It's Valentine's Day, y'all!

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! 

I had a cool stock photo picked out that I was going to use with an inspiring Bible verse about love for today's blog post—something like this: 

Instead, I decided to be real honest about what it's sometimes like—yes, even on holidays—in our household.

I gave the boys a bubble bath this morning—because it's the only bath they've had this week. Then I dressed them in their V Day duds and attempted to take their photo, and the above photo is the best I got. It's a stark contrast to the usual precious smiles I post regularly on social media.

It’s Valentine’s Day, which means that the perpetual internal battle I wage every holiday has reared its ugly head. It’s every holiday that my worth as a mom is challenged as I wring my hands about all of the super special things I should be doing with my kids to celebrate, all of the Pinterest-inspired craft projects and recipes we should sit around giggling and making together, so I can fill their proverbial scrapbooks full of handmade items they’ll treasure for years to come. (Because we all know tons of grown men who sit around gushing over their baby books.)

The first project I attempted was stressful enough, but I was having fun so I ignored the gnawing feeling that something was off. I had decided on an idea for a buddy valentine for Liam to give to his best friend. It involved me setting up a photo shoot in the kitchen of his wooden Thomas and Percy trains. I was so excited, and with my laser-sharp focus I set up a white backdrop against Liam’s anywhere chair, right in front of the kitchen window. I set Percy and Thomas right next to each other, and laid down right in front of them so I could get the perfect shot. I let Liam help, of course. And by help, I mean that I told him to get his trains so we could take a picture. He ran to get them, but then he wanted to play with them. When I set them down on the floor, he wailed. I tried to explain in my best upbeat voice the vision for my our project, but he crumpled over the side of his chair and sobbed. I found this odd and funny and even snapped a couple of photos of his toddler meltdown.

The second project was a Pinterest-inspired valentine for my husband from the boys. I “got the boys involved” by outlining their hands, and then I cut them out, shaped them in the sign language symbol for “I love you” and then glued them onto a piece of paper. I wrote out the words “We love you” in glue and sprinkled glitter over the letters, even making the “o” in love a heart. During this process, Liam asked to hold the cut-out hands, but I snapped them out of his fingers once he tried to put them in his mouth. Liam asked to hold the glue, so I twisted it shut before I let him hold it. 

  

Right then I had one of those moments where God gently and kindly whispers to me, “This isn't what it's all about.” (Those probably weren’t His exact words, but that’s my translation anyway.) This wasn’t really a valentine from the boys. I wasn’t letting them be involved at all except as bystanders eager to get their hands dirty. This was a valentine from me in hopes of impressing my husband and everyone else with my knack for handmade crafts (which, in all honesty I have NO knack for). Of course, he would love seeing the boys’ handprints, but would he enjoy more seeing something that Liam had colored himself, or glitter that Liam had glued down?  

Sometimes I can get all caught up in what we're supposed to be doing to celebrate a holiday that I miss the point of the day altogether. While today is a day devoted to celebrating love, love rarely looks like flowers and chocolate in our family. Instead, love looks less like heart-shaped cookies and more like me clipping the boys' toenails while they squirm and try to steal the nail clippers from my hand. It looks less like chocolate-covered strawberries and candlelit dinners and more like kissing my husband goodbye as he rushes out the door for work and I, covered in some avocado-banana mixture, try my best to feed Riley his breakfast. It looks like spilled coffee, spit-up on my pajama shirt, and a pile of laundry that my husband and I will tackle together this weekend.

My husband sheepishly presented me with a bouquet of a dozen white roses (my favorite) last night, but when I inquired about his odd demeanor, he explained how he went to two different stores to get them because Liam threw a righteous fit in the first store when he couldn't ride in the racecar buggy. That's real life. It's beautifully messy.

In the midst of meltdowns and daily chores, my heart longs to be still and just listen. My soul is aching to sit at the feet of Jesus and absorb the revelation of His love. The love that He generously and selflessly and resolutely pours out on us, not because we deserve it, not because it's expected or earned, but because that's just Who He is. It's a love that covers over all wrongs, breaks through the darkness, brings us freedom, and compels us to pursue Him and His holiness. It's a love that realizes we'll never get it completely right, and chases us down anyway. While flowers wither and chocolate gets eaten devoured, the love of our Heavenly Father endures forever. It's the only love we can count on.

I hope your day is filled with that kind of love!

RILEY // 8 MONTHS OLD

Riley hit the eight-month mark this past weekend! It's fun for me to look back and see what Liam looked like at this point:

Can you see the resemblance? By the way, oh my word Liam was bald for so long! Bless his heart...

