Category: Holiday Stuff

Feb 01

Charlotte is 5

I love this sweet baby. From the moment she was born, she took the internet by storm. Her sweet, yet skeptical spirit has made her a force to be reckoned with. Today, she is 5 years old. Somewhere, in all my wondering if these kids were ever going to start growing up quickly, they started doing just that. I’ve included some of my very favorite pictures of her; ones that capture her spirit and her love. Charlotte is a one and only; frustratingly stubborn, impossibly empathetic, and charming and witty. It may take a while for her to warm up to you, but once she has you, her love is fierce and unwavering.

I cannot even tell you how grateful we are that she grew into that nose.

 

Dec 03

Where is God?

psalmThese are hard times, y’all. The violence is almost unbearable to watch. As I drove into work this morning on this blustery day, I thought about what I would say to those who don’t believe. Truth be told, even the devout have times where they struggle to reconcile the tragedy around them with the belief in a good and loving God.

As I watched the leaves blow, I thought about God. How I cannot see Him, but I can see the results of Him. Despite not being able to visually see wind, we know it is real because we can feel it. We can see the beauty it creates in its power; how it bends objects in its weight. We see how it changes the things it touches. We feel it on our face on a hot day, providing respite from the heat. We feel it in the winter, stinging our face, urging us to go inside. It exists. It is invisible yet undeniable; beautiful and healing; destructive and powerful.

That isn’t it, y’all. You have to click here to read the rest!

Dec 09

Putting Christ in Christmas

This keeps weighing on me and I finally have to say something. This phrase, the internet memes, the signs, the biting blogs – they make my heart sink, though likely not for the reasons you may think.

I don’t know about you, but Christ IS in our Christmas. He’s also in our Thanksgiving, our Easter, our Sundays, and every other day of the week. He’s in there because we put Him in there. You see, other people can’t put Christ in our Christmas. You can’t put Him in mine and I can’t put Him in yours. And you know how to ensure that He’s NOT in Christmas?

  • By yelling at people who say Happy Holidays (come on, people, it’s a pleasant greeting, accept that someone took time to wish you something nice and move on).
  • By posting nasty, judgmental memes (seriously, do you feel like that shows the love of Christianity?)
  • By acting trite.

If you want to put Christ back in Christmas, thank people for wishing you well. Donate your time to feeding, clothing, and housing the poor. Counsel those struggling with their faith. Bring a hot meal to someone in need. Read your Bible. Observe Advent. Read Matthew (or any of the rest of the Gospel. Or the New Testament. Or the prophesies in the OT.). Pray. Speak your true testimony to someone that needs to hear it. Forgive the people you haven’t forgiven yet. Extend mercy to the person who cut you off by not hanging out the window yelling. Love others that you deem unworthy of love. Call Social Services and ask if you can sponsor a foster family for Christmas. Examine your heart to see where it is hardened.

That isn’t it, y’all. You have to click here to read the rest!

Nov 29

Blessing Bags

Ok, you guys know that the holidays are coming up, and with that? Cold weather. I know I’m excited about knee boots and tights and the smell of fall, but the changing temperatures mean something totally different to those without homes.

I know I personally don’t have a problem giving cash to the homeless (though I rarely have any on me anyway); I figure that I’m not going to spend that $5 any more wisely than they will – maybe a soda and candy. I know that a lot of people don’t feel this way, though, and are stuck in a position where they want to help, but don’t know how to without enabling.

Pondering this, I came across Blessing Bags on Facebook, which talked about things to put in Ziplock bags to keep in your car; such things included a bottle of water, bar of soap (wrap that a few times or it’s going to permeate everything else in the bag), granola bars, juice box, tissues, antibacterial wipes, bandages, packets of Tylenol, toothbrushes/toothpaste, etc. Hubbin got me like 40 handwarmers as a joke one Christmas, so I throw a couple in there, along with sanitary items for women.

That isn’t it, y’all. You have to click here to read the rest!

Aug 22

And now, a bathroom break (or a break FROM the bathroom)

Hubbin chose our vacation spot this year and I have to completely give it to him, he did phenomenal job. Browsing flipkey.com, he showed me a listing and asked if he was reading it right.

Listed was a “Castle in the Sky“, high in the Smoky Mountains, and located in Sylva, NC. Built on 75 wooded acres, it had exactly what I wanted…a pool. And not any pool — a private pool. No yelling kids aside from my own, a pool that overlooked what appeared to be paradise? And affordable. And available.

So he booked it for the

second week of August. With 3600 square feet and comprised of five bedrooms and as many bathrooms, we asked Jason’s best childhood friend and his family to join us, and they accepted much to our delight.

The drive down was pretty uneventful. We pulled over at an overlook and I offered to take a picture of a family for them, and they happily accepted and returned the offer. So, we posed, our little family of four, and it wasn’t until I got back to the car that I saw this picture and just…laughed. Grumpy Toddler strikes again. That poor woman was just trying to do a good deed and take our family picture, and Grumpy Toddler looked at her like she wanted to burn down her house.

That isn’t it, y’all. You have to click here to read the rest!

Jul 02

A Party Ten Years in the Making

(Written in May – look, I’ve been lazy, alright?)

The Oldest One’s father and I separated in 2005 when she was five months old. Like most divorces, it was contentious, and a lot of bad choices were made on both sides (mostly the in way I reacted to things). I’ll admit that it’s not easy to share custody of an infant, and I most certainly didn’t make it any easier. There were times that it got easier, but mostly it was hard.

Luckily, we both always loved her more than we hated each other, and that has always made all the difference. She’s been blissfully ignorant about the contention at most times (it never lasted long, but, you know, if you don’t get along when you’re married, you definitely won’t when you’re divorced). It got much easier when I met Hubbin and he met the woman I call The Best Stepmother Ever, though I’ll shorten it to Rhea on the internet.

That isn’t it, y’all. You have to click here to read the rest!