2009 Christmas Letter

All about Him!

As we approached this Christmas season I am reminded once again of the worldliness of our world!! We are so focused on the 'gifts' and not the Giver. We wanted to find ways to keep our hearts and our minds focused on the One gift that will last for all eternity! So I searched for some God-glorifying traditions to add to our current ones. I found on a couple of blogs, an idea for decoration the tree! The bulk of the ideas I found here.

Decorating the tree
We are decorating over a few evenings so that we can take our time and dig into God's word point our family toward the One alone who is worthy of our worship.

Here are some of the parallels (in no particular order) we will use as we try to focus our tree decorating around Christ our Savior!

Evergreen tree- (though ours is fake) Everlasting life,
-Adam lead the human race into sin by eating the fruit of the tree that God forbade.
-Jesus died for us on a tree paying the penalty, for our sin, required by God.
Lights- Jesus is the Light of the world, Mt 5:14 John 1:9
Glass/Reflective ornaments- We are to reflect His light, Phil 2:14-16 John 8:12 John 12:46
Gold and silver- Jesus is our treasure, Mt 6:21
Red- Jesus is our Savior...etc. Is 43:11
Purple-(I don't have any purple ornaments yet so I may have to hit the sales after Christmas to gather a few for next year) Jesus is the king
Pink- He loved us we are to love others Jn 13:34
Blue- (I don't have any blue either) Jesus is the living water Jn 4:14

Shapes:
Wreath (circular)- Jesus is was and is to come, Rev 1:8 Is 9:6
Bells- Jesus is the good news, Lk 2:10
Angels- announce "Jesus is born", Lk 2:8-10
Wood- Jesus was a carpenter, Mk 6:3
Clay- We are the clay, God is the potter Rom 9
Star- Jesus is the bright morning star. Rev 22:16
Fish (yes we have a fish ornament) Jesus' miracles- Feeding of the 5,000- Casting the net-
Candy Cane- Jesus is our shepherd Jn 10:11

So you can use what you have or buy some new ornaments with the thought "how can this point us to Christ?" "How would this remind us to show honor to the one who gave His life for us?"

The kids are already coming up with their own reminders of who Christ is and how we can celebrate Him!! It's prompting wonderful conversations throughout the day!! Which is my desire, for all to be centered on Him!! A true joy!!

Adorenaments
Another thing we've done each year is Adorenaments! These are 12 ornaments that highlight the different names for Christ. It comes with a book that has a verse and devotional for each name. We start 12 days before Christmas and do one each evening! It's too bad they've discontinued this set! But you can still find them on Ebay and Amazon used. We've had them for about seven years now and we enjoy them more every year! We do these in the evenings and add them to our Advent readings.

Advent Readings
We've been following this scripture reading schedule that I came across on a blog I follow, Girltalk. It's a few verses at a time and we can easily add it in to our book we're reading each night. We're really enjoying the book The Experience of Christmas (Family Devotions & Activities to Prepare the Heart).

It covers seven topics:

1. Fulfilled Prophecies,
2. Family Service,
3. Christmas Symbols and Traditions,
4. Christmas Worship,
5. Sharing the Christmas Experience,
6. The Names of the Messiah,
7. Christmas Prayers

There is one for each day of December and includes family activites, discussion questions and a hymn or carol that we sing/learn together!! We've had a great time with this even though we haven't been able to keep up everyday!!

We're also going to act out Mary and Josephs' trip to Bethlehem with our nativity set. We start them far away(the kitchen) and every few days we move Mary and Joseph closer(cabinet-shelf-table-nativity) to the stable and on Christmas eve they'll arrive. After the kids go to bed we'll put baby Jesus in the bed of hay. Once they awake we'll read in the bible the story of Jesus' birth.

We're striving to make the birth of Jesus real to the kids, to help them understand God's story of redemption through His Son. This season has become so commercialized and I know it's God's desire(Ps 78:5-7) for us to tell our children of His works in and through His Son Jesus. So that is our desire as well. We don't want them growing up thinking the Bible is just a bunch a stories. IT IS God-breathed. IT IS living and active even today. We want them to fear and love God with all their hearts and to take seriously the gift of salvation God has given in His Son. So Christmas for us is in some ways just another day in the year in which we want them to see clearly that God is real, sin is real, judgment is real, and God really did send a substitute for the penalty that must be paid for our sin. The most wonderful gift of all....JESUS!!!

May God bless your family this year as you celebrate the birth of our Savior!!!

2 Cents

This is how Jake is putting in his "2 cents" in these days!! Daddy changed his diaper last night and slid it over for me to look into it. Needless to say I was not expecting to see two pennies in his diaper! We're not exactly sure how they got there, was he saving his money for a future purchase, was he stashing it there because he knows that his siblings like to find and keep for themselves any money they find, we may never know! But it will make quite a memory!!! Our little Jakey always wanting to put his 2 cents in!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Hymn on my Heart

Great is Thy Faithfulness

I want to share with you a hymn that's been on my heart.

