I love Christmastime! This fall has seemed a bit more fast-paced than ever, but life is so good. I have been working on some handmade Christmas gifts, and I'm enjoying thinking about and praying for the recipients as I'm working - sustained, quiet time is a great way to sit and enjoy the season. An added bonus is that I have mostly avoided the stores!



I just love this ornament (Will and I are both youngest children)...I think I may have posted this on a previous Christmas blog, but my mom got all of us one of these a few years ago (Cindy's says "Oldest Child, Mom's Favorite," Brian and Alicia's both say "Middle Child, Mom's Favorite). So cute.

Here's hoping your days are merry and bright.

I have a beautiful, sweet niece (well, three of them, actually - but two are teenagers, and have long since reached all of the cute milestones) and I am so excited to spend some time with her over the holidays. Usually we do so much here, there, and everywhere that we don't get to spend much time with both of our families. This will be the first year since we've been married that we will both get to see both families, and I'm so excited. Leave is hard to come by this time of year for Will, and it's not the dates he would have chosen, but leave is leave and we'll take it! Next year he will be deployed over Christmas, so it's especially nice to get to spend a bit of time with both sides this year.

So, onto my niece! Just this past weekend she has started saying "Aunt Amy" and "Uncle Wee Wee." And she says our names with great enthusiasm. And she wakes up wanting her mom to "Call Aunt Amy? Peas?" And my heart melts into a puddle on the floor. The last time Will saw her (February) she was not walking or talking. She was not even a year old! I was able to see her over the summer, but gosh, they change so fast, huh? I am just so excited I can hardly stand it. I can't wait to see her silly antics and hear her sweet voice in person, and for Will to get to be there, too! There's something so precious to me to see my husband play and laugh and enjoy our friend's/family's babies and kids. This year we'll spend some special time with our niece, and in the back of my mind I'll be thinking about what it will be like next year with a baby boy in the house - my first nephew. Crazy.

And this brings me full circle to ask a special favor of you - I have a beautiful, passionate, faithful sister-in-law who would love nothing more than to have a niece or nephew for us to love on (well, that may not be the top reason) and won't you join me in praying her through this season as she and her husband wait? I believe that their situation is purposeful (I have to believe that it is, because the alternative goes against the very nature of our God) - and nearly every time I open up my Bible, scripture speaks to me of purpose, of the personality of God, and of the faithfulness between God and His people. And I think of Charla and Rich. In a Bible study I attended this semester, we studied the I AMs. Christ declaring his nature, His person - God and man, to us. As we studied "I AM the light of the world," I could not stop thinking of the parallel between the blind man in John 9, and my sister-in-law...bear with me, here:

¹As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth.
²And His disciples asked Him, " Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?"
³Jesus answered, "It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.
⁴"We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work.
⁵"While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world."
⁶When He had said this, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes,
⁷and said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which is translated, Sent) So he went away and washed, and came back seeing.

So here's how I see it - the appointments, meds, procedures, and waiting are the process and path that God has set them on. And they seem just as foreign, strenuous, and like jumping through hoops, as putting mud made from spit on his eyes and walking to the pool of Siloam (rather than the numerous, closer water sources) seemed to the blind man. In the end the man could see and his story was a testament to the living God. There were steps to take, a very specific path to follow, and the man had no idea if he would wash off the mud and open his eyes to see. But he walked the path and followed the instructions to cure his blindness - an affliction that was not a result of sin but an opportunity given to this man that the works of God might be displayed in him.

Charla and Richard are walking to Siloam with mud on their eyes. They can't see what's going to happen when they reach the pool and wash it away. They don't know if the answer that lies before them will be in the form of a baby blessed to them through conception, through adoption...they simply don't know. But they are walking faithfully, without sight, according to the directions they have found in scripture to be faithful servants of the living God. And we are all so blessed to be privy to this testament of God's faithfulness to us - to sustain His people, to provide hope, to provide light. Let's pray for their plight, their long journey to the pool, and remember that they will be passing by many, many paths that are closer, but outside of His will for their lives. And they will be passing by people who already have sight, and will question why they are following this path, this God. And most painful of all (in my estimation) will be how many people they will pass who have been through this journey, but already have their answer, their baby. So, let's pray.

If you're so led, please leave a comment (here or on Charla's blog) about the works of God you've seen or experienced because of their story. I sent her an email this morning with a few of mine, including how this story has opened the door of friendship and fellowship with a gal at my school who walked a similar path. Knowing I have someone at work who is praying for me and for the kids we see everyday has greatly changed my perspective about work. And that's just the beginning...

Homemade.

I made rolls for the first time on Thanksgiving. They turned out beautifully, were fairly easy, and were definitely a whole lot tastier than store bought (and I love Rhode's). I used another recipe from my Love Soup cookbook by Anna Thomas, which has fast become a standby in our home!