I know a lot of people may read this title and think I’m nuts. That’s okay. People who know me in real life think that, too. But I LOVE Christmas.  I am not one of those people who gets in a tizzy during the Christmas season and wants to “just get it over with”. I don’t just mean that I love the trees and decorations. I do love those. It’s not even just the songs. I listen to Christmas songs year-round. So that is not the deciding factor in why I do not Christmas to be over.  Why do I not want Christmas to be over? Because during the months of November and December people do things that they don’t do the rest of the year. Churches make food drives. Stores host toy drives. Civic groups take donations to help the poor. Poor, hungry people are around us year-round. Yet, the rest of us seem to care more around Christmas and Thanksgiving.  Our church youth recently took some meals and small gifts to some elderly people in our community. They have agreed to start doing it once a month. Mark is only off two weekends per month. Now, one of those precious Saturdays each month is going to be spent cooking and hosting teenagers. That would be something to complain about, but I have seen how some of these people live and it is heartbreaking. One lady we took food to has no heat. Her house looks like a moderate wind would knock it down. I found out she does not have a stove in her house. Can you imagine living in those conditions? A couple that we delivered food to lives at the top of a verrrry steep driveway.We could not get the church van up the driveway so we parked in the road and walked.  There are about 100 dogs in their yard and the one across the street. (and we were carrying plates of chicken)When the man opened the door for us to give him the food, his pants were wet. I am not sure if he had spilled something on himself, or not.It was very sad.

I know that I have spent a lot of time rambling. I feel a sort of restlessness. I want to do more. I want to be able to help people.  There are so many situations that I know of where people are hurting or worried about the future. There are people who have health issues and are suffering.  There is so much that needs doing. Sometimes I wonder if anything I do matters. I am only one person. I can only do so much. But… I can do something. That is better than doing nothing.

^{Galatians 6:9-10    9}Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.

¹⁰So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.

but I am glad that this guy is being put to death rather kept alive in prison for 50 or more years.  He beat his girlfriend’s precious five year old child to death three years ago this month. I remember it vividly. His mother reported a car stolen from a gas station in the town where I lived. She said that her child was asleep in the backseat when she went in the station. He went to a different school, but he and Benjamin were in the same grade. Kindergarten. His picture was all over the news for the next several days. His body was found in the trunk of his mother’s car. It was heart-wrenching to hear about that happening to a child. It was even more heart wrenching to find out the details. He was beautiful. His pictures showed a big, happy smile and sweet, innocent eyes.  His pictures and his life were apparently two different things. His mother had this horrible boyfriend. Her defense in not protecting her child was that she was afraid of the boyfriend.  “I was afraid he would hurt me, so I sat by and let him kill my child. Then I went along with the staging of a phony kidnapping to protect my crazy, evil boyfriend.” Some mother, huh? If you are a single mother, please listen to me. Do not make the same mistake as this lady. She might have at one time or another been a good mom.  She might have been a nice person. But she put her child in harm’s way. She thought protecting her boyfriend was more important than protecting her child. If you have children, you need to think about them and how your decisions are going to affect them.  Just because a man says that he will take care of you does not mean he will. Before entering into a realtionship with someone, you need to know that he is a good influence to have around your children. Ask yourself some questions like:Does he do things or try to get me to do things that I would not want my children to do/see? Does he cause me to ignore my children and/or their needs? Has he ever expressed that he does not like children? Have I ever seen him looking at or touching my child inappropriately? This is not an all-inclusive list. But it is a starting point. I have seen so many  mothers in real life and on the news that value having a man over taking care of their children that it makes me sick. Sometimes I just want to shake people. I understand that raising a child alone is tough. I think it would be much tougher to find yourself faced with child abuse/neglect/endangerment charges….or worse.

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I really try not to complain. To be honest, my life is wonderful. I have a wonderful husband, three wonderful children, a roof over my head, food in my fridge etc….etc…etc… I could go on for days about the blessings I have. But sometimes I let things get me down. Right now Mark is at the doctor’s office for the second time this week. The first time the doctor said his chest sounds like he has pneumonia. I guess this time he’ll find out yes or no. Nathaniel has had a stomach ache for 13 straight days. He has started taking Zantac (again). It has not eased his stomach, but has started giving him headaches. Lovely, huh? Benjamin has had to re-start his sinus rinse. He has been getting up in the mornings with a stuffed up nose and sore throat.