Riley is making all sorts of noises, and has even said "Mama" and "Dada" several times! (For the record, he said Mama first.) He babbles a lot actually, and he has his own signature dance move now (he basically wiggles his body and bobs his head back and forth). His little personality is starting to show, and I can tell he's got a little edge. Riley is our force to be reckoned with!

Thankfully, it seems Liam is over his jealousy phase, and now he just sees Riley as his little companion. They play in Liam's room most mornings, and I frequently hear Liam's continuous one-sided conversation with Riley, in which he discusses his cars, how he will fix his racecar with his hammer...and he'll hold up a toy to Riley and say, "Riley, what's this? Oh, it's a _____." Liam will spontaneously walk over to Riley and pat him on the head or give him a hug, and Riley will grin and let out a squeal. They are becoming the best of friends already!

Riley's second tooth has broken through the gums, so now he has both front bottom teeth. I will miss those gummy smiles so much! (I realize this probably isn't the first time I've said this, and I'll just tell you now, it won't be the last.) He has put those teeth to work on a whole banana and even some pizza crust. This kid will eat ANYTHING. Even paper. (It only happened twice. The second time was with a book page that Liam had torn out of the book, and I'd been meaning to tape it back. This afternoon I found it crumbled up, soaking wet, hanging out of Riley's mouth. Oh well.)

....AND he's had enough of photo time! (By the way, I just noticed the dirty laundry draped over the basket in the background. That's real life happening right there, folks.)

This month has been a growing month for me, too. I have such a tendency to treat Riley as if I'm raising Liam all over again, but the Lord is continually reminding me of the verse that says, "Train up your child in the way he should go." I've been convicted lately about my plans for these boys. Don't we all want our children to follow in our footsteps in one way or another? Since Kelley played soccer his whole life, there has been this understanding that, of course, our boys will play, too. But I can already tell that Liam may be more into art and music than athletics. He has yet to meet a stranger, he will go right up to someone and start a conversation with them, and whenever a song starts playing, he will stop what he's doing and start listening to the music and dancing. While other boys his age are ramming trucks into each other, Liam strategically lines them up in order. (I realize this is strikingly different from my last update about Liam, but you know, I've gained some perspective.) Sometimes I mistake his perpetual energy for roughness, but really he is tenderhearted, sweet, and caring. He wants to give EVERYTHING a hug (even the garbage truck as it rolls down the street. Not even kidding). I had this vision of him being a rough and tumble steamroller of a boy (his name means "strong-willed warrior"), but he may find his strength is in his gentleness.

Riley, on the other hand, doesn't quite know his own strength. He will scratch and pinch and grab and pull and sink his teeth into anything that's put in front of him. He attacks his toys with force; his feet are constantly kicking, his arms always flailing about, fists clenched. He screeches and squeals and grunts and growls. He may need extra discipline, extra structure in order to learn appropriate boundaries. My point is, Riley is not Liam, and I'm having to learn not to treat him as if he's the same person.

I pray that as these boys grow, God will highlight their differences and give me the wisdom to know how to treat them as individuals, unique in their own right; to provide an atmosphere where each can cultivate his own strengths and passions, and to encourage them to search out their own identities in Christ, separate from what I may envision in my own mind.

That's easier said than done, though, right? :)

The documentary that changed my life.

This week. Oh my! This one actually flew by for me. I would like to give a standing ovation to all the work-at-home moms out there. And I thought being a stay-at-home mom was challenging enough! (Can we just agree that being a parent is hard, period? Thanks.) You know what’s hard as a work-at-home mom? BOUNDARIES. I’m still learning about this.  

Moving on, though. Is it weird that I consider my biggest accomplishment this week to be that I have consumed a very large amount of kale? Actually, I think my biggest feat was getting Liam to eat some. At any rate, my mother-in-law gave me a juicer she won during a Dirty Santa game, and she swore she’d never use it. So I was like, Oooh, gimme. A possibly pretentious activity, I know. But y’all! I can put GINORMOUS pieces of fruit and WHOLE vegetables into the machine, and it COMPLETELY PULVERIZES them! It’s so much fun. And, drinking kale and cucumber is not nearly as dry-heave-inducing as I thought it would be. Even Liam guzzled a juice this morning with apple, carrot, celery, lime, pear, cucumber, and loads of kale. But, being the novice juicer that I am, I turned to a more experienced friend of mine for some resources, and he pointed me toward this guy. His story is changing my life! 

