Christmas Cards and other Christmas Expectations

(This is our Christmas Card replacement for this Christmas)

Well, I am thinking we are finally getting to the age when it is expected that we send out Christmas cards to those we know. In this age of technology and email, it is still very cool to get Christmas cards from friends and family. I have been plotting our next year's Christmas plan. I am calling it, Assault on Christmas '09. This assault will involve: Baking everything Christmas (sugar cookies, no bakes, rice krispy treats decorated with red and green frosting etc.), sending out Christmas cards, watching all of the classics and hopefully not shoveling 40+ in of snow before the 25th.

Of course I am just kidding and I love to celebrate Christmas in any way that involves hanging out with family. Hopefully this snow fall has forced some families to spend some much needed time together reconnecting and sharing memories and maybe starting new traditions for years to come. Have a Merry Christmas and to all of you kids out there who convince your parents to let you open just one present on Christmas Eve...GOD JOB!!!!

Spreading God's wealth to his children in need

About a year ago now, Whit and I decided we needed to sponsor a little boy named Quy from Vietnam through Christian Children's Fund. No one twisted our arm or guilted us into it, we just thought we should. We have loved every minute of it. I do have to admit, that we thought originally, "Can we afford the $30 a month?" Well, the answer is YES. We have enjoyed it so much, we decided to sponsor a little girl from Africa named Nacha through World Vision. Now, both of these are tremendous Christian organizations and do amazing things for God's people, but I just learned from Cathey that the Free Methodist Church has its own child adoption program. I am going to try and put this as delicate as possible, because it is hard to say exactly what I want to say without offending someone I am sure, if you are concerned about the $30 a month you can always do the International Childcare Ministries children for $21 a month. I am not trying to imply by any means that one child is worth more or less than another, it just happens I guess that they can do the same with less money. They probably have less operating costs, and I guess Pastor Glenn says that more of the money you donate actually goes to the children directly as well. So if you are looking for something to shake up the holidays a little, think about sponsoring a child and changing a life forever (click the link below to go to the website). I know Whit and I cherish the letters and pictures we receive from our kids like they were actually our own. God bless and stay warm through this blizzard we are having. 

International Childcare Ministries

Do we not exsist??

After watching the national news a little the past couple of days, all I have to say is, "Does the West Coast not exist"? All they can talk about is how the East Coast is going to get hit hard and not how much snow we got. Oh well, I just want to tell the East Coast, we are here too, and we get to watch sports before midnight, HA!!

Less than a week to go...

Now that we are officially less than a week away from the best holiday of the year, I think back to all of the amazing Christmas' I have been fortunate to have. My parents did an amazing job making it a special day for our family growing up regardless of what they had to do to make it happen. A couple of the more special Christmas' I can remember, and they usually had to do with our extra bedroom downstairs being transformed into something:

1) My Dad turned our extra bedroom downstairs into a full on slot car racetrack. My brother and I opened the door and found ourselves looking at a gigantic racetrack that we would play with until the next Christmas. I have no idea how long it took him to build it, but it was awesome.

2) Another Christmas my parents got Casey and I a Sega Genesis and turned that same room into a little arcade.

3) The bike Christmas. I know everyone has a Christmas or birthday when you get the bike. But, I would challenge anyone to say they rode their bike more than I did. I used to go out in our yard and just ride in circles for hours on end. I rode it so much, that my knuckles got wind burn and I had to coat them in vaseline for the next two weeks.

4) Every Christmas that I got to spend with both my family and Whitney's family growing up. When you have been with someone for 10 years, you tend to spend a lot of holidays with their family. They always made me feel welcome from the very first Christmas. The very first Christmas present Whit ever got me, 2 weeks after we started dating our Freshman year of High School, was Michael Jordan cologne. I still have the bottle.

5) I look forward to the Christmas' with kids and taking them over to the grandparents house and watching them be spoiled by the people who can now justify doing it.

I wish all of you a Merry Christmas and hope that you remember all of the great Christmas' you have had as well. Even though we tend to focus more on the gifts and my stories did a little as well, but what I really remember is the amount of time spent with family each one of those presents brought me. So, when Christmas morning rolls around, take some time to look around the room and just enjoy the fact that it "forces" us to spend time with those we love, what a great holiday!!

2 Years in a row??

Usually when you live in Spokane you expect to not see positive temperatures from the end of December until early February. But not this much snow!! I went out and measured around 10:00 AM and we already had 22 in.! I don't think it is supposed to end anytime soon either. I feel like I will be recreating this scene in my backyard by noon.

Christmas at Shiloh

Buddy the Elf has landed at Shiloh!! Today is a Christmas spirit day, even though the district has told us repeatedly that we can't celebrate Christmas at school, and I chose of course to go all out and wear Charlie's Buddy the Elf costume. I am sure this is no surprise to those of you who know me.