So, I have been caring for sick folks and trying to occupy Samuel so he does not pester his brothers too much when they are feeling bad. Right now he is spending two nights with Gran and Aunt Amanda so he can go to the Oneonta and Altoona Christmas parades. He is having a ball playing with Anna Claire. That has been such a help to me. I am able to clean everything withing bumping him in the head. I HATE germs!!!

A few minutes ago, I heard a voice from the sky say “This is only a test.” Even though I knew what it really was (the county testing the weather siren) it made me smile. It was like I was receiving an audible message from God. This….this time of sicknesses…this time of seeing so many others who are going through things much worse than taking care of sick families… it will pass. It is a test. Tests are not fun. But that does not make them bad. Sometimes the thing that must be done is not easy or fun. 1 Peter 6-8:

⁶In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials,

⁷so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

⁸and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,

The tests that the early church went through were much worse than just having to take care of people they love. Yet, they were told to rejoice in their trials.  How we respond to our tests or trails is what is important. It would be ridiculous if I sat around whining about how rough I have it when they are so many hurting, tired and suffering people around me. Like my mother in law who is going to have to have surgery Monday. She has been battling pain for I don’t even know how long. I hope and pray this surgery gives her relief. Or the man Mark used to work with who recently lost his wife. Or the lady we used to go to church with who recently lost her husband. Or the precious couple who recently lost their first-born child. Losing a loved on is never easy. You can tell yourself over and over that they are in a better place. You can tell yourself they are no longer suffering. That doesn’t make it easier to go on without them. So I want to thank God, that even though things might not feel peachy-keen and rosy right now, this will pass. This is only a test. The times where people are cruel is only a test. The times money seems to run out before the bills run out is only a test. The fairly new washing machine leaking sporadically is only a test. How I respond to these tests determines my grade.1 Corinthians 3:12-14

¹²Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,

¹³each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work.

¹⁴If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward.

I love Christmas! It is the one time where people are a little more likely to be caring about others. It is the time when we can talk about Jesus, for the most part, without people getting mad.  (yes I know the ACLU would like for us not to mention Jesus, but normal people don’t usually mind)

As a family we try to focus on  worship, being together, doing things for those less fortunate, and celebrating Jesus coming to pay for our sins. We have some traditions, both old and new that have become part of helping make this a special time of year. On the day after Thanksgiving, we skip all the big sales and stay home. That is when we put out our Christmas decorations and put the tree up.  I used to have this idea in my head of what a *perfect* tree should look like. Clear lights, all well coordinated ornaments, evenly spaced out. Something along the lines of this:Most of our nicer ornaments have gotten broken over the years. We have a tree full of glitter, popsicle sticks, craft foam, etc. And colored lights. The angel on top blinks. I do not like blinky lights. Either on or off, stay put!The funny thing is, the more we have this type of tree, the more I begin to think this is the most beautiful type of tree. I mean, on my * perfect* tree would there be any room for these?*

Another old tradition is our Christmas dishes. I got a set of Twelve Days of Christmas china when I was still a teenager. (not going to say how many Christmases ago THAT was!) The salad plates each depict a different “day” of Christmas. The boys eat off the plate with the number of their age on it. This year we have Samuel with “Six Geese a Laying”, Benjamin with “Nine Ladies Dancing” and Nathaniel with “Twelve Drummers Drumming”On a bit of a nostalgic note, this is Nathaniel’s last year to have a special plate.

We also do a LOT of cooking during the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas. So far my kitchen helpers have helped me make:

Christmas Tree Cake

Snowman Cake

Peppermint Patties

Potato Candy

We usually make chocolate (and white chocolate) covered pretzel rods, divinity, and Rudolph cookies.

Some of the newer traditions we have are more meaningful. Last year we did our very first Jesse Tree.  We made some elaborate ornaments. Some of which are on our huge tree in the living room. The time-consuming ornaments are great when Mark is not working. They are not so bad when he is working day shift. But on the days where he works night shift, it is not much fun. Some days it felt more like a chore than a blessing. So this year we have toned it down and are coloring paper ornaments we got from here. So this year is much more laid back.