Joe Cross was overweight and living a very unhealthy lifestyle when he was diagnosed with a terrible autoimmune disease at a not-much-older age than me. He was spending a fortune on prescription drugs that enabled him to get through each day, until one day he had an epiphany: 

If the human body is capable of healing itself on the outside, (whenever we get a cut or scratch), then surely it is capable of healing itself on the inside, given the right tools. 

So he made a drastic decision. And 60 days later, he was off his medicine, at a much healthier weight, and his disease was in remission. He had basically none of the symptoms he was experiencing on a daily basis!

You can watch his unbelievable documentary here, and let me tell you, it’s well worth it! His story is incredible, really. And the big kick in the pants for me is that it makes SO MUCH SENSE. Why WOULDN’T we feed ourselves the very foods that were created to maintain every part of our bodies? Seriously, every single fruit and vegetable was designed to meet a specific need that our bodies have.

So it got me thinking about my own health and my goal to be good to my body this year. What kind of a difference would it make for my own health if I focused more on feeding my body the micronutrients it was designed to run on instead of junk food that slows it down?

Quitting sweets or junk food cold turkey has never worked for me, and if I feel like I’m depriving myself or restricting my diet, I’ll last half a day and then bake something with chocolate. Instead of my focus being on what I can’t eat, my husband and I both just been more purposeful on what we add to our diets, more fruits and vegetables. And not just blueberry muffins or vegetables that have been cooked to death, but fresh fruits and vegetables in salads or homemade smoothies or juice.

Now, I’ll just put this out there: juicing is messy. And it takes a lot of work. You have to scrub the produce and cut it up in pieces that will fit through the shoot. Afterwards, you end up with a TON of pulp that is as hard to clean up as glitter. The juicer has several separate pieces that I typically wash by hand with a toothbrush. It can get expensive to buy all the produce. And, I get a little nervous when the juice turns orange on green on brown with particles in the bottom, and I just imagine that it’s going to taste like freshly cut grass. But I have yet to gag when I drink any of the recipes I’ve made; they’re actually quite good! (It helps if the glass isn’t see-through.)

Even with its darker side, after this week, I can tell I have more energy. I’ve cut my caffeine intake by half and still have the energy I would if I’d sustained my regular coffee habit. I feel better all around, which makes me excited to see the long-term benefits.

At first, juicing seemed like a waste to me. All that work, all that money, all that food, and you get that little bit of juice? And isn’t the actually food much better than just the juice? But after watching Joe’s documentary, I learned that juicing still retains the soluble fiber of the food (as opposed to the insoluble fiber, which cleans you out but also takes some of the valuable nutrients with it), which helps your body absorb more of the nutrients. And a little goes a long way. It’s quality over quantity. It’s the best way to get the nutrients in a whole apple, a whole pear, two celery stalks and two carrots, half a cucumber, half a lime, and a whole bunch of kale, without actually having to eat all of that in one sitting (because who would, honestly?). And I thought I’d be so hungry just drinking juice, but the juice I had at breakfast held me until lunchtime.

And when we think about it, how much money do we spend on items that dress our outside, or on heavy meals at a restaurant, or on junk food that fills our cabinets and our stomachs but does nothing for our health? Why wouldn’t we invest in the one thing that we need to last us our entire lives, our bodies? I guess you could say I have been seriously convicted about what I put into my body.

So, my plan for now is to have a homemade juice or smoothie several days a week and a salad containing spinach or kale every day. That fits our budget right now, and it’s a realistic place to start, I think. You know, baby steps.

Have you ever tried juicing?

Welcome back!

Ok, so I guess I’m actually welcoming myself back to this blog, since I’m the one who left for almost a month. At any rate, I can’t believe this month is almost over. February, I expect a far more even temperament from you than we got from your sassy little neighbor, January.

Here is a tidy little recap of the past month in the Thompson casa:

Riley turned 7 months old! He was sick on this milestone, so his pictures are a little pitiful. He caught a cold from Liam, which means that for TWO WEEKS STRAIGHT I saw more snot than I ever care to be acquainted with again. I mean, it became almost impossible to keep track of the surfaces in my home that had snot on them. That’s all I have to say about that.

But at seven months, Riley is quite the fiery little redhead. His temper flares when I take a toy away from him (because, you know, it’s hard to shovel baby food into his mouth when he’s licking a rattle). He’ll clench his fists, grunt and growl and his face gets beet red. And of course, I can only laugh in return. Which makes him madder, so he’ll purse his lips together and blow raspberries at me. Bless my husband for his future with two redheads under the same roof. 

