Well folks, Christmas is done at our house!  We kicked it off with our own celebration and then made the six+ hours trek to my dad's for two celebrations, then to my mom's for another celebration, followed by a celebration at my brother-in-law's. 

We're home.  We have too much loot (aka, presents to grandchildren from grandparents!) and too many sweets (mom, mom-in-law, and stepmom sent all the homemade goodies with us). 

By any standards it was an epic Christmas!  It had all the right elements - time to reflect on Jesus' birth and celebrate by having communion, lots of squeezing on nieces and nephews, grandparent love, lots of squeezing on Josiah (who celebrated his very first Christmas), eating, movie-watching, laughing, talking, visiting with 20 year old nephew and his girlfriend on his Christmas birthday and hearing lots of special plans he has for the upcoming year (it's going to be a momentous year for sure!), napping (cold medicine was part of my Christmas diet, ugh), hanging with our favorite people, and more eating! 

Our first Christmas with five kids was extra-special.  Still shaking my head at all God's blessings. 

Some highlights to remember:

1.  Stopping in Charlotte to attend Elevation Christmas Service and replace the starter on our van.  A new bible (long story), tow truck (longer story), and a chunk of our emergency savings later we were back on the road to Virginia. 

2.  Captain America.

3.  Moving our luggage many times (sorry, Chief). 

4.  Coming home to a broken washing machine (sorry again, Chief). 

Despite any hiccups, Christmas 2012 was Merry and Bright! 

I hope yours was just as blessed and memorable! 

Let the un-decorating begin! 

Snowman on the door.

Roses still in bloom.

Christmas in the Lowcountry. 

I can barely talk above a whisper.  I lost my voice late Sunday night.  Not having a voice is challenging.  Way challenging.  

Tuesday morning the carpet in our hallway was strangely wet.  There are five kids in my house.  Statistics say, somebody spilled something.  A couple hours later it was wetter.  It was time to phone the Chief and launch a bigger investigation.  The culprit was a pinhole in the plumbing.  With the amount of water pressure coming into the house, that pinhole was a constant little spray.  Commence operation fix leak, restore water.  My handy husband (thank God for youtube and texts to my stepdad) spent all of his evening working hard to get water restored.  We live in the middle of nowhere.  The hardware store closed and the final fix couldn't be made until this morning when the store opened.  The Chief got our part and within minutes I could hear him saying, "Now we're cookin' with peanut oil!" (Phil - Duck Dynasty).

Josiah learned to jump.  Video evidence below.

Judah has started wearing glasses part-time.  The doctor expects him to outgrow his eye strain and not need the glasses later on.  In the mean time, we think he is pretty cute. 

Our nativity scene has added a few characters.  One is obvious.  The other additions are tiny and harder to spot.  See anything that doesn't belong? 

Preseason basketball practice got a little overcrowded.  Good thing it was time to start regular season practice.  Check out Gracie taking a foul shot (during preseason practice) below. 

Hoping the weekend finds us with dry carpets and restored voices! 

"But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You; Let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them; Let those also who love Your name Be joyful in You. For You, O LORD, will bless the righteous; With favor You will surround him as with a shield." (Ps 5:11-12)

(Thanks to the Chief for loaning me his iPad pics and video.)

"I know, O LORD, that a man's life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps."  Jeremiah 10:23

When God asks us to do hard things, we can because even when we do not know His plan, we know Him. 

When God called Abraham, He called him to leave everything to go to a land that was already occupied by many people, clans, and tribes. The crazy thing is that God said,  "I will give you this land."

You have been called by a God who has given you purpose, wants to equip you, and wants to partner with you in order to do something great while you're on this earth.

We may find ourselves saying, “I don’t know how to do this, I don’t have the money, I’m not good with people, I don’t have enough faith!“ But you know what?!?! We can learn from Abraham’s faith.  God said, "Move!" Abraham moved and without hesitation. God blessed that obedience.  We can do the really hard because we know God.  We know his promises.  We know his truths.  What is He calling you to "Move!" on? 

My most favorite song right now.

I started waking up with the words in my heart "create some space".  One of those "God whispers".  I don't know why.  I just know I need to. 

"The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak." Hans. H.

Stuff was weighing me down.  It sneaks up on us a little here, a little there.  Every once in a while, we have to hit the reset button and lighten the load.  Simplifying is good for us.  Good for our home, our budget, our time management...

Creating some space by simplifying and reducing keeps my house running smoothly.  I'm more organized.  Less stuff = less maintenance. 

So, I had a huge giveaway pile, a huge throwaway pile, and a small putaway pile.  A couple more deliveries (giveaway pile) and I'm done!  Woohoo for more space! 

Some tips for creating more space:

1.  If we haven't used it in a year, it's time to go!

2.  If it isn't useful and/or beautiful, it's time to go!

3.  Surround ourselves with the things we love.

As we are doing all our Christmas things, I am remembering how I felt doing them last year at 36+ weeks pregnant!

Josiah points at things and whispers "tisit?"  So cute. It is his version of "what is it?"  It started one day when we were looking at a bug.  He was pointing at it and I was saying, "what is it?  what do you see?"  Now he points at things and whispers "tisit".  

He lifts his hands in the air to praise Jesus when he hears music and joins in with his own little singing voice.  He's precious.

Did you know they are dropping the ball in Time Square for his birthday this year?