Something that is very exciting is our newest tradition. We are doing an Advent Calendar. I saw this last year on Annemarie’s blog. The cups are big enough to hold three pieces of candy. So each boy gets a piece every day. We have Reese’s Cups in some of them and they are holding up just fine. There is a little lesson to go along with each day’s cup. You take the candy out and put something else back in its place. On the first day we put back a quarter to remind us we have 25 days to celebrate His birth. Today we put back a grape Laffy Taffy. (grapes can be used to make wine, but Jesus did not need grapes to perform His first miracle.) Tomorrow we will put in a smiley face. Or a heart, I can’t remember. Anyway, the boys look forward to candy each day and to see what they get to put back and what it has to do with the Christmas story.  Traditions are wonderful way to make memories with the ones you love. Hope you and yours share lots of love during this season.

* top to bottom: A Christmas tree Mark made in Kindergarten, Benjamin in first grade, Nathaniel in second grade, Samuel’s lion and scepter, Samuel dressed as a Care Bear wrapped in a box, 2006, a Santa I made in second grade

I will praise the name of God with a song;
I will magnify him with thanksgiving.

Psalm 69:30

Thanksgiving seems to be a forgotten holiday in our country. If you go in a store the day after Halloween, you see Christmas decor shining everywhere.  We go straight from telling our kids to beg for candy, to telling them to beg for toys.  We have somewhere along the way slipped away from teaching our children to be thankful for the things that God has blessed them with. One tradition that we have at our house is that no Christmas decorations go up before Thanksgiving. Nothing, Nada. The boys were given a new ornament by my mother recently. We brought it home and put it in the homeschool closet. Not that we were ungrateful, we just don’t to take away from Thanksgiving by already focusing on Christmas. Every year my in-laws come to Thanksgiving dinner at our house. It gives the boys a special day with Grandmama and Granddaddy.  One other thing that we do is to make construction paper leaves that we write things that we are thankful for. During lunch we go around the table reading our leaves to each other. It is a nice way to get everyone involved with saying outloud what they feel thankful for. The boys are thankful that they are out of school for the entire week. They are thankful that they are getting a meal that is special. Speaking of meals here is our menu:

Turkey

Dressing

Charoset**

Corn on the Cob

Mashed Potatoes

Green beans

Sweet Potato/ Apple Casserole

Mac and Cheese

Yeast Rolls

Yellow Cake w/ Chocolate Frosting

Baklava

Sugar Cookies

Feel free to share any ways that your family makes Thanksgiving a day to truly be thankful and not just a day of gorging on a big meal.

** since this is not a common Thanksgiving food, I’ll give an explanation. It is traditionally a Passover food. It is a combination of apples, nuts, honey, cinnamon, and grape juice. We are having it instead of cranberry sauce this year.

Last year, Nathaniel wrote a letter to former President George W. Bush.  We never expected anything to come of it, seeing how he was getting ready to leave the White House and all. However, he got a letter back and a signed picture of W. in his cowboy hat!! How exciting!

Samuel decided he wanted to send a letter to President Obama. It was not quite as kind as the one Nathaniel sent to Bush. In case you are having trouble reading, it says”Hey!! Be a beter President, Obama!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  The big yellow blob at the bottom is a Post-it covering up our phone number!!! That’s all we need; to get put on the anti-President list with Fox News. And the White House to have not only our address, but our phone number, too.

For what it’s worth, this is better than the first one he wrote. The first one:

Dear Barak Obama,

My brothers hate you.

From, Samuel Gilliland.

I am not sure why my kids are so in to politics. I hope it wears off someday, before they decide to become politicians

Several years my mother gave the boys all the Random House Book of Poetry for Children for Christmas. It has been one of those gifts that has been used over and over. Benjamin especially loves it. Two of his favorites are written by the same person. Dorothy Aldis either is the female version of Benjamin or has a child just like him. If you do not believe me, read these poems:

Wasps

Wasps like coffee.

Syrup.

Tea.

Coca-Cola.

Butter.

Me.

My Nose

It doesn’t breathe;

It doesn’t smell;

It doesn’t feel So very well.

I am discouraged

With my nose:

The only thing it

Does is blows.

Benjamin’s assignment was to create a poem of all verbs. He decided to write one about school.

