In "Other" Words ~ Year-Round Christmas

Christmas belongs to us, the believers of Christ, 

It doesn't belong to the world.

Christ needs to be elevated in our hearts year around.

He didn't come to be marketed, as a seasonal gift on sale for half price.

We were the ones that were bought at a price.

~ David Jeremiah

Christmas is in 5 days.  I am woefully unprepared.  Our tree stands in the living room, fully lit but barely decorated...over a week ago I told the children, "two ornaments apiece, and we'll finish it tomorrow..."  Or maybe a few days after tomorrow...*blush*

I bought my first Christmas gifts yesterday...thank goodness for Amazon and free SuperSaver shipping!  Hopefully today I will cross a few more off the list...I so want to be finished BEFORE Christmas Eve.  

I realized yesterday that I need a new "plan" for Christmas brunch...or breakfast, as it will need to be this year, due to Sunday morning church.   For various reasons, our traditional brunch fare won't work this year, so it's time to get creative quick.

And speaking of realizations, I realized in the wee hours this morning that I completely, totally FORGOT about our standing Christmas Eve tradition...the one package we open on Christmas Eve...just left it off the list entirely.  Realized entirely too late, as the Christmas budget is already past the point of last minute additions...a last-minute "what do I do now?" pickle that I seriously wish I had avoided. 

I had a list of Christmas crafts, ornaments, and gifts I really wanted to tackle with the children this year...I still hold out hope of accomplishing a *few* things off that list, but given the schedule for the week, it won't be nearly as many as I'd hoped. 

I'm reminding myself that considering the events of the last couple of months, I've actually done pretty well.  It isn't as though I've just been lollygagging. :)  Since the first of November I've had a couple of humdinger illnesses, one of which landed me in the ER, and both of which required some serious "down time" in order not to put myself even *further* behind.  And then there were the few days of electrical issues, which threw several kinks into our plans.  Amazingly, we made it through all the Christmas music at church (with all the associated extra rehearsals) pretty much without missing a beat.  They were wonderful, and a treasured part of our family Christmas traditions with our church family, but they definitely take a huge chunk of our schedule during holiday prep time.

And again today, as with so many Christmas seasons in recent years, we have a funeral to attend.  As we've been preparing for today, my mind has gone back to spending Christmas Eve at the funeral home 13 years ago after Granny Kitty died...to Daddy's funeral the day after the Christmas musical in 2004...and spending my birthday at the funeral home last year when Great-Papa died.  (Was that just last year?  Or two years ago?  The years seem to be running together...)  This year dear friends lost their mother/mother-in-law/grandmother.  She had been on hospice for 9 months and had her ups and downs, and yet...no one really expected it to happen now. 

As jarring as funeral homes and funerals and loss and grieving seem against the backdrop of the festivities of the holiday season, I am reminded again, as my friend said the other day, that this is what Christmas is all about.   While the grim reality of death seems so out of place in the midst of the season of joy and gladness...it's really what the joy and gladness are all about.

I remember walking the mall on Christmas Eve 13 years ago, shopping for earrings in which to bury my grandmother.  There weren't any suitable earrings from her collection which matched the suit in which she was to be buried, so with my mom and aunt busy with other details, I volunteered for earring duty.  

It was hard not to be sad walking through the mall that afternoon.  Christmas sweaters and Santa hats and funny reindeer antler headbands were everywhere.  There were clusters of happy shoppers with armloads of bags overflowing with gifts.  Of course, there were also the grumpy scrooge-type shoppers...the ones who complained about long lines, empty shelves, and crowded aisles.   I felt like such an out-of-place observer, distanced from the holiday frivolity by my somber mission.

Just as I found myself fighting tears, remembering many happy trips to that very mall with my grandmother in her healthier "shop-til-you-drop" days, realization dawned.  While I felt that the purpose of my trip was decidedly "un-Christmas-y", in reality, it pointed to the real meaning of Christmas in a way that the Christmas sweaters, reindeer antlers, and Santa hats couldn't begin to.  

