What a Year!

Here we are about to close out another year. Each year as the calendar flips to January first I think about how far away December sounds, but it never fails to return a little bit faster than it did the year before. 2012 is no acception. We celebrated the New Year in Ohio with my family last year. This year will most likely provide less eventful since we elected to stay home through the holiday season. But as Always (pun intended) God gave me a song - the same song at church this morning as he did last New Year's. It is "Always" by Kristian Stanfill. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzJH4YeqfuQ

We did some traveling in 2012. We flew to South Carolina at the end of May after missing the trip in 2011. It was so great to see old friends and family and of course, spend some time at the beach. The kids and I drove back to Evansville, IN at the end of June. I coached at the throwing clinic (shot put and discus) I have done for the past 4 years and we visited will some old friends and our UE family. We then drove on to visit my family in Ohio for the 4th of July. To our great big surprise, Tyrone flew up a few days after we arrived to surprise us and spend some time relaxing with us at the farm. He had convinced me that his summer school schedule and an important meeting would keep him from traveling at all. We also took a 2 day trip to Branson, MO right before Christmas to enjoy an indoor water park, dinner and a show, and too much other good food.

Last winter was quiet with no snow and very mild temperatures. It was a wonderful way to settle into our new home in NW Arkansas. January wrapped up with the celebration of Lydia's first birthday. She was walking by that time and was full of personality although she had very little hair. Now as we approach her second birthday, she has a full head of crazy, curly hair and continues to surprise us each day with her vocabulary and "grown up" way of doing things. Most recently she has taken a great interest in playing dress-up with "Esha" (rarely she will get out the full Maiesha), mothering her baby dolls, watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and saying prayers to Jesus at meals and bedtime. We hope to wrap up potty training around her birthday and transition into a toddler bed so she can come to us during the night rather than yelling "Mooom" or "Daaad" from her crib.

Maiesha was completely immersed in a wonderful preschool experience last winter. For the first time, she had a group of best friends and one "sister", Hadley, that she really enjoyed playing with. They all went on to different schools in the fall, but we have been able to keep in touch and make time to play with them inspite of preschool graduation. To our pleasant surprise, Maiesha went off to kindergarten without shedding a single tear that first day. She has made some great new friends and loves her teacher. Her reading and math skills are starting to blossom and she read "Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?" to me before bed last night. She has a very sweet spirit, but has struggled with some teenage-like emotions particularly when she is tired. She continued with dance again this year adding Jazz with the Ballet and Tap. She had a wonderful recital in the spring and they did an extra Christmas performance December 1. She loves making crafts a jewelry in her free time at home.

Jeremiah had a wonderful first grade experience last year. He wrapped up the spring with a super fun 7th birthday party here at home with lots of friends, and giant Harry Potter cake and homemade ice cream. In August he started taekwondo right before school began. He has already moved from white to orange to yellow belt and continues to catch on quickly. The instructors say he has natural talent and does a great job. He hopes to attend his first tournament in January. Jeremiah was thrilled to begin second grade, but by September was clearly not enjoying school. He has really struggled at times throughout the fall semester with a number of teaching changes and learning how to deal with his emotions. He still loves to read and does very well, but is otherwise not so interested in school right now. He does seem to be developing an interest in traveling the world and is still full of personality with a crazy ability to talk anyone's ear off. I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Tyrone has had a very eventful 2012. He has been awarded 2 grants, has a lab full of hard working students, including 2 PhD students, and has made a ton of connections with other professors across campus that he can collaborate with on various research projects. He continues to enjoy teaching, but has to take a more balanced approach now that research is such a big part of his resposibilities. He hopes to get his first 2 research papers published this spring as well as continue to look for more funding to keep new projects flowing. Tyrone has been able to devote more time to being home now that his first year is in the books. He has enjoyed spending more time doing family stuff and taking Jeremiah to lots of his taekwondo classes. He hopes to join in once we have some extra money since he did karate as a child. We have joined a community group at church and have also be able to connect with some other families outside our church.

I volunteered at the University as a track & field official last winter and spring. It was a wonderful experience and a great way to stay connected to the sport I love so much. I hope to be there again this year, but probably a little less often with the new responsibilities I have going on. I really enjoyed hosting "Lunch at Lynette's" once a month through 2012. It was a great was to connect with other stay-at-home moms and use my gift of hospitality.  I started my new part-time job at our church as the Children's Ministry Director at the end of July. It has been a great experience so far and I am looking forward to lots of great things especially as we prepare to move our church to a new larger facility in 2013. The biggest surprise of all, after working through some marriage issues at the end of summer, is the new life God has birthed in me. Yes, we are expecting a new baby in July. As we start to plan and prepare for this "icing on the cake" miracle it really is a symbol of new beginnings for our family as we head into 2013.

