It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like The Holidays

It's beginning to look a lot like the holidays. 

Thanksgiving is two weeks away. Less than that actually. Christmas is just weeks away.

And with Christmas comes the one year mark of when we learned of our sweet baby and the journey we'd be embarking on...

The holidays can be hard. Especially for those who have lost loved ones or been through trials this year. For those suffering financially or healthwise. There are many reasons why it can be hard. Last year, I slept on the couch all Christmas week because I couldn't sleep. Oxymoron? I slept there because I couldn't sleep. We were overwhelmed with the news following our sonogram on the 23rd. I was literally in fear that entire Christmas that I was going to miscarry. We were in shock. I remember sitting on the couch on Christmas morning fighting back tears, as our then four and two year old ran down the stairs wide-eyed, ready to open gifts and celebrate. I wiped hot tears off my cheeks as I took pictures of them opening gifts. We tried desperately to make that day joyful for them.

She wasn't supposed to survive that week...or the next...or the one after that. We spent each day from December 23rd on in a state of confusion, fear, anxiety...at least on the days we stopped trusting our Lord... We were reminded that this was exactly why He came down to earth for us...

But this year...SHE'S HOME. SHE'S HERE. SHE'S WITH US.

We got through last Christmas because of the Truth that Christmas is. It's about a babe being born into a world of sin and disease. A world of hurt and suffering. Of a young woman trusting in her Lord that He would see her through this miracle and bring this precious, perfect gift into the world, to be of the world, and to die for the world.

We're choosing to CELEBRATE this year as the holidays come around. We're soaking them up. We're blaring Christmas music. We're watching Christmas movies already. We decorate the tree tomorrow. I normally beg to leave it up until January 6th, Ephiphany. The day that is celebrated when the wise men would have made it to the baby. {And for any who love true facts, this is the TRUE 12 days of Christmas. It comes after Christmas, not before!}. But last year, I think I took it down on Christmas night.

But this year, it's up early. We're soaking up family time. We're celebrating Thanksgiving by giving thanks DAILY to Jesus for all He's done and continues to do for our little family, especially our little girl.

Christmas 2013

Tidings of comfort and joy. Those were the words I put on our chalkboard outside last year when I decorated, before we knew of the coming ultrasound. Those words, though washed out from snow and rain, stayed on that chalkboard till a sweet friend changed them this fall. Little did I know what those words, what that simple popular phrase, well, lyric from a well known Christmas tune (God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen), would mean to us this year...

comfort... a state of physical ease and freedom from pain or constraint, or the easing or alleviation of a person's feelings of grief or distress.

joy... a feeling of great pleasure and happiness, or to rejoice.

Christ came to meet us in our distress, in our pain, in our weakness, in our grief, in our loneliness, in our diseased world...to bring us joy, by living to die for us. 

As the holidays approach, as the stores stay open later, as the menus get planned, as the shopping gets done, don't overlook Christmas. Don't overlook why He came. Worship Him this season. Even after all we've been through, He still deserves our praise and worship and awe this season. 

Chrismas 2014