God reminded me as I wove through the crowds that day of a truth I saw more clearly than I ever had before...a truth I had heard, and read, and said for years, but which I was actually experiencing in a whole new way.  The death that had propelled me to the mall, the grieving that I was experiencing as I walked along...they, not the holly and glitter of the holidays...they were truly the point.  


I realized that many of those happy shoppers I was passing might be experiencing the holiday spirit, but completely missing out on the Spirit of the holiday.  Although we were experiencing sadness in the fact that my grandmother wouldn't be there to celebrate Christmas, we had an amazing joy and certain hope in the knowledge that she was now worshiping her Savior face to face, and that we would see her again someday.  As our friend Jeanette Cox said, "This may be your worst Christmas ever, but it's her BEST one."  I've remembered that often this week.  


Decorated trees, holiday baking, beautifully wrapped gifts, family traditions...they are all wonderful parts of our Christmas celebration.  But as God keeps reminding me this year...they aren't the point.  They are fun, special, precious extras that hopefully help remind us, our families, and our friends of the true gift of Christmas.  But they aren't Christmas.  

Christmas is, as the quote above points out, all about OUR being bought...not on sale, but at the highest price imaginable.  And not as a last-minute fix to an unexpected problem, but as part of a divinely perfect plan from before the foundation of the world.  God created us KNOWING that we would sin, KNOWING that we would need a Savior, and PLANNING to send His one and only Son, fully God and yet fully man, to come to earth and die...for sinful, selfish, evil us.   The gift of Christmas is a year-round gift of hope and peace and joy found in salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, His death on the cross to pay for our sin, and His glorious resurrection.  


I'm reminding myself this year that I need to let go of all the other stuff of Christmas, and focus on that truth.  The greatest gift I can give my family is not Christmas Eve pajamas, traditional brunch food every year, or a beautifully decorated tree.  The greatest gift I can give my family is to live out the year-round reality of Christmas every day, and to spend the Christmas season reminding them of that year-round reality in all that we do.  (Conversely, the worst thing I can do is get stressed and grumpy because Christmas isn't looking like I think it should or wish it would...not that I would ever do that...*whistles in the air*.  I still have a blog post pending from Thanksgiving about God using a friend to "sharpen" me a bit in that regard...God is still working on me!)


Thanks to Karen for hosting In "Other" Words this week.  Please visit her blog to see what she and others have to say about the above quote she selected for today.
  

P.S....Just as I was finishing this post, Billy called and said my Christmas Eve gift crisis had been solved.   God is good, always, and I am thankful! 

focused on Glory...Moon

Almost a week had passed since our first focused on Glory post, and I was not much better off than I was the week before in the way of photos.  The infection that had landed me in the ER the previous week was a doozy, and my camera hadn't been in hand nearly as often as usual.  When it was, the photos I took were quite uninspired.  I was beginning to get a bit antsy about the upcoming focused on Glory post. 

Then as we pulled up at the house after Sunday night's second and final performance of this year's Keyboards at Christmas, I saw it: a HUGE bird flew over the van and the house into our back yard.  Its underside was totally white against the hauntingly dark night sky.  "What was THAT?"  I asked Billy.  "An owl...a HUGE owl," he replied.  

We raced into the house and out the back door, reminding the children not to let the dogs out in the yard.  I just knew this was going to be the solution to my lack of photos for this week's focused on Glory post...what could be better than a big, beautiful owl in a tree?  

We saw it, sitting regally in the top of the tree across the alley.  As dark on the outside as its underside had been light, it was still quite visible high in the tree against the dark sky.  Alas...what was visible to the naked eye was too much of a challenge for my photographic skills...the combination of distance, zoom lens, darkness of the sky, and darkness of the amazing bird were just too much.  As I frantically changed settings over and over, trying to come up with *something* that would work, the giant bird suddenly took flight and disappeared.  

There is nothing quite like the devastation of knowing that you have missed an incredible photo opportunity.  I stood in the yard with eyes peeled for the massive owl, repeatedly asking Billy, "Do you think it will come back??"  He tried to console me, but we both knew it was probably gone for the night, if not forever.  