School

Writing…………….reading……………………..listening…………….arguing……

………………….spanking……………………………sulking

(I promise not all days are like this! )

While we were riding in the car tonight Samuel declared that he does not to get married when he grows up. When asked why he did not want to get married he replied, “My legs would get tired from all that standing.”(Say whhhaaat????) Mark asked him to elaborate. He said that the last wedding we went to “they had to stand up for like two whole hours!” Hmmm…. so he does not want to get married because he would have to stand up during the ceremony.

Mark asked, “Who would cook for you?” To which Samuel responded, “I will cook for myself.”

Then Mark asked who would give him back scratches. “I can use a flyswatter.”

To which Mark said, “Who would rub your shoulders after a long day at work?” Without missing a beat he said, “I’ll get a monkey and teach it to rub my shoulders. A space monkey from NASA.” (where does he come up with this stuff???)

Mark said, “What about when you are sick? Who will take care of you?” Samuel said he can call 911.

“Don’t you want to ever have a little boy of your own?” his daddy asked. “I can get a mannequin,” came the reply.

Nice to know has all his bases covered. After this conversation we sang this:

We made it to the line “That old massa was a gasser” Nathaniel said, “He was a gasser like you,” and pointed at Benjamin. At which point we all busted out laughing.  It was a fun ride home.

I work in Children’s Church on Sunday mornings. Overall, it is something I love. There are times where the kids are a handful, but it really makes me happy when they remember something from several weeks prior, or you can really see the lights come on when they learn something. The downside to being in Children’s Church is that I am not in the sanctuary on Sunday mornings hearing the sermon. Most of the time it does not bother me too badly, since I don’t know in advance what the sermon is on. However, Mark preached this past week, so I knew what the sermon was, and that it was going to be very good. I hated to have to miss it. I thought about asking someone else to cover Children’s Church, but I knew I could get the sermon outside of Sunday morning, whereas others could not. I am posting a few things from his sermon, because I think they are really good and would like to share them with the rest of the world that didn’t get to hear it.

He preached from Hebrews 12:1-2. He also read Hebrews 11. After reading the scripture he addressed the congregation.

Where are the young people like Abel, who desire to please God? Where are the men like Enoch, who walk with God instead of the world? Where are the believers like Noah, who will take a stand for God even if it means they will stand alone? Where are the senior adults like Abraham, who leave a life of comfort at the age of 75 to follow God’s instructions, not knowing where God will take them? Where are the believers like Abraham, who are looking for a city built by God instead of what the world has to offer? Where are the women like Sarah who finally begin to trust God to fulfill His promises? Where are the parents like Abraham, who offer up their children to the Lord, knowing that He knows what’s best for them? Where are the fathers like Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph who live and die trusting in God and teaching their children to do the same? Where are the believers like Moses, who choose to suffer persecution with God’s people instead of enjoying the passing pleasures of sin and who consider the reproach of Christ to be greater riches than the treasures of the world? Where are the women like Rahab, who is more concerned with serving God and caring for His people instead of living a life focused on herself like all the other women around her?

Where are believers like the apostles in Acts 5, who after being flogged for sharing the Gospel, rejoiced that they were considered worthy to suffer shame for Christ and kept right on teaching and preaching Christ? Where are the Christians like the believers in Acts 8, who after being put in prison and run off from their homes, kept preaching the Word wherever they went? Where are the believers like the apostles, who were willing to suffer persecution and death for the sake of Christ?

Where are the believers like Paul?  He was able to say, “Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches.”

Where are the believers like William Tyndale? He was sentenced to death for translating the New Testament into English. He was strangled to the point of death and then burned at a stake. As he was burning he cried out, “Lord! Open the king of England’s eyes!”

Where are the believers like Martin Luther? He was on trial for preaching salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. During his trial he was asked if he would recant the books he had written and the positions he had taken. Luther responded, “Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason, I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. May God help me. Amen.”

Where are the believers like Nicholas Ridley and Hugh Latimer? They were on trial for preaching the clear teachings of the Word of God. As they were being tied to the stake before they were burned to death, Latimer said, “Be of good cheer, Ridley, and play the man. We shall this day, by God’s grace, light up such a candle in England, as I trust will never be put out.”

