MY AUNT FOUND US A WII.  It was SUCH A BLAST to tell my kids about it.  They had moved on, which made me all the happier to tell them.  THANKS AUNT JO!

FAVORITE CHRISTMAS MOMENTS IN THE WORLD OF Q

 

1.  Performing the Christmas musical we took over a year to write.  I could go on an on about the obstacles and blessings involved in this over the past few weeks.  It deserves to sit at the number one spot.  It was such a God thing that it went off without a hitch,  that we were so personally blessed by the service, that it was a way to give to others, and that God's name was lifted high.

 

2.  Watching my kids be thankful for even the smallest things. This was a big answer to prayer.  There was no disappointed faces, no complaining, no jealousy over what other people got. (even when we told them about the Wii situation)  Another God thing.

 

3.  Babies, toddlers, and cousins in general.  They make Christmas so fun.  My girls love their cousins.  The little ones especially remind me of the simple joys that can be found in such a frenzied time of year.

 

4.  Opening my present from Bart.  He went to Von Maur in Omaha and got me a gift card.  It showed his tender heart for what happened in Omaha a few weeks ago,  his dedication to support the community, and his love for me. 

 

5.  My COMFYWONDERFUL slippers that the girls gave me.  HAPPY FEET...OH I GOTS ME SOME HAPPPPPY FEEEET

 

6.  ELF--the movie, AND THE AWESOME SOUNDTRACK.  That cd is the best Christmas music we own.  Seriously.  It's fabulous.

 

7.  Lefse  (Norwegian flat bread eaten with butter and sugar)

 

8.  Being with family.  Singing carols around the piano, playing games, eating great food, catching up, and laughing.

 

9.  The Christmas Open House we hosted for all of Bart's employees.  Two of my closest friends helped me (Keeli and Cathy rock!), and it ended up being way more fun than I thought it could be. 

 

10.  The realization that we are in a completely different place than we were last year.  God has seen us through a hard year.   I am very grateful.

 

11.  Bart's retirement from reffing.  It's been so wonderful to have him around during the winter months. 

 

13.  Hearing Jenna say to me:  "Mom, come here, I need your advice on something."  Yep, it's been a good week.  My daughter likes me, and isn't trying so hard to hide it lately! 

 

14.  The Planet Earth dvd set my aunt Jo gave us.  It makes me cry.  God is a genius.  (that's where I got the polyp thing from yesterday's blog)

 

15.  A deeper understanding of the sacrifice Jesus made for us in becoming a man.  God made flesh.  God's willingness to humble Himself humbles me.

 

16.  The weather this month is acting like winter.  It's been snowing buckets.  It's cold.  No 55 degrees on Christmas day business.  yay!

 

 

 

 

The Great Barrier Reef is made up of polyps.  It is a thousand miles long, can be seen from the moon, and is made up of tiny creatures.  

 

I think that's pretty cool.  The sum is greater than its parts.  Humble creatures, when joined together can form a breathtaking and unmatched thing.  God seems to work that way a lot.  It's genius. 

 

The church is set up that way.  When unified, we have a voice and a presence that cannot be rivaled.  God uses simple, limited people to accomplish great things for the glory of His name. Despite our selfishness, our attempts to divide ourselves, and our prideful need to be recognized apart from others, the power of the Cross holds us together.  We can take no credit.  It is God's doing. 

 

Once in a while, the beauty of unity in Christ astonishes me.  I want to pay more attention to it.   Yesterday and today, we came together as members of Christ's body to praise His name, to bless one another,  and to proclaim the wonder and truth of Christ's birth.  It was the best gift I got for Christmas. And, it is becoming one of my favorite things to offer Him.  It is one of the hardest and rarest things I could offer Him, because it takes humility and sacrifice.  My life is largely void of those two things.  By God's hand, may they increasingly pervade my character. 

 

 

 

Sarah had an orthodontist appointment this morning.  When I dropped her off at school afterwards, I went in to the office with her to get her signed in.  The school secretary looked at me, with a hopeful, (desperate) gleam in her eye, and asked...."Would you want to work lunch duty today?"