As I searched the dark sky for the elusive owl, I began to notice something else that I'd been looking right past...the moon.  I had really wanted to get up and take pictures of the eclipse Saturday morning, but that was not to be.  As I looked at the moon, and the clouds and trees that framed it, I decided that I might have missed the photo opportunity I had dashed out the door for, but I had another one in the sky right over my head. 

Be sure to see Tauna's focused on Glory post here.  (And don't miss the delightful story behind it here!) 

I Heart Faces...Pets

This week I Heart Faces is all about pet faces!  Here's the blurb..."This week is all about the animals that we love and adore!  Enter a photo of an animal (doesn’t have to be furry – any type of pet, animal, insect, bird, snake, etc. is fine).  " 

This is Apollonia.  Apollonia is very definitely a pet.  If we go out in the yard without food for her, she runs up to us and follows us around until we go in and get something for her.  She takes food out of our hands.  She is seriously spoiled. :)  I especially love this photo of her from earlier today because you can see her cute little tongue. <3

Be sure to check back later this evening for this week's focused on Glory post! 

Remembering Seven Years Ago...

Remembering seven years ago...

missing dress rehearsal, friends helping in so many ways,
Isaiah 40:11,

Diet Coke in a bag, 

half the choir showing up at the hospital when dress rehearsal ended, 

just the right people being there at just the right times, 

watching every breath and wondering if it was the last...

until it was, and all the suffering was over, 

and we were left with a great big husband/daddy/father-in-law/Papaw-sized hole in our hearts.  

So thankful for these years he's spent rejoicing and worshiping instead of suffering, and for the certain hope that that night seven years ago was not good-bye.  Almost the last words I heard him say, in the midst of incredible pain, were "God has been so good to me."  So thankful for that memory that challenges me when I get caught up in earthly stuff and forget to see His goodness...

So thankful for my Daddy...

                                        

...and missing him an awful lot tonight...

Not exactly according to plan...

"I may end up cheating on the first FOG post tomorrow..."  was the message that popped into my chat window yesterday.  "I may have to as well..." was my reply.  Not an especially auspicious start for our new joint blog venture!

Just hours after I posted our announcement post last Thursday, I found myself in the ER, thanks to a sudden and severe infection that totally derailed the rest of the week.  Thanks to some heavy-hitting meds and lots of mandatory rest, I am finally beginning to feel something akin to normal.  However, all my plans for a photo-filled weekend fell completely flat.  No Christmas card pictures, no birthday photos of our oldest, no Keyboards at Christmas photos, no nothing!  I did take a few backyard bird photos, but my arm wasn't steady enough to get anything approaching a great shot.  

Poor Tauna didn't even get her camera out during that time.  She was hit hard by a nasty bout of bronchitis and ended up in bed all weekend.  

As Tauna suggested, it almost seems as if Satan is working overtime to discourage us from focusing on God's glory and sharing it in this way.  Not going to work, though!  :)  I may not have the photos I intended to have, or even anything close, but I'm going to use what I have and share regardless.  

I don't know if Thursday night was the sickest I've ever been, but if it wasn't, it was certainly in the running. But God worked in that time in such a precious way...He showed His faithfulness and glory in the cold (quite literally, as I was shaking with chills), sterile (well, until the poor paramedic bumped a syringe and shot blood all over the exam room...yes, it was a fun night for all :)), and sometimes lonely (Billy was bouncing back and forth trying to take care of me and checking on the kids) ER room just as greatly as He shows it in a gorgeous waterfall or in the amazing view off a mountaintop.  

I posted this on Facebook on Friday...

