacrifice it would take for you to make the same choice that God made and realize the abundance of His love for us.

A God that will protect me at any cost, even the death of His own Son? Now, that's a God I can get behind.

Merry Christmas everyone!

First Birthday Party Fun

I am so behind on updating this blog that I'm going to have to catch it up in shifts...this time I will write about Mady's birthday party and later I will write about her actual birthday and Thanksgiving. BUT FIRST...her party.

Here's the thing...I'm kind of a closet snob. I want my kid to have the best clothes, the cutest shoes and, apparently, the best party. I wanted it to be one of those picture perfect nights where everyone came and had the best time ever. I guess I want Mady to have 'super childhood'. To accomplish this goal, I booked Mady's party at Gymboree. If you've never been there, its pretty cool. Its a whole play area made out of squooshy toys and climbing things...all for kids. When you book a party with them, they provide everything except food and invitations. There is even a person that comes to lead the party-goers in games and other fun activities. Its great! You get the most out of the party with the least amount of preparation.

So, I got off early on Friday (I work on Fridays while Michael stays home) and went to get the cookies. I love these cookies. I got them from my favorite bakery in OKC. I ordered pink and blue flowers (they matched the invitations) and they turned out perfectly! While I was there, I also bought a cupcake. It was too cute and I wanted to have something to put Mady's candle in. I can't explain why, but I almost cried when I saw the cookies and the cupcake. I can't believe Mady is a year old!!! It seems like I just blinked and she turned from a little baby who grunted like a pirate into a toddler that can point to her nose and dances like a pro. Too crazy.

When I got home, Michael and Mady were playing in the living room. While I was going to check the mail, I heard a thud and then a scream. Mady had crawled up to the window to see me and as she was reaching for the window sill, she missed it with her hands and hit it with her head. It was horrible! She had two large red spots that surrounded the place where the sill hit. Of course she would get a huge bruise on her HEAD the day of her party. I'm so glad she had enough hair to cover it up! We got Mady ready and off we went. It was perfect, Mady fell asleep on the way so she would be perfectly refreshed for the party...right?!

We went to pick up the balloons. I ordered one for every kid and and a silver 1 that was taller than Mady. As I'm trying to shove this HUGE bouquet of balloons into the car, Mady wakes up and is totally freaked out by the large shiny objects that were seemingly attacking her. She immediately started crying. Can you imagine waking up to 20 balloons in your face...it was all she could see! It would be so frightening. By the time we got to the party place, she was a little leery of this whole party idea. I don't think that she fully recovered from the balloon attack. She was in an okay mood, but she wasn't her normal perky self.

The party went well. I think everyone had a good time. Mady liked seeing everyone and some of the games she really got into. She loved bubble time but HATED the parachute. She also loved the cupcake. She really dug into it. I finally took it away when she was about to put a very large blob of icing in her mouth. The thought disgusted me so I took the rest of the cupcake away immediately.

I think her party was a success. Now, I'm worried about how we're going to top it next year.