:: BONK ::

From A Mother's Heart...

This morning I was reading Matthew 1
I read verse 18:

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way, when his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.

I was only able to make it through one more verse before I couldn't read through the tears that were filling my eyes.
"Tears?" You may ask, "Why tears?"

This time, I read this story through different eyes, and I imagined the rest of the story through those same eyes and that same heart....
A Mother's heart.

Here was Mary, about to be a mother for the very first time.

And here I am, able to truly imagine being in her shoes because of this precious boy in my life:

So tears started flowing... and continued to flow as I wrote my thoughts in this journal entry:

God,
How crazy this verse becomes when I stop and place myself in Mary's shoes. We often exalt Mary and her role as if it were some "glorious" task... which it was, carrying the Son of God is a pretty big deal, I get that. But daily she must have struggled to "feel" this way.

She begins her journey into "motherhood" by facing rejection from the man she loved- or was about to love. Can you imagine how this must have felt? But this was only the beginning of the agony her heart would feel thirty some years down the road.

Of course, this initial pain of rejection must have been quickly overshadowed by the tremendous joy she felt as she gazed upon her precious child just moments after she gave birth, and as she watched her little boy grow, develop into an outstanding teacher and leader, who fearlessly challenged people on a deep heart level. Her heart must have swelled with pride as she watched this young babe become an amazing man. Her heart must have also bowed in humility at the opportunity to be God's hands on earth to raise this precious boy.

This mother's proud heart would be the same heart that ACHED to it's very core as she watched Him be taken by soldiers and beaten... flesh ripped from His back as she just had to stand by and watch... (many times with the help of friends who held her back)... Oh how she must have longed to spare Him the pain He was feeling... to step into His place and take the beatings herself.

But she couldn't...

What tension she must have had to bear between listening intently and trusting the Father who was pressing so deeply into her and whispering, " TRUST ME.... LET HIM..." and fighting her mother's heart that wanted to scream, " STOP THIS... STOP IT ALL... These people are NOT worth it... Look at them~ Mocking, Spitting, Screaming, even Laughing!"

Oh how fiercely and desperately she needed the Father's embrace to survive this day... the day of horror where she saw her precious little boy- beaten, bruised, hung on a tree, and left to breathe His last breath.

Knowing all along there was something deeper going on, but facing many moments where her vision was blurred and it was hard to see it all clearly through her tear filled eyes.
Oh what agony of a mother's heart.

And yet...
Oh what beauty of LOVE displayed.
When she, in her flesh, must have thought, "They are not worth it!"
Our Father's reply must have been with tenderness
" Oh my sweet Mary, but THEY ARE!"
"THEY" being you and I.

As a mother, my heart cannot fathom the strength behind those words,
but as a follower of Christ, my heart REJOICES.

These lyrics say it perfectly and are so powerful:

HOW DEEP THE FATHER'S LOVE FOR US
HOW VAST BEYOND ALL MEASURE
THAT HE SHOULD GIVE HIS ONLY SON
TO MAKE A WRETCH HIS TREASURE.

HOW GREAT THE PAIN OF SEARING LOSS
THE FATHER TURNS HIS FACE AWAY
AS WOUNDS WHICH MAR THE CHOSEN ONE
BRING MANY SONS TO GLORY.

BEHOLD A MAN UPON A CROSS
MY SIN UPON HIS SHOULDERS
ASHAMED I HEAR MY MOCKING VOICE
CRY OUT AMONG THE SCOFFERS

IT WAS MY SIN THAT HELD HIM THERE
UNTIL IT WAS ACCOMPLISHED
HIS DYING BREATH HAS BROUGHT ME LIFE,
I KNOW THAT IT IS FINISHED

I WILL NOT BOAST IN ANYTHING:
NO GIFTS, NO POWER, NO WISDOM
BUT I WILL BOAST IN JESUS CHRIST;
HIS DEATH AND RESURRECTION.