As one of my dear, old friends put it, "Congrats on a full quiver." It comes from Psalm 127:4-5.
 "Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
are children born in one’s youth.
 Blessed is the man
whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame
when they contend with their opponents in court."

A baby born to die

I am going to sit on my anti-santa soapbox today. Last year we decided to tell Jeremiah and Maiesha that santa claus is not real. We told them that their Christmas gifts come from us and other family members and that santa is a fun way to pretend, but he is make believe just like their favorite characters from tv and movies. They seemed to accept the news in stride, and mostly wanted to know that they would, in fact, still receive gifts at Christmas time. We reassured them that we would always give them gifts.

All year long they took a little joy in telling adults that santa is not really. It is like they had been let in on the secret and they want to brag about it. (Don't worry...we also told them not to tell other kids becuase not everyone knows and it not their job to tell.) At school, however, Maiesha's teacher must have read a book about santa and being on his naughty or nice list. She has been extra emotional lately, especially when she is tired, and she got really upset last Saturday while we were riding in the car. She was upset because she thought she was not going to get any gifts because she had not been a "good girl" this year. Her teacher SAID she would get rocks for Christmas if she was not good. (I think she was referring to coal, but rocks work too.) I was not at all upset with her teacher for telling the story, but I quickly squashed her fears that her receiving any gifts at Christmas was conditional on how "good" she had been this year.

This brings me to my soapbox. Our culture has built this expectation on earning gifts from santa by being more good than bad all year. If we even just finish the year well, or do something really selfless right before Christmas, we can get onto santa's nice list and ensure we get lots of good presents. This is in complete opposition to the REAL reason we celebrate Christmas.

God, in his perfect love for his creation, sent his Son, Jesus, to this world in human form to be the ultimate gift of salvation for all who believe in him. We are all on the "naughty list" if you really think about it. Jesus is the ONLY way we can can experience God's mercy and grace and live forever with Him.

Colossians 1: 15-23 (NIRV) says,
"Christ is the exact likeness of God, who can’t be seen. He is first, and he is over all of creation. ¹⁶ All things were created by him. He created everything in heaven and on earth. He created everything that can be seen and everything that can’t be seen. He created kings, powers, rulers and authorities. Everything was created by him and for him. ¹⁷ Before anything was created, he was already there. He holds everything together.
¹⁸ And he is the head of the body, which is the church. He is the beginning. He is the first to be raised from the dead. That happened so that he would be far above everything. ¹⁹ God was pleased to have his whole nature living in Christ. ²⁰ God was pleased to bring all things back to himself because of what Christ has done. That includes all things on earth and in heaven. God made peace through Christ’s blood, through his death on the cross.
²¹ At one time you were separated from God. You were enemies in your minds because of your evil ways. ²² But because Christ died, God has brought you back to himself. Christ’s death has made you holy in God’s sight. So now you don’t have any flaw. You are free from blame.
²³ But you must keep your faith steady and firm. Don’t move away from the hope that the good news holds out to you. It is the good news that you heard. It has been preached to every creature under heaven. I, Paul, now serve the good news."

In order to comfort Maiesha, this is what I shared with her. I told her that we give gifts to each other at Christmas time to show our love for each other like God showed his love for us by sending Jesus. Our gifts to each other, as best we can try to replicate God's love, show each other that our love is not conditional on how good we have been all year, but just a way to express our love like God did when Jesus was born in the manger more than 2000 years ago. And more gifts do not mean more love. It is all about our hearts. No amount of money or gifts can measure up to God's gift of salvation.

Jesus knew he came to die so that we could be reconciled to God and have a relationship with him that cannot be taken away. There is no greater gift! If you do not know Jesus as your savior, it is very simple. Just pray!
1) Acknowledge that you are a sinner and that you cannot save yourself.
2)Acknowledge that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and only He can save you.
3)Believe that His death on the Cross was for your personal sins and that His death was in your behalf. Believe that he rose from the grave and is alive seated at the right hand of God in heaven.
4) Give Him your life and ask Him to be your Savior and Lord.

Merry Christmas! I hope you will experience God's love and mercy this holiday season.
"A Baby Born to Die" by Bebo Norman http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7S5cQhx2nZA