I have the best husband, the best children, and the best friends anywhere. And I am so very, very thankful for them. And thankful for our ever-faithful God, and for His Word, which is a comfort and help in any situation. I was also reminded in the wee hours of the morning how thankful I am for Marie K's parents, Steve and Heber M, who encouraged not only me, but our family and our church, in systematic Scripture memory for many years, and for my parents, who made that a priority. We tend to think that it's just in case we ever end up persecuted and have our Bibles taken away, but sometimes it's just a simple matter of not having a Bible available when we really need one, or not being in a position to read one if we had it. There are a lot of things I can't quote verbatim, but it is such a blessing to be able to meditate on what I do remember when I can't pull out a Bible and read it.

I am so thankful for all the ways God showed His faithfulness and glory that night.  One of the biggest ways was through my sweet husband.  I posted this on Facebook later on Friday...

I have to go back and say how thankful I am for my husband. He worked 10 1/2 hours yesterday, came home and went to the Living Nativity with us, and then spent 5 hours in the ER (where he'd worked all day) with his sick wife. He came home and slept for not-quite-two hours, got up and ran a bunch of errands that I couldn't do (and brought home warm, fuzzy socks for me!), did laundry, and then went to the store to help me get the essentials since it's two-week grocery day and there was no way that was happening. All without complaining at all. I am so blessed and thankful (and more than a bit spoiled).

I am very blessed (and yes, spoiled :)).  I am so thankful to have a husband who shows the love of Christ for the church in his love and care for me and for our children.  His birthday happens to be tomorrow. :)  So even though this is not really the type of photo I had in mind for this feature...it's actually just a snapshot from a quick birthday dinner tonight (because of church tomorrow)...I decided it was an appropriate one for this "not according to plan" "focused on Glory" feature.  

I'll work on more creative, technically correct photos for the coming weeks. :)  In the meantime, here's a quick bonus I did take this morning. Not a great shot for all kinds of reasons...particularly some irritating purple fringing I've been dealing with lately (I'm not sure why that has suddenly become an issue, but if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know!)....but there was something about this shot that I loved, with all it's imperfections, so I did a little playing in PSE and decided it was a keeper.   I am more amazed all the time at God's glory shown in these feathered creatures.  The more I watch and photograph them, the more they fascinate me.  Today was a gray and dreary day, and the tiny bursts of color of the cardinals in the trees were definitely glimpses of God's glory. 

Be sure to visit Tauna's "focused on Glory" post as well...her Haiti photos first caused me to fall in love with her photography, and she shares a few of them in today's post. 

Announcing...

The time has come.  I promised something exciting coming up on the blog, and it's time to make the big announcement. :)  Well, two of us are excited, anyway, and we hope you will be, too!  Here it is, in both our words...

From Tauna:

Aperture, ISO, white balance, metering, filters, actions- it’s easy to get bogged down in the mechanics of photography, especially if you are still learning. As much as I love photography, and learning how to make beautiful images, I often feel overwhelmed with trying to get everything just right- usually to little avail. Rarely does a shot come out with the crispness, or effect I hope for. That’s not to say I want to give up, I know I will get there someday.

But if my entire aim is on getting that just right, artsy, stunning shot, then maybe I need to take a breather. Perhaps I need to pay more attention to my focus. No, not the cross-hairs in my viewfinder, but the pinpoint of my attention.

My fabulous friend Jennifer proposed a 52 week project that hopefully will sharpen our focus. She and I are going to try to capture a hint of God’s glory through our lenses. We want to concentrate more on composure than exposure, wonder over white balance, and interest instead of ISO.

That’s not to say we are going to throw what bits we know out the window. And we aren’t going to set everything on AUTO. What it means is that we are hoping to find our shots through a God filter. We want to be focused on Glory.

To tell you the truth, Jennifer is a beautiful photographer. You can see the evidence on her blog Ponderings of an Elect Exile. I've told her a few times that her wildlife photos remind me of Thase Daniel. I love seeing what she is able to capture.

If you want to catch our glimpses of glory, join us each Tuesday on our individual blogs as we post our pictures for the week. I can’t wait to see what He shows us.