Through the daily struggles with sin and temptations to sin, and at times feeling defeated by it, it's so comforting to hear the truth spoken in Lamentations 3:22,23

"The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."

It's refreshing to my heart to know that God has shown his love upon me by rescuing me from myself nine years ago. He convinced me that I am a sinner, that I broke His law, that I had to pay for my sin and the penalty was hell. I was terrified. God requires perfection! But no one's perfect right? Well no human is! God then showed me what He did for me! God sent His own son to live a life I couldn't live, die the death I should have, and defeated death by raising from the dead to be seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven!!! Jesus paid the price for me. He is perfect and did not have to pay that penalty, but did it in love so that whoever believes in Him and repents (turns away) of their sin will have eternal life. Sounds simple huh? Still that doesn't make me perfect. I still struggle to please Him, but not so that I may gain eternal life. I do it out of obedience to him. You see we are all servants of someone or something, it's either the Lord or something(someone) else. You can't serve two masters. I'm so thankful to be serving the One who has the power and love to protect and care for me for all eternity and I have no need to worry!

He IS faithful, and His mercies ARE new each morning! There are times where I feel I'm not growing much in my walk with the Lord but just beyond those times I feel as though He lifts me up and carries me much farther, much faster than my previous slow turtle pace. He has shown His faithfulness MANY times to me, undeservedly! He is my Father. I aim to please Him, though I sin. I aim to pray more, yet I all too often let my quiet times slip by or cut them short. I desire to be more like Christ, but there are days when I couldn't be distinguished from the world. I want to be a good steward of the gifts He has given me (husband, children, possessions, money, time), still I frequently use them for my own selfish motives and not solely for His glory! As I reread those last few statements what stands out most to me is "I" "I" "I". I(again I know:-) 'at times' am much too focused on myself. Either trying to do good(for myself) or sinful actions(for myself). I say 'at times' because if it were not for God's saving grace that He gave me it would be 'all the time' as it was before I was saved. On occasion it's nice to look back to my former self and see how far the Lord has brought me! And I'm amazed each time I look! Sometimes because it seems I haven't gone but a step, yet others because I can't even see that road anymore. It's a daily battle and I strive to "throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and run with perseverance the race marked out for me." (Heb 12:1) God is faithful and His steadfast love never ceases!!! I pray that you would know God's love and saving grace in your life today!!!

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.

Refrain
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Refrain

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

Refrain

John Piper Audiobooks for $4.98

In addition to my last post Christian Audio.com is offering ALL John Piper audiobooks for $4.98 each, from Nov 1st-21st. This is a great deal!!

Some of the titles include:

What Jesus Demands from the World
A Hunger For God
Amazing Grace in the Life of William Wilberforce
Battling Unbelief
Don't Waste Your Life
Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die
Finally Alive
God is the Gospel
John Calvin and His Passion for the Majesty of God
Let the Nations be Glad
Pierced by the Word: Thirty-One Meditations for Your Soul
Spectacular Sins
The Dangerous Duty of Delight
The Future of Justification
The Pleasures of God
The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World

Free audiobook of the month

I received an e-mail this morning from Christianaudio.com that their free audiobook download for the month of November is Desiring God by John Piper. I haven't read this book so I'm excited to listen to it! Hope you get a chance to listen too! Click here to download!!

Wordless Wednesday

Cribless!!

It's a bitter/sweet day here at the Russell household.... You could now, if you stopped by for a visit, walk through the house room by room and would not spot a crib anywhere. For 10 years and 36 days we've had one inhabiting at least one if not two rooms in our home! A little longer if you were to count one being vacant until Braden's arrival!


Jake is officially a big boy now! Well as big as he can be yet still wet in his pants...that's next!!


Here is his new bed, opposite E's and across the room from his two oldest brothers, B and G's. He's adjusting quite well. To answer your question, "Yes!" He does get out but with a quick discipline and a talkin' to he responds well...so far! When we first moved him in with the boys we had his crib up in the room but after a night or two he began climbing out and getting into his big-boy bed to sleep. So after only one week we took down his crib ;-( and now he's one of the boys. No longer the baby, though he still refers to himself as "Mommy's baby boy" with a 'little' prodding! ;-)


For your delight I thought I'd share a couple of funny crib photos that I came across. I'm sure there is more but here is a few good ones!


Ethan (2.5 at the time) thought it'd be fun to clear out Madi's closet, or at least the things he could reach, and let her play with them in her crib!! I wonder how many of those shoes hit her in the head. :-( Poor girl! And you can't see it but she has a hanger up around her left shoulder!






We had gone to the zoo and after we returned home I laid Jake down for a late nap. He was a bit crabby that day and was being very stubborn about going to sleep. I let him cry it out for about 10min or so and when I went in to check on him, well there he was pressed up against the side of the crib on his knees! Too cute!!