He got his first little tooth last week, and the second one should poke through any day now! (They’re both on the bottom.) I’m having SO MUCH FUN making Riley’s food. Maybe too much fun: one week, I made baby peas with mint and Laughing Cow Swiss cheese. I know that sounds a little pretentious (I don’t even eat that fancy), but I get some kind of twisted, cheap (as in, less than the store-bought jars) thrill playing with different recipes. (I desperately need a project.) Also on his January menu: rhubarb compote. Also a big hit! Although, I didn't really care for it. I guess since Liam refuses to eat much of anything, I'm living vicariously through Riley now. So far, he'll eat ANYTHING.

Liam hasn’t been so easy to live with. Can I just say that? Y’all, he is OVER RILEY. Riley playing with a toy. Riley occupying Mommy’s lap. Riley getting spoonfed his lunch while Liam has to feed himself. Mommy and Daddy thinking Riley is SO FUNNY. He is OVER IT. One day, he actually threw a toy flip phone and hit Riley in the forehead. The next day he bopped Riley in the head with a rattle (a plush rattle, but still…Riley didn’t appreciate it, and neither did I). The thing is, Liam is in no world starved for attention. I spend the better portion of most days running laps with him around the house, playing hide and seek, wrestling, and whatever else I can do to fit in to his little boy world.  He demands gets plenty of individualized time with both of his parents. He just can’t stand for Riley to have any, so he cries for whichever parent is holding his baby brother at the time. I'm sure every other parent on this planet has gone through the same thing and is probably rolling their eyes at my drama, but it is LOADS OF FUN having two kids going through separation anxiety at the same time. At the end of the day I may need to sit in a padded, dark room by myself and rock back and forth.

Not to mention, Liam has grown into a full-fledged BOY. A boy who CLIMBS ON EVERYTHING. He likes to throw things just to watch them soar through the air. He’ll stack blocks just to knock them all down in a fit of fury. He will run laps through the house just because he can. There are some days where I want to just cower in the corner eating a pot of melted chocolate while he overtakes the house like it’s the Alamo.

But then, he’ll crawl up beside me on the couch, pat me on the back, and call me babe. Or, he’ll ask to give me a hug or attack me with kisses. He’ll lay his head on my shoulder and say, “Sweet mommy.” And when Riley was sick, Liam was the only person in this house who could make him laugh. He has his moments where he’ll hug Riley or point out horses or trains or whatever else he sees out the window while we’re riding in the car. He’s like our own personal Sour Patch kid. And his laugh! Oh, that laugh is like a Skittles rainshower. I wish I could fill up buckets of it!

Also, that kid talks way more than a two-year-old probably should. Which, I’m trying not to take as an indicator that his mom is way more talkative than…well, I’ll just see it as a good thing. His favorite phrase is, “Hello, ­­mommy/daddy/snow/bear/book, what are you doing here?” It’s REALLY CUTE.

Y’all, can I just say that it should NOT BE THIS COMPLICATED to sell some stationery on Etsy?! I have registered my business name and gotten a tax ID, a state license, a county license, and hopefully soon, my city license. But I have to sit in on the zoning board meeting next month and convince them I will not turn our street into a parking lot so I can work out of my home. (I realize that I probably didn’t need to do all, if any, of this, but you know—I’m a rule follower and all.) I would say I’m in way over my head, but like Sarah’s cute doctor neighbor on the show Parenthood said, “You’re not in over your head; you’re just out of your comfort zone, and there’s a big difference.” I hope she ends up with him, because that is the best doggone wisdom I’ve heard in a while. And I’ll admit, I’m WAY OUT OF MY COMFORT ZONE. This is why, despite encouragement from my friends, I haven’t done this before now. Because I’m not a business person. I love to sit at the computer and think up pretty designs, but applying for a tax ID and paying sales tax every month? Um, no thank you. So, after putting my big girl pants on and powering through the red tape, I’m relieved that the process is almost over, and I can just focusing on making pretty things.  

So, that’s about all we’ve been up to these past few weeks. It’s great to be back!

My new baby: Liam And Eva

I am so thrilled to announce that I have finally started my own custom event invitations and stationery business. It's called Liam And Eva, and you can check it out on Etsy! I am hoping to sell some of my stationery sets in local stores in Birmingham, and I also offer branding/custom graphic design services for businesses.