WHY SHOULD I GAIN FROM HIS REWARD?
I CANNOT GIVE AN ANSWER
BUT THIS I KNOW WITH ALL MY HEART:
HIS WOUNDS HAVE PAID MY RANSOM.

So this Christmas I will see things differently.
I will rejoice with this mother at the birth of her son.
I will smile at the intimate moments she will have as he grows.
I will grieve alongside of her as she endures tremendous agony.
And I will REJOICE that we have a Father whose LOVE sustains, upholds, and changes lives FOREVER!

~Broken... Humbled... Forever Grateful~

:: Santa Sighting during Pillow Pouncing ::

LOOK closely at the diaper- Aunt Jodi sent some Santa diapers and Levi was showing them off :)

*Again- sorry for the poor lighting, but hopefully you still were able to enjoy

. Simple and Sweet .

. Simple and Sweet .

Celebrating Christmas in South Asia this year will be different for sure.
Family will be far.
Embraces will be missed.
But if I can be honest, this has been such a purifying time for my heart...
A time of refocusing, of re-thinking, and of being intentional.

Oh how I love love love to decorate for Christmas.
This year I will continue to decorate, but I felt the Lord impressing on my heart to find meaning behind all that I do.
For my own heart, as well as for Levi to learn as he grows.

We will continue to put up a TREE:
(In the future years, I would like to do a Jesse tree with Levi and maybe some of the neighborhood kids could participate as well)

Meaning behind a tree...
well this was best described in a song I know:

The perfect tree grew very long ago
though it was not decked with silver or with ornaments of gold.
But hanging on it's branches was a gift for you and me,
Jesus laid his life down on the PERFECT TREE.

Thus, we will also still give gifts.
(Although not going over board :)
We will use this as a way to teach Levi about this gift God gave us,
the gift of grace and forgiveness through Jesus Christ.

I brought and hung our ornaments that celebrate our King
(and a few of Levi's 1st Christmas ornaments from last year)

Levi has his little Charlie Brown Tree
(thanks Aunt Amanda)

*Levi LOVED the little red bulb that came with it- but thought it was a "ball" so it didn't quite make it very long hanging on the tree.
So we replaced it with his other ornament... which also made it's way to the floor a few days later:))

These two painted porcelain pieces tell the beautiful truth of our Savior:
A love that came, that conquered, and that amazes...

And the BEST for last:
A nativity to display the night our King was born
A night that changed history
A night that has forever changed my life

My prayer is that God will continue to turn my heart toward Him.
That he would get my full attention this Christmas and this year, for that matter.
That I would truly render to Jesus the WORSHIP that is due Him,
and do it with diligence and anticipation.

My prayer is that He will do the same in your heart and home as well.
May we discover how simple and yet magnificent our Savior truly is.
Will you pray this same prayer with me?

~In Awe of My King~

Buddies & Babysitters

We have been beyond blessed by some very sweet friends who are also learning language with us.
Our friends absolutely adore Levi, and to say the feeling is mutual would be an understatement...
Levi from the get-go has always lit up when he walks into the room to see them
(This is also Levi's buddy who taught him his favorite word "Tractor")

As we were trying to figure out our class schedule here, they asked if they could watch Levi for us so that Craig & I could have class together- now do you see what I mean?
P-R-E-C-I-O-U-S and SO SO KIND

We Love us some country folks~ Thanks Y'all!

COOKIE MONSTER

Apparently we have a "cookie monster" on our hands-

I walked into the kitchen and caught him making his way into the cabinet and breaking into the cookie container.

So instead of correcting or rebuking~ I got the video camera and laughed :)
Hope you do too:

(Oh no- just one video did not do justice to how hilarious this was... here are two more:)

.Bringing Our Family to South Asia.

Over the past few weeks, I have been brainstorming some meaningful Christmas traditions that we could do as a family.

One idea I had was:
"How can I help Levi (and us) feel like our family is still a part of our Home at Christmas?" and really- throughout the year for that matter.

