It's almost time

Christmas is almost here! Where did the month go? I am not quite sure. It has been pretty crazy. But it's almost here.

We finally did our Christmas picture. We attempted to do it on our own with the tripod, and that was a bad idea. It was the hottest day of December and it ended up with Noah sliding off Hannah and smashing his face on a rock. Poor guy, (he was ok) but it quickly ended our picture taking. I was pretty much over sending out a card, until last weekend, I thought I have to send one out it's Noah's first Christmas. So we did, I called Chela and we went out right behind our house and got some great pictures. I am so thankful for her. She was so flexible and squeezed us in. So after Jacob did some editing I uploaded to Walmart and cards were printed.

Last week Hannah and I decided to bless our neighbors. Well, it was a process that took a couple of months but we did it last week. Between pintrest and Ryan's service messages, I got a bright idea. I saved all our coffee cans for months.... and I mean months. I looked like a coffee hoarder. I cleaned them and then glued pretty wrapping paper on them over the coffee logo. Then we baked, well Hannah and Noah slept and Mama did the baking. And we filled the cans with cookies, chocolate covered graham crackers and rice krispie treats. We took them door to door and introduced our selfs to our neighbors in our circle and gave them out. Hannah even greeted all of them with a Merry Christmas. It was wonderful. We have lived in our condo complex for almost 5 years, and most of our neighbors we have never met. We have 12 in our circle and 4 neighbors are new the area. It was a great moment to soak in, showing Christ's Love in the form in baked goods. It stretched me a person, I am not the outgoing type, and as a parent, these are the moments that I want to instill in my children. It was great.

So it is almost here, the presents are wrapped, the tree is up, the cards are out... we are just about ready. The elves will come tomorrow to bring us new jammies for Christmas, we will take communion as a family on Christmas morning and read the story of Jesus of birth before we open presents. All preparation and gifts aside, he came as a child, in a manager, to save us all. This really hit me the other day, when I was holding my sleeping Noah..... only 4 months old, that is how our savior came as a child.

Thankfulness in the craziness

These last couple of weeks have been pretty busy. Shopping, lots of birthdays and getting ready for Christmas. We waste no time, after Thanksgiving we put up the tree and deck the halls. It looks like Christmas in our home. We figure why wait, we only a tree in our home once a year so we should make the most of it. It was so much fun decorating with the kids. Hannah loved to put up the ornaments and then take them off and redecorate the tree again. She worn the stockings as slippers and of course the Christmas music was playing. The little Mr. and I sat of the floor playing as Hannah and Daddy decorated the tree. It was great.

I am so thankful for Gods timing. He really knows what he is doing even when I can't see what his divine plan is. I was able to go out and do nearly all my Christmas shopping on black friday. I am so thankful that I was because last week my hours at work were cut.... drastically. I took nearly 30% right before Christmas. My initial reaction was, what an answer to prayer because work was taking up so much of my time during the day that I felt like that I was not here for the kids. (although still so very thankful that I am still the one with them and they don't have to go to daycare) But after the reality started to sink in of how that much less income will effect our family panic set in. I was ready for anything, if we had to move, sell a car, whatever. I KNOW that God has a perfect plan, a plan for me, for my family and he will use this for HIS purpose.

So I am thankful that he knew that I would be getting a cut and he allowed me to get all the shopping done at amazing discounts. We also sat down and did the new budget, and yes it will be tight, but not impossible, I am so thankful we don't have to move. We still owe a great about in medical debt, but I have to trust that God knows what he doing. He knows our needs. He will use all of this for his purpose, after all its Christmas time, when you really think about it, he was born in a manager. It puts thinks all in persective. I think that is what I really need this season, new perspective, new hope, built faith. I have four little eyes that are watching my every move, my every reaction in this crazy season. We will get through this, it will get better, and if it doesn't, that is ok too, we are happy and healthy and have the love of Jesus...... that is all we need.