These are a few of the items you'll discover on my Etsy shop, and new items are added weekly:

This project has been a long time coming! Don't get me wrong, I love having the opportunity to be a stay-at-home mom, but lately I've been itching to indulge my creative/crafty side, get back into the design world and simultaneously earn some extra income.

I've actually been wrestling with the idea of whether I should return to work or find some type of employment, not only for the financial help but also to keep my job skills sharp. Nothing really seemed to fit, though, so I just decided it wasn't the right time. I didn't want to go back to work just to have a job, and I also wasn't settled with the idea of enrolling Liam and Riley in daycare. It needed to be the right thing. And I wanted to start something that mattered.

The Lord has really given me a heart for orphans lately, specifically in Africa. I don't really know where it came from or how it happened, except that maybe being surrounded by friends who've answered the call to adopt internationally has opened my eyes and stirred my heart regarding the orphan crisis. And suddenly, the issue was EVERYWHERE. I kept making connections with individuals who were involved in orphan ministry overseas, particularly in Africa, and God has ordained several divine appointments. My husband and I have been praying for God's vision for our own family in this area, and whether or not we eventually decide to adopt, I decided that I just couldn't sit on my hands and do nothing.

So, I decided to partner with Lifeline Children's Services (Un)Adopted ministry. A portion of the proceeds I make from my Etsy shop will go to support two partnerships they have in Uganda: Save the Street Children Uganda, which shares the Gospel and meets needs of orphans, and a local school that teaches hearing impaired children life and job skills, so they can be actively involved in their community.

Here's where you can help support their cause:

1. Pray. Prayer moves mountains, I'm convinced. So please, when you think about it, pray for the fatherless in Uganda. Pray for these precious children to be put in homes, to be kept safe, and to have a bright future. Specifically, the school is starting an Internet café, which would provide half the funds needed to run the school each year, and they need computers. Please pray for God's provision to keep this amazing ministry running!

2. Give. You can learn more about, and donate to, either ministry by visiting Unadopted.org/uganda.

3. Shop. For every purchase you make on my Etsy shop, a portion of the profits go toward these two partnerships. And you get some pretty paper in the meantime!

4. Share. You can play a big part in furthering this cause by referring your friends to Unadopted.org/uganda or etsy.com/shop/liamandeva.

Thanks, friends, for your support!

In with the new.

Happy New Year, folks! Hope y'all had a wonderful holiday season; ours was very quiet and relaxing, a perfect ending to a tumultuous 2013.

Tumultuous, yet bittersweet. 2013 was filled with overwhelming challenges and growing pains, but it was also the year we welcomed our Riley to the family, our ever-smiling, bubbly, tenacious ginger baby boy. It was the year we met some amazing new friends and learned some tough but invaluable life lessons.

2013 marked another milestone as well: my 30th birthday! The day after Christmas, I bid adieu to my 20s. My besties from high school (with some help from my man) threw me a surprise birthday party the weekend before Christmas, and my husband surprised me with a gift certificate for a massage the morning of my birthday. (And y'all, I'm not an easy person to surprise, so I give them mad props!)

My two BFFs gave me a Sephora gift card, and with it I purchased something daring...my first tube of bright red lip gloss. It's always been a color I shied away from, but I figured, new year = a new look. Well, actually, if I'm being honest, I bought it for its name: Hot Mama. I'm hoping it's prophetic. :)

This past week, a new dear friend of mine took me out to eat and gave me this little cutie:

It's actually a bath fizz, but doesn't it just look delicious? I had to remind myself not to eat it! She also gave me this new journal:

It's a perfect gift for two reasons: I'd just told my husband I wanted to start strengthening my writing skills. I wanted to start doing some creative writing exercises and writing songs again in this new year. And I love the phrase on the front: Say things to the world that are true.

There's something about turning 30...What a rollercoaster of emotions that surfaced with this birthday! A current of indignation has been flowing through me as I have vowed not to bring issues I dealt with in my 20s into this new decade. One thing I'm learning is not to be afraid to speak the truth in love, and to be true to myself. I've lost so much of myself in my terrible habit of trying to please others, and letting others control my life: my decisions, my thoughts, my feelings, my schedule, etc. I've loved others out of compulsion and guilt instead of freedom and sincerity. For some reason, turning 30 has been just the permission I needed to take control of my own life and grow up into a real live adult. :)
 
The freshness of a new year gleams with possibility. It's the clean eraser to the dusty chalkboard of the year that's passed. All the challenges, trials, pain and failures of 2013 have been swiped away, and what remains is an open slate, ready for fresh marks.