 

So, I'm back in action, folks.  I'm back in full kitchen haute coutre.  The hairnet has found its way back on to my head, and the plastic apron is gracing my Mrs. Potatohead figure.  The head lunch lady seemed delighted to see me.  She said..."I can't believe you're here!  I'm so glad you're back!  I'm putting you on hamburger pattie duty today so we can work next to each other.  I can't put you out in the hall on ketchup duty, I haven't seen you in so long!"

 

At this time last year, I was out in the hall on ketchup duty because I couldn't keep up.  And now, I've graduated to pattie duty.  Things are looking up for me, my friends. 

 

I must say though, after Sarah's next appointment, I'm dropping her off at the curb.

My kids want a Wii.  I was sort of relieved when they said they wanted a Wii.  That would have meant one big present and just a couple of stocking stuffers.   One present!  I was stoked that my shopping load would be cut down sizeably.

 

It's not just one present. 

 

It is THE present, apparently. 

 

I was at the skating rink with Sarah's class last week, and mentioned to a couple of moms there the very thing I stated above.  They laughed at me, and said...

 

"Good luck finding it...cackle cackle cackle...My husband drove 2 and 1/2 hours to get ours." 

 

"I got up at 4 am and stood in line for 4 hours waiting for mine." 

 

"I called all the stores and found out the days their trucks came in and showed up at six of them before I got mine."

 

Then they huddled up and continued comparing stories vivaciously, as I stood in the VortexOfShame-over-not-being-a-better-mother-and-starting-my-shopping-in-July-or-standing-in-line-the-day-after-Thanksgiving-for-8-gajillion-hours-and-knocking-down-anyone-who-threatened-my-chances-of-getting-my-precious-children-exactly-what-they-want-so-I-can-win-the-mother-of-the-year-award-or-in-the-case-of-one-of-the-above-mentioned-mothers--not-make-Santa-look-bad-by-having -him-bring-exactly-what's-on-her-child's-list-and-now-I-can't-figure-out-how-to-stop-this-sentence-so-I'll-just-type-VortexOfShame-again.

 

Bart took the day off, and we went Christmas shopping today.  We knocked the entire list out, baby.  Well, everything but the beloved, revered, worshipped, lauded, much treasured and boasted about Wii.  Bart started making jokes at about the fifth store we hit.  He walked into the next 6 stores saying:  "Uh, yeah, I'm here to pick up my Wii" and waited for the smirk on every sales person's face to show.  Of course I had to roll my eyes and walk away...but my husband can be really funny sometimes...shhh..don't tell him I said that.

 

So, after many hours and fruitless, but funny, searching, we decided to go to our kids' "plan b" list.   At Target, we stopped to ask a sales lady where the RoboPandas were.  The next few minutes were a surreal mini-version of what those ice skating moms must have gone through in November.  The saleslady whips out her walkie-talkie, summons the most powerful woman in the universe during Christmas...the Toy Inventory Specialist, and asks:  uh, does anyone know what a RoboPanda is, and if so, where do I find them?  Within seconds, The Maker of Dreams, the Godmother of Toys, the TIS answers excitedly...Aisle Blah Blah, and it's the last one!  WalkieTalkie Lady steps up the pace and leads us at breakneck speed around the corner to see the Almighty TIS standing in the middle of the aisle, holding, guarding, protecting, THE LAST ROBOPANDA.  She says:  "These things come in, and then they fly off the shelves as fast as they come.  You got the last one."  Her eyes gleaming, she releases the precious RoboPanda to our care, and we float down the aisle with the shining light of victory beaming from our triumphant faces.  We got Sarah's second choice.  We may possibly still make Parents of the Year.  RoboPanda has redeemed us.

 

But, I can guarantee you this: if a Wii miraculously makes its way under our tree, RoboPanda is out on his keister.

There is a lady in our church who will not go anywhere in her car that would require her to turn left.  She gave it up years ago, apparently.  Is she a die-hard conservative republican and is making a statement?  Was she left at the altar? Is she left-brained and left-handed and is just over compensating by favoring the right?  Did she make a huge amount of wrong decisions in her life and has pledged so spend the rest of it making "right" turns? 

 

This lady is a dear, dear woman, don't get me wrong.  She is one of our greatest prayer warriors in church.  As I try and make sense of her aversion to left turns, I don't think of her as strange or flawed. 

