Christmas ~ The Year of Our Lord 2017

Hello everyone and happy 2nd Day of Christmas!

I feel like it's a different sort of Christmas here this year. Different than expected anyhow. Usually I focus intensely during Advent -- on Christ's coming, on God's heart for His people, on the darkness of the world and the piercing glory of God's tangible, solid, absolute goodness -- but this year I've been a bit distracted, mentally and emotionally. (Also, I've been realizing each year will just be different.. and that's perfectly okay.)

Today, I got Baby loaded in the car and out of the house and into town for a dentist appointment... only to find a sign on the door saying "Will Be Back Tomorrow" (serious Winnie-the-Pooh moment). Pulling out my phone I found, sure enough, that the appointment's for tomorrow. (I guess the upside is that we were definitely early/on time -- talk about Mommy brain. ;P)

So! I have a house that needs to be tidied and loads of laundry to do at home, but (since we drove one car today) Baby and I are now at Daddy's shop, and I'm focusing on the particular blessings around me: sitting still and enjoying the sparkly lights on the office tree, and the incredible warm snuggly baby sleeping hard on top of me, and thankful for comfortable new winter shoes and exciting packages(!) and door delivered pizza (nothing gourmet, but very welcome warm food for the hungry) and for 10 more days of Christmas to look forward to.

When starting this post I looked up the word 'reality' and synonyms include 'absoluteness', 'brass tacks', 'certainty', 'concreteness', 'solidity', 'truth', and this little fascinating fact: in the 1550's, before the spelling differentiation, it was the same spelling for the legal term of 'fixed property', which leads to a rather amazing analogy.

No matter how scatterbrained I am, or how much I do or don't feel emotionally in sync with events at a given time, I am His fixed possession. My husband is His... This wonderful baby girl He's given into our keeping is His...

Christ, the Great Second Person of the Trinity, chose to become a weak, helpless baby: a real baby who cried for His mother's milk, who needed His linen changed, and His small heavy head held securely till His neck strengthened and He learned how to hold it on His own. A real baby who would learn to smile and coo at His mother's face. He became a baby that He might grow to a real man, a warrior -- lauded at times and at the last despised -- who would give Himself over to Death itself, fighting the Great Dragon in a bloody battle for the souls of His people and taking the captives free.

"For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:38-39

And that's what I'm going to be working on meditating on this year. :)

Merry Christmas!!!

Baby!!! (And a few other important notes...)

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I have no idea how long it's been since I was last here (no wait, let me see... it was Natalie's birthday, so that makes it almost a full four months!), but I wanted to pop on quickly and let you all know our beautiful baby girl arrived safely! I have yet to decide how many details I'll be sharing on the blog, but she's healthy and happy and every ounce of her is pure sweetness. <3 <3 <3 We're so thankful for God's goodness!

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Now I'm curled on the couch with Baby on top of me and my laptop balanced on my knee. A blissful existence really. ;) I have all sorts of exciting goals before Christmas, but one of them is to finish up the Adventure of Reading Challenge, including the wrap-up posts, etc., so you can be watching out for that (very hopefully).

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Speaking of Christmas, I'm getting rather crazy excited this year. I can't wait for the lights and fresh tree needles and decorating my house and hot mulled cider and mailing all my parcels... the list goes on. I thought of a good Christmas blog post this morning too, so I'm hoping that develops as beautifully as the initial flash of inspiration.

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Finally, I can't remember where I first ran across this, but finding it on my computer this afternoon gave me the final nudge to draft this post (and also made me realize again how much I need to read Orthodoxy):

“Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, "Do it again"; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again" to the sun; and every evening, "Do it again" to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.”
---G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

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I hope you're all having a lovely Wednesday! What do you think of the Chesterton quote?

On A Most Important Birthday Occasion

Soooo..... today was the birthday of a Certain Wonderful Young Lady we all know.

A Story Lover. She's diligent and sweet and funny and loyal and thoughtful and encouraging. She loves her Savior with her whole being. And I am so very blessed and honored to have her as my sweet and faithful friend!

Happy birthday Natalie!!! :)

May our good God continue to bless you most richly in this next year, and I look forward to many more years of friendship and adventures (including emails and blog posts and Instagram messages and maybe even seeing each other again! ;)).

"I shot an arrow into the air,

 It fell to earth, I knew not where;

For, so swiftly it flew, the sight

Could not follow it in its flight.

I breathed a song into the air,

It fell to earth, I knew not where;

For who has sight so keen and strong,

That it can follow the flight of song?

Long, long afterward, in an oak

I found the arrow, still unbroke;

And the song, from beginning to end,

I found again in the heart of a friend."

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The happiest of happy birthdays to you dear friend!!