New Years Day is one of my favorite holidays, for this very reason. The opportunity to set new goals and look forward to the year with lively anticipation is so refreshing to me.

Philippians 3:13 says, "I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, though Christ Jesus, is calling us."

2013, you gave us "What the fox say?", which my son has listened to 863 times, and for that I thank you. But you were also one antagonistic bully, and to you, I say "good riddance."

So what am I pressing on toward in 2014? Well, my resolutions list is looking a little more grown up this year as well. Instead of the usual "lose 10 pounds" and "learn to play piano" that reoccur as resolutions every new year, this time I'm focusing more on living in freedom from now on.

The past couple of months has brought layers of tough but inspiring revelations to my life, mostly about God's love for me, and what it means to be in a relationship with Him. I've lived the first 30 years of my life as a slave to the law: everything was black or white, right or wrong. And if I slipped up or made a mistake, I was condemned. I was such a rule-follower, afraid to fail for fear of falling out of relationship with the Lord and losing love from Him or others. But I'm realizing that, though the Bible is full of laws, He never intended for life to be about the law itself. He intended for it to be about a loving, honest, real relationship with the One who created us for Himself. And that's what I intend to get back to: serving Him out of an overflow of love for Him.

So, with that as my inspiration, here are a few of my goals for this year:

1. To love and be good to my body.  My entire life, I've been overly critical and unforgiving of my physical appearance, nitpicking and bullying myself into tyrannical submission, slaving through workouts to punish myself for indulging my sweet tooth. Not anymore. I realize that my body is an incredible gift, so I'm vowing to be good to it. To nourish and protect it. To eat well, not to keep the number on the scale low, but to prevent disease and promote health and well-being. I'm also going to be changing the way I work out: more yoga and low impact workouts that relax and center me.  

2. Live simply. Less clutter, less drama, less stress, less hobbies and material things. Freeing my life from as many useless distractions as possible. To set boundaries that protect me from getting overextended and strung out, so I'll have time for things that feed my soul and allow me to be poured out to help those in need.

3. Balance grace and truth. I recently read a new book, Changes That Heal, that explains this balance worlds better than I could ever try, but basically, I've been leaning way more towards truth than grace. Grace is the acceptance of oneself or others enough to make it possible to accept the truth, which saves us. Truth without grace leads to condemnation, and grace without truth leads to destruction. I want to work on achieving a healthy balance of the two.

4. Cultivate the thing I'm most good at. I already mentioned this, but I want to write more. And write better. Instead of spreading myself too thin participating in hobbies I'm only so-so at, I want to invest more in my writing abilities.

5. Start something that matters. I have to be vague on this one, but I'll hopefully be able to elaborate more as the year progresses.

6. Most importantly, pursue the One who matters most. I want to rekindle the flame with my first Love. To understand why I was created, and take joy in being in the presence of my Savior. It is, after all, the reason I was put on this planet.

To dive headfirst into this last one, I'm participating in our church's 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting. Among other things, I'll be taking a break from all social media for the remainder of January, so that I can be single-minded and get 2014 started off on the right foot.

See you guys in February!

Have yourself a merry little Christmas.

While the weather outside is warm and sunny, Christmastime is upon us, and this year, my heart is completely overwhelmed by God's love that He's lavished on my family. For us, this year has been a lot less about braving the hurried shopping crowds and furiously baking up goodies in the kitchen, and more about being still and knowing that He is God.

Sure, there are the afternoons spent snuggling on the couch with my boys watching The Polar Express. We spend many nights driving around enjoying the Christmas lights in our community. We tediously glue googly eyes and red pom noses onto popsicle stick reindeer. Liam squeals with delight every time he sees a snowman figurine. But while Santa may sit on a throne at the mall, my desire is that Jesus sits on the throne of our hearts. Not just this Christmas season, but always.

Last night was rehearsal for our church's Christmas services, and we discussed how so often we are engulfed by an anxious spirit that accompanies our desires to give the perfect gift, decorate our home to the likeness of a Southern Living magazine, bake Pinterest-worthy recipes that our neighbors swoon over, and meet everyone's demands of our time and energy. We end up way too weary to celebrate the birth of our Savior, the most excellent reason for this season.


My prayer for all of us is that, as we turn our eyes upon Jesus, the things of this world grow strangely and wonderfully dim compared to His magnificent light. May we all experience the true peace and joy that comes from knowing and celebrating His most excellent gift!