Where are the believers like John Bunyan? They told John Bunyan to quit preaching, but he said ‑ I cannot quit preaching because God has called me to preach.  And they said ‑ If you preach we’ll put you in prison.  And so he said to himself ‑ If I go to prison who cares for my family? But how can I close my mouth when God has called me to preach? And so he committed his family to the care of God and was obedient to the call of God and preached, and they put him in prison.  And since then he’s blessed millions of families because it was there that he wrote Pilgrim’s Progress. Listen to what he said:  “The parting with my wife and poor children hath often been to me in this place, as the pulling of the flesh from my bones; and that not only because I am somewhat too fond of these great mercies, but also because I should have often brought to my mind the many hardships, miseries, and wants that my poor family was like to meet with, should I be taken from them, especially my poor blind child, who lay nearer my heart than all I have besides.  O the thought of the hardship I thought my blind one might go under, would break my heart to pieces…But yet, recalling myself, thought I, I must venture all with God, though it goeth to the quick to leave you; O I saw in this condition, I was a man who was pulling down his house upon the head of his wife and children; yet thought I, I must do it, I must do it.”

Where are the believers like Henry Martyn? He went to India and spent the rest of his life there.  Already in India he had done more than his share of missionary service when he announced that he was going to go to Persia because God had laid it upon his heart to translate the New Testament and the Psalms into the Persian language. By then he was an old man. They told him that if he stayed in India he would die because of the heat.  And then they told him that Persia was hotter than India.  But he went anyway. He studied the Persian language, then translated the entire New Testament and the Psalms in nine months.  And then he was told that he couldn’t print it or circulate it until he received the Shah’s permission.  So he traveled 800 miles to Tehran, and he was denied permission to see the Shah.  He turned around and made a 400 mile trip to find the British ambassador.  The ambassador gave him the proper kinds of papers and so forth and sent him back to the Shah.  And so he traveled another 400 miles…that makes l600 miles.  He rode this at night on the back of a mule, and rested during the daytime…protected only by a strip of canvas from the sweltering desert heat. He finally arrived and was received by the Shah who gave him permission for the Scriptures to be printed and circulated in Persia. Ten days later he died.  But shortly before he had written in his diary this statement:  “I sat and thought with sweet comfort and peace of my God.  In solitude my Companion, my Friend, and Comforter.” He didn’t live a life of ease, but it was a life worth remembering.

John Knox, on his knees for lost souls in the little country of Scotland pleaded with God and said, “Give me Scotland or I die.” Hudson Taylor as a young man looked across the thousands of miles to the unreached multitudes of China and cried out to God, “I feel that I cannot go on living unless I do something for the lost in China.” Henry Martyn after landing in India said, “Here I am in the midst of heathen, midnight and savage oppression, now my dear Lord let me burn out for Thee.”

Why does American Christianity look so different than Christianity in the New Testament and in Church History? Christianity from the New Testament and Church History is splattered with blood, sweat, and tears. American Christianity sounds more like this:

Luke 9:23 says, “And He was saying to them all, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.’”

Me? I go to church, the pastor preaches, I go home and watch television. That’s what Christians do now.

Matthew 28:19-20 says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Me? I go to church, the pastor preaches, I go home and play on the computer. That’s what Christians do now.

Luke 10:2 says, “And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Me? I go to church, the pastor preaches, I go home and play video games. That’s what Christians do now.

1 Peter 2:2 says, “Like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation.”

Me? I go to church, the pastor preaches, I go home and complain about how long the sermon was. That’s what Christians do now.

1 Thessalonians 5:17 says, “Pray without ceasing.”

Me? I go to church, the pastor preaches, I go home and talk on the phone and text message. That’s what Christians do now.

2 Timothy 3:12 says, “Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”

Me? I go to church, the pastor preaches, I go home and take a nap. That’s what Christians do now.

1 John 2:15 says, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”

Me? I go to church, the pastor preaches, I go home and act and talk just like the world. That’s what Christians do now.

James 1:27 says, “Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”

Me? I go to church, the pastor preaches, I go home and try to think of something to do so I won’t be bored. That’s what Christians do now.

James 1:22 says, “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.”

Me? I go to church, the pastor preaches, I go home and do nothing. That’s what Christians do now.