~ Tauna

From Jennifer:

A while back, an idea began brewing in the back of my mind.  I love photography.  But some days I love it more than others.  There are days that I find myself rather frustrated at the lack of progress I'm making in the technical aspects.  There are days that I'm actually going backward rather than forward.  And there are days I think I just need to put my camera away and be done with it completely.  

Those days don't happen all that often, but lately I've had a few more of them than usual.  I've learned that the best antidote for those days is to take my camera out and shoot something I love to shoot...something I don't have to pose or direct...something that gets me back to the "why" I'm doing this photography thing in the first place.  

The "something", more often than not, is the birds and squirrels in our yard.  A session or two shooting our resident wildlife usually gets me back in a better frame of mind and reminds me of the "why"...why I love photography anyway, and what my goal is in walking around with this thing strapped around my neck all the time. :)

There are actually many reasons I love photography, and more than one goal in my shutter-clicking.  But I've realized over the past year or so that the major "why" behind my photography is this...I want to be able to capture a little glimpse of God's glory through my lens.  Whether photographing nature, people/relationships, or events, I want to show God's glory through my photos.   Even in capturing our family memories in photos, I want to leave a heritage for our children to remind them of the work God has done and is doing in our family "from the first day until now".  

So...back to my idea, and our announcement. :)  After one of those, "I need to pack up my camera and be done with it" bouts recently, I thought about advice I'd seen from more than one photographer I admire.  Over and over I have read that one of the best things you can do to improve your photography and prevent burnout is to get involved in a 365 or 52 project....a photograph every day or week for a year.   I don't tend to do well with those things, and I didn't know of any groups starting soon, but I really liked the idea, and began to ponder starting a personal 365 or 52 project on my blog.  

I worried, though, that I needed accountability.  Unlike my "Oven-Free Friday" feature, which I'm still planning to continue, but which has been on hiatus for the last few weeks, I wanted to be consistent with this.   I needed someone to prod me and motivate me a bit.  And then during a chat session one night, the thought hit me that I needed a partner in this venture.  And who better than my friend Tauna?  She is an incredibly  talented photographer.  She is one of the most creative people I know.  She has a really cool blog called Creative Confetti.  AND...she has recently opened an Etsy shop, where you will find these adorable little doo-dads...(perfect for Christmas presents for the girls and ladies on your list! :))

To make a long story a tiny bit shorter, we are teaming up to bring you "focused on Glory", a weekly joint blog feature which will appear every Tuesday on both Creative Confetti and Ponderings of an Elect Exile.  We will each share our favorite "glimpse of God's glory through the lens" from the week before, and perhaps share a bit of the story behind the photo.  

So...visit us on Tuesday for our first "focused on Glory" post!  

~ Jennifer 

(Super-special thanks to Tauna for the cool blog button for our new feature.  She's designed a whole set, which we'll be rotating through the weeks...keep an eye out!) 

30 Days of Gratitude + 1 ~ Happy Birthday, Peter!

Yes, I still have some backlogged 30 Days of Gratitude posts to finish...

Yes, I still have a list of posts I was planning before the 30 Days started...

Yes, there is an exciting announcement coming later tonight...

But first and most importantly...it's time for a birthday post!  

Fourteen years ago today, I became a mother. 

14!?!? 

I could post about the 36 hours of back labor with no epidural. 

I could post about my mom not believing Billy when he walked out and said "It's a boy!" (We didn't find out what we were having ahead of time.)  She had to go into the room and see for herself because Billy had joked for months that he was going to go out and announce, "It's a beagle!" {*Rolling eyes*}

I could post all kinds of mushy mom stuff, but he'd rather I didn't. :)  I will say that I am extremely thankful for this boy of mine...and I'm excited about the journey God is taking him on from boy to man.  

He's not fond of the camera these days...occasionally he'll let me take a shot or two, but my "current" photos are rather limited.  I'm hoping for a "birthday photo" shoot this weekend, so hopefully I'll come back and post a few of those soon.

In the meantime, here's a look back over the last 14 years...

I love this of Peter and Bayley...<3

Peter looking very serious as the Penguin Poacher at Emlyn's birthday party a few months ago. :)