My conclusion...
A FAMILY LINK

So I made a list of all of our family member's names:


The three of us sat down at the table:
Craig cut some paper strips, I wrote each individual name on a strip of paper, and Levi just smiled and giggled (while watching Little Drummer Boy:))

Here's the crew:

I think I got everyone!

Levi made sure he stayed hydrated with all of his contributions and hard work :)

After we had everyone's name written- I stapled and linked everyone together:

The FINAL product~ OUR FAMILY LINK:

Then I strung it on the wall so everyone could celebrate Christmas with us this year!!!

Do you like it?
I had fun doing it and it makes me smile every time I look over to see everyone's names.

Sure do miss you guys.
~We love you~

Toys... Tractors... Trucks... TIRED!

. December Kick Off .

December 1st
We drove to class to find out that school was closed and we had the day off.
Bummer!
(Did you pick up on the sarcasm?)

Right back home we went and kicked December off the right way....
By baking some Lemon Poppy seed muffins (straight from a box).
We decided to really go all out and use muffin liners, too.

After a little while, we snuggled in on the couch with some warm muffins and hot tea to watch a Christmas movie:
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

Levi was the best helper: stirring the mix and dropping the muffin liners in the pan
(and then pulling them back out... but he didn't want me to tell you that part- shhhhh!)

YUMMY warm muffins

Comfy & Cozy

Makes me SMILE :)

There is never a day that passes where this little guys doesn't make me SMILE!

I thank the Lord for the way He brings SO much JOY to my day through such a tiny tot!

~Smitten~

:: Red Pajamas ::

"Good Morning Mama"

"Good Morning Y'all"

"Oh NO! Don't make me take off my Red Pajamas... I LOVE THEM!"

Cute little bugger... even when he's mad :)

SUBZI SOUP (aka Vegetable Soup)

Fresh Vegetables = Delicious Vegetable Soup

Peas in a Pod :)

Clean & Prep Veggies:
Carrots, Corn, Peas, Green Beans, Green Pepper, Cabbage, Tomato,Cauliflower, Potatoes

Pressure cook the vegetables and chicken breasts together
Shred the chicken
(I LOVE a pressure cooker these days!)

Pour together in the pot using the broth from the chicken and vegetables
Add some water and tomato puree

Salt, Pepper, and other preferred spices to taste

WAH LAH- Yummy Vegetable Soup :)

Cockroach Killers and Clean Up Crew

Does this title make you nervous???

The truth is- when we found out where we would be living during our language time, we also found out we would be moving into a home already occupied by some lovely cockroaches.
Ok... maybe not so "lovely"- right?

After a month of sharing our home with them, we finally were able to bring in an exterminator to take care of these little pests and give us our home back :)

Once we prepped the house, packed stuff up, took things off of counters and out of cabinets & drawers-
We headed over to some friends house to have a sleepover for the night while the "dust" settled.

What a great time it was:
Settlers of Catan, Warm YUMMY Brownies, Shared laughter, and a Cozy Bed.

The next day we returned home to find cockroaches belly up all over the place...
Ahhhhhhh- VICTORY! :)

Some of these suckers were HUGE!!! (YUCK)

It was time for the Clean Up Crew to get to work:

Craig worked hard at sweeping and mopping EVERYTHING (Twice!)
AND
Levi just hung out with Mama and helped her clean out the cabinets so we could "move back in"

It is SO nice to finally feel cockroach free and like we have our home to ourselves.
Thank you Mr. Exterminator!
________________________________________________

*After much resistance- Craig made me post the "clean up crew" victory dance/ cardio workout to some early 90's Jock Jams hits....
I know you are already laughing out loud.

I am sure you will enjoy and get some cardio in of your own... Laughing :)

Toy Boxes can be Tricky :)

Getting to some of the toys in the bottom of the Toy Box can be Tricky for Levi:



Trust me... He has tried several approaches :)


I mean really:

No Worries~
We bought some smaller baskets for his toys so he can sit on the floor and reach his toys with ease.

* The baskets are really neat and hand made here out of newspaper that they wet, roll, weave, dry and paint, and it's made by some women in a local village.
Cool huh?
I think so :)