It's not about the presents

I was just thinking about Ebeneezer Scrooge...he was convicted of not CELEBRATING Christmas, there are plenty of "Scrooges" out there who give TONS of gifts, but aren't celebrating Christmas.  Are you one of them?

Merry Christmas

Empty under the tree? No worries!

“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago),” (Luke 1:68-70)

Not quite 200,000...rats, anyway!

I believe we have officially driven a car into the ground. Our mechanic is still going to look things over tomorrow for an official verdict, but he's already indicated it doesn't look good for the old beater van.  Just what we don't exactly need on top of an already tenuous financial situation...yay. And our camera "crapped out" on us over the weekend, no more photos, thank you very much. Oh well, we can live without photos. But living with only one vehicle might prove to be too much for us this time around...in the middle of a school year, with a busy teen needing to drive some mornings, and parents who live just a little too far from work to make walking truly feasible, especially in the dead of winter.

I know God's got this, so I'll wait to see where He's gonna take it, but I won't pretend that waiting will be easy.

December

We are in the throes of a busy December. State Drill Team & Dance Competition was last weekend in Des Moines.  I went down with Hannah, where her team took 2nd place for their novelty routine choreographed to "Newsies."  The other two routines took Division I ratings, but no placings. Over all they did awesome, and the weather cooperated, so it was a relaxing weekend get-a-way.

In spite of the fact that there are no wrapped gifts under our Christmas tree, I have to say I'm enjoying the holiday season.  We have "plans" for gifting, but can't do anything about them just yet. Hopefully our plan will carry through like we're hoping.

It's hard to not get caught up in the gimme stuff with all the commercials suggesting that I need diamonds from Mark, that the kids need me to shop at the A-1 stores for their gifts that cost exhorbitant prices, but I'm managing to keep my greed in check.  I'm truly thankful for all my blessings...my friends, my husband, my children, my extended family... .

So keep the real thing the focus of your season. Forget gifts, no one really needs them anyway, give your money to a charity if you have to give something. Give it in someone else's name... Let your generosity matter.

When I was young, my "What I am Thankful for" list went something like this:

Jesus

Mom & Dad

Warm clothes

Ice cream

Uncles(?)

Friends

my brother ... in about that order!

Now that I'm older, the list has shifted to this:

Jesus

Family

Friends

Supplied needs

What does your list look like this year?

How am I? Ok...

If you see me in person, and go with the usual "Hi, how are you?" my answer will likely be. "I'm okay." I usually use some sort of intonation that means that there is deeper meaning to my answer if you really want it.  The deeper meaning is that my present circumstances are not ideal, but my future is secure. Bottom line, it IS well with my soul.  My life isn't peaches & roses, those of you who really know me know that. But Mark &I carry on. Yep, a lot of the time we get bogged down in the details and do a lot of worrying about how the ends will come together, or how far apart they will be this month, but when it's all said &done, that part won't matter. When it's all said and done, I'm in His grip.

Not sure who authorized it to be November already

Isn't it true? Hasn't this year simply blown by? I work for a newspaper, and just yesterday the editor said, "You know, we only have 8 issues left for this year..." (it's a weekly). Wow. I can remember thinking--not that long ago--"June already? I wasn't done with April yet!" And now, here's November!  It doesn't seem like November though.  Not all the crops are out of the fields yet, since our area had such a wet October.  Usually November signals the "hunker down, fix it up" time for farmers, but this year, they're still hard at it in the fields, frantically trying to get the harvest in before the snowfall.

Which has me thinking, what am I doing to get THE harvest in? Especially when I do not know the day nor the hour when THE Harvester is coming? Life is whipping by, but eternity is just getting started, what are you doing to be prepared?