White Christmas

Yesterday was Christmas day, as you already know, and let me tell, it was a GOOD one.

For a few days, forecasters had been saying we would get some snow, maybe 1-3 inches. I didn't think anything of it because I live in a small, Southeastern Tennessee town that rarely gets snow. I worked all day Christmas eve, then went to my Mamaw's house and had finger foods and opened presents there, then came home. I went to bed, and slept soundly, until I woke up and realized that it was Christmas day...

I went to the door, and lo and behold, SNOW!!! It was just a dusting, but it kept falling. After everyone was awake, but still sleepy-eyed, we passed out presents and opened them, and folks, I got THE BEST GIFT OF THE YEAR. My mom got me a ten piece set of Paula Dean cookware. I was thrilled.

Anyways, back to the snow. It kept falling, and falling, and before long, we had two inches! This was my FIRST ever White Christmas. Over all we ended up with about 7 inches, and today, it is still coming down hard!

I know that it isn't about snow or presents, but I think that God gave all of us southern folk a nice treat, especially those who have never had a White Christmas.

Woo Me

I have decided to return from my short sabbatical from the blog. I wasn't writing, frankly, because I had no words to say, no inspiration. I have recently been learning some things from God, one being that I am His Princess heir.

I bought a book called "His Princess Bride: Love Letters from Your Prince," and began reading it. In the first few pages, I began falling in love with Christ all over again, and realizing that He just wants us to surrender and let Him LOVE us. He wants to be every girl's "knight in shining armor," her first real love, and her eternal husband. The last part really poke to m as I read those words in the book. I realize that I am only 22, but finding that one man to be with for the rest of my life has been important to me for some time now. Reading that Jesus wants to be my eternal husband helped me to forget about trying to "find the one." In His time, that special man will come my way, and we will be happy forever. Until then, I am learning to trust Him and let Christ woo me and love on me as He wants to every girl.

Thankful

It's Thanksgiving Eve! Yes, I do consider the day before Thanksgiving a holiday, even though no one else does.

I figured, for today, I could make an abbreviated list of things I am thankful for.

1. Jesus saving me

2. My lovely family

3. A home to keep me warm and safe

4. My car, even though she is a stubborn little thing sometimes

5. Having clothes to wear in these cold months, when I know that in many villages in Honduras, many people don't have sufficient clothing

6. I am thankful to have the opportunity to provide Christmas for two beautiful kids I know who's parents are in a rough patch

7. I am thankful for my friends and the time that we get to hang out and be typical girls

8. For the cooler weather

9. For the experiences I have had in Honduras that opened my eyes to a hurting world

10. For the many years to come

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Yesterday, I taught on respect. What a touchy subject for a group of 7-11 year old kids.

I think they learned something though. I asked who they should respect, besides God, and they named all the normal answers, but left out one very important person. Themselves. They all looked puzzled when I said that they were leaving out one very important person, and they began going through the Trinity and I kept saying, "Yes, but no." It clicked when I said, "Yourselves." Each one was like, "OH YEAH! MYSELF!!"

I think that when taught about respect, the lessons don't usually include respecting themselves. It usually involves preaching to them about not misbehaving, back talking, and how they respect their elders and parents, but the self is never brought up.

I believe that it is imperative that we begin teaching the children of the world to respect themselves, early in life. That way they can love themselves and not cause their bodies harm.

Forgive me for the soap box rant.

You Didn't Tell Me I had to Drill

Last night, I had the pleasure of going to a friend's house and... PUT UP A CHRISTMAS TREE!!!!!!!!! If you know me well, then you know my love for all things Christmas. So, naturally, when asked if I could come over and help with the raising of a tree, I immediately said YES very enthusiastically, via text message of course.

I arrived at her house and was greeted by hugs and screams, and the phrase, "COME LOOK AT MY KITCHEN!" Now, obviously, these screams and hugs came from a few little girls that are oh so precious and adorable, so after all the excitement over a new kitchen play set had waned, I went back to the kitchen where AB was cooking. She informed me that I would be in charge of the tree, which is awesome, because that's my FAVORITE part.

After putting it together, I do this thing (as taught to me by my mama) called, "fluffing the tree." I was quickly invaded by questions from the youngest little girl, wondering what in the world I was doing. I told her that I was fluffing the tree. She proceeded to help me "fluff the tree," all the while saying, over and over, "fluff the tree, fluff the tree!"

I had no idea that the tree was covered in glitter, or "blitter" if you are a 3 year old child. So, by the time we were finished, the entire living room was covered in glitter, and so was every body in the house, probably even the puppies.

I didn't know that I had also been brought to the house to do some drilling, but I managed to get a shelf hanged and helped get a lighted wreath suspended from a canopy. I just love being crafty. Even though I'm not very good at it.

So, that was my Monday evening. I loved every minute of it, even being climbed on by two little monkeys.

Serving the Least of These

Lately, God has been dealing with some things in my life, which is why I haven't written in a while.

Music is an important part of my life, I love it. I think of music as a mode of emotional expression and a way to show your passion about something. However, there are certain types of music that I feel I have been challenged to get out of my life. Not that they are evil or anything, just that they keep me from being right-minded, for lack of a better saying. It had caused me to take my focus off of God and my job as a Sunday school teacher, and being a servant of Him.

I have teaching on seeing the face of Jesus in people who may not be the cleanest or the healthiest to my class. I talked to them yesterday about how even if the person stinks and hasn't bathed in a while, they should try their best to serve him or her as Jesus would have. This can be hard to do, I understand, but I also believe that in order for this upcoming generation to understand what serving God is, they need to learn that if they see Jesus in the face of that person, and do a kind act for them, or, help them in anyway, then what they did for them, they did for Jesus.

The song "Give Me Your Eyes" by Brandon Heath has been on my heart lately. I pray the lyrics at times because I want to see people how God sees them, I want to love people like God loves them. It has become my passion to serve the least of these.

Taking Advice from Jesus

What Would Jesus Do?

I recently found a book that I have had for years that was stashed away in a box with some old movies. The book is entitled "What Would Jesus Do?"

It's basically a book with answers to every day life questions, such as, "What would Jesus do if he knew someone was doing something wrong?" I never really gave the book any thought until I found it the other day, and figured it would be good to use for my lovely Sunday school class.

I mean, we could all take some advice from Jesus, right? It is filled with Bible verses on each subject, and little comments from individuals like Mother Teresa and others.

I shall let you know how it goes, but I'm sure it will go over well. My kids are eager to learn!