 

I just think of her as getting old. 

 

My speculation is that maybe she made a left turn sometime in the last few years, crossed traffic, and it was a stressful thing.  Maybe she had an accident.  Maybe she got honked at because she cut in front of someone.  Who knows?  It will be "left" a mystery, because I don't want to make her feel bad by asking why. 

 

What is it about aging that makes us more fearful?   We aren't as strong physically, I know.  We don't have as much energy.  But, given our mental soundness is still relatively intact, why do some people shy away from continuing to learn, grow, experience, and try new things?   Hopefully, we are wiser.  Hopefully we have a better perspective on life, especially if we are Christians.  If we are wiser, and have a better perspective, then why wouldn't we be even more inclined to try new things, or even just manage to do the same things we've always done...like turning left?

 

I've known a few older people who don't act old.  They still try new things, meet new people, pursue learning.  Bart's grandmother was like that.  But, she was a rarity, I think.  You don't know how many times I've wondered how I will be when I get older.  If left to myself, my guess is that I would allow my world to narrow to the point that I am completely surrounded and protected by the familiar and easy.  I struggle with that NOW as one who's in her...twenties..yes..ok...twenties..plusafew...

 

God continues to put challenges in front of me that make me uncomfortable.  Every time I got on that plane to go to Nashville, it felt like a left turn.  Serving in leadership in the music ministry at church feels like a relentless left turn.  And now, I've been invited to join the amazing musicians at Highland Park to perform our Christmas musical for their church on the 23rd.  Talk about a left turn.  I feel like Jed Clampett driving into Beverly Hills for the first time (minus the Texas tea, however) 

 

Last Saturday was the first time I practiced with them.  It was a schizophrenic rush.  In one moment I couldn't stop smiling because my heart was so full of delight and gratitude.  In the next moment, I wanted to crawl under the keyboard and rock back and forth, while sucking my thumb.  In the end, I just felt amazed to be a part of this thing.  While driving home, it hit me that this is one of the biggest things that's ever happened to me.  The Christmas musical I helped write is being debuted for hundreds of people, and I get to be a part of it.

 

I don't want my aversion to trying scary new things ruin this.  I want to experience God's sufficiency in a deeper way, and also I want to HAVE FUN!  Pray for me.  Though I'm only in my....twenties-plus-a-year-or-two.... I still have some elderly-will-I-face-the-challenge-of-a-left turn moments.

I call my husband every day.  Sometimes, it's to remind (nag perhaps?...nah....)  him about something.  Sometimes, it's to ask him for something.  Sometimes, it's for no reason at all. 

 

Today, I called my husband several times.  He called me as well.  I didn't need anything picked up, or dropped off, or anything paid for.  I didn't want to remind him of anything.  I just wanted to hear his voice, to be reassured that in this crazy, unpredictable world where desperate people walk into malls and kill people, he is still alive and well, and that I would see him soon.

 

My dad called for the same reason.  My friends emailed me.  My friends Travis and Ruthie are from the west coast, and they were getting calls all afternoon from people out west wondering if they were ok.  Sue's son called from Omaha to tell her he was ok.  Sue called her sisters, to find out they were at another mall in Omaha, but safe.

 

Blessings come in many packages.  Today, the biggest blessings I received were answered phone calls.  My heart breaks for those who's calls go unanswered tonight because of what happened in Omaha today.

Highland Park Evangelical Free Church in Columbus employs two great writers.  They're great writers because they work really hard at it, and are gifted at it, but also, they like me and let me write with them.  Over the past three years, we've been writing as a team, and the church has gotten behind what's going on with the writing ministry. They have paid to have seven of our songs put on to a cd called "Still Amazed."  It came out last week, and I'm still a bit bewildered-in-a-blessed-beyond-words-kind-of-way by the fact that I was a part of something like this. 

 

We're trying to be more official with this thing.  Travis and Sue and I get to have our own little writer's corner website and I would love it if you stopped by and took a look.  Here's the link:

 

 

 

On the link, you'll find our lyric sheets, a little song store, our writer's blog (if you're a songwriter, I encourage you to tune in...our desire is to bless you crazy peeps), and an opportunity to contact us.

 

God is good, and really fun to write about!