Here Jake is on his computer pillow!

Here is Ethan's first night in his convertible toddler bed/crib! I know, I know he's a bit old(almost 3) to be moving him from the crib. But I was holding out as long as possible to keep my sanity by having him contained! He did such a great job of obeying mommy and staying in his bed, well for a couple nights at least!!

He's getting comfortable in his new 'big' boy bed

Sweet grin!

And we're cribless!!! ;-) ;-(

Picture Day!!!

Last week I noticed there was one day in the next 10day forecast that was going to be nice(above 70). I had wanted to get out with the kids to take their yearly photos so I made the decision the night before to go and had to scramble to be sure their clothes were clean.

As some of you know I got a new camera a little over a year ago and haven't had much time to play with it. I've been searching for tips, took a 3 hour photography class on the basics, and practiced here and there but not enough to really know what I was doing! There is more to it than meets the eye!!! (pun intended) So as I've been reading more lately and practicing at home I was excited to attempt to take my kids' yearly pics! I mean if all fails then so be it, that's the beauty of digital, no loss!

I was actually concerned with combining, trying to figure out settings on my camera and keeping my kids under control and happy during the shoot! We did have fun though. I'd let them play and call them aside one at a time to get individual shots. The group ones were extremely difficult!!! Mainly because of our youngest, Jake!(case in point see above pic!) But on the rare couple of occasions in which I was able to get him to cooperate AND smile then Madi wouldn't sit up, or smile, or even be in the picture!! So we had some obstacles but I still wanted to make it enjoyable after all I wanted them to look happy in the photo!! I didn't succeed in getting all the shots I wanted but we got many and I was very pleased! I didn't get very many of one of my kids (poor middle child always forgotten) well he wasn't totally forgotten, I just had more shots of the others to choose from and I'd like a better one of him, ya know with that smile that he has all the time that wasn't captured in the most of the pictures! So I might try to get a couple more of him and maybe one more of Braden but other than that from two hours of snapping shots I think I have plenty to chose from! (as my photography skills aren't that great I took a LOT just to get a few!!)

Here are a few of my favorites!! Hope you enjoy!!

Jake age 2

Madi age 4

Look how long her hair is getting!! Hope her brother doesn't cut it off again!!


Ethan age 6

Look at that missing tooth! Love it!


Gabe age 7

Crazy teeth! Love it too!


One of my favorites!

Braden age 10





Thanks and praise be to God Who is the giver of all good and perfect gifts, including those above! May His grace and mercy be showered upon us all the days of our life!!!

Wordless Wednesday!

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Our day at Memorial Stadium!

My brother Jeff was in town and mentioned that maybe we should go down to Lincoln and check out the sports facilities. They allow the public to walk through certain areas on a self-guided tour. We took the older three boys with us and headed out! The boys and my brother graciously let me know that I was not wearing Husker Red but in fact I had on Oklahoma Red! So I was out of place all day! After a great dinner at Runza in Lincoln we headed down the street to Memorial Stadium!



We proceeded to go through a self guided tour of the Stadium. We walked around took some photos and were able to go in the SE gate to go in and see the field and while in the lobby the team was walking through the hall from practice to dinner.
The Linebackers coach Mike Ekeler stopped to say hi to the boys. After a bit of small talk he said "Hey guys, wanna see where my kids' favorite spot in the stadium is?" of course the kids said "yes". So he took us up the elevator to the 6th floor in the press box! We took a couple pics and he let the boys yell "Go Big Red" through the stadium microphone! Too cool!!



He then said "wanna see my kids' second favorite place'? Of course, Yeah!! So he then led us down to the field and said "Now boys... you can't walk on the field....you have to RUN"!!!! So we proceeded through the tunnel walk and the kids ran down the field to the end zone! We took pictures on the huskers' bench, at mid field, and captured the view of the stadium from the field!!







On the way down to the field Mike had grabbed a couple of Sharpies from the front desk and gave them to the boys. He told them that the whole team would be walking past from the practice field through the stadium in to the cafeteria for dinner and we could get some autographs!! The kids' (and my brother's) eyes were huge with delight!! So after we played on the field we were able to meet a lot of the team and some of the coaches including Mike Ekeler-Linebackers Coach, Ron Brown-Tight End Coach, James Dobson-Head Strength Coach, and Bo Pelini-Head Coach! God had it perfectly planned that the boys would each bring a Husker hat and each of them different!! So we got out the Sharpies and the team was extremely gracious to delay their yummy smelling dinner to sign the boys' hats!! Some of which include Alex Henery, Roy Helu Jr., Adi Kunalic, Zac Lee, Ndamukong Suh, and to top it all off Bo Pelini. Their hats are covered and they were so excited to have been able to have this kind of access! We were bummed we didn't get a pic of them with Mike who was so kind to give the boys a look around! Thank You Mike and all the Nebraska Cornhuskers for giving my boys and experience they'll never forget!!!